The sheer volume of multiple-injury events in recent months points to the need for a more strategic placement of hospital trauma centers than what Northwest Florida has now, says Mitch Mongell, executive director of Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
“We need to have trauma centers that are less than an hour and a half away,” he said.
State Rep. Matt Gaetz agrees, and has introduced legislation he hopes will get a trauma center at Mongell’s hospital.
Read the bill and its amendments. >>
Having the two closest trauma centers to Okaloosa County located some 50 miles away in Pensacola puts the county’s residents at risk, Gaetz said.
“If someone in a car accident needs trauma care and it happens to be windy or raining and the helicopters can’t fly, it’s functionally a death sentence,” said Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach.
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said.
Gaetz said there is a company that has volunteered to cover the costs of establishing a trauma center at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
“The only thing standing in the way is government,” he said.
Gaetz recently introduced an amendment to HB 817 that would remove state requirements that hinders Fort Walton Beach Medical Center’s efforts to expand its care to trauma patients.
He said he wants to “deregulate the Department of Health’s iron grip on the trauma center approval process” and open the door for counties the size of Okaloosa to receive approval.
He said his legislation would eliminate the Department of Health’s ability to reject out of hand a hospital’s application for a trauma center if the application has been certified by the American College of Surgeons.
“Our system now bends over backwards to protect monopolies of existing trauma centers when instead we should be establishing a system that improves health care by creating competition,” Gaetz said.
Mongell and his staff are watching as legislative battles are fought to decide the issue. He said he supports the idea but would look for support from physicians and the community before any application is submitted.
“We looked at it two or three years ago and it appeared at that time we could make it functional,” he said. “We have large enough operating rooms and many of the certifications that will allow us to provide competent delivery of trauma services.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
