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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Fire Department and other emergency medical services providers have resumed the odd-even schedule for transporting critically ill or injured people to Omaha's top two hospital trauma centers.
The department said in a news release that its medical director had been working with the Midlands Protocol Committee and that the decision had been made to return to the schedule at noon Monday for Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University Medical Center.
Creighton had been out of the rotation since January, when the state didn't certify the hospital's emergency room for patients requiring Level 1 care. Trauma centers treat people who require immediate and intensive attention, and Level 1 patients may need resuscitation or establishment of an airway.
CHI Health officials learned Friday that their Creighton University hospital once again been given the certification and heard officially on Monday that the odd-even schedule was back in place.
"We appreciate the decision of the Midwest Protocol Committee to once again bring trauma patients to CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center," said its president, Kevin Nokels.
Both Creighton and the Nebraska Medical Center had sought to be designated as Level 1 trauma centers, a status that Nebraska Medical Center gained in September.
But state officials told Creighton early last month that a review team found in October that the trauma center failed to meet four out of the more than 160 standards that must be satisfied for the Level 1 designation. The team also said Creighton should have submitted its application for a new program, not as an application for redesignation of the existing program.
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