The Marshfield Medical Center in Minocqua has achieved Level III Trauma Care designation.
The emergency room at the expanded medical center opened in 2020.
Dr. Gavin Ambrosi says they knew they wanted the Level III designation before it even opened. He’s a general surgeon and the trauma medical director.
“I think it’s big for the Northwoods. It allows us to take care of more patients in the Northwoods, locally. And not have to always transfer people out to a higher level of care but it also keeps people safer and lets them know that we’re here for them,” said Ambrosi.
As Ambrosi explains it, the Level III Trauma Care Designation means the medical center has 24/7 immediate coverage available with both emergency medical physicians as well as general surgeons.
Physicians all have advanced trauma training.
It also includes things like quality assessments, process improvements, and reviews of trauma cases that do come in.
Ambrosi and the other staff went through all this during a pandemic that has push many health care systems to a breaking point.
“I think it speaks to the dedication from administration and physicians through Marshfield Clinic that we are willing to get things done despite a pandemic happening,” he said. “We knew before the pandemic occurred, when this hospital was planning to open, that we wanted to get a Level III Trauma Designation. We weren’t going to let the pandemic stop us from achieving that.”
Ambrosi says they’ve also been working with community organizations to prevent trauma injuries.
“We purchase a lot of bicycle helmets to provide to the community if someone has a bike injury and we also partnered with a local mountain biking group that monitors the trails. [We] helped provide some supplies in case someone is found injured out on one of the local mountain biking trails too,” he said.
Marshfield Clinic says the emergency department has consistently scored high in patient surveys since opening in 2020 and has been ranked in the 99th percentile for the last six months among emergency departments regionally.
