Lawmakers seek to boost trauma network

By Sonji Jacobs | Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 12:19 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia lawmakers on Wednesday moved one small step forward on a plan to beef up the state’s trauma network system.

The Georgia Senate voted 51-0 in favor of Senate Bill 60, a measure that would create a trauma commission to oversee funding for emergency and catastrophic medical care across the state.

“In the state of Georgia, our deaths from trauma injuries are 20 percent than other states,” said Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), the bill’s sponsor. “I think you would agree with me that Georgia is better than that.”

SB 60 is the result of a joint House and Senate study committee, proposed by Senate Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), that has examined Georgia’s trauma care services for the past year.

The committee found that Georgia has a 20 percent higher death rate from trauma injuries than other states in the country. Their report states that 700 lives each year could be saved if Georgia improved to reach the national average.

Staton, who was in a head-on car crash four years ago, explained that Georgia has only 15 trauma centers statewide, and that many counties in rural areas are hours away from the nearest hospital with trauma care services. Many of those hospitals are struggling with the cost of trauma care and are considering dropping those services.

The new commission, if approved by the Senate and House, would be comprised of nine members who oversee and disburse funds to hospitals that currently provide trauma care services, such as Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Memorial Health in Savannah.

Ideally, the Georgia Trauma Commission also would find ways to expand Georgia’s trauma care network by supporting the efforts of other hospitals to establish such emergency care services. Staton said the members of the trauma care study committee would like the commission to have $85 million in initial funding. He said he hopes that lawmakers in the House will file legislation to raise revenue for the commission this year.

The measure now heads to the House for approval.

In addition, the Senate voted 53-0 in favor of a measure that makes the attempt to buy cigarettes by a minor a punishable offense. A minor could face up to 20 hours of mandatory community service. Senate Bill 95, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Carter (R-Tifton), also prohibits vending machine operators from dispensing tobacco-related products in the same machine as non-tobacco items such as gum and snacks.

“It puts those things on the same level in the minds of many,” Carter said. “That’s not good practice.”

That measure also goes to the House for consideration