NFH Urges Support of Yes 2 Save Lives – Campaign for Georgia Trauma Network
North Fulton Hospital will host a Yes 2 Save Lives Rally on Wednesday, October 20, starting at 11 am outside the Emergency Room entrance. The public is invited to attend.
Every second counts in an emergency. There is a 60-minute window in which someone with a critical injury must receive trauma care; for children, this window is only 30 minutes. The way the trauma system currently stands, 1 in 10 Georgians don’t have access to immediate trauma care.
North Fulton Hospital is proud to work closely with the Yes 2 Save Lives Campaign. Through this collaboration, we are urging the community to go to the polls this November 2 to say “Yes on Ballot Amendment 2.” This would approve a constitutional amendment to support the Georgia trauma network. Funds collected from an annual $10 car registration fee would be directly used to provide a dedicated funding source to improve and expand the trauma care system across the state of Georgia.
“Georgia’s trauma care network is dangerously underfunded,” explains Jim Sargent, RN, Trauma Coordinator at North Fulton Hospital. “Our trauma death rate is 20 percent higher than the national average because we don’t have enough facilities and personnel to adequately meet our growing trauma needs.” Georgia has 16 designated trauma hospitals; we need 30.
“Most of Georgia’s 16 trauma care centers are hanging on by a thread.” Sargent says. “Since we have too few centers, existing ones are treating more patients than they can handle.”
The $10 tag fee will raise $80 million a year, and the money will go into a dedicated trauma trust fund to upgrade and expand our system. This means buying more ambulances and helicopters, training first-responders, nurses and doctors in trauma care, and upgrading hospitals ERs so they can become designated trauma centers.
“This is a constitutional amendment, which means every penny collected goes into a dedicated trauma trust fund or ‘lock box’ and can only be spent on improving Georgia’s trauma network,” said Dr. Michael Lipscomb, Emergency Physicians and Medical Director of North Fulton Hospital’s Emergency Department. “The funds cannot be diverted to any other account or used for any other purpose.”
Dr. Dennis Ashley, Chief of Trauma Services at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, has been involved in trying to improve the state’s trauma network for 10 years. “Trauma care is a life and death matter,” he said. “Traumatic accidents and injuries happen in a split second. Every day, families are at risk of losing a loved one because the state’s trauma network is inadequate. We have a window of opportunity to fix this problem by voting ‘yes’ Nov. 2 on Amendment 2.”
Dr. Ashley believes many Georgians have a false sense of security. They have a med-stop or emergency room near by and believe they are protected should an accident happen.
“But that’s a myth,” he stressed. “If you have a life-threatening trauma injury, you need a trauma team ready to go 24/7. Most ERs don’t have that. There are more than 100 emergency rooms in Georgia and only 16 have trauma teams ready to go.”
Fulton County residents are not excluded, he noted, unless they plan to remain in the immediate area 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The problem is: How many times do they go to Panama City or Disney World?” he asked. “When they do that, they are very quickly away from the luxury and protection of a trauma center.
Make plans to attend the Yes 2 Save Lives Rally at 11 am on Wednesday October 20 at North Fulton Hospital. You may RSVP by calling 770-751-2869.
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North Fulton Hospital (NFH), part of Tenet Georgia, is a 202-bed, acute-care hospital located on Highway 9, Alpharetta Highway, in Roswell. Opened in 1983, NFH serves North Fulton and surrounding counties through its team of over 1000 employees, 400 staff physicians and 200 volunteers. NFH is a state-designated Level II trauma center and provides a continuum of services through its centers and programs, including neurosciences, women’s health services, orthopedics, rehabilitation, surgical services, gastroenterology and oncology. The hospital is fully accredited and also is certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.
The Yes 2 Save Lives Coalition is made up of hospitals, organizations representing first responders, business around the state, and concerned citizens. The majority of the fund-raising will come from trauma hospitals, which need the money in order to continue to provide trauma care, as well as medical and EMS groups, local businesses, and concerned citizens throughout GA.
Supporters Include:
Air Evac Lifeteam
Air Life Georgia
Archbold Medical Center
Atlanta Medical Center
Athens Regional Health System
BrandSprouts, LLC
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Columbus Regional Healthcare System
Emanuel Medical Center
Fulton County Professional Firefighters #3920
Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals
Georgia Association of EMS
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Georgia College of Emergency Physicians
Georgia Committee on Trauma Excellence
Georgia Hospital Association
Georgia OBGyn Society
Georgia Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Georgia Society of the American College of Surgeons
Georgians for a Healthy Future
Grady Health System
Grady Memorial Hospital
Greene County EMS
Grow Kids, Inc.
Gwinnett Medical Center
Hamilton Medical Center
HealthSTAT
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia
Houston Healthcare
Houston Medical Center
Hughston Hospital
Involvement through News and Civics
Lauren County EMS
League of Women Voters of Georgia
Lower Oconee Community Hospital
Medical Association of Atlanta
Medical Association of Georgia
Medical College of Georgia Health System
Memorial Health
Memorial University Medical Center
Metro Atlanta Chamber
Newton County EMS
North Fulton Hospital
Northeast Georgia Health System
Perry Hospital
\Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital
Resurgens Orthopaedics
Safe Kids Georgia
Shepherd Center
Southern Regional Mobile Healthcare Services, LLC
Stephens County Hospital
Taylor Regional Hospital
The Medical Center
The Medical Center of Central Georgia
Thomas County EMS
Toombs/Montgomery EMS
Trauma Associates of Georgia
VitalCare EMS
Walton Regional Medical Center
WellStar Health System