- Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital-

When an ambulance from Ministry of Health and Welfare Qishan Hospital came racing into the emergency department of Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital (KMUH), the trauma and critical care surgical team was already fully prepared before the stretcher even reached the treatment area.

Inside the ambulance was a critically injured patient with a ruptured heart who had already been in cardiac arrest before arriving at the hospital. With blood rapidly filling the chest cavity, the medical team immediately performed an emergency thoracotomy in the emergency department. Working against the clock, surgeons located the ruptured ventricle and painstakingly repaired the heart, stitch by stitch, pulling the patient back from the brink of death.

At that moment, the team did more than repair a broken heart—they preserved a family’s hope.

This dramatic race against death exemplifies KMUH’s efforts to establish a regional trauma care network. Since 2021, KMUH has partnered with Qishan Hospital to establish a remote trauma green corridor, leveraging smart healthcare technologies to connect communities in the mountainous regions with a medical center. By removing geographical barriers between rural and urban areas, the system makes it possible for “medical care to arrive before the patient.”

Superintendent Jaw-Yuan Wang said that “Healthy Taiwan” is a major national vision promoted by President Lai Ching-te, with healthcare equity at its core. As one of Taiwan’s earliest-established private university-affiliated hospitals and medical centers, KMUH has long shouldered the responsibility of serving as the last line of defense for patients with acute, critical, complex, and rare diseases.

“Regardless of whether people live in urban centers or rural communities, everyone deserves equal access to quality healthcare,” Superintendent Wang said.

With support from the Healthy Taiwan Deep Cultivation Program, the Kaohsiung-Pingtung-Penghu Major Trauma Risk Transfer Program, and Kaohsiung City Government Health Bureau’s major trauma incentive program, KMUH has continued to deepen smart healthcare, cross-hospital collaboration, and regional emergency coordination, building a more resilient network for emergency and critical care.

In the past, the 41.6-kilometer journey from Qishan to central Kaohsiung could feel like the longest stretch between life and death for critically ill patients in rural areas. Concerns such as “It’s too far—they may not survive the trip” or “The injuries are too complex—the risks of transport are too high” could become critical barriers to timely treatment.

Today, KMUH’s Smart Command Center platform allows physicians to monitor a patient’s vital signs and review medical images while the patient is still inside the ambulance. Before the patient arrives, the hospital can activate the necessary specialist teams and prepare the emergency department, operating rooms, blood bank, and trauma team in advance, significantly reducing the time required to deliver lifesaving care.

This regional emergency coordination system connects fire and emergency medical services, regional hospitals, and medical centers across the Kaohsiung-Pingtung-Penghu region. It is known as the STRONG Network—System for Trauma, Resilience, Operations and Network Governance, a learning-based trauma resilience and network governance system for the region.

Dr. Chao-Wen Chen, Director of the Department of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery at KMUH, explained that STRONG represents more than the ability to treat critically injured patients. It embodies a shared commitment among healthcare professionals to “never give up on a single life.”

Through collaboration across hospitals, specialties, and healthcare systems, STRONG integrates previously dispersed medical resources into a coordinated regional network capable of responding with virtually no delay. Rural hospitals no longer have to face complex trauma cases alone.

A similar spirit of collaboration has also produced lifesaving results at Ministry of Health and Welfare Pingtung Hospital. Whether facing a life-threatening cardiac rupture or highly complex craniofacial trauma, the strong regional trauma network provides local medical teams with the support they need to maximize their capabilities and protect patients at the most critical moments.

In recent years, KMUH’s trauma and critical care team has successfully treated numerous critically injured patients whose lives hung in the balance. Cases have included traumatic diaphragmatic rupture accompanied by displacement of the spleen into the chest cavity, as well as traumatic aortic dissection and massive intra-abdominal hemorrhage following falls from significant heights.

With referring hospitals providing rapid assessments and initiating timely transfers, KMUH’s trauma team can prepare treatment strategies and mobilize resources before patients arrive. Once patients reach the hospital, specialists can immediately perform highly complex procedures, including vascular embolization and thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR), repeatedly bringing patients back from the brink of death.

When patients regain consciousness and their condition stabilizes, their families are often stunned to discover that the out-of-pocket medical device expense on the bill may be as little as NT$172.

“After mobilizing so many highly specialized medical resources, it only cost NT$172?” families sometimes ask in disbelief.

Dr. Yung-Sung Yeh, Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at KMUH, responds with a simple conviction: “Because a life cannot be measured in monetary terms.”

NT$172 cannot buy a beating heart, but it represents Taiwan’s commitment to protecting every human life.

It is not only about price, but about value.

The true value lies not in the cost of treatment, but in what can be achieved when national healthcare policy, medical expertise, and cross-hospital collaboration come together to protect a life.

The creation of this regional trauma network, however, grew out of a painful experience that the medical team has never forgotten.

In 2018, a 15-year-old boy from Fangliao, Pingtung, suffered devastating injuries. That night, hospitals across the Kaohsiung-Pingtung region were stretched to their limits, leaving few facilities capable of taking on another critically injured patient. As the young patient was caught in the maze of emergency transfers, his life was placed in grave jeopardy.

At a time when the regional trauma system was not yet fully integrated, KMUH’s trauma and critical care team stepped forward without hesitation and accepted what appeared to be an almost impossible challenge. They fought to save the boy’s life—and succeeded.

Today, that young man has grown up safely and completed his university education. He still reaches out to the medical team on special occasions to express his gratitude.

His suffering, followed by the smile of his recovery, left a profound impression on the team. It reinforced a fundamental belief: no critically ill patient in a rural community should ever lose the chance of survival because of difficulties in accessing timely trauma care.

That experience helped drive the development of KMUH’s remote trauma green corridor and ultimately the STRONG regional trauma network.

Looking ahead, KMUH will continue to strengthen the STRONG Network by integrating smart healthcare, telehealth, and cross-hospital collaboration to build an even more resilient system for emergency and critical care.

The goal is clear: to make rural communities feel closer, ensure that critical care is never limited by distance, and advance healthcare equity for all.

Through the STRONG Network, KMUH is turning the distance between rural communities and medical centers into a lifesaving green corridor, while transforming medical expertise, technology, and regional collaboration into a powerful foundation for Healthy Taiwan.

▲Turning 41.6 kilometers between life and death into a lifesaving green corridor. KMUH and Qishan Hospital established a remote trauma green corridor that helped pull a critically injured trauma survivor (fourth from right) back from the brink of death. After making a full recovery, the patient returned to Qishan Hospital for a commemorative photo with Dr. Chao-Wen Chen (fifth from right), Director of the Department of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery at KMUH, Dr. Yung-Sung Yeh (third from right), representatives from Qishan Hospital, and representatives from the Kaohsiung City Government’s Department of Transportation, celebrating the patient’s remarkable recovery.

▲The transfer experience of a 15-year-old boy from Fangliao, Pingtung, in 2018 (right) became the catalyst for KMUH’s STRONG regional trauma network. Today, he has graduated from university, and Dr. Chao-Wen Chen (left), Director of the Department of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery at KMUH, celebrates his journey and wishes him continued health and strength.

▲In March 2024, KMUH established an Intelligent Trauma Emergency Response Station to enhance prehospital emergency care. By integrating emergency medical technicians (EMTs) with hospital emergency medical teams, the initiative strengthens coordination across the continuum of care and creates a tighter safety net to ensure that every critical opportunity to save patients with major trauma is not missed.

▲KMUH is breaking down healthcare silos through collaboration with a network of strategic partners across different fields. The Deputy Director of the National Health Insurance Administration’s Kaohsiung-Pingtung Division (sixth from left), Dr. Feng-Chi Tsai of KMUH’s Department of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery (first from right), Dr. Yung-Sung Yeh, Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at KMUH (fourth from left), and representatives from collaborating hospitals across the Kaohsiung-Pingtung-Penghu region were recognized with an award for their contributions.

▲Through the major trauma green corridor, the two teams establish communication at the earliest possible stage. Before a trauma patient arrives at KMUH, the trauma team makes full use of the transfer time to coordinate internal medical resources, mobilize specialists, and prepare the necessary emergency equipment. By the time the patient reaches the emergency department, the medical team is ready to provide immediate treatment without delay.