Excellence and leadership

More pe ople who have suffered a tra umatic inj ury a re flown direc tly to Roya l Columbian Hosp ita l than an y other hosp ita l in the province .

Exce llence and leade rship

Tra uma ca re progra m rec ogn ized na tiona lly

Tom Legge tt with his son .

Five years later, Tom Leggett seems comfortable talking about the fall that left him with a traumatic brain injury. What’s more painful is thinking about who found him laying on the concrete driveway of his Coquitlam home, his skull fractured, several broken ribs, and struggling unsuccessfully to get back up.

Before his teenage son discovered him on the ground, Tom had been on a ladder, working on his home. He was rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital, one of the province’s two major adult trauma centres.

“The toughest part was that my son had to see that,” says Tom, who spent close to two weeks in hospital and many months recovering enough to return to work and resume some of his previous activities.

Falls account for more than half of the traumatic injuries that send people to the hospital. Of those, almost a third involve a ladder. Men make up most of these cases. And the number is highest in certain months: June through September, when a lot of house work gets done outside; and then again in December, when people hang lights and ornaments, both inside and outside the home. Team effort

In 2016, Royal Columbian Hospital and the rest of Fraser Health were recognized nationally for clinical excellence and an outstanding commitment to leadership in trauma services. Fraser Health is the second health authority in Canada to have successfully undergone Accreditation Canada’s evaluation process.

Royal Columbian’s trauma program is one of the busiest in the country and involves a team made up of emergency physicians, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and social workers. They are ready 24/7 to respond as some of the most seriously injured patients in the province are rushed here by ambulance or helicopter. “I really am, and will remain, indebted to the care that I received,” says Tom, who shared his story with donors to Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation during an event close to the fifth anniversary of his traumatic injury. “If it wasn’t for the care, I wouldn’t be here.”