Kishwaukee Community Hospital is the area’s state-designated trauma center for DeKalb-area residents who need emergency attention.

Since injuries are the leading cause of trauma and death for all Americans from the first year of life to age 44, emergency medical services is the point of first contact with the health care system.

KCH President Wayne Fesler said that is the reason the hospital devotes so many of its resources to its emergency room and why KCH is joining health care institutions nationwide in observing Emergency Medical Services Week, Sept. 20-26.

Fesler said KCH welcomed the opportunity to recognize the men and women who serve on what has been called the “front line” of health care.

e said KCH has more than $1 million invested in its emergency room facilities. “However, personnel are even more important in many instances, so I’m happy to report that we’ve taken major steps forward in improving physician coverage in the ER this year.”

Last May, KCH became the first hospital in the area to offer around-the-clock ER coverage by a physician in house, Fesler said. More recently, three full-time physicians were contracted to staff the ER full-time, rotating on 24-hour shifts, he said.

Emergency acute care, therefore, is available immediately, with either personal physicians being notified and up-dated on the patient’s condition or, if the patient has no physician, having a doctor from the on-call roster of the medical staff notified.

ead Nurse Joyce Davidson, along with 20 full- and part-time nurses, join with laboratory, radiology and respiratory therapy departments to serve more than 10,000 patients a year. Their problems range from a splinter to a cardiac arrest.

The emergency room consists of 10 beds in a specially-designed trauma room, cast room and general examination room. It is fully-equipped and able to care for all types of illness and injury.

KCH also is associated with the Regional Trauma Center in Rockford (St. Anthony Medical Center). Patients suffering from head injuries and burns often are stabilized at Kishwaukee before being transferred to Rockford for more specialized care.