State must fund LIFE STAR

At a time when the state of Connecticut is looking for $700 million in concessions from its employee unions over three years, one would think that a line item of a mere $1.4 million would not be the first target for budgetary cuts. But these are unusual times, and a projected state budget shortfall of unprecedented proportions means that nothing is off the table for downsizing consideration. And of course, the budget is still under discussion and a matter of partisan negotiation between the office of Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Legislature.

Of all things, though, a program such as LIFE STAR, the life-saving helicopter transport service run out of Hartford Hospital for the past 10 years, which receives part of that $1.4 million in state funding to stay in business, ought to be one of the last to suffer under the fiscal knife. For those residents in the upper eastern and western parts of the state, the transport service can mean the difference between life and death, or recovery and disability, when they are struck by traumatic injury or illness. Both these geographic areas are isolated from major medical centers, and the road systems running east-west in the state are long, winding and bear only slower travel, never having been upgraded for faster vehicle traffic.

As reported by Tara Kelly in last week’s Lakeville Journal in a front-page article on LIFE STAR, the difference in travel time from Sharon to Hartford using the helicopter is dramatic: It takes only 20 minutes for the chopper to navigate the route, while road transport is about an hour-and-a-half. As even those of us who are not medical experts know, in cases where patients need care for trauma of any kind, cutting the time to access that care can make their odds of survival and recovery much greater.

Truly, there are other areas that could take a budgetary hit before such a critical, proven method of saving human lives is cut at least in half, as has been suggested by the governor’s office. This shows a lack of foresight and reveals true desperation. While state Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) is convinced the LIFE STAR funding will survive in an amount that will keep the service alive (see story, front page), the governor’s office is determined to cut and has stated that hospitals can find funding elsewhere.

As the state struggles to pull through this historic downturn, those services that hold together the fabric of society at the most basic levels need to be maintained. LIFE STAR is one of those. As hospitals, because of their own budgetary woes, may need to cut back programs available from community to community, and as more citizens lose their health care as they lose their jobs, such transport will become more and more necessary and meaningful for a wider swath of the state’s population. The governor’s belief that hospitals can raise money through alternate sources of revenue is based on an economic landscape that no longer exists since this downturn began. Such opportunities for funding are fewer and fewer now.

The governor and the state Legislature should find other areas to cut. They can start by negotiating harder with those state employee unions, maybe increasing those $700 million in concessions over three years to $706 million. That’ll cover LIFE STAR’s needs over the next three years and save lives, maybe even those of some union members, to boot.

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