FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

The Fight For Trauma Care on Chicago's South Side

Chicago currently has four trauma centers for victims of gun violence. Not one of them is on the city's often-violent South Side. VICE News investigates what's being done to fix this.

There are currently four hospitals in Chicago that maintain level 1 adult trauma centers, where the critically injured, including victims of gun violence, must go for life-saving treatment. But not one of those hospitals is located on the city's often-violent South Side.

According to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Public Health, victims shot more than 5 miles from a trauma center have a lower rate of survival. Adult trauma victims on the South Side face travel distances as great as 15 miles, prompting community protests and making families wonder whether loved ones could have been saved with more immediate care.

VICE News went to the South Side to see the consequences of the city's trauma-care desert, and to find out what's being done to change it.

Watch "Institutionalized: Mental Health Behind Bars"

Read "It's Official: The Chicago Police Department Has a Serious Racism Problem"