Meet Our TraumaCare Staff

W. Christopher Bandy, MD, FACS
TraumaCare Medical Director

Dr. Bandy, a board-certified general surgeon and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, is hospital-based and specializes in the care of trauma and surgical critical care patients.

Dr. Bandy is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., and received his medical degree from East Tennessee State University, in 1990. He completed his residency with a focus on trauma and critical care at Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in 1997. He also spent six months training at the Institute of Surgical Research at Brooke Army Medical Center. Dr. Bandy is the chair of the Northeast Kansas Regional Trauma Council and a member of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Western Surgical Society, and the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

Dr. Bandy is also an instructor for the following courses: Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC), Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Adult Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).

Intensely dedicated to improving the care of trauma patients in northeast Kansas, Dr. Bandy is leading a Stormont-Vail team of professionals in a coordinated approach to the treatment of critically injured patients.

Scott Harrison, RN, BSN
TraumaCare Program Manager

As TraumaCare Program Manager, Scott Harrison plans, directs and coordinates patient care areas to maintain the highest standard of care for this injured population. He is responsible for the organization of services and systems necessary for a multidisciplinary approach to care for the injured patient. He is responsible for day-to-day processes and performance improvement activities as they relate to nursing and ancillary personnel, and assists the Trauma Medical Director with the Medical Staff performance improvement activities for the trauma service. He comes to the trauma service after eight years as an Emergency Room charge nurse.

Harrison is a certified Trauma Nurse Core Course Instructor, an Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor, and also is certified in the Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course and Pediatric Advanced Life Support. He is also National Incident Management System certified. He is a member of the Emergency Nurse Association, the Midwest Trauma Society, the American Trauma Society and the National Foundation for Trauma Care.

Joseph Clark, PA-C
Trauma Specialist

Joseph Clark is a Physician's Assistant who has been the TraumaCare Trauma Specialist since the program's inception in November 2004. He received his Physician Assistant Degree at the University of North Dakota in 2001, and his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Methodist College in Omaha, NE, in 1994. He is an associate member of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Clark organizes and co-leads the Trauma Critical Care Team with the surgeon. He is also responsible for leading daily multidisciplinary trauma rounds and organizing and supervising Trauma Grand Rounds. On a daily basis Clark is intimately involved with the initial resusitation of the trauma patient and provides direct care for patients on the Trauma Service.

Darlene Whitlock, RN, MSN
TraumaCare Outreach and Prevention Coordinator

Darlene Whitlock is the Stormont-Vail TraumaCare Outreach and Prevention Coordinator. She was instrumental in initiating the Trauma Service at Stormont-Vail HealthCare as the Project Coordinator and initial Trauma Program Manager for the service.

As the Trauma Outreach Coordinator, she is responsible for developing and implementing trauma education throughout Stormont-Vail, northeast Kansas and the state. She provides consultation services for other referral facilities to assist in improving trauma care.

As the Trauma Prevention Coordinator she develops and provides a wide spectrum of prevention activities in an effort to push the Trauma Service out of business. (See Trauma Education and Prevention)

Whitlock is a Kansas-Certified Emergency Medical Technician, and is a Certified Emergency Nurse through the Emergency Nurses Association. She is active on the Governor's special task force, the Advisory Committee on Trauma, to facilitate a State Trauma Plan and she is on the executive council of the Northeast Kansas Regional Trauma Council.

She is also an instructor for the following courses: RTTDC, TNCC, PHTLS, PALS, ACLS, ENPC and CATN-II.

Robin Cox
TraumaCare Business Manager

Robin has been the Business Manager for Stormont-Vail TraumaCare since September 2004. She has worked at Stormont-Vail for 29 years in many different capacities, most recently Business Supervisor at the Cotton-O'Neil Heart Center.

Some of her responsibilities include managing the operational budget, payroll, creating presentations, transcribing minutes, scheduling patients in follow-up clinic, generating physician billing for trauma patients and preparing budget and business plans for the capital and operational budget. She is intimately involved with assisting in Trauma Registry data collection.

Kathy Forester
TraumaCare Registrar

Kathy has been with Stormont-Vail TraumaCare since March 2005. She has an associate's degree and 19 years experience in the health care field. She is responsible for collating and extrapolating patient care information for the Trauma Registry and for compiling data reports.

The Trauma Registry is an expansive confidential database that includes up to 500 data points for every trauma patient seen at Stormont-Vail HealthCare. This data is reported to the state quarterly and to the American College of Surgeons' National Trauma Data Bank.

Stormont-Vail Trauma Registry Data