Gwinnett Medical Center will get $2,657,150 for trauma care, a state panel decided Monday morning.

Although the state Legislature failed to create a trauma network this year, the Georgia Trauma Network Commission was given $58.9 million in state money to distribute among 15 trauma centers around the state. The centers provide care for the most seriously injured people without regard to their ability to pay and lose millions of dollars each year.

The commission had to figure out a way to distribute the money by July 1, before the new fiscal year starts, or lose it. Hospitals got the news on Monday.

"Awesome!" said Debra Battle, the clinical nurse specialist who oversees the medical center's trauma service. The hospital hadn't requested any particular amount, she said, but she knew what she was hoping for —- "and that's right on target."

There's still paperwork to be done regarding how the hospital gets the money —- for hospital costs, doctors and emergency medical service crews —- or how the commission will monitor its use, Battle said.

"It's a step in the right direction," Battle said. "And I think it's sort of a sigh of relief that actually something's been done."