16 January 2006

An 8th Avenue Motorcycle Accident

The serious motorcycle accident that took place a few days ago at 8th Avenue and Speer in Denver, Colorado isn't big news really. But, it happened three blocks from my office and I was struck in traffic for a while as a result, so it, at least, deserves a mention here, despite being less than cosmic in its world consequences.

While no one can say for sure, I suspect strongly that no one was killed primarily because the accident took place just two blocks from the emergency room door of Colorado's leading trauma center, Denver Health. The rule of thumb is that a person who reaches a trauma center within an hour is much more likely to survive, and the sooner care is received, even within that window, the better. These men received Level One Trauma Center quality care as soon as anyone could hope for it.

In Colorado, prompt receipt of this kind of care sometimes happens, as it did in this case, but it is still no rival to Maryland which has had a unified state emergency medical system integrated with its trauma centers since 1993 to make the quality of care that these motorcyclists received the norm in every case where it is humanly possible, rather than an accident as random as the accident that put them in peril in the first place.

No comments: