Regional One ( aka The Med ) is the only level one trauma center within 150 miles of Memphis. The problem in Chicago is not the lack of care it's the overwhelming amount of violence.

I'm an EMT in Baltimore and have been for 4 years. I'm really disappointed that Vice did not go into the overwhelmed hospital staff of these trauma centers there are so many variables involved.

There is a pretty valid reason for not wanting to open a level 1 trauma center on the south side of Chicago, and I don't think it was mentioned in the video, but someone should probably bring it up.. Most of the people that will come into any level 1 trauma center on the south side, probably will not be able to pay any medical bills they receive as a result of a shooting, and they either have no insurance, or state subsidized insurance, which means that the hospital will not receive payment for services rendered. Even if they have state subsidized insurance, most states setup the highest dollar amount they will pay to any hospital, regardless of whether or not that amount actually covers the cost of the services provided by the hospital. Both of these things mean that either A.) the hospital never gets paid for a lengthy hospital stay for some gang member who got shot for acting foolish (granted, this logic doesn't apply to innocent bystanders, but that's just a tragedy. Tragedies happen all the time) or B.) the hospital could end up getting paid less than the cost of the services they rendered in saving some foolish gang member's life. Neither of these options is beneficial to a hospital, which, at the end of the day, is still a business (albeit an essential one) that is trying to at least stay in the black. To me, it seems that the focus should not be on the fact that the south side needs a trauma center, the focus should be on the fact that the south side needs a cosmic shift in the way it stems gang violence, and the way it deals with all these kids shooting each other. That should be the story. Not that a bunch of old business men do not want to open a trauma center that will OBVIOUSLY not be profitable, or at the very least self-sufficient.

"I think people have always thought about trauma care in this very pathological, stereotypical kind of way. If you get shot, you must have done something wrong." Yup. Case in point-the comments section of this very video.

In normal circumstances 6 fucking trauma centers is probably enough but it's the volume of shootings that the actual problem. Don't spend money on new facilities rather try to fix the gang problem chiraq.

This is very sad but it's not just gun shot trauma and I recent the bias of this reporting. It's any kind of trauma that requires emergency surgery, life saving measures that require certain and very expensive measures. Stabbings, accidents, suicide, beatings, anything that requires immediate action. A trauma center is set up to provide things like O neg blood supplies in stock, surgical suites in state of readiness and that includes trauma surgeons AT the hospital on call etc. This is very expensive. The hospital I worked at on the south side often had to declare the ED closed to emergencies due to over whelming demands on available supplies and personal. Money is God and if you don't have the tribute, you can't get the mercy.

The black community needs to stop the violence in their own communities. I know it's not simple and there's a lot of outside factors. But they need to take action.

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" - bit.ly/1T8NrAH

Ah yes look at all that gun control working perfec-wait it isnt working? DAMN BETTER GET SOME MORE GUN CONTROL THAT SHOULD HELP THINGS /s

Doctors, nurses, and EMTs give enough to society. You cannot expect them to work in a war zone, too. Let's see, supermarkets won't open up in these neighborhoods, restaurants won't open up in these neighborhoods, shopping malls won't open up in these neighborhoods...and even hospitals won't. Don't y'all think YOU HAVE A PROBLEM???? Until you have worked in one of these settings as a medical professional and been threatened, cussed at, spat on, hit or otherwise assaulted....or been afraid to walk to your car after a shift...fear of being raped, mugged, shot or stabbed...you will never know. I'm not sacrificing my life for a community that has such little respect for their lives. Sorry.

I believe that the community of Chicago Illinois should come together and protest the amount of shootings rather than force a financial burden on the University of Chicago. I don't know what the answer is but building more trauma centers doesn't seem to be the answer. To many innocent people are victems of the violence in Chicago Illinois and the people need to address the situation first.

Um, no - drug dealers and gang-bangers don't deserve the same degree of care that innocent, honest, good people do.

I'm a paramedic in south Denver and we have 4 level one trauma care hospitals within a 15 mile area, 35 minutes is too long for a GSW patient to be in route, but it is still within the "golden hour"

here's a idea , stop shooting each other !

*They're protesting for the trauma center to reopen, but they won't protest the gang violence.*

the CPR At 1:45 is probably the worst I have ever seen

When to community around a hospital does not care enough about each other that a hospital goes so far in the red (lose money) that they have to shut down a trauma center says something. Stop committing crimes against one another and put down your guns and stop shooting each other and you wont need a gun shot unit at every corner, got a liqueur store on every corner and a drug dealer in a lambo but can't afford to pay your hospital bills to keep it in business....

Lordy, that "black women are beautiful" shirt... Talk about insecurity...

If you are tired of seeing your friends and family die as a result of gun violence, stand up to and protest against gangs, not hospitals.

I dont get how not having hospitals is what is seen as the problem. Its understandable why, its said in the video the facilities can't stay open since the people getting shot bankrupt the place. "Tired of seeing my friends die" So instead of complaining about what is killing your friends, you blame something that isn't the cause... K

It's not about the shootings, it's about healthcare access. You can tell the people commenting on this video have no medical experience whatsoever. I'm an EMT, and I'm in school to become a trauma surgeon (still a decade to go, at best). First of all, let's look at the gunshot victims. Yeah, I agree, we need to get our shit together and annihilate the gangs responsible for Chicago's violence, but it's not just gangbanging motherfuckers being shot. It's children. It's police officers. It's innocent people too. You're going to consign those people to death in the back of the ambulance because you're not going to open a trauma center in the proper area? Really? Moreover, it's not just gunshot victims that need trauma centers. It's victims of car accidents. Serious falls. Attempted suicides. Victims of assaults. Burns. Anything that causes severe, multisystemic injury. Many of those incidents are entirely unrelated to gun violence, but those people are dying too. In New Jersey, where I work, the rule of thumb is generally to call for helicopter evacuation to a trauma center if the trauma center is 20 or more minutes away. From my town, the nearest Level 1 trauma center is about 15 minutes down the highway, traveling with lights and sirens. In Chicago, they're talking about a 35 minute ambulance ride, on a good day. That's ridiculous. I see a lot of people on here bitching about how "blah blah blah you can't build another hospital". Well, that's great. Because there's actually a massive hospital already on the South Side, in the form of the University of Chicago medical center. Adding a trauma center would cost money, yeah. But it would also bring prestige to the school, create a new training hospital for surgeons of all types, and save hundreds of lives, not just gangbangers, but those innocent victims of trauma incidents unrelated to gun violence. You guys really don't think that's worth it?

How much funding have these protesters raised for the hospital?

Incoming racism in 5.... 4.... 3....

I think it's important to understand 1) WHY they're not putting trauma centers in (and they're fair reasons) 2) WHY are all these shootings happening. You won't need trauma centers if you don't have as many shootings. At the end of the day, you can't have hospitals that cant at the very least, sustain themselves financially. People can't work for free, they need to be paid and supplies need to be bought.

17 shots from .38 I hear it on the radio every day

Coming to a city near you.

None of these people said "you know, it'd be great if people just stopped shooting each other around here" but no it was all "why dont they take care of people? they get shot they should have the best care right down the street because this is where everyone gets shot". It's alarming the lack of self awareness.

it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach the way people can sit there and tell others how and where to spend their money. y'all don't need more trauma care centers, you need to stop shooting each other like idiots. if you don't want violence in your community and your friends getting shot then either fix the problem or get out.

god bless those EMTs for having to deal with this mess

So am I the only person here that sees the focus here is on problem substation ability instead of correction? Why isn't the outcry here to correct the behavior that causes this instead of helping it last longer?

Chicago should definitely have a Trauma Center. One of the biggest places in the whole area for hospitals. They are always adding more stuff to that place has been in construction forever.

Building a trauma center to deal with the shootings is like putting a napkin over dirty dishes and hoping they'll clean themselves. The real tragedy is the innocent bystanders of the violence

Blaming the hospital but not the shooters? Odd

7:34 gandalf in the background

They are a private hospital they don't have to open a trauma center. If you can't pay for your own care it's not the University of Chicago's job.

Trauma centers aren't gonna "save lives." Rather than protesting for a stop gap, they should be working to improve socioeconomic status by creating opportunities in their disenfranchised communities to avoid people shooting each other in the first place. Even more so, to think a facility's financial cost should not be considered is naive. That's why the iron triangle of healthcare exists; there's availability of healthcare, quality of healthcare, and financial cost of healthcare. You can only have two at any given time while sacrificing the remaining third option.

Wow. It's not disgusting that UC wont open a level 1 unit. Doctors aren't involved in those decisions and the people who DO make the decisions didn't take "the oath." Every gunshot case costs tens of not hundreds of thousands of dollars, even more when you need to hire staff. Think about solving other problems too like the lack of black parenting.

Nobody is man enough to blame it on the gangs and the ones doing the shootings. They just wanna keep glorifying the gangs and acting like this is the governments fault. Anybody who doesn't hold the gangs accountable is part of the problem and needs to wake up.

If they can't afford a trauma care center then don't force them to open one

why not move. I will not raise my kids in a place that is bad. it better off being homeless in a rich neighborhood

As a Brit I'm always surprised by the degree to which healthcare is monetised in the US. Here you can get fantastic treatment all over the country and there is no cost... just seems like there is a disparity...

Chicago: The liberal city with no guns. LOL

imagine having a shirt that said white women are beautiful

My sister works there, and she is suffering from how much people are dying over the dumbest thing.

@8:21 legs are not supposed to bend like that.

Where is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to keep the peace? =(

There’s only Two Level 1 Trauma center in Harris County and they are right next to each other in Houston.

Trauma centers don't happen they are paid for. Didn't hear one of these people talk about paying for the hospital or any of the bills caused by the shootings. "Even if it takes a loss." Priceless.

Cash rules everything around me, CREAM, get the money, dolla dolla bill y'all

Omg I am so upset to see this because I was literally these guys that were shot. I moved to Chicago at 17 on my own for college. I was walking the streets all hours. This is so sad, I can't even believe it. Kevin Ambrose looks similar to me, and his college was right down the street from where I went to college. I also noticed that these young men could have possibly been Lgbt people like myself. This is an ongoing trend I'm noticing in the state of Illinois. All I can do is continue to pray and make my voice heard. God be with them.

No one is against trauma center. Big Question: Who's going to pay for it? City of Chicago collects taxes and owes these human services. it has numerous project where money is wasted. It should be directed toward trauma center. Suggestion: City of Chicago should subsidize UofC Trauma Center

Sounds like a band-aid measure that doesn't have anything to do with the root cause of violence in that area. Hospitals are businesses that have to make a profit in order to stay open, attract top medical professionals, do research, etc,. How many gun shot victims are even able to pay their resulting medical bills?

How about Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet start donating to stuff like this? They want to help the youth, and this is the most at risk youth in the country.

Don't miss the forest cause u can't see past the trees. The fact that so many of u believe that putting a price on someone's life is ok is appalling. BELIEVE THIS-- SS Chicago may have a big problem but they don't have the only problem. Where's your nearest trauma center? (You know they support more than gunshot wounds right?) Do you have your insurance card ready jic you need someone to care about your next breath? How about sustaining a decent quality of life when a medical issue threatens to bankrupt you? I believe there's an argument to be made that NO ONE should live in uncertainty. The only color that matters here is green and u may not be as far removed from this issue as you think.

Yes, good health care is needed for everyone, but even more is the need to disarm this entire area of Chicago. It would not be like America anymore, but right now its like a war zone any way. If the people there are so hot headed and trigger happy with gangs, drama and violence, then maybe they do need to be fenced in, patrolled, and controlled until this problem dies down.

Who gets in a gun fight with no health insurance?

Just martial law the whole area. It's completely out of control.

Live by the gun, die by the gun.

I work EMS IN PHILLY AND THIS IS MURDER BY THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. WOW. IN CHICAGO. PROFIT OVER LIVES.

If the community wants to keep it open they need to put pressure on the people who don't pay their bills and start fund raising to cover the loss. You prove you care by raising money year in year out. If you can't be bothered to raise money for it why should the University or anyone else care?

This is why you should vote for Bernie!

CHEERS!!! the Univ. of Chicago has done the right thing. Give them credit!!!

These people get shot and then Who pays their hostipal bills. Government or victim!? Healthcare is very expensive in America and their bills must be in millions or thousands of grands. That's insanity.

America needs more doctors and a single payer system.

wow...my heart goes out to my people in the Chi...stay strong...

Wow thoes liberal gun laws seem to be doing a great job hu!?!

you cant just force a non government hospital to provide trauma care if its going to bankrupt them

No way there is a need for trauma centers. There is a need to hold people accountable. The only reason I can see how this is not fair is to the healthcare professionals. Chicago is a mess and it should not be rewarded for a trauma center

It's literally a war here...

Praying for Chicago 🙏🏾

Now that we goin have this trauma center close by we need to fight for more. I think we need a fulltime paramedic on every streetcorner. And a trauma surgeon every 3 blocks.

The thugs and savage gang members in Chicago remind me of the tribes in Africa.

Hows the gun laws working out?

She wears that shirt because she doesnt want to admit its not true.

Yeah blame everyone else instead of our own people acting like and actually calling themselves savages.

Going to a non designated trauma center is not going to save people. You need a level 1. Going to a level 2 or 3 is not going to save these people

so essentially, thugs deserve free health insurance lol ok

My understanding of trauma team members are highly skilled individuals with an elite talent to work under extreme stress. If most blacks coming in have little to no insurance---why bother? The entitlement mentality is alive and well. Trauma team members have families to feed. Aren't we supposed to be a CAPITALISTIC society?

How about you all learn to treat eachother with some respect and like human beings? Then maybe you wouldn't need another trauma center.

People don’t care about people in the south side of Chicago how about caring about yourself

So the liberal solution is to have "the man" build more trauma centers? lol Vice is lost...

Here's a idea..Quit shooting each other!

Stop shooting eachother when you don't have health insurance. These doctors have to get paid too!

Medical Care is a privilege and a blessing. No one is owed that shit. My opinion.

Darwin would call this natural selection

Vice news, always reporting on one side of the story.....doesn't even interview the upper echelons. Smh

I dont think these people understand... A university is a business... and no business owes you a damn thing. The definition of entitlement. Ever ask yourself why if there are so many patients its still not worth the money? Because no one ever pays their hospital bills. While you should be entitled to free healthcare in my opinion, thats not the way it works.

Level 1 trauma care with a massive amount of trauma specialists is my right, to be paid for by other people !

if they want a trauma center so badly, why don't they try to crowd fund for one. smh these people.

One reason is that a lot of these people that got shot can't afford to pay the medical bills. So the hospital is wasting money.

How can any ER keep up with the amount of traumatic injuries caused by this violence? I don’t care what colour you are....everyone deserves the same care, but it’s impossible to maintain. Shocking!

i dont understand why u go through all this trouble to make a video and you only make it 11 mins long! ffs

How about treating the disease instead of the symptoms?

Maybe stop shooting each other?

good documentary but why instead of focusing only in the closing down of trauma centers focus in the real security problems that Chicago is facing

Did they not go over how many people shot are not even affiliated with gangs? If somebody tells you not to bite your nails and thats something you've always been used to, it'd be hard to stop. But putting that same analogy into effect with the violence that occurs throughout many states and worldwide makes no difference. Ignorance does not save lives, it diminishes them. Imagine how these politicians who are in charge of coming up with fixes are able to do so without truly understanding the issue, but only the numbers and statistics.

neo-cons...i dont understand you. can someone please try to explain how making guns more available would quell the issue of people dying en route to the hospital? it doesnt make any sense... how would a deregulated gun markets help improve the mental healthcare/rising cases of ptsd/anxiety/depression in low income, urban areas? how could a gun replace a psychiatrist or an iv bag or a blood transfusion or a mentor or a counselor? shooting someone back after being shot doesnt protest anyone...so please explain how less gun control would be a good thing?

The fact that the richest country in the world doesn't have Universal Healthcare & allows a rapacious for profit system to make money off the health of its citizens is a national embarrassment. Not only are people still uninsured but daily there are hundreds of people which have to file for bankruptcy over unpaid medical bills.

They should just start giving ppl mandatory 5 years if caught with a gun 20 years for shooting a gun no matter if anyone gets shot!!!! I guarantee you violence in Chicago will be at an all time low

why would a hospital want to be in the middle of all the traged in the south side? its best they stay away from that because the hospitals also attends other patients