- The Honorable Tom Cole
Chairman
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
2358-B Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515 - The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Cole and Ranking Member Delauro:
As Members of Congress who value the critical role trauma centers and systems play in treating
victims of traumatic injury, including victims of terrorist attacks and other mass casualty
incidents, we respectfully request inclusion of $28 million in the Fiscal Year 2017 Labor, Health,
Education Appropriations bill for the trauma and emergency care program. The multiple attacks
in Paris and the recent homegrown terrorist attack in San Bernardino amplify the need to ensure
that should further attacks occur on U.S. soil, our trauma system and our trauma centers will be
ready and able to care for the victims.
As was seen in the response to the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, the immediate
availability of emergency medical personnel and timely access to six major trauma and three
verified burn centers was essential to saving lives. The low death count relative to the attack in
Boston was not luck — it was due to the close proximity of multiple specialized trauma and burn
centers, emergency medical practitioners at the scene, and prior investments and training in
disaster preparedness and response.
Unfortunately, Boston is an exception. Many areas of the nation, including some major
metropolitan centers, would be overwhelmed by a major attack. On April 19, 1995, a truck
bomb consisting of more than 4,000 lbs. of ammonium nitrate was detonated outside the Alfred
P. Murrah federal building located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Immediate deaths number 163
and 3 were pronounced dead on arrival at local hospitals. Eighty-three immediate survivors were
hospitalized, and, subsequently, 46 died. Most survivors sustained minor injuries caused by
flying/falling debris. The most frequent type of injury was soft tissue trauma. The truck bomb
that detonated also resulted in several secondary fires. Ten casualties suffered thermal burns.
Today, there is only one Level I trauma and burn center in the state of Oklahoma. The Level I
trauma center in Seattle serves Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana. Other areas of the
nation are underserved as well.
In states with an established trauma system, patients are 20 percent more likely to survive a
traumatic injury. However, because of economic instability in supporting trauma care centers, at
least 21 have closed during the past decade, including St. Vincent’s in Manhattan, which treated
848 patients on September 11, 2001.
…
Read full letter here
