State Trauma Program Updates

State of Wyoming Facing Deep Budget Reductions

As many of you are already aware, Wyoming is experiencing a significant decrease in revenues. Governor Gordon has instructed state agencies to prepare for deep reductions to the 2020/2021 Biennium budget. Please click on the link below to read the memo from Governor Gordon that was released on June 4, 2020.

Governor Mark Gordon - Budget Reduction Memo

Trauma Program Managers/Trauma Coordinators Please Provide Your Feedback!

While we are unsure at this time how this will directly effect the trauma program, we anticipate that at some point, we will see some sort of reduction. In an effort to help determine the potential impact of reductions (and therefore services) The Wyoming Trauma Program has been asked to explore how the hospitals, facilities, and system would be affected in the situation that the program is eliminated, reduced, or significantly cut. We ask that ONLY Trauma Program Managers/Trauma Coordinator complete this survey and provide honest, prompt feedback. We would like to limit responses to one response per hospital. You may receive this survey multiple times in different ways, we ask that you only complete it one time. Please click on the link below to complete the survey.

2020 Trauma Program Survey **For Trauma Program Managers/Trauma Coordinators Only**

Site Reviews for Calendar Year 2020

With many unknowns regarding the upcoming budget reductions and the requirements for social distancing due to COVID19, we are not sure how we will be moving forward with Facility Designation Reviews for 2020. The following facilities are due for a review in 2020:

If your hospital is listed above, we will be contacting you as soon as we have more information regarding the budget and we can plan for site reviews accordingly. In the meantime, we ask that you go through your registry and ensure all charts are completed and your Trauma Program is ready for review. Please understand that the designation for your hospital remains current. The Trauma Program staff understands that this is a daunting time for all of us, but we encourage you to continue doing the amazing work that you do. We will provide updates to you all as they become available.

State Trauma Program Responds to COVID19

As many of you are aware, the Wyoming Department of Health activated their response team for COVID19 back in March 2019. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health came together for a Unified Command. The Trauma Program staff was asked to assist in the efforts for the response. Kelli and Aundrea were tasked with managing and counting inventory for the Wyoming Medical Station's should they be needed. We have also been running reports daily with hospital information that is submitted into EMResource (HAVBed) and submitting that data for the governor to evaluate. While the efforts for COVID19 may be slowing down, we are excited to come back to our world of Trauma!

State Trauma Program Strategic Planning

If you had the opportunity to attend the Trauma Meeting last year during the 49th Annual EMS & Trauma Conference, you may remember that we went through an exercise where we asked you all what would help "Make Trauma Easy" and what obstacles you were facing in your work on Trauma. Over the last year, Kelli and Aundrea have been working on a strategic plan for the Wyoming Trauma Program based on the feedback you provided. We have identified four program goals that we would like to focus on over the next 1-3 year period. Please note that while each goal is rather broad, we have also identified in detail several objectives and tasks that will help us through the process in achieving each goal. See the four goals that we will be focusing on below: Make Trauma Program Formally Relevant Improve the culture of performance improvement within the trauma system Increase self driven assistance within the Trauma Patient Registry Improve trauma programmatic education in Wyoming Be on the lookout for things to come as we work to achieve these goals!

Evaluating 2019 Data Completeness

It is that time of year where we are ready to begin evaluating data completeness within the Trauma Patient Registry for charts in 2019. You are encouraged to take a look at your registry and ensure that you are up to date and your charts are complete. Within the next two months, you will be receiving emails regarding these efforts in making the data within the registry complete and accurate. We ask that you respond to these emails and requests diligently and in a timely manner. As always, we will be available for any questions as they arise.

Cancelled/Postponed Upcoming Events

50th Annual Trauma & EMS Conference

As you have hopefully heard by now, the 50th Annual Trauma & EMS Conference has been cancelled due to COVID19. While this was a devastating decision that had to be made, we continue to stand by the safety and health of others as well as the financial burden COVID19 has placed on many around our nation.

With that being said, Kelli and Aundrea are working on setting up a Trauma Program Meeting sometime in September for our trauma folks around the state. We would love for this to be in person but we will likely result to a zoom meeting. We will be sending you additional information as we plan and as more information regarding the budget and COVID19 become available. We appreciate your patience during this time.

Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) & Stop the Bleed

It has been brought to our attention that all Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Courses have been postponed due to COVID19. It is our understanding that as long as your ATLS certification is set to expire in 2020, you will be given a one year extension but will be required to take ATLS in 2021. Stop the Bleed has also been postponed until further notice. We will provide updates as we receive more information. In the meantime, please pay attention to the listserv, as that is typically where we will share any upcoming educational opportunities.

We Want to Hear From You!

Your ideas are important! If you have an event coming up or if you have anything you would like to share in an upcoming newsletter, please email WTP Specialist, Aundrea Brown, at  aundrea.brown@wyo.gov .