Sierra Vista Medical Center Honors Trauma Awareness Month

When life-threatening situations occur, the San Luis Obispo community can rely on Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center to offer full-service emergency room care. The emergency department treats illnesses ranging from broken bones to life-threatening injuries, all delivered by specially trained emergency staff.

Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center is verified as a Level III Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons. The hospital was first approved by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to be the first-ever designated trauma center in San Luis Obispo in March 2012.

In honor of Trauma Awareness Month, we are shining the spotlight on our trauma program and the amazing employees that make it what it is.

Dr. Shayne Mora, a physician from Washington, experienced the trauma services at Sierra Vista firsthand when he was injured in a bicycle accident while visiting his son, who attends Cal Poly.

“I am indebted to the quality and compassionate care that I received at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center,” Dr. Mora expressed.

The Sierra Vista Trauma Team works to provide compassionate, high-quality care to injured patients and provides trauma prevention programs to our community. Injury prevention education is a vital component to the hospital’s commitment to reducing the number of injuries in San Luis Obispo. We offer several local programs including:

• Stop the Bleed
• Every 15 Minutes
• Cal Poly “Safe Zone” Campaign
• Student Athlete Concussion Training

A licensed helistop resides atop the five-story Sierra Vista parking structure and can accommodate helicopters up to the size of a Blackhawk military transport. This is a critical factor in the safety of San Luis Obispo for transportation of critically ill babies to and from the Sierra Vista Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, trauma and other critical patients, and disaster preparedness in the event of a natural disaster requiring emergency transport of patients or supplies.

In addition, Sierra Vista is proud of its ongoing, collaborative efforts with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in San Luis Obispo County: paramedics, firefighters and police officers. This partnership allows for another layer of high-quality care for residents. The county’s first responders work side-by-side with hospital staff every day to provide hands-on-care for our community’s most critically injured patients.

On Friday, April 6, 2018, these efforts were put on display when Sierra Vista was alerted by first responders that the hospital would be receiving incoming trauma patients from a crash, which occurred at the notorious intersection of Highway 46 and 41 near Cholame. Staff remained at work following the end of their overnight shift to help treat the incoming patients. Ancillary support staff was also deployed to the emergency department to assist in caring for the injured and their families. Sierra Vista staff did an incredible job of responding quickly and efficiently.

Sierra Vista emergency doctors are board-certified and provide a variety of on-call specialties including: general surgery, neurosurgery, internal medicine, orthopedics, pediatrics, OB/GYN, neurology, cardiology, pulmonology and ear, nose and throat (ENT).