That headline may sound like a hackneyed Hollywood sound bite or a bad pirate movie riddle, but I haven't lost my mind - yet.
And perhaps you are weary of hearing about our trauma program. But let me put a new spin it. In fact, check us out on Facebook. Search for NorthBay Trauma Center.
On Friday at 8 a.m., NorthBay Medical Center officially received the first trauma patients in the first and only trauma center in Solano County. At 4 p.m. that day, a host of dignitaries unveiled our new sign at the corner of B. Gale Wilson Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Solano County is no longer the only county in Northern California without a trauma service. Had you been there, you would have been a witness to history. There may come other trauma centers, but they will not be the first.
When Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Kathy Richerson asked me to take command of this ship I made her a promise: I would deliver a quality trauma program by the fall of 2011. She and the administration gave me the support needed and my team delivered the "goods" - an officially designated Level III trauma center.
In March, with four simple words, I was introduced to a young lady I've never met whose story moved me and has changed my life forever. Her name is Morgan Gallegos. As I have related in my previous blog posts, Morgan succumbed to injuries suffered in a watercraft trauma on March 28, 2010. She was 14. But Morgan did not die that day, for her spirit and her gift live on in five transplant recipients who received her organs. In the minds of friends and loved ones, and in the work done every day in the trauma room that bears her name, she lives on.
An endowment established in her name will serve in perpetuity to prevent future traumas and tragedies. I will tell her story to any and all willing to listen, another promise I made a while ago.
Be well.
