By Gap Ranklin | New News Reporter
Regional Corporate Hospital will close its emergency care unit, effective Jan. 1, 2015, according to an official statement.
Effective on that date, but not before Dec. 31, 2014, almost all traumatic incidents in the Bass Lake area will be deferred to DownState Medical Center, which is a 45-minute trip via ambulance, via road, during good weather. Plans for optional airlift by Bass Lake’s town helicopter are on hold.
The decision is motivated mainly by “efficiency,” said Krem Greebler, CEO and chief executive officer of Regional Corporate Hospital.
“Based on statistics from our analytical wing, the low percentage of the amount of trauma we, as a community, experience, on a statistical basis, by-and-large, concludes that this decision makes prudent, financial sense,” Greebler told someone to type. “This will allow us — your local medical facility — to focus on preventive health measures, such as smoking cessation and quit-smoking initiatives — and let someone else deal with problems that involve large amounts of lost blood or near-death terror.”
Exceptions may apply to the “elsewhere-trauma-care” plan, Greebler admitted during a 45-second phone conversation with the Beacon. One example he cited: Unusual life-threatening conditions involving children under age “6.” No other examples were provided.
Each certified member of the medical personnel group currently “under employ” in the emergency unit is expected to lose his or her job, or be transferred elsewhere, Greebler said. “Mostly, the lose his-or-her job thing,” he said.
Bass Lake Beacon 
I believe there may be a significant incidence of trauma in the Bass lake area, but victims have not been going to regional hospital.directly or indirectly. I believe the green and white motif of the sign may have something to do with this. A red and white sign typically indicates first aid, red cross,medical emergency, do not enter, etc. A green and white sign is usually for directional purposes and may give an injured, traumatized, maimed, color-blind
or verbally mocked person the idea that they should go somewhere else, given the fact that they cannot adopt the universal colors of many other municipalities in the region. Since this is a corporate hospital, i assume this change in signage has been considered and rejected as too expensive and would not bring a significant return of investment.
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According to research by the Beacon research team, there was, in fact, discussion of signage-recoloring. Boards-of-trustee members from each branch of Regional Corporate Hospital could not agree on the proper spectral-hue of red, and the proposal was dead on arrival.
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Given the indecision of the aforementioned Regional Corporate Hospital Boards-of-trustee members to agree on a signage-recoloring referendum, I believe it would be wise, in light of the high percentage of color-blind and (possibly) hearing impaired population of the area, to erect a sign below, above, or behind the existing first aid sign directing potential victims to DownState Medical Center to avoid traffic tie-ups and confusion following a possible fishing boat pile-up. This should not be a terribly large obstacle, as the shade of green has been established.
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