Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital becomes a designated Level II Trauma Center

ALBANY – The Georgia Department of Public Health has designated Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital a Level II Trauma Center, hospital leadership announced at a news conference Wednesday.

Phoebe is the first Georgia hospital to earn this designation in nine years and now, only the second Level II Trauma Center south of Atlanta. Surveyors with the state DPH’s Office of EMS & Trauma made the recommendation after a recent site visit that included a tour of the emergency and trauma facilities, a review of Phoebe’s trauma protocols and data, as well as an evaluation of the Phoebe Trauma Program.

Phoebe CEO Deb Angerami said trauma patients have always been treated at Phoebe, but the creation of a trauma program allows the hospital to expand its capabilities.

“With this designation, we are going to change the way that care is delivered here in southwest Georgia,” she said. “It really elevates the care that we get to provide here at Phoebe.”

A level II Trauma Center initiates the treatment of all trauma patients. Key components, according to the National Institutes of Health, include: 24-hour access to general surgeons and availability of anesthesiology, radiology, emergency medicine, neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery.

The difference between a Level I and Level II center is that Level I centers perform additional research not required by Level II. The closest Level I centers are in Macon and Savannah.

Angerami said Phoebe activated its trauma team 624 times in 2023 – a 56% increase from the year before — and she expects that to continue to grow. She said the hospital will hire more expert specialists, which will allow it to care for more trauma patients and those who are more seriously injured, as it expands its program.

Dr. Leo Dent, Phoebe’s medical director for trauma services, said this development will save more lives.

Dent said there is something called the “golden hour of trauma,” during which a badly injured person could have only an hour before bleeding to death. He said there was a void in advanced trauma care in the southwest and south-central Georgia region before.

“You need trauma centers close by,” he said. “What we’re able to do now is provide that care for people close to home.”

Dent said general surgeons are the ones who rush in at all hours to stop the bleeding. Trauma is a hospitalwide endeavor, he said, but surgeons are the backbone of trauma care.

Angerami said the Trauma Center will move into a new facility that is expected to be completed in October or November. Phoebe’s Trauma and Critical Care Tower will house the region’s largest trauma and emergency centers, performing care for people in 42 counties, according to a video shown during the Wednesday conference.

The renovations will double the size of the current emergency center – fitted with four dedicated trauma rooms with state-of-the-art equipment.

The tower’s second floor will house an expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that will have room for the care of 47 babies, compared to the current NICU’s capacity of 27. Phoebe’s daily census of NICU babies is currently more than 40.

The tower’s third floor will be a new adult Intensive Care Unit, which will add 20 beds to Phoebe’s current 38 beds.

Receiving this designation has been a long-time, challenging journey, Scott Steiner, Phoebe Putney Health System’s president and CEO, said. The need for a trauma center in Albany has been discussed among the medical community for decades. The PPMH Board of Directors officially authorized Phoebe to seek Level II Trauma Center designation in 2019.

The hospital hired trauma team leaders and initiated mandatory data collection in that same year and has implemented protocols and programs to elevate the hospital’s capabilities, according to a press release.

The state trauma designation is for one year. Next year, surveyors will return for a review to determine whether the hospital will receive an additional two-year designation. The next step for Phoebe is to pursue national verification as a Level II Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons next year.

By Lucille Lannigan
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