WellStar Cobb Hospital Designated Level III Trauma Center

COBB COUNTY, GA — WellStar Cobb Hospital has been designated a Level III Trauma Center by the Georgia Department of Public Health. This means that the 50-year-old nonprofit hospital now has a trauma team who can treat injured patients instead of immediately transferring them to other facilities, said Kevin Rhodeback, Burn & Trauma program manager for WellStar Health System.

The location has always had an emergency room, Rhodeback tells Patch, but they didn’t have a trauma program. The designation brings a team of surgeons, led by a trauma medical director who can care for the patients right at Cobb versus sending them to nearby hospitals.

"Receiving a designation validates the passion we have for world class excellence," said Kristen Bowman, COO of WellStar Cobb Hospital, Vice President of WellStar Health System.

Rhodeback agrees.

“What the designation means is that this validates that the hospital has proven its ability to care for patients who are hurt in the community,” he said. “And we have the personnel and resources to save these patients lives if necessary and by taking them to the operating room.”

Last year, the hospital saw just under 100,000 emergency room patients and was considered the busiest, non-trauma emergency room in Georgia, according to Rhodeback. They average around 500 patients with injuries a year, he said.

The WellStar Network has three other trauma centers, which include Atlanta Medical Center, WellStar Kennestone Hospital and WellStar North Fulton Hospital. North Fulton and Kennestone are both Level II Trauma Centers and Atlanta Medical is Level 1. WellStar Cobb Hospital is one of only three Level III Trauma Centers in Metro Atlanta and one of only six in the entire state.

“This means for us at Cobb that when a patient arrives who has been hurt, we actually have a team waiting to take care of them, around the clock, and 24 hours a day, 365 days a year those resources are here for those patients,” said Rhodeback.

Some of the seriously injured patients will still need to be transferred to a larger trauma center with more resources after they’re stabilized, he said.

“But it’s definitely a change for Cobb and the community in that we’re able to care for injured patients here a lot more effectively than we were in the past.”

Designating Cobb was a yearlong effort, Rhodeback said, adding that the state has a six month review process that consists of looking at their operating room, trauma bay, equipment, reviewing medical records, policies and more.

This designation will also help the hospital get their burn program verified by the American Burn Association.

“Cobb Hospital is very unique in that we have one of only three burn centers in the state of Georgia,” said Rhodeback.

The verification will allow the team to do more than care for patients with physical injuries, he said, but also patients with burns, both children and adults.