University Hospitals Awarded Federal Grant to Assist with U.S. Military Readiness

CLEVELAND, Ohio – University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center is one of 25 trauma centers in the United States to receive a Military Civilian Partnership for Trauma Readiness Grant that helps military casualty care providers keep their skills sharp during non-war times.

When not deployed in combat zones, clinical and surgical teams from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines do not have the same opportunity to treat traumatic injuries. As a result, these teams can lose their trauma care skill level during non-deployment.

To ensure optimal readiness, Congress authorized funding for a civilian-military partnership called Mission Zero. Administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Mission Zero is designed to improve the nation’s response to public health crises while also helping U.S. combat casualty care providers maintain their expertise in treating severely injured trauma patients.

“We are honored to serve in this vital role of helping to support our U.S. military’s readiness to care for our soldiers,” said UH Chief Executive Officer Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. “UH has a strong heritage of supporting the U.S. military dating back to World War I when UH sent physicians and nurses to care for Allied soldiers wounded in Europe and to establish ‘Base Hospitals.’

“This funding will enhance our caregivers’ abilities to continue to save lives through additional staffing support in our Level 1 trauma center, while at the same time promote trauma training for our military health care personnel.”

“We congratulate University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center on receiving this important Mission Zero funding. These funds are critical to help improve the collaboration between military and civilian surgeons across our country and this ultimately benefits trauma patients,” said Jeffrey D. Kerby, MD, PhD, FACS, chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. “We have been strong supporters of Mission Zero funding and are encouraged by the collaboration it fosters among the military and civilian surgical sectors.”

Glen Tinkoff, MD, System Chief, Trauma and Acute Care Surgery at UH, said the new grant will support the addition of a program coordinator to work with the four branches of the military to enhance our current programming. He said UH currently has a program established with the U.S. Navy called Hospital Corpsman Trauma Training.

“The program, established in 2019, has seven-week iterations and we host six classes a year in which the Naval Corpsman integrate into our trauma team and obtain real world causality care in our adult emergency department, trauma surgical ICU, operating room and well as through a wound care rotation,” said Dr. Tinkoff. “We are one of four clinical sites in the country that hosts this program and the only one in Ohio.”

Jennifer Ward, President of the Trauma Center Association of America (TCAA), said, “TCAA has been working closely with Congress and our stakeholder partners in the trauma care community to develop and gain support for Mission Zero. TCAA is honored to support the inaugural class of awardees for this innovative program working to ensure trauma care readiness, increase access to