University of Chicago Medicine will put a Level 1 adult trauma center at its campus in the Hyde Park section of Chicago’s South Side, in a move that pleases community activists who have accused the elite university of slighting the largely low-income South Side.
Modern Healthcare reported that “Sharon O’Keefe, president of University of Chicago Medicine, said clinicians and leaders from Sinai Health System and UChicago concluded that, with the planned construction of a new emergency room and growing specialty care, there was a significant opportunity to integrate services between an adult trauma center and the hospital’s existing Level 1 pediatric trauma program at Comer Children’s Hospital, along with its Burn and Complex Wound Center. There were clinical synergies between departments that treat all ages like anesthesiology and radiology, as well as staff coverage from nursing and technical employees to make the move worth it, she said.”