VCU news

By Cassie Williams Jones

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine’s Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery will present the fourth annual Shining Knight Gala, an event to raise funds for injury and violence prevention and to honor those who protect and save lives in Central Virginia.

The event will take place Saturday, March 24, at the Jefferson Hotel, 101 W. Franklin St., beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. and a dinner and awards program to follow at 6:45 p.m.

Speakers include Secretary of Public Safety Marla Graff Decker and John D. Ward, M.D., vice-chair of the VCU Department of Neurosurgery president, chief medical officer of the VCU Health System/MCV Physicians and honorary chair of the Shining Knight Gala.

A multimedia presentation of a patient survival story will highlight the work of the Central Virginia Trauma System and the VCU Medical Center's trauma and injury and violence prevention programs. Twenty-five care providers will be given the Order of the Shining Knight for their contribution to the patient's survival.

The VCU Medical Center had more than 3,600 trauma admissions in 2011. Patients are admitted into the trauma center for a variety of reasons, including vehicle crashes, falls, burns and intentional injuries.

The VCU Health System is one of only two nationally recognized Level I trauma centers in the state and is the only one in central Virginia. Virginia recognizes five Level I trauma centers in the state, including the VCUHS. The VCU Health System was the first hospital in Virginia to be recognized after the introduction of the state verification process in 1981.