The month of May was Trauma Awareness Month, and the UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery worked with state and local government officials to spread the word.
A group representing UAB met at Birmingham City Hall on May 24 to present on trauma awareness and be present with Mayor Randall Woodfin as he signed a proclamation declaring May Trauma Awareness Month.
Assistant professor Parker Hu, M.D., FACS, Assistant Trauma Medical Director, made remarks to the Birmingham City Council, explaining that UAB, Alabama’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level 1 Trauma Center, has faced a record increase in volume. He gave credit to the “gifted team of physicians and clinicians who work tirelessly to help take care of the injured of our community and the state of Alabama.”
Hu called trauma a “blight” upon the country and state of Alabama, noting it’s the leading cause of death among young people.
“Take care of your loved ones, take care of yourselves, and try to put myself and our center out of business,” Hu said.
The proclamation notes that trauma nationwide and statewide has been on the rise. In 2021, UAB admitted over 4,500 trauma patients – 10 percent increase from the previous year. The proclamation gave credit to the many people devote their lives and careers to treating, caring for, supporting and rehabilitating traumatic injury survivors, including researchers, first responders, emergency medical teams, surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, chaplains, speech, occupational, and physical therapists, and injury prevention professionals.
The proclamation also noted that traumatic injury can happen to anyone and trauma affects not just survivors, but their family members, friends, and community and has physical, emotional, mental, and financial affects.
Associate professor Kimberly Hendershot, M.D., FACS, worked with Governor Kay Ivey’s office for the signing of a proclamation recognizing the American College of Surgeon’s Committee on Trauma’s 100 year anniversary this year.
Hendershot is the Alabama Chair of the COT. Division director Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, became Chair of the COT this year.
The proclamation notes how the COT works to improve the care of injured patients through activities in trauma system evaluation, trauma center verification, trauma standards of care, trauma quality improvement, and trauma injury prevention through the national Stop the Bleed campaign.
“I am very pleased that the Alabama state government has recognized the hard work and dedication of the COT and of our state’s only Level I ACS-verified trauma center at UAB,” Hendershot said.
The division also recognized Trauma Survivors Day with a special event honoring survivors, their families, and their care teams and held a Stop the Bleed training for UAB employees.