Day 1 for first responders on level two Trauma Center

like the vehicle that struck the girl didn’t have time to take action. c-h-p says she was pronounced dead at the scene. the southbound highway was closed for a few hours. a milestone day for the central coast as the first ever trauma center is officially designated at natividad medical center. trauma patients began being treated there in october to prepare. news channel 5’s erika mahoney got an inside look at first responders adjusting to the new system in the county. :18 – :22 :40 – :44 :51 – :55 1:21 – 1:25bryant chen has been a paramedic for five years.”i just really like helping people, and i think this is the best way.”up until three months ago, he says his job was a lot harder.without a trauma center in monterey county, patients with severe or critical injuries had to be flown by helicopter to san jose area hospitals.”it’s always a long shot. time is always really important. and everything really needs to be quick paced.”he says waiting for a helicopter can take up to an hour — and doctors say after an hour, the patient’s recovery rate quickly diminishes.that’s why natividad medical center’s official designation as a level two trauma center is so critical.now, once a patient is inside an ambulance — paramedics say they can get a patient to the hospital sooner, and that can mean a life or death difference.at all times, two trauma nurses are on stand by — just part of natividad’s new trauma team. “with a trauma center, comes state of the art equipment. this is one of their new ultra sounds. it tells the doctor whether the patient has internal bleeding with a live picture.””it allows us to se in seconds whether that patient needs to go to the operating room.”dr. craig walls is the medical diretor of the emergency department.at one point in his career, he worked at university of maryland’s shock trauma center– arguably the protype trauma center of the world, he says. but according to him, natividad has the people and the