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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTrauma Care Plea
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Photos of a demolished car appeared on big screens in the Senate chamber, a reminder of the need for a state trauma network.
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) tried to get the Senate’s attention with pictures of his crushed Chevy Suburban, the one he was cut out of with the jaws of life six years ago on Jan. 9, 2003.
“Today, I ask you to think about my anniversary,” Staton told his colleagues. Staton suffered a crushed ankle and tibia in the wreck, leaving one ankle noticeably bigger than the other. “I can walk, thank God,” Staton said.
The senator from Macon wants $60 million for the state to continue building a network this year. “If we could reach the national average we could save 600 lives per year in Georgia,” Staton said.
Deaths decrease if a patient is taken to a trauma center within “a precious, golden hour” of the accident, Staton said.
He posted a map showing areas with no quick access to trauma care — mostly in south Georgia and northeast Georgia. Students in Athens at the University of Georgia are also more than an hour away from a trauma center, Staton said.
In both the 2007 and 2008 sessions of the General Assembly, the leadership did not allow passage of proposals that would have provided long-term support from the state for the financially strapped trauma network.
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