Recovering Patient Reunites with Penn Highlands DuBois Trauma Team Who Saved His Life

March 9, 2024 started out as just a normal day at work in the gas well industry for 47-year-old Timothy Richmond. However, his day turned out anything but normal at the job site in Snow Shoe, Pa. when a hydraulic unit blew a 4” x 2” hydraulic fitting. The fitting shot through his abdomen below his rib cage and went out his back. He was transported to the Level II Trauma Center at Penn Highlands DuBois where the Trauma Team saved his life.

“Mr. Richmond required extensive surgery,” explained Philip S. Vuocolo, MD, MHA, FACS, a board-certified acute-care and trauma surgeon at Penn Highlands General Surgery and Trauma Medical Director for Penn Highlands DuBois. “He sustained injuries to his ribs, liver and bowel. He had significant blood loss which required multiple transfusions and we were concerned about possible poisoning from the hydraulic fluid that entered his body.”

Following a second surgery the next day where more metal was removed from his body, Mr. Richmond spent 10 days in the ICU — half of which were in a medically induced coma.

Mr. Richmond is back at home in York, Pa. with his wife, Kelly. On April 23, 2024 during a meeting with the Trauma Team and emergency services personnel, they expressed gratitude to the team who saved his life.

“The medical helicopter could not fly the day of Tim’s accident because of the weather, but that did not stop the Emergency Medical Services Team from providing immediate care. The grounded flight medics drove toward the ambulance and met it half way to the hospital so they could begin administering more advanced care,” explained Kelly Richmond.

“Dr. Vuocolo and the entire team is just incredible,” added Tim. “I am very thankful that we have such a skilled Trauma Team and Trauma Center in our region and I will never hesitate to travel from York to DuBois for my care.”

Penn Highlands DuBois is accredited as a Level II Trauma Center by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation. It is the only Level II Trauma Center in Central/Northwestern Pennsylvania. Accredited trauma centers are hospitals with resources immediately available to provide optimal care to the injured in order to reduce the likelihood of death or disability to injured patients. In addition, accredited trauma centers must be continuously prepared to treat the most serious life threatening and disabling injuries.

“Often severe injuries, such as those sustained by Mr. Richmond, require multidisciplinary, comprehensive emergency medical services. This Trauma Team includes EMS first responders, EMTs, paramedics, ER doctors and nurses, trauma physicians and advanced practice providers, OR personnel and ICU nurses as well as a host of other trauma-related services and personnel,” explained Dr. Vuocolo. “With our Level II Trauma Center accreditation and skilled Trauma Team all working together in concert, people with major traumatic injuries in Central/Northwestern Pennsylvania can receive high quality care in their community without the need to be transported to another facility which can have a positive impact on outcomes.”