Hillsborough County has had a trauma agency
since 1990. Trauma agencies receive authority to plan, implement, and
evaluate their trauma service area's system from Florida Statutes. The
Hillsborough County Trauma Agency (HCTA) is one of four such bodies in
the state (Palm
Beach, Broward,
and
North Central Florida Trauma Agency
are the others).
The mission of the Hillsborough County Trauma Agency (HCTA) is to reduce the incidence
of death, disability and complications from injuries by planning, coordinating, and evaluating
the county's trauma care system, which includes public access, prehospital care (air and ground
ambulance services), acute hospital care and rehabilitation services. These activities, together
with injury prevention efforts, can greatly lessen the human and societal costs of trauma.
Hillsborough County's trauma resources and geographical location holds important implications
for its trauma system. The HCTA's jurisdiction, one of Florida's
19 trauma service areas ( PDF, 71KB ) , has both Tampa
General Hospital and St.
Joseph's Hospital, a level I and level II adult/pediatric trauma center
respectively. These facilities which comprise two of the state's 21 trauma centers ( PDF, 215KB )
, provide not only the highest level of care for Hillsborough's severely injured citizens
and visitors, they also treat injured residents of outlying counties not served by a trauma center.
Additionally, Tampa General Hospital has the specialized services for burn and brain and spinal
cord injured victims. There are seven other acute care hospitals with emergency departments in
the county that receive and treat trauma patients. |
