Victims of the mass shooting at a movie theater were taken to several Denver-area hospitals.
Four of those are considered Level One trauma centers, according to the American College of Surgeons.
Here in Georgia we only have five Level One trauma centers covering the entire state.
The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon ranks as a Level One trauma center. Across the state, the others are in Savannah, Augusta and two in Atlanta.
Then we have a total of eight Level Two centers in Georgia. None of those are in Central Georgia.
Nineteen hospitals total have a designation of a trauma center from level one to level four.
Dr. Patrick O'Neal with the trauma division of the state EMS says they both provide essentially the same service.
"Many folks think that a Level One trauma center has expertise that a Level Two doesn't have, and for emergency trauma surgery, they both essentially can do the same thing," he said.
In the communications hub of the Medical Center calls come in from all over.
"There's no true geographical line as far as our service area," said Asst. VP of Emergency Services Lee Oliver. "We received patients from the majority of the southern counties and it's not uncommon for us to have patients in the northern counties as well."
The team here at the Medical Center treats 1,400 trauma patients each year and staff says in the case of a mass emergency there no cap on just how many people they can help.
"Each situation is different so it's hard to put an absolute number on how many we could treat," said Oliver.
He says in the case of a mass emergency many other regional hospitals would more than likely step up and help with overflow, just as they did in that situation in Colorado.
Trauma program director Debra Kitchens says level one centers are usually affiliated with a medical school, involved in research and have certain services available 24/7
State Senator Cecil Staton says Georgian's could use more access to centers like that and he's working to make that possible.
With the help of communications network, emergency personnel in our region now have a tool to check which hospital to take patients to.
"When the EMS go out in to the field in these situations they at least have a better knowledge of where they can take the patients so that they can get the care that they need," said Staton. "We still need to add access in other areas of the state particularly in southwest Georgia."
He's says they're trying to get other hospitals across the state to join the trauma network to help increase coverage.