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Aaron Pratt
Mrs. Lester
2nd
10-6-11
Level one trauma center
Eighteen year old Damian Turner was shot four blocks from one of the best hospitals in
the world, however he died more than an hour later never making it to the hospital because the
nearest hospital able to treat him was nine miles away (Terry). The reason Damian Turner could
not go to the hospital four blocks away was because that hospital was not a level one trauma
center. A level one trauma center is the highest level of classification for a hospital and can treat
the most severe cases. In Urvaksh Karkaria’s words “there are just four Level I trauma centers
statewide” (Karkaria). The need for level one trauma centers in Georgia is one that has been
ignored by politicians for the past five years due to the economy, in order to understand the issue
in its entirety you must first define the issue then describe the impact then discuss the current
solutions and finally look at the outlook for the issue.
Level one trauma centers are too few and far between. There are only four level one
trauma centers in Georgia (Karkaria). This causes overcrowding at the ones that are there and
makes it so that injured people have to travel farther in order to be treated. Because of this the
death rate is increasing and there are more preventable deaths. In South Georgia many people
live more than fifty miles from a level one trauma center this makes it difficult to for injured
people to get to a trauma center within an hour of their injury (Teegardin). Getting to a hospital
within an hour of injury greatly increases the chance of survival of an individual. The only

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solution to this issue is to build more hospitals nearer people. The governor’s office of highway
safety says that about one in seven fatal car crashes take place at least 50 miles away from a
trauma center (Teegardin).This means that one in seven people live more than an hour from a
trauma center. Which consequently means that one in seven people in a car crash will not be able
to make it to a trauma center in time. A very large percentage of people who will be in a car
accident will be in that accident far from the level one trauma center.
The impact of not having enough level one trauma centers Is far reaching, and could
affect anyone who could get injured. On august 15th 18 year old Damian Turner was shot in a
drive by shooting a few minutes from one of the best hospitals in the world however he died
ninety minutes later because he had to be taken to a hospital with a level one trauma
center.(Terry). This is just one example of how not having level one trauma centers near people
can have an inverse effect on the individuals. People can not and will not change where they live
because there is not a hospital near them. So the only solution is to build hospitals near them.
According to ShailaDewan of the New York Times “The gift, from the woodruff foundation, is a
major component of the rescue and reorganization of Grady, which was on the brink of financial
failure when business leaders, politicians, doctors and other Atlantans intensified an effort to
save the hospital last year.” (Dewan). This shows the support the citizens have for creating more
trauma centers. For good reason they do, Atlantans know that having a trauma center directly
effects them and makes them safer.Georgia’s average death rate is thirteen times higher than the
national average. (Karkaria).This is due, in my opinion, to the lack of trauma centers in south Georgia as
well as the lack of them in highly congested areas of the metro Atlanta area.In order to

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bring down the death rate we need to build more trauma centers in these areas.The lack of having
trauma centers impacts everyone.
Atlanta Medical became atlantas second level one trauma center (Williams). This is
currently the solution that Georgians have been using to combat the problem of having a lack of
level one trauma centers. This is the simplest way that Georgians have developed to lower the
death rate. Misty Williams of ajc says “The hospitals move to level one is a plus for Atlanta
residents with the rapidly growing metro area in need of a second trauma center” By making the
move from a level two to a level one trauma center Atlanta medical will now be able to treat the
most critical cases. And will consequently be given more government money to run it. This is a
very large step in the right direction for trauma care in Atlanta. It costs 5.6 million dollars a year
to run a level one trauma center (Karkaria). This surprising statistic shows how expensive it is to
run a level one trauma center. The government cannot continue to fund trauma centers. Currently
building more level one trauma centers and upgrading current trauma centers are the best option
to improve trauma care.
In conclusion the best way to decrease the death rate in Georgia is to increase the number
of level one trauma centers. The benefits vastly outweigh the costs.If we don’t there will
eventually be more and more deaths.

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Terry, Don. "a death sparks a demand for care." Gale Oposing Viewpoints In
Context. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/
ovic/NewsDetailsPage/
NewsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=News&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&act
ion=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|A238504551&mode=view>.
Karkaria, Urvaksh. atlantabuisnesschronical. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2011/01/21/
Medical.html?page=all>.
Williams, Misty. "Atlanta medical becomes areas second level 1 traumaa center."
ajc.com.N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. <http://www.ajc.com/news/
atlanta-medical-becomes-areas-970053.html>.
DEWAN, SHAILA.nytimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/us/08grady.html>.
Teegardin, Carrie. ajc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.ajc.com/health/georgia-election-failed-amendment-716712.html>.