This has been quite a year for Effingham Health System.

In February, Effingham Hospital unveiled a $30 million expansion that included an emergency room with 11 patient bays, two triage rooms and an open area for nursing staff to have a view of all areas at once.

On Friday, the hospital celebrated the emergency room’s designation as one of only four Level IV trauma centers in the state.

“This is a very special day. We have been working on this for three years,” Effingham Health System CEO Norma Jean Morgan said to a group of hospital leaders and community partners.

Effingham Health earned the Level IV designation from the Georgia Department of Public Health on Aug. 9, following a lengthy evaluation of the hospital’s capabilities for patient care and history of treating patients. GDPH officials also made a site visit to the hospital, and Morgan said they came away impressed.

“They said, ‘By far, you’re the best trauma IV that we have ever interviewed,’” Morgan said. “So it was a real pleasure to not only receive the certification, but to be told how superior we were to our peers who also applied for the designation.”

Julie Long, chief nursing officer for EHS, described earning the trauma IV designation as a “team effort” of hard work not just by the hospital staff, but also EMS and LifeStar.

“They are focusing on quality and service, and they are truly ready to step up to the plate to proved a higher level of care,” Long said.

With its emergency room upgraded to a Level IV trauma center, Effingham Health is now part of the statewide trauma system. Georgia’s trauma centers are divided into regions, each with a centralized dispatch system that sends patients to the appropriate hospital based on location and the patient’s needs.

A Level IV trauma center provides initial trauma and lifesaving care, transferring patients to another hospital only if necessary. Effingham Health will treat patients of heart attacks, strokes and orthopedic traumas, for example, rather than the patient going directly to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.

The benefit is two-fold: Effingham Hospital can treat more patients, while Memorial – a Level I trauma center, the state’s highest designation – can use its resources for more serious cases. Most importantly, for patients, it means quicker response times and the best possible care, according to hospital officials.

“We are trying to change from the little hospital up the road to be on people’s radar. It’s a first step,” said Marie Livingstone, executive director of clinical outcomes for Effingham Health System.

The next step, she said, is for EHS to move up to a Level III trauma center. To do so, Effingham Health will need to add more physician specialists and expand its surgery coverage.

Those plans are already in the works, and Livingstone said her goal is for Effingham Health to become a Level III trauma center within the next 18 months.

“So, next year, you’ll be back congratulating us on our trauma III designation,” she said.