HeathWatch Spotlight

DR. BARTEL TURK, right, co-medical director of The Trauma Center at Holmes Regional Medical Center and Dr. Peter Pappas, truama surgeon, with Justin Sheppard. "I have no doubt that I was close to death," said Sheppard. " The doctors in The Trauma Center at Holmes saved my life. I will always be grateful to them.”

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Eighteen-year-old Justin Sheppard, a Titusville resident, doesn’t remember the First Flight air ambulance ride to The Trauma Center at Holmes Regional Medical Center following a car collision in Cocoa that left him in a coma with a brain injury and multiple broken bones and crushed organs. By the time his family arrived at the hospital, Justin was already undergoing emergency surgeries being performed by several of the trauma team surgery specialists.

One week later Justin emerged from the coma and saw for the first time the surgeons and other trauma team members who had saved his life. His recovery has been a slow process. As a reminder of the accident, Justin has a small scar on his temple, and a large scar on his stomach. Justin is working full time, enjoying his family and friends, and making plans for his future.

He believes he owes his life to the trauma team who knew exactly what type of care and treatment he needed in the golden hour.

“I only remember a few days of my three-week hospital stay,” said Justin, “but based on the picture of my totaled car, and hearing about the body and head injuries I suffered, I have no doubt that I was close to death. The doctors in The Trauma Center at Holmes saved my life. I will always be grateful to them.”

Specialized Care on Demand
Holmes Regional Medical Center is home to one of just 22 trauma centers in Florida, a regional Level II center that opened 10 years ago with a coverage area that now includes Brevard and Indian River counties, with patients coming from as far away as Okeechobee when needed.

"The sooner you get the people here the better," says trauma surgeon Dr. Bartel Turk, who along with Dr. Sam Pellegrino, is the co-medical director of The Trauma Center at HRMC. "When somebody's bleeding, you only have so much time to get that bleeding under control. We will have people show up here basically pulseless, what we would call a trauma code and we can get them back if they get here soon enough."

Experienced trauma/critical care nurse Dianna Liebnitzky directs the trauma program at Holmes Regional Medical Center and is a past president of the state Trauma Program Manager’s Association.

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HOLMES REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER in Brevard County, Florida is home to one of just 22 trauma centers in Florida, a regional Level II center that opened 10 years ago.

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