Hospital working to improve trauma care status

The News
NEW GLASGOW - The Aberdeen Hospital should soon improve to Level II trauma care status, Dr. Nicole Boutilier announced Thursday.
Speaking at the Aberdeen Hospital Foundation-Aberdeen Hospital Trust annual general meeting, Boutilier said the hospital will reach that level of accreditation by continuing to work with the Trauma Association of Canada.
Currently, the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Halifax is the only Level I trauma centre in the province. "We want to be the Level II trauma centre for northern Nova Scotia."
The Trauma Association released new accreditation guidelines in June 2007, though few hospitals have gone through the accreditation process yet, said Boutilier, who is the director of the emergency department at Aberdeen Hospital.
"There are many criteria to be met to be a Level II and we've spent the last eight months trying to (meet all of those standards)," she said.
The criteria is too vast to list here, but hospitals must have an on-site helipad, for instance, to reach Level II status. "We already function at that level, but this is a formalization of the process," she explained.
"We have been approved by the Nova Scotia Trauma program and we sent our application in. They have given us a date of April 2008 to be accredited."
In her speech, Boutilier also spoke about a new bicycle safety program called Noggin Knowledge. It's a community-based program aimed at enforcing helmet laws, she said.
Those who do not wear bicycle helmets will be ticketed. Police will actively be ticketing between June 15 and Sept. 15, she said. However, people may choose to attend a bicycle safety session on Oct. 4 in lieu of paying the fine, set at $130.
"Helmets save lives. Traumatic brain injury is a devastating condition that can affect motor function and sensation," she said.
She added, a 2006 study showed 67 per cent of children under 12 in Pictou County wear bicycle helmets. "We want that number to improve," Boutilier said. "This program is about raising awareness."

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