May 3, 2023 – Since 1988, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County continues to play an instrumental role in Palm Beach County’s Trauma System with our two Trauma Hawk helicopters, Trauma Agency quality assurance program and our unique trauma payment model.
The month of May is Trauma Awareness month and the Health Care District celebrates and recognizes the many professionals within the county’s integrated Trauma System: the Health Care District’s Trauma Hawk and Trauma Agency teams, the county’s two Level 1 Trauma Centers at St. Mary’s and Delray Medical Centers, as well as Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and other countywide EMS providers who have responded to nearly 100,000 trauma missions over the past 32 years.
Jay Mazzone, Dir. of Aeromedical Transportation ©HCD of PBC / Mark Mennie2010
“The county’s Trauma System provides patients specialized treatment that is coordinated from the moment a person is injured through their rehabilitation,” said Darcy J. Davis, Chief Executive Officer of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. “We’re proud to participate through our Trauma Hawk aeromedical program and our Trauma Agency, which oversees system quality and provides education to prevent traumatic injuries and the associated physical, emotional and financial costs.”
In 2022, the Trauma System treated more than 5,600 Palm Beach County residents and visitors, which increased by 300 patients from 2021. The most common type of traumatic injury in Palm Beach County is falls, followed by motor vehicle crashes. In 2022, the Trauma Hawk flight team safely transported 621 patients from the scene and between hospitals.
“There are few programs that stand out like Trauma Hawk and our capabilities,” said Jay Mazzone, the Health Care District’s Director of Aeromedical Transportation. “The level of care and professionalism that our crews offer to patients easily fly above the rest. We are on the cutting edge of performance, technology and procedures and are continually searching for ways to improve further. Trauma Hawk is an asset to Palm Beach County in a way that many may never understand, and hopefully will not have to, but those who have been saved by our crews and services will attest to the value and care that we offer.”
The Trauma Agency conducts educational outreach in the community including student driver safety demonstrations and “Stop the Bleed” training. National Stop the Bleed Day is recognized on May 25th. The Health Care District is in the process of developing a comprehensive, countywide falls prevention program that will launch this fall. This program will consist of numerous awareness initiatives to educate the public about falls as the leading cause of traumatic injury in our community and will implement evidence-based tools with the goal of reducing the number of falls, with a special focus on our senior population. For more information, visit www.hcdpbc.org.
About the Health Care District
The Health Care District of Palm Beach County is a special taxpayer-funded district that has served as a health care safety net for over 30 years to fill in gaps in access to health care services. This unique health care system covers the entire county and provides diverse services such as 13 outpatient clinics (Federally Qualified Health Centers) which serve everyone regardless of ability to pay; school health clinicians staffed in nearly 170 public schools; two Trauma Hawk aeromedical helicopters; a rural, public teaching hospital, Lakeside Medical Center; a skilled nursing facility, the Edward J. Healey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center; a specialty benefits program for eligible, uninsured residents; and quality performance oversight of the county’s lifesaving trauma system.
About the C. L. Brumback Primary Care Clinics
The Health Care District’s Federally Qualified Health Centers across the county serve adults and children with or without insurance and regardless of ability to pay. This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number H80CS25684 for Health Center Cluster in the award amount of $7,278,563. Of the total project, 84.5% is financed with nongovernmental sources. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. The C. L. Brumback Primary Care Clinics were granted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) deeming status effective January 1, 2023.
