FORT PIERCE — Not much will change Friday when Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute begins serving as a provisional state trauma center.

Much of the $15 million Lawnwood invested in five trauma surgeons, staff training, new equipment and emergency department renovations was earmarked two years ago when hospital officials proposed St. Lucie County taxpayers chip in $7 million a year to pay for the regional, Level II trauma center.

Trauma tax opponents said then Lawnwood’s parent company, Tennessee-based HCA Inc., would find the cash if it really wanted to care for trauma patients. Nearly 75 percent of voters rejected the trauma tax.

“It just didn’t make sense to anyone except Lawnwood and our beloved county commissioners,” said John Fitzpatrick, a North Beach resident who was outspoken against the tax. “If Lawnwood thinks there should be a trauma center, they should look for the money.”

HCA Inc. saw the need and found the cash, Lawnwood CEO Rodney Smith said.

In 2007, hospital and fire and rescue officials estimated opening a trauma center at Lawnwood could cut five minutes off the 12-minute average helicopter flight time to either Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne or St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. That time difference could save lives, St. Lucie County Fire Chief Ron Parrish said.

Lawnwood has a contract with Omniflight to keep a helicopter available for trauma patients and plans to hire another four surgeons and 21 trauma nurses. Keeping those doctors on call will cost as much as $600,000 a month.

There are no plans to ask St. Lucie County residents to pay taxes for the trauma center.

“In this economy, I don’t think now’s the time to ask the public to pay for this,” Smith said.

And as Fitzpatrick and other anti-tax activists said during the 2007 debates, trauma care provides revenue opportunities to Lawnwood, said Smith, who came to the hospital last year. Federal cash is available for trauma care, he said, as well as private insurance money.

The trauma surgeons do other procedures beyond emergencies. A trauma center also can have a “halo effect,” Smith said, improving a hospital’s reputation and attracting patients.
By Hillary Copsey

Tags: beach, cash, ceo, chief, commissioners, contract, cuts, Economy, emergency, federal, fire, hospital, insurance, medical, money, North, nurse, nursing, parents, saw, taxes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Economy, Fort Pierce, Health, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.