Trauma Program

About

Trauma care

Medical historians trace the beginnings of trauma care to virtually the dawn of civilization. Evidence indicates the Egyptians splinted fracturesand performed amputations about 2,400 B.C. Ancient Persians recorded their observations about wound treatment. In the 12th century Italian surgeons not only pioneered surgical techniques but developed texts chronicling their work. Ironically, however, trauma care wouldn't emerge as itsown medical-surgical specialty until the 1960s.

Shortly after the end of WWII, an American surgeon serving in the U.S. Army in France observed that severely-injured patients experienced higher survival rates and better recoveries if they were treated by physicians within an hour of the injury. This surgeon, R. Adams Cowley, M.D., called this critical window from injury to definitive intervention the "Golden Hour".

In the decades that followed, Dr. Cowley pursued his vision that every critically-ill or -injured person had the "right to the best medical care, according to the state of the art and not according to location, severity of injury or ability to pay." This vision led to the development of a model trauma center and EMS system in the Baltimore area.

Following years of work -- much of it devoted to changing prevailing attitudes about trauma and emergency care -- Dr. Cowley developed the first clinical shock trauma unit in the nation in 1960. In 1968 Dr. Cowley arranged to have patients brought in by military helicopter to get them to the shock trauma unit more quickly. In 1969 he oversaw the opening of the Center for the Study of Trauma. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medicine was created in 1973 and Maryland and the nation had it's first statewide EMS system

The fruit of Dr. Cowley's work is everywhere, including Maine, which is fortunate to be served by one of the best EMS systems in the United States. Playing a central role in this system is Central Maine Medical Center.