The Arkansas Department of Health is seeking a contractor to develop and manage a call center that will be the “nerve center” of the new statewide trauma system, the state health officer said.

Center staff will be responsible for monitoring the status of hospitals across Arkansas and directing paramedics responding to accidents and other trauma scenes to the closest hospital best able to treat a patient’s specific injuries.

It’s a system that will save lives and reduce long-term disabilities by getting trauma patients the emergency care they need faster, said Paul Halverson, Health Department director and state health officer.

“The idea here is to reduce the amount of time betweeninjury and treatment, and that’s counted in minutes ...