Charleston Area Medical Center has the unique distinction of being Southern West Virginia’s only Level One Trauma Center (one of only two in the state). This means CAMC has the resources to provide the highest level of care for the most complex traumatic injuries and critically ill patients, including 24-hour in-hospital access to general surgeons as well as availability of anesthesia, emergency medicine, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, radiology, plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgery providers.
CAMC cares for nearly 95,000 patients annually, which includes about 2,500 trauma patients who come from around the state and locally, like Jaci Newcomer of Nitro, WV.
Jaci received care at CAMC for a trauma injury when a dog viciously attacked her in 2020.
“The dog initially attacked my daughter. I pulled him off her and then he was on my arm for probably about 10 minutes before I finally got him off me,” Jaci said.
The attack resulted in a large wound over Jaci’s forearm, resulting in exposed muscle and tendons, a fractured radius and ulna and additional damage to her hand. Jaci credits Jessica Chiang, DO and the orthopedic trauma surgery team for saving her arm.
“Dr. Chiang was great. Her whole office is great. They all kind of worked on me. I think there was only one doctor in there that didn’t actually work on my arm,” Jaci said.
Since 2020, Jaci has finished nursing school and now works as a nurse in the ICU at CAMC. She knew she wanted to be a nurse before the attack; however, this incident gave her insight into caring for patients and taught her to put herself in the patient’s shoes.
Scan the QR code to watch Jaci’s story (Warning: Graphic content).
