Sonoma County, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital reach trauma center agreement

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors today approved an agreement to continue using Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital as a level II trauma center, while addressing neighbors’ concerns about noise and air quality from medical helicopters that serve the hospital.

The agreement extends the current contract through April 30, 2030, with the option for a four-year extension. The hospital, operated by Providence, has agreed to fund and conduct a noise study and an air quality study after neighbors raised concerns about helicopter flights.

“Securing this agreement is critical to keeping this life-saving trauma center in our community,” said James Gore, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has been an excellent partner. In agreeing to conduct the noise and air quality studies, they are also being a good neighbor.”

According to the agreement, the noise study will evaluate current Caltrans-identified helicopter flight paths and at least two alternative paths. It will identify which of the approved or alternative paths generates the least noise for residents in the vicinity of the hospital.

The air quality study will examine the potential impacts of trauma-related flights to and from the hospital on air quality in the residential areas near the hospital, and identify recommendations, if any, to respond to the study’s conclusions.

“Every helicopter trip to the hospital is a potential life-saving flight,” said Supervisor Susan Gorin, whose district includes the hospital. “We have listened to the feedback from the neighbors and are working to ease the impacts of these important flights based on studies of air quality and sound, while ensuring that we have a vital trauma center into the future.”

Sonoma County has regulatory oversight of the trauma care program through its authority as an emergency medical services operator. Coastal Valleys Emergency Medical Services Agency is the joint EMS agency for Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

The trauma care program’s goal is to ensure an organized system of medical care for critically injured patients and includes the designation of trauma centers that provide high-level definitive medical care and rehabilitation services. Only about 5 percent of trauma patients transported to Memorial Hospital arrive by helicopter, but the number of trips have increased in recent years, elevating concerns by neighbors.

A level II trauma center, the second highest designation, includes 24-hour immediate coverage by general surgeons, as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care. The next closest level II trauma center is North Bay Medical Center in Fairfield.

Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital was originally selected for designation as a level II trauma center in 2000. The hospital’s redesignation, in March 2010, expires at the end of this month. The new agreement requires the hospital to pay fees to cover Coastal Valleys EMS’s costs associated with redesignation and administering the trauma center program.

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Media Contact:
Matt Brown, Communications Specialist
publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org
(707) 565-3040
575 Administration Drive, Suite 104A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403