Fayetteville hospital certified as Level III trauma facility

Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has a new distinction that the hospital says will benefit patients who need special trauma care, such as including gunshot victims and those in wrecks.

After working toward its certification for two years, the state has designated the Fayetteville hospital as the 13th Level III trauma center in North Carolina, meaning patients can receive critical life-saving treatment that previously required them being transported to other Level III facilities – the closest being in Raleigh and Wilmington.

"We kind of serve a big hole in the state where we serve about four counties now," trauma nurse coordinator Robin Autry said Monday.

Those counties include Cumberland and Bladen as well as parts of Harnett and Hoke.

"They all now feed into us for trauma care," Autry said.

Autry said Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has been seeing an average of 1,400 trauma patients each year. Now, most of those patients will be able to stay in Cumberland County.

"Hopefully, this means that we can keep a lot more patients closer to home, so families won't have to go to UNC and Duke as frequently to be with their families," she said.