Those of us unburdened with the ability to save lives may be tempted to think beautiful magic is going on every day and night in our community's hospitals.

It's not magic, of course. It's hard work and a world of responsibility.

Moreover, it requires the right amount of equipment and manpower.

And if we laymen can't do the vital jobs of doctors and nurses, the least we can do is make sure they have what they need to help the rest of us.

A new series of reports says they clearly do not.

"Despite the lifesaving feats performed every day by emergency departments and ambulance services," says a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Medicine, "the nation's emergency medical system as a whole is overburdened, underfunded, and highly fragmented.

"As a result, ambulances are turned away from emergency departments once every minute on average and patients in many areas may wait hours or even days for a hospital bed. Moreover, the system is ill-prepared to handle surges from disasters such as hurricanes, terrorist attacks or disease outbreaks."

Wasn't the Department of Homeland Security supposed to fix this? How can our health-care angels respond to masses of injuries or disease if they're having trouble getting to individuals in need on a day-to-day basis?

This needs to be one of our nation's highest priorities. We need to be prepared and coordinated for any large disaster, certainly - the lethal Graniteville train wreck and chlorine spill of January 2005 being such an event. But we also need to ensure that anyone suffering everyday emergencies has expert medical care at the ready. Caring for others is the most important thing we'll ever do.

Yet, consider what we're doing to the emergency care field:

- Emergency department visits increased 26 percent from 1993-2003.

- Meanwhile, for various reasons - liability, insurance problems, lack of funding or staffing and more - the number of emergency departments actually declined over that decade by 425.

- Overcrowding in emergency rooms is exacerbated by the decline of some 200,000 hospital beds, causing backups in emergency.

- Demand for emergency services is up so much partly because of the large numbers of uninsured and underinsured.

- 75 percent of hospitals say it's hard finding specialists for emergency and trauma calls.

- Children constitute 27 percent of all emergency department visits, but only 6 percent of the departments are fully equipped for pediatric emergencies.

The Institute of Medicine plans a series of meetings around the country, culminating with one in Washington that should get the attention of our leaders there. This is largely a private-sector problem, but with emergency care mandated by law, the government has an obligation to be a fully participating partner in any solution.

We owe it to our doctors and nurses on the front lines, and to ourselves, to make sure emergency medical care gets the resources it needs to care for an aging, demanding and deserving population.

Now, that would be beautiful.

And maybe a little magical.