Trauma Units Deserve Economic Shot in Arm

Rocco (Lou) Fiore runs a flower shop in Fullerton. He’s a family man and a productive member of the community. But if it were not for a trauma center, like the one Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center plans on closing, Fiore would have been dead nearly nine years ago--the victim of a knife wound to the heart.

Fiore was stabbed when he rushed to protect a woman employee who was being attacked. He was saved when paramedics rushed him to the nearest trauma center (which had been open only a few months earlier in 1980) where, unlike normal hospital emergency rooms, special medical teams trained to treat violent injuries were standing by.

Since then, hundreds of trauma victims like Fiore have been given new leases on life. Some of them surely would have been dead without the special care trauma centers alone can provide.

We wrote about Fiore before, when his life was saved. His case is worth recalling now when the county’s trauma network needs to be saved.

Trauma, which is a leading cause of death, is no respecter of age, income or social status. Accidents, assaults, heart attacks and other medical emergencies can happen at any time, in any place, to anyone.

That is why the trauma network is so important. And why the closing of one center, which could weaken or possibly bring about the downfall of the entire system, is so critical an issue for the entire community.

The financial problems facing trauma centers are not unique to Fountain Valley. Many hospitals throughout the state are on the financial critical list because of the growing gap between rising medical expenses and the unreimbursed costs hospitals and doctors must absorb. No system treating large numbers of indigent and uninsured patients can hold out for long against that disparity and serious underfunding by state and county officials.

Fountain Valley Hospital said nearly two years ago that it might have to close its trauma center if the county didn’t begin subsidizing the operation. After continually losing money, hospital officials last Tuesday announced that they would shut down the center Dec. 27.

There is speculation now about whether the rest of the trauma network can survive. The three remaining trauma centers have vowed to somehow handle the overload and save the system. But some doctors and emergency personnel, however, are not that confident. As other trauma centers become overloaded, they have to close temporarily. That puts ambulances on a medical merry-go-round looking for facilities that can treat their patients. Lost time in trauma treatment means lost lives.

Serious as it is, the closing of Fountain Valley’s trauma center should not be a death knell for the county network. It should be a rallying point.

The hospital’s decision to end trauma care emphasizes the extent of the problem and focuses attention on the critical need for the community to react.

An obvious answer is money. More state and local funds must be made available. The Legislature must also provide incentives and tax advantages to enable smaller business firms to provide more group medical insurance for employees not now covered. Medical priorities must be put in proper order--and a strong community commitment must be made.

Emergency medical care is a basic need that must be available to everyone. It is unthinkable in a community as affluent as Orange County that such a lifesaving service may be allowed to fail.