REGIONAL PART OF TELE-TRAUMA PROGRAM

Peach Regional Medical Center has been selected as one of four hospitals to participate in Georgia’s first TeleTrauma program to enable rural emergency room physicians and trauma patients access to a team of trauma surgeons and specialists at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

Peach Regional Medical Center has been selected as one of four hospitals to participate in Georgia’s first TeleTrauma program to enable rural emergency room physicians and trauma patients access to a team of trauma surgeons and specialists at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

“We are very pleased to be a part of this innovative and cutting edge technology that will be used to save lives, increase efficiency, and improve the level of care provided to our patients in trauma situations,” said Nancy H. Peed, Chief Executive Officer of Peach Regional Medical Center.

The Georgia Department of Community Health’s (DCH), State Office of Rural Health (SORH) has awarded to The Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth (GPT) a Rural Health Network Grant to help address the trauma crisis in our state. Telemedicine technology brings the doctor remotely to the patient, and the time has come for its use to support trauma specialty care in rural Georgia. The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, a Level 1 Trauma Center will take the lead in Georgia’s first ever TeleTrauma Program.

According to Paula Guy, CEO of the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth, Georgia is experiencing a crisis in the capacity of the state’s trauma system to care for those who are seriously injured throughout the state. Studies show that rural trauma patients die twice as often as those in urban areas. Why? Time, distance, and training are the primary culprits. It is often said that trauma victims have the best chance of survival if the right resources and expert intervention is applied within the “golden hour,” the first hour after the injury. Unfortunately, in rural areas, resources and experts are scarce, forcing smaller emergency departments to waist critical time transporting patients to the nearest city with a trauma center.

The strain placed upon trauma centers, rural emergency departments, and emergency health care providers is monumental to say the least. Efforts to relieve this pressure are being exerted at many levels across the state. One such unique and innovative effort to address this crisis involves a state agency willing “to think outside the box,” a not-for-profit telemedicine organization, an urban Level 1 Trauma Center, and 4 rural hospitals.