Georgia's survival rate for trauma-related accidents is just 50 percent, below the national average of 70 percent.

"We lose about 700 lives a year that we think we could save," says Dr. Dennis Ashley, Chief of Trauma at Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon and chair of the state's Trauma Commission.

He says a trauma care network that would stabilize the 14 existing trauma centers and possibly expand that number to 30 would have a dramatic impact on reducing the number of trauma-related deaths in Georgia.

"If we had a system in place to get patients to the right facility at the right time and we had a few more facilities willing to sign on as designated trauma centers, we believe we could get that rate down," he tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

Five of the 14 trauma centers are located in metro Atlanta. The others are scattered about the state with none in Northeast Georgia or below Macon until almost the Florida line.

The difference in a trauma center and non-trauma center is the 24-hour availability of staff including trauma surgeons and a hosts of other specialty surgeons as well as operating rooms.

"We have a bunch of people and devices and resources just waiting for the next trauma patient, ready to go... which is not the case at the non-trauma center," says Dr. Barry Renz, trauma surgeon at Gwinnett Medical Center which is a designated level two trauma hospital.

The transporting of patients is another key component of a trauma care network including both ground and air. It's also coordinating which facility can better handle certain injuries.

"If EMS is not able to transport them to the appropriate center very quickly, then the likelihood of their survival goes down greatly," says Courtney Terwilliger, chair of the board of directors for the Georgia Association of Emergency Medical Services.

Trauma Commission members are working on dividing up the nearly $59 million dollars appropriated in the 2008 midyear state budget to keep existing trauma centers afloat and begin building the network. They say it's about half of the money that's needed to sustain such a system long term.

When the commission meets later this month, it's expected to approve a formula to give the necessary dollars to the hospitals most in danger of dropping out of the trauma system including Grady Hospital, metro Atlanta's only designated level one trauma center.

For more information, visit georgiaitsabouttime.com

What others are saying

There are no comments yet. Be the first to post one!