For most Atlanta residents planning a vacation this summer, access to emergency trauma care in their vacation destination is not really at the top of the priority list. In fact, most people on vacation don’t give a second thought to whether their holiday destination has easy and quick access to trauma care in the event of an accident with serious injuries, or other emergency. A new interactive map released by the American Society shows that some of the country’s most frequented holiday spots have pitiful access to trauma care.
Last week, the American Trauma Society released a map which allows users to check the availability of trauma care across the country. Splatters of purple cover those areas that have good access to trauma care. Atlanta car accident lawyers were not surprised to find that in Georgia, the only areas that have good access to trauma care are located in the metro Atlanta region. The rest of the state, especially rural areas, have poor access to trauma care facilities.
Across the rest of the country, you’ll find that some of the biggest tourist magnets have no access to trauma care. If you’re headed to Martha’s Vineyard, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone, or the Key West, be warned – these areas are some of the worst positioned in the country when it comes to emergency critical care,. If you are in these areas, and are involved in a car accident or any other type of emergency that requires emergency trauma care, you could be in serious trouble.
Critical care is important because it is often the only factor deciding whether a person survives a serious accident. If an accident victim can be rushed to a trauma care facility within the first sixty minutes of being involved in a serious accident, his chances of surviving with minimal damage increase substantially. If, on the other hand, he has been unfortunate enough to be injured in an accident on a rural road, with the nearest trauma care facility miles away, then his chances of surviving the accident begin to drop. In Georgia, most fatal accidents occur in rural areas that are located far away from the nearest trauma facility. In south Georgia, there are almost no trauma care hospitals to speak of. That is a horrible situation, and places people in these areas at a high risk of death if they are involved in accidents.
It has always seemed unfair to Georgia accident lawyers that so many people in the state lack access to the kind of critical care that is necessary to survive serious auto accidents. In Georgia, the problem of lack of accessibility to trauma care has been a serious one, and has festered for years. Last year, it seemed like a solution to the problem could be emerging. A proposal would have required that motorists pay an additional ten dollar fee to fund the expansion of trauma care facilities in the state. However, the proposal was voted down.