Cleveland Clinic‘s Huron Hospital is losing its trauma center in a move that concerns some East Side residents but that the Clinic says will strengthen the city’s healthcare system.
Dr. David Bronson, president of the Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals, informed employees at Huron Hospital early Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re developing a system in partnership with MetroHealth. That system is about having protocols, procedures and care plans that lead to better care. You do that best in consolidated facilities,” Bronson said.
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Dr. Bronson says the closing of the trauma center won’t result in any significant job loss; that employees at Huron will have the option relocate to Hillcrest Hospital, which is absorbing Huron’s trauma center into its own. Hillcrest Hospital, roughly 8.5 miles from Huron, has a better emergency room and better access to the highway than Huron, Bronson said.
Bronson also added that the Cleveland Clinic has trouble recruiting staff at Huron. “For a lot of reasons. Some are obvious, some are less obvious. People want to work with the latest technology in the newest centers and be associated with those people doing the same thing,” Bronson said.
Huron Hospital sees about 28,000 patients in its emergency room each year, a small percentage of whom require trauma care. Many East Cleveland neighbors expressed concern over the trauma center’s relocation.
“It may be bad in the future. You felt like if something ever happened to you, you could just run across the street,” said Bret Pardon, who lives in an apartment nearby.
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Depending on the time it takes to get emergency response teams and staff in place, the Huron trauma center doors are expected to close in early 2011.
This is the second time in the past two years that the Cleveland Clinic has consolidated trauma centers. In a similar move, Lakewood Hospital’s trauma center has combined with Fairview Hospitals.
MetroHealth Medical Center will continue to function as Cleveland’s level one trauma center, taking in the most serious of cases.
Though Huron is losing a trauma center, the hospital is gaining a new community health center in October 2011. The center will focus on chronic disease care.
Pardon said thankfully, he hasn’t needed trauma care since living in the neighborhood, but he wonders how the changes will affect him should he need it in the future. “Having Huron here, makes you feel secure. It could be an inconvenience if something happens in the future,” Pardon said.
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