Photo caption: Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, recently re-verified as a Level 1 trauma center.  Photo credit: Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Public Relations

For Immediate Release                                           

Legacy Emanuel Medical Center re-verified as a level 1 trauma center

Legacy Emanuel Medical Center was recently re-verified as a Level 1 trauma center by the Verification Review Committee, a component of the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This achievement recognizes the trauma center’s dedication to providing optimal care of injured patients.

Led by the Legacy Emanuel’s Trauma Medical Director Ameen Ramzy, M.D., MBA, FACS, and Trauma Program Manager Carolann VinZant, R.N. the trauma team worked closely with colleagues across the medical center to successfully meet the re-verification requirements.

“The ACS called Legacy Emanuel ‘a pillar of the state and regional trauma system’,” says Dr. Ramzy. “The re-verification of our Level 1 trauma center was the result of an exceptional team effort between staff who provide patient care and administrative support staff from facilities management, environmental services, nutrition services and security.”

Trent Green, FACHE, president of Legacy Emanuel Medical Center says Legacy was verified as a Level 1 trauma center 30 years ago. “We consider ourselves a leader in providing the highest level of trauma care to people in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest,” says Green. “Our ability to build an exceptional trauma center over the years is a testament to the many dedicated and committed staff who made it a priority.”  

Level 1 is the highest designation for trauma care. Legacy Emanuel provides the highest level of care with life-saving capabilities for serious injuries and illnesses. The medical center provides a complete system for receiving patients, including a heliport for the emergency helicopters to deliver patients from across the state.

Earlier this year, Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel was verified as a Level 1 pediatric trauma center, making it the first in Oregon and the first children’s hospital in the Pacific Northwest to receive this premier status. There are approximately 50 ACS-verified Level 1 pediatric trauma centers across the country.

The verification is an extension of the long-standing expertise in trauma care offered at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, which has been an ACS-verified Level 1 trauma center since 1988 and is home to the Legacy Oregon Burn Center – the only facility of its kind between Seattle and Sacramento.

Legacy Health is a local, nonprofit health system with six hospitals and dedicated children’s care offered at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. Legacy also includes more than 70 primary care, specialty and urgent care clinics, as well as almost 3,000 providers who are either employed, on the medical staff or part of Legacy Health Partners. We have lab, research and hospice services. Among our major partnerships are PacificSource Health Plans and the Unity Center for Behavioral Health.

FAQs from the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma

How many categories of verification does the program have?

There are five separate categories of verification in the Committee on Trauma's (COT) program (Level I Trauma Center, Level II Trauma Center, Level III Trauma Center, Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center), each with specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification.

What is the Committee on Trauma?

The Committee on Trauma (COT), a standing committee of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), works to improve all phases of care of the injured patient and to prevent injuries before they occur. The COT promotes leadership and cooperation of all participants in a trauma center so that the best possible care will be provided to injured patients. The COT also requires the commitment of each facility's surgeons to the improvement of trauma care. Recognizing that trauma is a surgical disease that demands surgical leadership, the ACS established the Committee on Trauma, its oldest standing committee, in 1922.

What is the Consultation/Verification Program?

Established by the ACS Committee on Trauma in 1987, the Consultation/Verification Program is designed to promote the development of trauma centers in which participants provide the hospital resources necessary to address the trauma needs of all injured patients. The Consultation Program is designed to help hospitals and their personnel prepare for this endeavor. The Verification Program confirms that all the criteria have been met.

What are Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient?

This document is the resource manual of the COT. First published in 1976 as

Optimal Hospital Resources for Care of the Injured Patient, the manual established guidelines for the care of injured patients. Subsequent revisions have continued the COT's commitment to ensuring that resources and personnel for providing optimal care for injured patients are in place in trauma programs. In 1990, the name of this manual was changed to Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient to reflect a change in trauma care and to complement an important and abiding principle of the Committee on Trauma: To ensure that the needs of all injured patients are addressed wherever they are injured and wherever they receive care.

How did the verification program begin?

An obvious outgrowth of the establishment of the COT's guidelines for optimal care was the development of a verification process through which a hospital could be evaluated by ACS trauma surgeons to determine whether the criteria for optimal care of injured patients were being met. Thus, the Verification/Consultation Program for Hospitals was established in 1987.

How does a hospital or clinic receive verification?

The level of verification is requested by the hospital. An on-site review of the hospital is conducted by a team of reviewers experienced in the field of trauma. Using the current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual as a guideline, this team will determine if the criteria for the requested level have been met.

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