CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Charleston Area Medical Center has taken another step to ensure it never again loses its Level 1 trauma status.

CAMC introduced two new full-time orthopedic trauma specialists - Drs. Shawn Storm and Aaron Sop - to hospital staff Thursday.

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"I knew they had had a history and lost their Level 1 trauma in the past, so I wanted to play a role in helping them keep that status," said Storm, who trained in orthopedic trauma at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., before coming to CAMC. "We're trauma guys by training, trauma guys by choice."

Six years ago, the state revoked CAMC's Level 1 trauma status - the top grade for trauma certification - because not enough bone surgeons were available to take emergency calls at the hospital. Patients with serious injuries were rushed to Morgantown and Huntington at the time.

CAMC, with help from Gov. Bob Wise, regained its Level 1 status a month later. The hospital has maintained that designation ever since.

For the past year, CAMC's Orthopedic Trauma Group has used temporary doctors - all with military backgrounds and experience in trauma - to fill in until full-time specialists were found.

"There's more continuity of care with us here full time, and patients like that," said Sop, who trained at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center before coming to CAMC. "You get to know your patients, and they like to see the same doctor every time."

CAMC General Hospital has one of only two Level 1 trauma centers in West Virginia. The other is the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center at West Virginia University Hospitals in Morgantown.

To receive Level 1 status, hospitals must have a trauma surgeon, emergency doctor, neurosurgeon, anesthesiologist and orthopedic surgeon available immediately day and night.

CAMC introduced two new full-time orthopedic trauma specialists - Drs. Shawn Storm and Aaron Sop - to hospital staff Thursday.

Storm and Sop recently joined CAMC's Orthopedic Trauma Group - now a three-doctor team - which started in 2007. The trauma specialists fix fractured bones and shattered pelvises of patients seriously injured by falls and motor-vehicle accidents.

"I knew they had had a history and lost their Level 1 trauma in the past, so I wanted to play a role in helping them keep that status," said Storm, who trained in orthopedic trauma at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., before coming to CAMC. "We're trauma guys by training, trauma guys by choice."

Six years ago, the state revoked CAMC's Level 1 trauma status - the top grade for trauma certification - because not enough bone surgeons were available to take emergency calls at the hospital. Patients with serious injuries were rushed to Morgantown and Huntington at the time.

CAMC, with help from Gov. Bob Wise, regained its Level 1 status a month later. The hospital has maintained that designation ever since.

For the past year, CAMC's Orthopedic Trauma Group has used temporary doctors - all with military backgrounds and experience in trauma - to fill in until full-time specialists were found.

"There's more continuity of care with us here full time, and patients like that," said Sop, who trained at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center before coming to CAMC. "You get to know your patients, and they like to see the same doctor every time."

CAMC General Hospital has one of only two Level 1 trauma centers in West Virginia. The other is the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center at West Virginia University Hospitals in Morgantown.

To receive Level 1 status, hospitals must have a trauma surgeon, emergency doctor, neurosurgeon, anesthesiologist and orthopedic surgeon available immediately day and night.

CAMC's trauma center performs more operations for broken bones than any other hospital in the state, said Dr. Frederic H. Pollock, who heads the orthopedic group at the hospital.

Pollock said more patients are now surviving severe falls and accidents because of the state's motorcycle helmet law and advanced emergency helicopter transport system.

"This means more severely smashed-up extremities to fix," Pollock said. "You have to be ready to take care of things quickly. We're just a flight of stairs away from the operating room."

Most patients served at the trauma unit come through CAMC's three hospital emergency rooms. Other patients transfer from urgent-care centers. Some complicated cases are referred to the orthopedic trauma group from local bone doctors.

Most orthopedic surgeons in Charleston have a steady stream of patients, who need shoulders fixed, or hips and knees replaced.

But Storm and Sop, who both grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, wanted something "less routine, less cookbook," they said, so they decided to specialize in trauma.

As members of the trauma team, they see extremely complex bone and joint injuries, some of which may require hours of surgery to repair.

"You see people at their worst," Storm said. "We see bones broken into so many pieces. To get people back on their feet as productive members of society is very rewarding."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.