Trauma Center

Every day, hundreds of EMTs and paramedics, police officers and firefighters and nurses and doctors from throughout the region are pressed into service as part of the Hudson Valley's trauma system, rescuing and saving the lives of countless infants, children and adults who have fallen victim to accidents on our roads, in our schools and businesses and in our homes. 

Westchester Medical Center is home to the Joel A. Halpern Trauma Center, a Level I Trauma Center which cares for the most severely injured patients and has the capability to perform open heart surgery, complex emergency neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery, reattach severed limbs, and to care for burn victims, victims with multiple life-threatening internal injuries, pregnant women and children, among others. As a top-level trauma center, we are at the core of the regional trauma system and  are different from other hospitals because we guarantee immediate on-site availability of specialized surgeons, anesthesiologists, orthopedists, neurosurgeons and other specialty physicians and nurses, and sophisticated resuscitation and life support equipment 24 hours per day.

As the lead hospital in the Hudson Valley regional trauma system, Westchester Medical Center provides leadership and total care for every aspect of injury, from prevention to rehabilitation.  Our trauma research is presented at national symposia, and is used as a benchmark for training the region's lifesaving personnel, including local EMTs, firefighters, paramedics, and emergency staff from community hospitals.  In fact, our research was used by the U.S. government in the creation of a national program for regional trauma systems throughout the U.S.