A surgeon, Freeark studied what helped seriously injured people survive. What he found was contrary to medical care at the time: severely injured patients needed to be taken not to the closest hospital, but rather “it had to be the right hospital for their care,” says Dr. Anthony Barbato, president and CEO of Loyola University Health System.
Freeark created the first trauma center, at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, in 1965. It set the model for trauma centers, which spread across the nation to save thousands of lives. In 1970 Freeark moved to Loyola, where he adapted helicopter rescue techniques from the Vietnam war for civilian use. “Giving helicopters emergency equipment and making them large enough to accommodate physicians and nurses made it possible to have treatment begin in the field,” Barbato said. “He was one of the giants of American medicine.” Dr. Freeark died December 12 from liver problems. He was 79.