Fredo believes the lack of trauma centers in South Side Chicago is a race issue. Fredo questioned the lack of trauma centers in South Side Chicago following the tragic death of Glo Gang rapper Capo.
“Why the f*ck ain’t no trama units on the south side of Chicago that’s sh*t so f*cked up somebody @ the mayor ask him,” Fredo wrote.
Fredo posted an SMS onto IG from friend G Weed who spoke on the lack of trauma units in Compton, CA.
The SMS read, “Thy want n*ggas to die bro thy took the trauma unit out of Compton about 8 years ago thy dnt want us to live my n*gga on way if n*ggas stop killing eachother I got hit back in the days and almost died the trauma unit in Compton mlk now n*ggas dying cause u gotta go 20 minutes away to a hospital smh.”
Fredo added in his caption, “Facts my n*gga @g_weeder149 smh they want blacks to die.”
The closest trauma center from where Capo was shot is University of Chicago Medical Center. It would have taken 14 minutes to transport Capo there. But the Center only admits children under age 15.
It took an estimated 24 minutes for Capo to arrive at Northwestern Hospital.
Fredo is not the only Chicagoan who believes racism is to blame for the lack of trauma centers on the South Side.
Darius Lightfoot, co-founder of Fearless Leading By The Youth (FLY), is fighting to have a level-one trauma center in South Side Chicago.
“As of recently since 2010, FLY has started a campaign called the ‘Trauma Center Campaign,’ which is to get a level-one trauma center on the South Side,” Lightfoot told Thomas Morton of Noisey in the “Chiraq” documentary. “Throughout the whole South Side, there is not one level-one trauma center for people of the age 16 and older. So if you’re 16 or older, you have to travel 10 miles just to get treated for a life-threatening injury.”
Candice Turner, a member of FLY, said her 18-year-old brother Damian died on his way to the hospital after being shot Aug. 15, 2010.
“He died on his way to the hospital because he had to be taken so far,” she said.
The nearest hospital with a trauma center for Damian was Northwestern Hospital.
Damian was shot on 61st and Cottage, three blocks away from University of Chicago Medical Center in Hyde Park. UCMC, ranked among the best hospitals in the nation, has a pediatric trauma center that services children 16 and younger.
(Damian Turner)
There are four adult trauma centers in Chicago, including, “Northwestern and Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital on the North Side and Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center and the John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County on the West Side.
Candice regarded the city’s failure to place a trauma center in South Side Chicago as a “race issue.”
Sheila Rush, Damian’s mother, has been a vocal advocate for an adult trauma center in South Side Chicago since her son’s death.
“It would have taken about a minute in a vehicle to get Damian to the U. of C. hospital,” Rush told the New York Times. “My sweet baby could still be alive today if the U. of C. had a trauma center. It’s just down the street.”
Rising costs prompted UCMC to shut down their trauma center in 1988, NYT reports.
“We drew the entire South Side,” John Easton, a spokesman for the medical center, told NYT. “That became overwhelming. It put an enormous strain on the hospital.”
UCMC opened a new $700 million, 1.2-million-sqare-foot, 10-story state-of-the-art facility on Feb. 23, 2013.
Revenues for patient cares at the hospital were more than $1 billion, according to UCMC’s website. The hospital is adequately staffed with more than 9,500 employees, including 700 attending physicians, 900 residents and fellows, and more than 1,500 nurses.
Chicago’s emergency health center system has long been criticized.
The now-closed Ravenswood Hospital was slammed after refusing to admit a dying South Side teen in 1998.
Christopher Sercye, 15, was shot in the abdomen while playing a game of basketball. Friends carried Sercye within 35 feet of the hospital, but personnel refused to bring him in, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Sercye bled to death outside of the hospital.
The hospital’s actions even drew strong criticism from then-president Bill Clinton.
The family of Sercye won a $12.5 million settlement from Ravenswood for Christopher’s death in 2003.
Rush told NYT she would continue fighting for an adult trauma center “so the next Damian will have chance.”
“It’s not just about my son,” Ms. Rush said. “Too many youth are dying when they don’t have to.”
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