VCU Medical Center to hold Shining Knight Gala

By Joe Kuttenkuler

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine’s Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery will present the third annual Shining Knight Gala, an event to raise funds for injury and violence prevention and to honor those who protect and save lives in Central Virginia.

The event will take place Saturday, March 26, at the Richmond Marriott, 500 E. Broad St., beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner and awards program at 6:45 p.m.

Speakers include James P. Neifeld, M.D., Stuart McGuire professor and chairman VCU Department of Surgery, and John M. Templeton, M.D., president and chairman of the John Templeton Foundation.

A multimedia presentation of a patient survival story will highlight the work of the Central Virginia Trauma System and the VCU Medical Center's trauma and injury and violence prevention programs. Twenty-three care providers will be given the Order of the Shining Knight for their contribution to the patient's survival.

The VCU Medical Center provided trauma care to more than 3,800 patients in 2010. Patients are admitted into the trauma center for a variety of reasons, including vehicle crashes, falls, burns and crime-related injuries.

The VCU Health System is one of only two nationally recognized Level I trauma centers in the state and is the only one in central Virginia. Virginia recognizes five Level I trauma centers in the state, including the VCUHS. The VCU Health System was the first hospital in Virginia to be recognized after the introduction of the state verification process in 1981.