TRAUMA SURGEON Dan Segina, MD, and motorcycle crash survivor Marquie Cloud (and his grandmother, Lois Williams). “I’m walking, and I broke like half my body,” Cloud said, and the person he credits with his life and mobility is Dr. Segina.

Health First held a reunion of patients – now survivors – their caregivers and loved ones on National Trauma Survivors Day May 15. In all, more than a dozen survivors were recognized, given a red tulip, tote bag with “Survivor” on it, and a card signed by several surgeons and clinicians.

“I’m walking, and I broke like half my body,” said Marquie Cloud, whose motorcycle crash in August left him bleeding out, broken from his wrist to his foot, road burned and concussed.

Cloud was one of more than a dozen former Health First Holmes Regional Medical Center trauma patients who converged on the Harry and Wendy Brandon Atrium at the hospital for a celebration of life and expression of gratitude for medicine and First Responders.

“I just want to say thank you to everybody,” said former patient Dayanna Gigi Ramirez, who was involved in a near-fatal car crash just after Christmas. “To whoever cut me out of the vehicle, to the people who flew me to the hospital, to the surgeons – I’ve had 13 surgeries, but I’m walking today. It’s definitely a miracle.”

For more than a quarter century, Holmes Regional has been Brevard County’s only Level II trauma center, and Health First’s First Flight its only dedicated air ambulance service, which makes about 800 patient flights a year.

In 2023, the trauma department’s eight surgeons, nine advanced practice providers, numerous nurses and rehabilitation and respiratory therapists provided multidisciplinary, round-the-clock care for more than 2,000 trauma patients. One of those surgeons is Tony Dunne, MD, who led the program.

“To see so many people return, it sends a message to us that, you know, people are grateful for what we do,” he said after. “We have this critical role and the skills to take care of these people. It gives us a lot of energy going forward into the future.”

“As trauma providers, what drives us and inspires us is the goal of sending patients home to their families,” said Nancy Mettner, System Director for several hospital service lines, including Trauma, Neurohospitalists and Neuroendovascular Surgery.

“Each member of our team is deeply gratified to see you here today,” she told the assembled. “And we will celebrate more survivor stories in the future. At Health First, we know – we’re all stronger and better together.”

READ the full feature and see the photos at Space Coast Daily HERE.