Feb. 23 has been designated "Trauma Day" at the state Capitol, to heighten the awareness of Georgia's desperate need for a better statewide trauma care network.
In truth, every day should be Trauma Day during this legislative session until this crisis is solved.
It's that important. It's that life-threatening.
If you're in a car crash, if you accidentally fall or get burned, if you suffer a bullet wound -- all these tragedies require trauma care, and Georgia isn't delivering near enough of it. The state has more than 150 acute-care hospitals, but only a paltry 15 of them are designated trauma centers.
Worse yet, those centers are clustered in and around larger cities, meaning the vast rural areas of south Georgia are without nearby trauma care.
Put it this way: By one estimate, if you're in a serious auto accident in south Georgia, you're four times more likely to die because you can't receive crucial trauma care within the "golden hour" -- the 60 minutes immediately after sustaining a life-threatening injury.
Something must be done to repair the state's sparse and badly underfunded trauma network. Our lawmakers know this, but year after year action on this becomes stalled. It's looking that way again this year -- and legislators need to change that course immediately.
What's required right now is at least $80 million a year merely to stabilize the trauma network. But to grow the network -- doubling the number of trauma centers, for starters -- would require closer to $110 million.
There are several bills being batted around committees right now.
H.B. 148 would add a $10 vehicle registration fee on all passenger vehicles. H.B. 160 would levy fines under a proposed "super speeder" bill aimed at lead-footed motorists -- which makes sense, considering it's these speed demons who too often are responsible for the accidents that require trauma care.
Two other bills call for imposing fees on telephone subscribers. Another suggests slapping a $1 tax on all tobacco products. Yet another proposes to redirect the quarter-mill state property tax. Another House resolution floats the idea of a constitutional amendment that would dedicate revenue from ad valorem tax to the purpose of funding trauma care.
Some of those bills, though, may face tough sledding in the Senate, where Lt. Gov Casey Cagle takes a dim view of new taxes or fees. But at least redirecting the property tax monies wouldn't require a tax hike.
The money has to come from somewhere because running a trauma center is a financially losing proposition for hospitals, owing largely to the number of indigent patients who take advantage of this emergency care. In Augusta, the trauma center at Medical College of Georgia Hospital hemorrhaged more than $11 million last year to pay for unrecovered trauma care costs. And if it wasn't for a $58 million Band-Aid bestowed on trauma care by the General Assembly last year, one or two Georgia hospitals very well could have closed down their trauma centers altogether.
Trauma is the No. 1 cause of death among Americans ages 1 to 44. In Georgia, these deaths occurs at a rate 20 times higher than the national average.
If our state had the trauma care its citizens deserve, an estimated 700 more lives could be saved each year.
That's the life-or-death situation our lawmakers face under the Gold Dome this session. The very lives of their constituents hang in the balance.
Proper funding must be found for Georgia's ailing trauma care network -- now.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
A Level 1 Trauma Center is becoming a rare hospital for the reasons the article stated. The whole state of Washington has one such hospital. It is a losing proposition financially. That's why Aiken Regional dropped their Trauma Center designation. However, losing the designation does not mean a hospital cannot deliver quality trauma care. Florida is considering a "pod system," which allows small emergency departments at various hospitals to give trauma care. Maybe it is time to rethink the Trauma Center label as Florida is doing. It is not accurate to say a hospital can't deliver trauma care because it is not designated a Trauma Center.
"In Georgia, these deaths occurs at a rate 20 times higher than the national average." ---- And it's not only due to the lack of rural healthcare, it's due to the mindset that folks can do anything they please. With the way our country is going, living a "consequence free" life is becoming more a reality. Drunk drivers can get back on the road; speeders that use the shoulders as passing lanes can fly like a bat out of hell; and the State is thinking of allowing alcohol served on Sunday. Brilliant, it's no wonder why we have so many trauma centers to begin with -- they'll be plenty use for them (and you really don't want an accident on a Sunday, as weekend staffing at hospitals isn't the same during the week).
Sounds like a bomb to me......tick, tick, tick...
$110 million seed money and $80 million/year afterward? Maybe that's why the number of trauma units deemed necessary aren't available. How did we ever make it this far without all of those trauma units?
Trauma is what?! The number one killer....why thats news to me. Boy, this article is full of scary opinions about the lack of proper trauma services. Didn't know it was so bad and it sounds like a pitch to the Republican governor and elected officials. The state is republican and its republican US senators voted against a stimulus package so those officials are voting against vital services thus, costing citizens their lives. Wonder if the Editorial Staff supported the Republicans cause thats where the failure to fund should be placed. Can't blame any Democrats for Georgia's poor state of emergency care.
The point is did the quality of care change one iota at Aiken Regional when they dropped the Trauma Center label?
Aiken is close enough to Augusta with MCG that it may get along by providing emergency services without being a trauma center. By virtue of having an Emergency Room they have certain services, but would not have 24 hour trauma surgery capability. The further out in the country you get, the less services you are going to find available. At a Level I center trauma surgeons and others including all necessary support functions are available in house 24/7. (Unlike television, a whole lot of highly trained people other than physicians are essential in emergency care, surgery, and subsequent critical care activities to save a patients life.) That is, they are not laying at home in bed on the other side of town responding to a phone call. To the casual observer there may not be much difference. It would be real interesting to hear from someone who can actually find the statistics on trauma deaths in Aiken compared to the rest of the country, and how it may have changed.
There are plenty of cities in south Georgia that have over 10,000 people. So, I don't know why those cities down there with more than 10,000 people don't have a trauma center.
UB, I can assure you MCG and other level 1 trauma centers DO NOT have speciality surgeons and specialized technicians in house. They are all on call. Aiken changed absolutely nothing, but decided they didn't want the Trauma Center designation because it meant more indigent patients with serious complications.
And Aiken Regional Medical Center made a big mistake dropping its Trauma Center as did The Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg.