The Tripler Army Medical Center has announced that with the next six months to a year, it will open its doors to nonmilitary residents on the island of Oahu as trauma center in an effort to provide relief to the Queen's Medical Center in downtown Honolulu. According to their press release, Tripler will become a Level III trauma center and care for "low level trauma patients". Queen's Medical Center is currently a Level II trauma center and will focus on seriously injured individuals.
While many hospitals on the island of Oahu have emergency rooms, only Queen's Medical Center has a trauma center that can provide help for serious injuries. Dr. Linda Rosen, the chief of the state Health Department's emergency medical services and injury prevention system branch, stated, "On a day-to-day basis we don't usually run into too many problems. Queen's can handle the load." However, Rosen noted that if there was a major situation, having a second trauma center in Tripler Army Medical Center would be critical.
