The Surface Transportation Authorization Act on Capitol Hill needs your support. We stand with MADD on the vital importance of two issues in that bill that need to get passed. Specifically a measure to require states to intact a bill requiring Ignition Interlock Devices in vehicles owned by every single person convicted of drunk driving. Secondly in the same part of the bill, there is a provision to require...

It’s not as if we need further information about how trauma touches so many lives in this country; it’s not as if we needed more information that not wearing seatbelts can and does cause unnecessary trauma injury and death. The new crop of inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame gave us just that.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a leading cause of trauma death in the nation and largely falls underneath the radar with respect to cause of death as does trauma in general. Even though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have helped shed even more light on the problem, there still is little discussion or news on the matter, even though war, and in particular these wars have brought many advances in the treatment...

We just got done posting an article about a trauma center reopening, and the importance of trauma systems, this is what it’s really all about. Florida has a very well formed trauma system. In Miami/Dade, there is only one level 1 trauma center, the world renowned Ryder Trauma Center. Ryder is the only free standing trauma center in the nation—that is; its one building dedicated solely to trauma care. This...

The faces of courage, the faces of heroes; this is something that most of us don’t fully understand. What is courage? Who is a hero? The Latter is a bit easier to define. Yet across this nation, there is a legion of heroes who rarely get any recognition. Really, survivors of anything truly life altering fall into that category. 

The state that began what is now the commonplace practice of flying trauma injury victims by helicopter is now looking at the possibility of cutbacks on the system that developed the so-called “Golden Hour” and the system of ferrying trauma injury victims via chopper to the nearest trauma center. In the wake of a fatal chopper crash in Prince Georges County Maryland, some lawmakers are looking to cut back...

We take our trauma systems for granted for the most part. What trauma systems are all about is a subject most would never consider important nor is it something the average person even wants to think about. What I call the “rhythm of trauma” is evident every day. The local news is plenty of evidence of that. Every single day there is at least one or two stories directly involving trauma injury and/or death....

For both survivors of trauma injury where the mechanism of trauma is a car accident, and indeed for those that survive tragic death by trauma, for some a big part of the struggle is “do they make contact”. It’s very important to many, and some do, and some do not. It’s a challenge of expectations hoped for or dashed. There in lies the problem. There are so many possible scenarios especially in traffic...

In an important and emerging trend, both Illinois and DC banned texting while driving. Illinois in a proper bill and DC in an emergency Multi-purpose crime bill. The ban in Illinois went into effect earlier this August as did DCs.  Illinois and DC will join a growing list of states looking to curb accidents linked to texting. Oregon and New Hampshire banned texting drivers in July, and Alaska, Arkansas,...

It’s always encouraging when lawmakers actually take a stand for health concerns that center squarely on trauma research and care. Other diseases trump trauma in a huge way in terms of legislation, research dollars and awareness, yet trauma is the one and only disease that makes the news in every community across this nation every day. I guess we just assume our loved ones will get the best care available...