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South Side Trauma Center Plan 'Still Not Enough' For Some Activists

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The University of Chicago's plan to create an adult trauma center on the South Side might be a victory for advocates who have been demanding such a facility for years, but it's not good enough for some activists and at least one South Side alderman.

The university has announced it is teaming up with Sinai Health Systems to create a $40 million Level 1 Trauma Center at Holy Cross Hospital, at 68th Street and California Avenue in the Marquette Park neighborhood. It would be the first such trauma center on the South Side of the city since the now-shuttered Michael Reese Hospital closed its trauma center in Bronzeville in 1991.

The Trauma Care Coalition, a group of activists who have spent five years demanding the university create a trauma center at its Hyde Park hospital campus, applauded the announcement, but said it's not good enough.

"The Trauma Center at Holy Cross is a victory for the South Side and it's happening because of young black people and allies," the group said in an emailed statement. "It's still not enough, U of C hasn't done enough to show that black lives matter. There are still large swaths of the South Side that will not be adequately served by the new trauma center. South Shore, East Woodlawn, Kenwood, and other South Side neighborhoods with higher gun violence rates are still more than five miles away from an adult trauma center."

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A study a couple years ago indicated gunshot victims more than five miles from a trauma center are more likely to die.

There is no place in Chicago further from a Level 1 Trauma Center than the 10th Ward -- the Hegewisch, East Side, and South Deering neighborhoods, in particular. Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th) said she's upset the new South Side trauma center will not be closer.

"I'm really disappointed in this announcement," she said.

Garza said Holy Cross is farther away from her ward than Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, which is often where victims of trauma on the South Side are taken.

From 136th Street and Avenue O in Hegewisch, it is about 14.5 miles to Christ Medical Center, and more than 16 miles to Holy Cross.

Garza said her community is an island that would not be served by Holy Cross, and is still too far from Christ Medical Center.

"It's a good 40 minute drive, or if you're lucky in traffic, 35 minutes if you're taking the farthest southeast point, Hegewisch," she said. "This one's even farther."

The alderman said to expect pushback against the University of Chicago's trauma center plan from her and others.

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