Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood planning a trauma center

Lankenau Medical Center, a Main Line Health hospital in Wynnewood, said Wednesday that it plans to develop a Level 2 trauma center to fill a gap in southern Montgomery County and northern Delaware County.

The process, overseen by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, which accredits trauma centers, is expected to take 15 months, Lankenau said.

Trauma centers are designed to care for victims of serious accidents and others who need quick intervention. Penn Presbyterian's Level 1 trauma center, in University City, is the closest to Lankenau.

The highest of four, Level 1 trauma centers are required to offer 24-hour availabity of specialists in treating severely injured patients, conduct trauma research, have a residency program, and treat at least 600 patients a year.

The medical requirements for Level 2 trauma centers are similar, but they are required to treat at least 350 trauma patients annually. They also do not have to conduct trauma research or have a residency program, according to the foundation.

Five years ago, Main Line Health opened a Level 2 trauma center at Paoli Hospital. Since then, the number of trauma helicopter flights leaving accident sites in Chester County has fallen to about 10 per year from 500 per year before Paoli's trauma center opened, Main Line said.

The health system also said that the amount time it takes for Chester accident victims to reach a trauma center has fallen to an average of 35 minutes from 75 minutes.

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