Trauma is sudden and unexpected. Before you realize what’s happened, your life, or the life of a loved one can be devastated. A fall, a vehicle collision, fire, traumatic brain injury and more can have impacts for a lifetime.

While you are likely not preparing for life’s traumatic events, we certainly are. As Wake County’s only provider of trauma services and a regional trauma referral center, our two trauma centers and the WakeMed Trauma teams are ready to provide the highest quality level of crisis care for patients who are seriously injured.

WakeMed Raleigh Campus features the only Wake County Level 1 Trauma Center. Located in the capital city, it serves as a regional epicenter for residents of Eastern Wake and surrounding areas. Cary Hospital — the only full-service hospital in Cary, North Carolina — boasts a Level 3 Trauma Center and allows quick access for residents of Western Wake and surrounding areas.

Our Teams

Our multidisciplinary teams, led by board-certified surgeons, are responsible for the management of major trauma and are supported by a wide variety of specialists and professionals:

• Advance Practice Providers (APP) and Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Anesthesia and Operating Room teams
• Behavioral Health and Substance Counselors
• Chaplains
• Dietitians and Nutritionists
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS) teams
• Hospitalists
• Neuropsychologists
• Neurosurgeons
• Nurses and Nurse Technicians
• Orthopaedists
• Pediatricians
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons — Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT)
• Rehabilitation Services — The team includes Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Pathologists
• Respiratory Therapists
• Radiology Technicians and Radiologists
• Social Workers and Case Managers
• Wake Emergency Physicians, PA (WEPPA)

Trauma Center Designations

Designation levels ranging from one to five reference the types of resources available in a trauma center and the number of patients admitted yearly. Level 1 is the highest caliber.

Level 1 Standards of Care

A Level 1 Trauma Center is capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury — from prevention to rehabilitation.

• Offers 24-hour in-house coverage by a team of experts.
• Serves as a referral resource for communities in nearby regions.
• Provides leadership in prevention and public education.
• Provides continuing education for all members of the trauma team.
• Integrates an expansive quality assessment program.
• Operates an organized teaching and research effort to help direct new innovations in trauma care.
• Serves a high annual volume of severely injured patients.

Level 3 Standards of Care

A Level 3 Trauma Center provides emergency care and rapid evaluation, resuscitation, surgery, intensive care and stabilization of injured patients.

• Offers 24-hour in-house coverage by a team of experts.
• Integrates an expansive quality assessment program.
• Has in place clear transfer agreements and protocols for patients requiring more comprehensive care at a Level 1 or Level 2 Trauma Center.
• Provides back-up care for rural and community hospitals.
• Offers continuing education for nursing, allied health personnel or the trauma team.
• Involves prevention efforts and an active outreach program for referring communities.

Raleigh Campus

Since its inception in 1987, the WakeMed Trauma Program has grown steadily every year and today is one of the busiest in the state. WakeMed first earned the designation as Wake County’s only Level 1 Trauma Center in 2006, and in 2017 the program pursued national verification from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Leadership Team

Pascal O. Udekwu, MD, FACS is the Executive Medical Director for WakeMed Raleigh Trauma Services. Becky Andrews, Senior Vice President & Administrator Raleigh Enterprise, serves as head of the leadership team for the Raleigh Campus Level 1 Trauma Center. Sarah Hoffman is the Executive Director of Operations and Trauma Services. Sarah McIntyre, RN is the Trauma Program Manager.

Services

System wide, our Level 1 Trauma Center offers the most advanced service areas for critically injured patients:

• Five adult intensive care units
• A pediatric intensive care unit
• Comprehensive acute, inpatient and outpatient physical rehabilitation
• A separate Obstetrical Emergency Department in the Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace

Research and Prevention

In addition to treating injury, we are even more interested in preventing injury. Our Trauma Team is involved with innovative research that leads to better trauma care, helpful prevention strategies and more favorable outcomes for patients. We work with community partners to develop new and better emergency services and trauma protocols that lead to improved health care across the region.

While Injury Prevention and Research doesn’t directly care for patients, this team helps maintain our trauma center status and offers educational resources to the community.

WakeMed serves as the lead agency for Safe Kids Wake County, a nonprofit child safety advocacy group whose mission is to prevent or reduce the severity of unintentional injury to children under 14 years old. For adults and families, we offer first aid resources and classes. For older adults, WakeMed offers fire and falls prevention, medication error prevention and driver safety education.

Recent Research Achievements

• We have presented for conferences at Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) and Emergency Nurses Association (ENA).
• We have published articles in American Journal of Surgery (Am Surg), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Journal of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery (J Trauma Acute Care Surg).
• We work/assist with multiple disciplines including orthopaedics, bariatrics and pediatrics for publications and presentation.
• We are involved with multicenter studies across North Carolina and the United States.

Our Level 1 Trauma Center By the Numbers

In 2021, Raleigh Campus provided trauma care for 4,773 patients. The five most common traumatic injuries included falls, motor vehicle collisions, gunshot wounds, stabbings and pedestrian collisions — in this order. Despite the seriousness of these injuries, the average length of stay before safe discharge was between four and five days.

Cary Hospital

As a Level 3 Trauma center, and the second designated trauma center in Wake County, WakeMed Cary Hospital provides services for patients experiencing a variety of traumatic injuries. Patients are quickly assessed and evaluated. For the more critically injured patients, we provide rapid, comprehensive assessment and stabilization for transfer to a higher level of care.

In our first year of operation, we cared for over 850 trauma patients from Wake and surrounding counties. On August 13, 2019, the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services (NCOEMS) voted to approve Cary Hospital’s designation as a Level 3 Trauma Center.

Leadership Team

Jeff Abrams, MD, FACS is the Medical Director for WakeMed Cary Hospital Trauma Services. Tom Hughes serves as the Senior Vice President & Administrator for Cary Hospital. Kristi Blankenship, RN, is the Trauma Coordinator.

Services

Hospital-wide, we offer rapid response services for seriously injured patients:

• An adult intensive care unit and dedicated surgical inpatient unit
• A 24-7 emergency department with a dedicated trauma room for evaluation and care.
• A separate Obstetrical Emergency Department in the Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace
• Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation support