Survey Reveals Overwhelming Support for New Trauma Center in Clark County

MountainView Hospital January 16, 2019

LAS VEGAS, NV JAN. 16, 2019 - MountainView Hospital today released a survey showing extremely high support for expanding access to trauma care in the region. Residents throughout Clark County overwhelmingly support state government and the Southern Nevada District Board of Health approving the upgrade of MountainView Hospital's emergency room to a Level III trauma center. MountainView Hospital recently applied to upgrade its emergency room to a Level III trauma center and fill an access gap to trauma care for northwest Clark County. That application will be considered by the Southern Nevada District Board of Health in the weeks ahead.

"We surveyed voters across Clark County to ensure our proposal to expand access to local trauma care was aligned with the needs of the community we serve. An overwhelming majority of residents, 93 percent, say that the state should approve MountainView Hospital's application to upgrade to a trauma center," said Jeremy Bradshaw, MountainView Hospital Chief Executive Officer.

Nevada has ranked last among all states in its ability to provide access to emergency care. With one of the nation's highest motor vehicle fatality rates and a vast population of senior citizens with elevated risk for injury, Las Vegas faces unique challenges. Annually more than 500 trauma patients are already treated at MountainView Hospital. A Level III trauma center at MountainView Hospital will ensure these patients have access to the trauma care they deserve - allowing MountainView Hospital to provide better, appropriate care for these patients who are already being treated at MountainView.

"Given that it takes up to three years to build and designate a trauma center and with near unanimous community support, it only make sense for the Board of Health to recognize the need and plan ahead to ensure our residents have access to adequate, quality trauma care," Bradshaw said.

KEY SURVEY FINDINGS:

Support for a new trauma center in Clark County is extraordinarily high: 93 percent say that the state should approve MountainView Hospital's application to upgrade to a trauma center. In fact, more than four-in-five strongly feel this way.
A majority of residents believe that Clark County needs more trauma care: 55 percent say that there are "not enough" trauma centers in Clark County, while 26 percent believe there are enough, and a mere one percent think there are too many. Among those who work in health care or have a family member who does, this perception of need is even stronger (68 percent say there are not enough).
Support crosses gender, ethnic, and age boundaries: there is no sub-group of residents in which opposition exceeds 10 percent. Support is evident across all sub-groups in Clark County, including 92 percent of women and 94 percent of men; 94 percent of Latinos, 96 percent of African Americans, and 93 percent of Whites; 94 percent of voters under age 35, 93 percent of 35-54 year-olds.
The Bottom Line: Clark County voters are speaking in near unanimity that they believe that the Southern Nevada District Board of Health and state government should allow the designation of this additional trauma center. This view is widely held and evident everywhere in Clark County. In fact, opposition to this idea is almost non-existent.

MountainView contracted with Public Opinion Strategies to conduct a statistically valid survey of 400 voters throughout Clark County, Nevada, from November 14-17, 2018.