When three men suffered gunshot wounds Sunday in a residence along West 19th Terrace in Lawrence, they weren’t taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Instead they were taken by air and ground ambulances to Kansas City-area hospitals, a frequent occurrence when people suffer traumatic injuries in the Lawrence area. For LMH, given its proximity to other hospitals with more resources for treating those injuries, it’s the plan that makes the most sense, said Dr. Caleb Trent, the medical director for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical.

A year ago, Lawrence Memorial Hospital obtained its designation as a Level 4 trauma center. That means it can provide advanced life support for those with traumatic injuries prior to transferring patients to a facility with a higher classification.

“We’re located between a Level 2 in Topeka (Stormont-Vail HealthCare) and a Level 1 in Kansas City (Kansas University Hospital),” Trent said. “And so part of it is, it doesn’t necessarily make sense for us as a hospital to provide (that kind of care).”

A Level 1 trauma center is the highest classification, reserved for facilities that can provide total care for every aspect of an injury, according to the American Trauma Society. Other than KU Hospital, there are two other such facilities in Kansas, both in Wichita, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Eve Tolefree, fire medical division chief, said that whenever someone suffers a serious injury to the head or chest that requires surgery, paramedics will likely make the call to take that person to Topeka or to the Kansas City area.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital does not have a neurosurgeon (head, spinal cord and nervous system) or a cardiothoracic surgeon (chest, lungs and heart) on staff. Trent said there are not enough patients for either type of doctor to sustain a stable practice in Lawrence.

But if the condition of those patients is unstable, they’ll likely first be taken to Lawrence Memorial to become stabilized before being transferred to another hospital. Trent said patients’ chances of survival are not negatively affected by having to travel to another facility.

Just by being taken to a Level 1 center, Trent said, their chance of survival generally increases by 25 percent, compared with a “nontrauma center.”

In the last 12 months, LMH treated six gunshot wounds and eight stabbing wounds, which varied in severity, according to Belinda Rehmer, a spokeswoman for the hospital. She couldn’t confirm how many of those cases eventually had to be diverted to another hospital.

“We’re able to take care of any kind of patients that we see,” Trent said.