Community activists interrupted a University of Chicago fundraising event last week to demand better trauma care for Chicago’s South Side. Protestors are calling for the creation of a Level I trauma program at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
On March 5, nine protestors used lockboxes to create a human chain across Michigan Avenue, according to the Chicago Maroon. The roadblock, timed during rush hour, lasted about one hour before ending in the arrest of the nine. Two other groups of protesters used air horns to interrupt a University of Chicago fundraising event being held simultaneously at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The trauma center protest campaign has been active since last spring. The UC Medical Center closed its trauma program in 1988, but it is currently assessing the possibility of reinstating a Level I center. On March 7, Crain’s Chicago Business published an editorial calling on the university to create a Level I trauma program.