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Tuesday, August 26: Trauma Center Activists to Block University of Chicago Hospital Expansion into Orland Park


Chicago, IL –(ENEWSPF)—August 26, 2014. South Side activists pushing for a trauma center will hold a press conference Tuesday, August 26 at 12 pm at 58th and Maryland to announce plans to travel to the state hospital board meeting to oppose the University of Chicago Medicine’s (UCM) plan to build a high-end clinic in Orland Park, IL. On Wednesday, representatives of the Trauma Center Coalition will testify at a state hospital board meeting on the project in Normal, IL. Community members, students, mothers, clergy, alumni, and members of campus labor unions will be present to speak and answer questions at the press conference.

There is currently no level one trauma center for adults on the South Side of Chicago. Activists and public health leaders have been calling on the University of Chicago, best-resourced institution in the area, to help fill that gap. Instead, UCM President Sharon O’Keefe has submitted a proposal to the Illinois Health Services Facility Review Board (HFSRB) to construct a $60-million facility to house radiation oncology, infusion, and orthopedic units. Activists note that these are all highly profitable services and that the UCM has proposed funding the project with cash.

“They’ve told us for years that they’re too broke to open a trauma center, but all of the sudden they have $60 million to build a clinic in the suburbs that will turn profits?” asked community youth leader Veronica Morris-Moore. “Those resources can and must be used to open and run a South Side trauma center.”

This marks the second time this summer that trauma center activists have brought their campaign to the state. In July, organizers gave testimony at a state hospital board meeting on the UCM’s plans to add dozens of luxury inpatient suites after which the board deemed the proposal unnecessary and denied it.

“We were glad to see that the board had the sense to see that the UCM doesn’t need more luxury beds. Hopefully they’ll see that this latest proposal is the same,” said UChicago student and trauma center activist Emilio Comay del Junco. “If the UofC continues to ignore the needs of its community in favor of profits, the state needs to step in. That’s why we’re going back to testify at the HFSRB state hospital board meeting.”

The UofC proposal has also raised concerns that it will harm existing medical facilities in Orland Park. “It’s ironic and sad that Sharon O’Keefe wants to build a new hospital in a white suburb that already has more than enough medical facilities while she has consistently ignored the needs of black people right next door to the University of Chicago,” noted Morris-Moore.

The campaign for a level 1 adult trauma center at the University of Chicago was sparked by the shooting death of Woodlawn youth leader Damian Turner in 2010. Turner was taken over ten miles away, to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and died en route.  Recent research by Dr. Marie Crandall of Northwestern, has shown strong links between increased travel time and mortality.

Recent stories on the trauma center campaign:

Chicago needs help, not Obama Library,” LZ Granderson, CNN.com

Doctors add voices to demand for UofC trauma center,” Chicago Tribune

Activists protest university’s bid for Obama Library,” USA Today

University of Chicago Alumni: No Donations Until Trauma Center Opened,” Progress Illinois

Why This Hospital Turned a 18-Year Old Away After He Was Shot,” The Huffington Post


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