MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare officials are submitting an application to the Washington Department of Health that would, if approved, allow the hospital to treat more complicated trauma cases. If the application is approved the hospital would become the second Level 3 trauma center in north central Washington.

The levels refer to the kind of trauma cases a hospital can accept and treat. Currently Samaritan is a Level 4 trauma center.

Samaritan commissioners approved the application at the regular meeting Tuesday. Shelly Gay, the hospital’s trauma care director, said DOH officials are scheduled to do an on-site evaluation Feb. 20. Once that visit is completed, hospital officials should be notified of the decision in about three months, Gay said. The trauma level designation is good for three years.

Currently the only Level 3 trauma center in north central Washington is Confluence Health-Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. Samaritan is the second-largest hospital in the region, and is a good candidate to upgrade its trauma response, Gay said.

“Our close proximity to I-90, our diverse (economy) of agriculture and industry and also the Sand Dunes mean that we can see a fair number of trauma patients,” Gay said. Samaritan treated 135 trauma patients in 2016, and has treated 129 through the end of October.

The hospital will be required to upgrade its trauma treatment policies, and its emergency room and trauma treatment personnel will be required to meet specific training standards, Gay said. The hospital must implement a “robust quality improvement program.”

The hospital is also required to provide community education on the leading causes of traumatic injury in the local area. At Samaritan those are car accidents, falls and blunt trauma. “Blunt trauma is something (an injury) that you don’t see,” Gay said, citing the example of internal injury sustained in a fall.

Commissioner Joe Akers asked about emergency room and emergency department staffing and space, and if either needed to be upgraded. Gay said no, and director of nursing Becky DeMers said hospital officials have been working on revamping and upgrading the emergency department over the last year.

The program must have a qualified general surgeon, DeMers said, a role filled by physician Cecilia Trydestam. Rebecca Suarez is the emergency room director. Akers asked what happens if any of the three get new jobs, or retire. “I just want to make sure we can maintain it. There’s a difference between starting a program and maintaining a program,” he said.

DeMers said building the program requires establishing policies and guidelines that could be used by any qualified administrators.

“If they were to leave, somebody else would be able to come in and pick that work up.”