Public Health Meeting

I drove to Batesville today and attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Public Health. The meeting was called to discuss the funding options for a statewide network of Trauma Centers. Arkansas is the only state that doesn't have a Level 1 Trauma Center and everyone I've talked with believes the Trauma Network is a must for our state. Statistics show that trauma is the number 1 cause of death for Arkansans ages 1-40, and it is estimated that 300 to 600 lives a year could be saved. Of course the stumbling block is how do we fund the $25 million needed to get it going. Back during the Legislative session, the House passed a bill tying the funding to a $50 increase in DWI tickets. I supported the bill, but it died in the Senate when the Arkansas Municipal League lobbied hard against it, by pointing out that most Municipal Courts can't collect the fines already on the books. Having first hand experience in the Court system, I can see their point, but still believe some of the funding could come from that source. In fact, I think the funding stream needs to come from several different areas. Other states fund their Trauma Networks with license plate fees, auto insurance premiums, tobacco taxes and even from general revenues. At this time, I don't know if anyone has the best mechanism to fund the system, but we sure need to keep working and come up with a solution.