Staff Report
The Trauma Center at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital has been verified as a Level 1 Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons.
Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services and the Board of Supervisors have also approved the official designation.
The hospital is the only such designated trauma center on the Central Coast between San Jose and Los Angeles. The hospital was designated Level 2 in 2009.
Established by the American College of Surgeons in 1987, the verification program for hospitals promotes the development of trauma centers in which participants provide not only the hospital resources necessary for trauma care, but also the entire spectrum of care to address the needs of all injured patients.
“Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital is the first hospital in over a decade to develop a Level I Trauma Center without the support of a government agency or a university. There is a long tradition of and commitment to trauma care at Cottage. Attaining Level I was a natural progression,” said Dr. Stephen Kaminski, Medical Director of Trauma Services and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.
For more information, go to www.cottagehealth.org
