UChicago Medicine Brings New Trauma Center to Hyde Park

By Ioana Neamt, Associate Editor

University of Chicago Medicine campus in Hyde Park

CHICAGO—South Side Chicago is finally getting a Level 1 adult trauma center, after being underserved for more than two decades.

Earlier this fall, the University of Chicago Medicine, together with Sinai Health System revealed plans to bring a new adult trauma center to the Holy Cross Hospital in Sinai’s healthcare network. Following protests and complaints that the South Side neighborhood would still be underserved, the location of the center has now changed.

According to the Chicago Tribune, UChicago Medicine decided it would be more cost-effective and a better use of its resources to build the center at its Hyde Park medical campus. The new center will thus become an integral part of the University of Chicago Medicine’s health system that includes a Level 1 pediatric trauma program, the Burn and Complex Wound Center, and a new and expanded emergency room announced earlier this year.

According to ABC7, the South Side area has been without an adult trauma center since the early 1990’s, having to redirect patients to Northwestern Hospital downtown.

“Having access to a Level 1 adult trauma center, alongside increased access to emergency and specialty care, will strengthen healthcare on the South Side and put essential medical services closer within the reach of more residents,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement.

“We offer UChicago Medicine our support and more than two decades of Sinai’s Level 1 trauma care expertise as it moves forward with its plans, and look forward to continued collaborations in many facets of clinical care that our institutions have long shared,” Karen Teitelbaum, president & CEO of Sinai Health System, added.

Image courtesy of University of Chicago Medicine