50 counties south of Chicago are included on a list of the state’s “relative trauma deserts,” which was part of an Illinois Department of Health report prepared from a survey of the state’s hospitals. (U.S. Army Medical Command photo)

Southern Illinois is one of many regions in the U.S. that doesn’t have access to life-saving care from a certified trauma center.

“If you look on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maps of trauma centers, there’s a whole lot of white space where millions of people don’t have access to trauma care,” said Jennifer Ward, Trauma Center Association of America president.

In 2015, 50 counties south of Chicago were included on a list of the state’s “relative trauma deserts,” which was part of an Illinois Department of Health report prepared from a survey of the state’s hospitals.

There is no solid definition of a “trauma desert” — except that it is a region where patients would have to be transported to another facility to be treated in the event of a catastrophic injury that might be caused by a car or farm accident. A threshold of one hour to receive care is used in the health department report.

Outside of Chicago, there are only five Level 1 Trauma Centers in the state — none of them south of Springfield unless the St. Louis metropolitan area is included. There also are Level 1 centers in Rockford, Peoria and Urbana.

To be certified in one of two levels, Level One being the highest, Illinois centers must have certain equipment and specialists available 24 hours a day.

“That’s one of the problems — it’s very costly,” Ward said. “I’m sure all of these hospitals would like to provide a trauma center but they just can’t afford it.”

The IDH report concurred.

“Certainly, it is less likely that a financially distressed facility will be able to meet the state’s requirements,” the report stated. Illinois does not require hospitals to maintain a trauma center.

Ward said national statistics show that not having direct access to a trauma center increases patient mortality by 25 percent.

She said patients don’t always realize that their local hospital doesn’t have a trauma center, which is certified based on standards developed by the American College of Surgeons.

Ward said her organization is lobbying the U.S. Congress for the reauthorization of the National Trauma Center Stability Act, which would supply more than $200 million to support the nation’s struggling trauma centers.

“It would really help areas that are struggling financially and can’t offer their patients a trauma center,” she said.

— Southern Illinois is one of the trauma center ‘deserts’ —