Cleveland Clinic pitched its plans to open a new Level I trauma center directly to residents this week, drawing mixed reactions from community members weighing in for the first time.
The Clinic announced in January that it wants to open a high-level trauma center at its main campus, spurring debate around whether that was best for patients. Cleveland already has two existing Level I trauma centers, one at University Hospitals and one at MetroHealth.
A few residents at the Tuesday night Ward 6 meeting, which took place at the nonprofit Fairhill Partners, said they’d been asking the Clinic to provide trauma care on the East Side for decades. Others worried that adding a new center could hurt existing hospitals, like MetroHealth. Residents also asked whether the hospital would change its police department’s policy of detaining residents who bring in gunshot victims. Level I trauma centers are set up to treat the highest-level injuries, including gunshot wounds…