The Crozer Regional Trauma Center has been a leader in trauma care since opening its doors in December of 1986 as one of the very first to be accredited by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF). Crozer was one of only nine hospitals to receive a designation as a trauma centers out of 53 hospitals statewide that applied in that first year. 

Today, the Crozer Regional Trauma Center continues to play a leadership role. It is one of 26 PTSF-accredited trauma centers statewide and remains the only trauma center in Delaware County, serving a population of about 600,000 Delaware County residents, as well as portions of neighboring counties and states, with state-of-the-art treatment and technology. 

Over the past 20 years, the professionals of the Trauma Center have cared for well over 26,000 patients. During that time, patient volume has increased from about 600 annually to nearly 2,000, including more than 360 burn patients treated annually in collaboration with the Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center

“As the only trauma center in Delaware County, we provide an extremely important service to the people in our community. Throughout the county and the region, people count on the trauma center to be ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week to care for the most serious and life-threatening injuries,” says Joan Richards, chief operating officer and president of Crozer-Keystone Health System. “Everyone who has been involved with the Crozer Regional Trauma Center over the past 20 years deserves recognition and thanks for this milestone.”

The Crozer Regional Trauma Center opened in 1986 with two full-time staff members - a director of trauma services and a trauma program coordinator - who were supported by a small group of independent surgeons (physicians). Today, the Trauma Center has a dedicated trauma program staff and a team that includes dedicated trauma surgeons and trauma nurse practitioners.

The trauma program coordinates the delivery of care to the trauma patient working collaboratively with EMS professionals; Emergency Department physicians and nursing staff; nursing staff in the Operating Room, Shock Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Step Down Unit, 1 West and other units; neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists and other surgical specialists; and professionals in Crozer’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Radiology, Laboratory, Respiratory Therapy, Social Work and Patient Registration departments. The discharge of trauma patients is facilitated by the trauma case manager and social worker and supported by the Crozer Rehabilitation Center. Crozer’s trauma team is dedicated to helping patients and their families with the unique needs and challenges of the sudden and sometimes catastrophic effects of traumatic injuries, motor vehicle crashes, falls, gunshot wounds and stabbing wounds.

Trauma patients receive initial treatment at Crozer-Chester Medical Center’s new Emergency Department, which opened to the public in October of this year. The $24 million facility includes three trauma bays and a burn resuscitation room featuring the latest technologies and equipment necessary for life-saving efforts. Among the other features of the new facility is a 64-slice CT scanner dedicated exclusively to the care of trauma and emergency patients.

If patients need to be admitted to Crozer, they receive care in the medical center’s Shock Trauma Unit. This 15-bed unit uses a multidisciplinary approach to providing around-the-clock care to critical patients. The introduction of the Shock Trauma Unit in 2005 has reduced patients’ average length of stay. In addition, Crozer offers a Trauma Surgical Critical Care Intensivist Service. These specialized intensivists enhance continuity and quality of care from the moment patients enter the Trauma Center until the time they leave Crozer, making daily patient visits and assessments throughout the duration of their hospital stay.