Messenger - Vol. 3, No. 4, Page 29 Summer 1994 Alumni Profile: Highways to ski slopes, trauma's her terrain When Linda Laskowski Jones was in the ninth grade, she volunteered at the St. Francis Hospital emergency room in Wilmington, Del., loved it and decided nursing was the career for her. Today, Jones, Delaware '83, '87M, the trauma clinical coordinator at the Medical Center of Delaware, is vice president of the Delaware Board of Nursing and was recently recognized for outstanding service to her profession. Named Nurse of the Year by the Delaware Nurses Association in the spring, the clinical nurse specialist also received an excellence-in- nursing award as a nurse educator from the medical center. At Christiana Hospital, Delaware's officially designated trauma center, Jones serves on the frontline of patient care as coordinator and trauma team nurse. As coordinator of the trauma team, Jones ensures that the levels of trauma care are high, and that policies and protocols are in place and carried out. As a clinical nurse specialist, she administers hands-on care to patients. And as a member of the mobile intensive care nurse team, she uses her skills during ambulance and helicopter transport of critically ill patients. In the community, she teaches about trauma prevention in schools, factories and offices. Trauma means bodily injury, Jones explained, and three or four cases reach Christiana Hospital every 24 hours. The majority of trauma patients are victims of automobile crashes, but may also be victims of shootings, knifings or injuries on the job, at home or in other settings. Jones works in tandem with emergency room staff when trauma victims arrive. The trauma team is usually notified when patients are in transit, and the team is at the ready to carry out whatever procedures or surgery are needed. The job of the trauma team does not end there, Jones says. The team follows up on trauma victims' care from hospital admission to discharge and arranges subsequent rehabilitation and care when appropriate. "We take a holistic approach to patient care. We see that patients start rehabilitation and arrange for care after the hospital. If a trauma patient has a drug or alcohol problem, we address that and don't simply discharge them," Jones says. When Jones speaks about trauma care and trauma prevention, her presentations are tailored to the age of the audience. She stresses basic safety and trauma prevention to small children, giving teenagers more graphic descriptions about the consequences of unsafe driving and, in particular, driving after drinking. She also instructs professionals about critical and trauma care. She teaches critical care at the local Veterans' Hospital as a consultant, lectures graduate nurse interns at the medical center and, every summer since 1989, has taught a five-week neurosurgical course at the University. Jones is married to Larry Jones, Delaware '81, who works for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. They met while undergraduates as ambulance volunteers on the University of Delaware campus. The couple enjoys hiking, backpacking and camping. When winter arrives, they take to the slopes for skiing. But, because they both are on a volunteer ski patrol, they are often called upon to use their emergency care skills for injured skiers on mountain trails. "Larry does the heavy work of transporting skiers on sleds to the first aid station below," Jones says. -Sue Swyers Moncure