Time To Treat Gun Violence As Public Health Crisis, Leaders Say

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a public health crisis.

That is what Cook County and local medical leaders are calling the gun violence epidemic in Chicago, and they are pushing for more research, CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reports.

At Stroger Hospital, the ambulances, carrying gunshot victims, seemingly never stop.

More victims, 900 of them in 2015, ended up walking though the hospital doors.

"We are here because we want to see a public health crisis treated as a public health crisis," said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Other health leaders, along with the American Medical Association, agree.

"Like any health crisis it, has to be addressed with an equally complex data driven approach," said Cook County Health and Hospitals System CEO, Dr. Jay Shannon.

Zyonna Bragg lost two brothers to gun violence.

"There's no good reason to take another life," Bragg said. "One of which was shot 18 times."

Activist Andrew Holmes, who lost his own daughter to a shooting: "It's an epidemic that needs to be stopped."

It comes at a high cost to taxpayers, too. Treatment can rage from $35,000 to $50,000 for a gunshot victim.

For Bragg, there is no price tag on losing family.