Central Maine Medical Center won't seek trauma center designation as of December

Starting in December, the number of trauma centers in Maine will drop from three down to two. Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston says it's no longer seeking the designation for financial reasons.

Erin Clark, the medical director of the hospital's emergency department, says it costs the hospital about a half a million dollars a year to be certified as a trauma center through the American College of Surgeons.

"To be frank, CMMC doesn't have the administrative staff or resources needed to devote to maintaining record keeping for the designation, and we made a choice to allocate those resources to direct patient care elsewhere," Clark says.

The decision means that Maine Medical Center in Portland and Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor will be the only two trauma cen