The Maryland Trauma Center Network [TraumaNet] is a multidisciplinary advocacy group focused on improving care within the Maryland Trauma System with representation from each of Maryland’s designated trauma centers and specialty referral centers.
TraumaNet and the Maryland American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma wish to celebrate the outstanding trauma care delivered by Maryland nurses and Emergency Medical Services providers with creation of annual awards. The winners are role models for their professions who were nominated by their colleagues either for a single event during the year or for sustained excellence.
The inaugural winners are:
Emergency Medical Services Provider of the Year
Timothy Hackett, NRP
Evan Kinsley, NRP
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue
Paramedics Hackett and Kinsley arrived to private residence and discovered an adult male who had sustained a deep laceration to his neck. The injury partially transected his trachea with ongoing hemorrhage into the airway. They were able to suction and then secure the airway with an endotracheal tube and to control the bleeding with packing of the wound. They sedated the agitated patient and ensured safe transport to the trauma center for definitive care. The life-saving actions of Paramedics Hackett and Kinsley exemplify the excellence of Maryland Emergency Medical Service providers in caring for their fellow Marylanders in times of critical need.
Nurse of the Year
Kristina Belt, MSN, RN
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
Ms. Kristina Belt is a recognized trauma leader at Sinai Hospital. She chairs the Emergency Department Trauma Committee and is responsible for many of the ED’s trauma care protocols. Her process to ensure timely antibiotic administration for open fractures led to 100% compliance within one hour of ED arrival. On December 2023, Ms. Belt was working in the Sinai Pediatric ED when a 17-year-old patient arrived after being struck by a vehicle at low speed. Ms. Belt recognized that the patient’s mechanism on injury merited a trauma evaluation and directed expedient CT imaging led to prompt identification of bilateral rib fractures, hemopneumothorax and a liver laceration. Ms. Belt’s dedication to trauma care exemplifies the excellence of Maryland nurses in delivering outstanding trauma care to their fellow Marylanders.
