Arkansas Funds Process to Bring A Trauma System to the State
Arkansas is the only state in the union that does not have a Level 1 Trauma Center, and one of 3 that has no statewide trauma system in place. The process to change that was put into place this month as Gov. Mike Beebe announced that he has set aside $200,000 from the $500,000-a-year Governor’s Emergency Fund to help pay for computer hardware and software to collect and store the information. The effort will provide definitive data to state legislators as they consider proposals to establish a trauma system during the 2009 legislative session.
In a news conference July 11th, Beebe made clear the importance of the project to move the state forward to the development of a trauma system in place in the state.
“This is really the first starting point of what is necessary in order to be able to have the kind of information, the kind of coordination, the kind of communication that ultimately a trauma system will have to have as a baseline in order to even go forward,” Beebe said during a news conference at the state Capitol.
The governor said the money would help create a database that emergency personnel can access quickly to determine which hospitals have specialists available to treat different types of injuries.
“If you are involved in a trauma … all of the people who initially respond can best serve and help and aid if they have a place or a mechanism where they know they can go find out where the nearest, best place to treat whatever that particular kind of injury is,” he said.
The type of system Arkansas adopts, and the funding source for it, will be determined during next year’s regular legislative session, Beebe said. The cost of a system can vary from several million dollars to tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.
“Obviously, if you have five Level 1 trauma centers … that costs a lot more than if you have one Level 1 trauma center,” Beebe said.
Some of the $200,000 will be used to obtain advice from consultants, said Paul Halverson, director of the state Department of Health. He said he did not know how soon a system could be fully implemented because he did not know what plan the Legislature would pass.
At the news conference, Dr. Joe Thompson, Arkansas surgeon general stated “This is an exciting day when we begin to address a critical need across the state.
Dr. J. Michael Gruenwald, director of the orthopedic trauma center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock said “A statewide trauma system would save the lives of 200–600 Arkansans who now die each year because they can’t get emergency care fast enough”.
This announcement is good news because it further reiterates the dire need for solid trauma care in this nation. The other two states without a statewide trauma system in place are Kentucky and South Dakota. A bill to establish a trauma system in Kentucky passed in a House committee Feb. 21 but only after its sponsor removed his original request for $1.8 million to pay for it, according to news reports.
We can only hope these three states move forward with their own plans. Despite the disparity in research funding for trauma compared to any other disease striking anywhere near the amount of people trauma does, it’s reassuring that the state and federal governments realize the need for solid trauma care.
Computers won’t make a trauma system. All we need is to pay for it, hire the proper personel, and simply get things done. After all it’s sort of a large embarassment to be one of 3 states that have no trauma system & then top it by being the only one to not have a single Level one trauma center. This to me is very unacceptable as an EMT working for an ambulance service full time to have to read the paper and see that state troopers in Hotsprings got new barracks & we didn’t get a trauma system passed & funded. I don’t get it we don’t have our priorities in order. Oh yeah $200,000 to buy computers yet we can’t just use that money to start paying for fixing the problem.
I don’t know what to say here.… How embarrassing for this state. I moved here 7 years ago from Texas and I can’t believe there is no trauma system much less not even ONE level one trauma system.
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