Bloomington-Normal is without a level one trauma center

Posted on January 18, 2015

Advocate Bromenn and OSF St. Joseph Medical center are level two trauma centers.  (WJBC file photo)

By Terry James

BLOOMINGTON – With some areas of Southern Illinois having no trauma centers, Bloomington-Normal is lucky to have two level two trauma centers to treat those with critical injuries.  However, the Bloomington Normal area is without a Level one trauma center.   Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Lamar Habrouck is working to help more hospitals upgrade their trauma centers or create new trauma centers.

"We've kind of laid the groundwork and said in southern and central Illinois here are some hospitals that you may want to take a deeper dive look at because they already meet some of the criteria and it wouldn't be a very heavy lift to reach this threshhold of certification," said Housbrouck.

The nearest Level one trauma center in our area is in Peoria.  Hasbrouck admits some patients in Illinois have to be flown to Iowa or Indiana to reach a level one trauma center

Hasbrouck says upgrading hospitals can be very expensive, but could save lives as time is of the essence.

Terry James can be reached at [email protected].

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