The only trauma center serving San Francisco and northern San
Mateo County pulls together after the Asiana Airlines crash and
cares for more of the accident victims than any other hospital in
the city.
Geoff Manley, MD, PhD, was heading to a meeting at San Francisco
General Hospital and Trauma Center (SFGH) last week when he heard
something on the radio about a plane crash at San Francisco
International Airport.
Initial news reports were unclear about the severity of the
accident and the number injured, but Manley, SFGH’s chief of
neurosurgery and an internationally recognized expert in brain
trauma, knew one thing: he needed to step on the gas and go to
the hospital immediately.
By the time he got there, the first wave of patients – with some
of the most serious injuries – was arriving at the public
hospital, the only Level 1 Trauma Center for the city and county
of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County.
Over the next six-and-a-half hours on July 6, three more waves of
patients would follow, with conditions ranging from road rash and
fractures to spinal cord and brain injuries, from the crash of
Asiana Airlines Flight 214.
The staff at Stanford Hospital conducted a disaster drill a few
weeks ago, a routine reminder for doctors and nurses on what to
do if patients started pouring in.
Those skills were put to the test Saturday afternoon, when the
Palo Alto medical center and its children’s hospital took in 55
patients from the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash at San
Francisco International Airport.
