ROME, Ga., Oct. 6, 2023 – Residents throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama already look to Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center to provide lifesaving trauma and emergency care, and the reasons keep growing.
Floyd Medical Center became the state's first designated trauma center in 1981 and is the only Level II Trauma Center in northwest Georgia west of Gainesville and south of Chattanooga.
The hospital's latest accolade comes from the American College of Surgeons (ACS), a national scientific and educational association of surgeons dedicated to safeguarding standards of care.
The ACS has verified the hospital as a Level II Trauma Center. That means patients can trust that the hospital provides optimal care and improved outcomes.
Level II Trauma Centers:
- Include 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
- Provide trauma prevention and continuing education programs for staff
- Incorporate a comprehensive quality assessment program
Regionwide EMS Service
The care trauma patients receive even before they arrive at the hospital is also a key part of Atrium Health Floyd's regionwide response.
Floyd Emergency Medical Services, nearly 60 years old, provides emergency ambulance and non-emergency transport services to residents of Floyd and Chattooga Counties in Georgia and Cherokee County in Alabama.
EMS also provides event support and health screenings to schools, civic organizations, churches and other groups in the community.
Floyd Medical Center is also the Region C Coordinating Hospital for Health Care Preparedness. That means the hospital spearheads regionwide initiatives when responding to healthcare-related crises. Region C includes the counties of Bartow, Carroll, Chattooga, Coweta, Floyd, Haralson, Heard and Polk.
Stand-alone Emergency Department in Chattooga County
Another important part of Floyd's trauma services is the $18.4 million stand-alone emergency department scheduled to open later this fall in Chattooga County.
Residents there who now need emergency care have to travel to Floyd Medical Center in Rome or to facilities in Chattanooga, Atlanta or Gainesville.
A helipad will also be located on-site, providing quick access to Floyd Medical Center, which installed its own onsite helipad in the spring of 2022. A new mobile mammography unit will also be stationed there to ensure more women have convenient access to lifesaving breast cancer screenings.
The 10,884-square-foot fac facility, which will serve residents in Chattooga County and portions of Walker County and northeast Alabama, includes six treatment rooms, an onsite laboratory and imaging services, including X-ray and a computed tomography (CT) scanner.
Trauma Care in Polk County
Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center is recognized as a Level IV Trauma Center by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The Level IV designation means that Floyd Polk Medical Center, a critical access hospital, can stabilize injured patients, and if needed, to ensure they can safely be transferred to a higher level of care. As a critical access hospital, Floyd Polk Medical Center offers essential medical services to its surrounding community such as 24/7 emergency services, family medicine, sub-acute rehabilitation, outpatient surgery and cardiac imaging.
Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center
The Emergency Room at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Alabama provides emergency evaluation, stabilization and treatment for ill or injured patients. Patients needing more complex care for traumatic or life-threatening injuries or illnesses can be transferred to Floyd Medical Center or another appropriate facility through Atrium Health Floyd EMS.