Ga. Chamber President Calls Speaker's Trauma Funding Plan "Fair and Visionary"

(12/7/07) The trauma system funding proposal outlined Thursday by Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson was praised as “fair and visionary” Friday by Georgia Chamber of Commerce President George Israel.

"I am delighted with the speaker's initiative. It is a fair and visionary plan to address one of the state's most critical needs," Israel said. "And appropriate since studies indicate 75 percent of the patients who need urgent trauma care were involved in car wrecks."

Israel said Georgia has only four Level 1 trauma centers - centers which are on call 24-7 - for the immediate treatment of the most serious of kinds of injuries.

"The current crisis has not escaped the attention of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the business community in general. Georgia has an urgent need to build and fund a comprehensive trauma network to serve all Georgians," Israel said.

He said that North Carolina has eight Level 1 medical trauma centers, placing every resident of that state within one hour of the highest possible level of potentially life-saving critical care. For many Georgians, the nearest Level 1 trauma center may be more than two hours away, he said.

"Perhaps that fact explains why the trauma death rate in Georgia is an astonishing 20 times the national average," Israel declared.

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