11-12-2020, 09:29 AM
(11-12-2020, 09:23 AM)jeffster Wrote:(11-11-2020, 09:18 PM)jamincan Wrote: I'm not an expert on our healthcare system, but as far as I understand it, there are only a few main trauma centers in Ontario and the distribution is mainly based on geography. The Central South RTN that we're in is actually one of the smaller ones geographically. The ultimate question is whether patients are better served by having a tertiary trauma centre in Waterloo-Wellington area or a larger center in Hamilton. A local centre would likely see improved time to treatment, but it would likely not have the breadth of expertise that a larger, single trauma centre would have. As it stands right now, with Hamilton having one of the smallest referral bases in the province geographically, I'd lean toward the greater benefit being access to a larger centre.
I understand what you’re saying, but things have changed over the years, and this region, and surroundings, I think have surpassed critical mass in terms of population that a trauma centre should be built. Including student population, we’re about 650,000, the rest of the geography is probably close to 350,000 or more, that would be better served coming to this region than Hamilton (or London, which some places might go to).
An interesting fact, 15% of Ontario’s population doesn’t live close to a trauma centre yet make up 37% of trauma deaths.
Though I am no expert either. I have no idea the costs, nor requirements in terms of equipment and staffing. And perhaps Ornge picking people up and flying to Hamilton is just as good as using an ambulance to drive to a trauma centre in Kitchener.
This is a very interesting fact but it could be explained by other features. Trauma is almost always a car crash, and serious car crashes are more common in rural areas which don't have trauma centres.
It would be good to also know the percentage of trauma patients that survive in Waterloo vs in say London.