U Of C Launches Trauma Center Feasibility Study

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 24, 2015 10:40PM

Photo credit: crimsonmaroon/Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

What will it take for University of Chicago Medicine to open a trauma center for adults, besides the loud calls for years for one from South Side residents? U of C hopes a study launched last month will give them the answers and help them formulate a plan to make that happen.

They certainly have the resources. A January report from the Illinois Department of Public Health found U of C Medicine had “sufficient resources” to open a Level I trauma center. U of C’s Comer Children’s Hospital has a trauma unit that the university is adapting to treat patients up to age 17. If you’re an adult and need emergency medical care, however, you’re SOL. That same IDPH study noted gunshot victims injured more than five miles from a trauma center see their chances of survival decrease 23 percent.

U of C Medicine says it would need 35 beds for trauma patients and the study will identify other needs on the center’s campus. It also comes as the university tries to rally support for its bid for the Obama Presidential Library. Some opponents of the bid say the university should focus on opening a trauma center instead, or tie the two projects together.

[Crain's]