In addition to care at our medical facilities, the Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery actively works in our communities to reduce and prevent injuries and the need for emergency medical care and to further the knowledge and skills of care providers.

Trauma Outreach

As the only Level 1 Trauma center in Southern Arizona, we play a leading role in issues related to trauma and critical care. Our trauma outreach programs include:

• Information for community groups interested in learning more about the trauma problem, how to prevent trauma and how the trauma system works
• Outreach to government officials to help them develop public policy to improve trauma care systems
• Outreach to lawmakers so they can create better laws concerning the trauma care system and injury prevention 

We also offer a number of courses and presentations throughout the year and are home to the Southern Arizona Telemedicine and Telepresence (SATT) Program, which helps to provide better trauma care at rural Southern Arizona hospitals and assists with the transfer of critical trauma patients to the Trauma Center at University of Arizona Medical Center.

Injury Prevention

The best way to deal with serious injuries is to prevent them. In addition to presentations to schools and community groups and displays at safety and health fairs, the Division of Acute Care Surgery works closely with University Medical Center and others on a number of injury-prevention initiatives as described below.

Wake Up!

This program for at-risk youth coordinates classroom studies plus a mentored visit to the trauma center to see the actual consequences of poor decisions. The program has a proven ability to reduce future at-risk behaviors by more than 50%. 

CARGO

Communities Addressing Responsible Gun Ownership (CARGO) is a program of the Pima County Attorney’s Office, with support from UMC Trauma, that provides education to school and youth groups about firearm safety and responsibility. The group also makes free gun locks available.

Media Campaigns

Our surgeons participate in local radio talk shows to discuss injury prevention, and we sponsor billboards and advertisements in print, radio and TV to communicate injury-prevention messages. In particular, we underwrite ongoing billboards throughout metropolitan Tucson warning against running red lights — Tucson is the 4th-worst city in the United States for crashes from running red lights!

Colton's Friends

In conjunction with this program, we make car seats for newborns and other children available through our University Medical Center.

Safe Kids Tucson

Along with other agencies, we participate in Safe Kids Tucson's multiple projects, including child car seat and booster seat programs, bicycle helmet giveaways and water safety programs for first-graders. 

Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Committee

We work closely with Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, made up of many individuals from Tucson schools and health care agencies and led by UA Pediatric Critical Care, to improve services to children with brain injuries. 

Injury-Prevention Research

Our research initiatives often explore ways to prevent injury. Currently, one study works with ATV crash survivors to determine attitudes, beliefs and risk factors that may contribute to ATV accidents. Another research project identified milepost 44.5 on Arizona's Highway 83 as the state's worst spot for crashes, prompting the Arizona Department of Transportation to reconstruct the curve in this section of the highway.