In Brief 

• The Crozer Regional Trauma Center is the only trauma center in Delaware and Chester counties. 
• A regional Level II Trauma Center accredited by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, the Crozer Regional Trauma Center cares for approximately 2,000 trauma and burn patients each year.
• The trauma team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to treat the most severely injured patients.
• The Trauma Center reaches out to the surrounding community through injury prevention, education and interventions.

Aided by the air and ground crews of local emergency medical service teams, the Crozer Regional Trauma Center is the only trauma center in Delaware and Chester counties. A regional Level II Trauma Center accredited by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, the Crozer Regional Trauma Center cares for approximately 2,000 trauma and burn patients each year.

“The Crozer Regional Trauma Center provides cutting-edge trauma care by expert trauma surgeons who are available to immediately respond to all major traumas,” says Riad Cachecho, M.D., medical director of the Crozer Regional Trauma Center. “Our goal is to provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary care to seriously injured patients.”

Upon notification and often prior to arrival, a specially trained and designated trauma team is assembled in the Emergency Department to begin the diagnosis and treatment of the trauma patient. The team evaluates the patient using carefully developed trauma protocols. This systematic assessment minimizes the chance that an injury will be missed. The trauma team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to treat the most severely injured patients. The team members include trauma surgeons, physicians from other surgical and medical specialties, nurses and social workers.

Trauma patients also benefit from the outstanding support services available at Crozer. The Radiology and Laboratory departments have 24-hour in-house coverage, and emergency imaging studies and lab tests are performed around the clock.

Once admitted, the patient is cared for on Crozer’s Shock/Trauma Unit. Members of the trauma team complete daily rounds in the morning and continue to reassess the patient around the clock to ensure that the plan of care is implemented. Crozer-Chester Medical Center also has a nationally accredited Rehabilitation Unit that helps many injured patients return to normal, functional lives every year.

“The residents of Delaware County and the patients at Crozer all benefit by the presence of the Crozer Regional Trauma Center,” says Debra Lillback, R.N., program manager of the Crozer Regional Trauma Center. “In addition to having access to quality emergent care, the ‘halo effect’ of the Trauma program assures that specialty services and staffing are available to all patients, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Providing care is not the only focus of the Trauma Center. The Crozer Regional Trauma Center is committed to reaching out to the surrounding community through injury prevention education and interventions. For children and teenagers, the Trauma Center offers public outreach and education programs focusing on trauma prevention — including bicycle, playground and seatbelt safety. Crozer professionals reach adolescents by attending dozens of community health fairs each year as well as providing specially scheduled programs at schools.

Crozer’s Trauma Prevention Committee also developed the Counter Act Random Acts of Violence Now (CARAVN) program to sensitize young people to violent behavior and its consequences. Currently offered to students in the Chester-Upland School District and Ridley High School, the popular program recently received a grant that will extend it to additional school districts. The program also is mandatory for youth in the Consent Decree Program for first-time offenders in the Delaware County Juvenile Probation Department.

For adults and seniors, Crozer physicians and health care professionals present a range of programs at senior centers in the community focusing on a variety of topics including domestic violence and home safety. The Trauma Center also formed a Geriatric Task Force to create guidelines for treating geriatric trauma patients.

“In addition to community outreach, the Trauma Center also serves as an education resource for other emergency medicine and trauma professionals in the region,” Cachecho says. “Crozer conducts an annual adult and pediatric trauma symposium for health care professionals in the community — from physicians to social workers.”

Although the Crozer Regional Trauma Center is based at the medical center and is centered around providing emergent care to injured patients, its comprehensive purpose and care for patients reaches far beyond the boundaries of the hospital.

For more information about the Crozer Regional Trauma Center, call (610) 447-6090, or visit their expanded website at www.crozer.org.