re: Alabama Board Coronavirus Thread

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I believe that a lot of the recent Alabama cases are in rural counties near Montgomery (Butler Co etc) and all of the critical hospitalizations from that region go to Montgomery.

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Pretty much this - and to go further even if you're in Montgomery if you need truly specialized care in this area you very often get shipped to Birmingham.

The only Level 1 trauma centers in the state are in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile. The closest you get in the Montgomery area is Baptist South, which is a level 2. I've been diverted from Jackson with a GSW because they didn't have a surgeon on duty. In Montgomery. On a Saturday night.

Trauma care ability doesn't exactly translate to Corona cases but it does in that it gives an indication of the limited resources that are available in this area to treat people that are really sick or hurt.

Edited to add - if you travel a lot between Birmingham and central Alabama take a glance at the names on the sides of some of the ambulances you see running north balls to the wall. You'll very often see Haynes, Care, and Alex City FD. Last Saturday I saw a Dothan Ambulance service truck. Every time you see one that's a patient going from a Montgomery area hospital to Birmingham.