South Georgia Gets Air Ambulance Service

A new air ambulance service in South Georgia should improve access to trauma care for people in an under served part of the state.
Interstate 75 south of Macon is often referred to as the "Death Corridor." Once you leave Middle Georgia the highway takes you through a part of the state far from a Level One trauma care center.
If you have an accident there it can take you a long time to get to a trauma center according to Crisp County Emergency Medical Services Director, David Edwards.

"Macon is the closest place for us and it's about 65 ground miles for us to transport by ground, and then we have a Level 2 trauma center which is Archibald located in Thomasville, but that's 100 miles away."

The new air ambulance service will be able to pick people up at the scene of accidents. It is owned by Missouri-based Air Evac Lifeteam which focuses on rural trauma care.

New amusement park for south Georgia

A new amusement park is coming to Georgia. "Charlie's Town" will be like Cordele's own Wild Adventures, according to the Cordele Dispatch. The south Georgia park will employ 450 people when it opens some time next spring.

Watermelon capital hosts summer kick-off

Georgia is home to the Watermelon Capital of the World. On Saturday Cordele will mark the first official day of summer with a parade, a seed-spitting contest and free slices of the sweet fruit. Farmers reported planting 3,000 acres of watermelons this summer.