April 27, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

President Stroger announces Cook County efforts to help stem recent wave of violence

President will ask suburban mayors to join with County in hosting town hall meetings to address root causes and raise awareness about County programs that offer alternatives. See below for thumbnails and links to high-resolution photos.

CHICAGO, April 27, 2008 – Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger joined suburban mayors, local community leaders, County physicians, nurses and agency officials to address steps the County is taking to work collaboratively with local agencies and municipalities to address the recent wave of violence in the region. The group gathered Sunday Stroger Hospital of Cook County’s emergency room entrance on the near west side of Chicago.

The President discussed existing efforts in the County, as well as upcoming plans to sharpen partnerships and pool resources more effectively. Those efforts will include a series of town hall meetings in Cook County to solicit input from the grass roots about the dynamics driving the current wave of violence, and to educate people about available services from Cook County and its partners.

“As a parent, I share the concern of parents everywhere about the current wave of violence that has plagued our communities in recent months,” said President Stroger. “Our County agencies deal every day with the dire consequences of guns and violence – from our emergency rooms and clinics, where we treat the survivors of violence for the rest of their lives, to our court system, where victims, survivors and perpetrators wrestle with the consequences of violence. There is virtually no County agency that does not have to contend with the consequences of violence in the region – from the State’s Attorney’s Office and the Clerk of the Circuit Court, all the way to the Department of Corrections and, unfortunately, even the Medical Examiner’s Office, which houses the County morgue.”

Violence is a serious public health issue. Of patients admitted to Stroger Hospital’s Trauma Intensive Care Unit, more than a third are victims of gunshot wounds. Last year, Stroger Hospital saw 542 victims of gunshot wounds, 25% of whom were between the ages of 10 and 19. The data suggests that not only are health care workers seeing younger gunshot victims, but those victims are requiring greater resource utilization and intensity of care.

More than 90% of gunshot victims at Stroger will survive their injuries, but the longterm physical and emotional consequences are often profound. Some have such catastrophic abdominal injuries that they are dependent on intravenous nutrition and are unable to eat for a year or more. Others have injuries that require amputations, or spinal cord injuries that leave them paralyzed. Nearly all have some degree of post-traumatic stress that can affect their ability to maintain relationships with family and friends or to find and keep employment.

Gunshot victims and their families are not the only individuals relying on Cook County Government for frontline services. Cook County’s health care workers treat the victims of all forms of violence: young people who are victims of gang-related violence that includes assault and extreme bullying; victims of dating violence and rape; and families devastated by domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse. Officials note that children are affected by all forms of violence to which they are exposed, whether or not it is directed specifically at them.

“There are tangible costs to County taxpayers for violence, not just in terms of the tragic loss of human life and the grief that these incidents generate, but the hard costs of caring for victims and stewarding cases that result from these incidents through our court and jail system,” said President Stroger. “The stark fact is that violence is a serious public health concern that demands our attention throughout Cook County.”

Stroger has asked his staff to work with mayors and chief executives throughout suburban Cook County to convene a series of town hall meetings that will include staff from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the Cook County Department of Public Health, the President’s Office of Employment Training, the Cook County Department of Planning & Development, the Bureau of Health Services, and other relevant agencies. Public Health and POET will take the lead with mayors in convening these meetups. The goal of the gatherings is to provide local parents and residents with a forum to share their thoughts, concerns and ideas about root causes and possible solutions for violence in their communities with County staff and agencies – and to let local residents know about current County resources to address some of these concerns.

The President’s office is also undertaking a comprehensive review of anti-violence programs and youth initiatives throughout County Government, as a way to sharpen opportunities for inter-agency cooperation and linkages, and to begin to look at particular programs that require additional support.

Cook County currently sponsors a number of existing programs that make a real difference in the lives of those at the greatest risk of becoming victims of violent crime.

For example, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office of Youth Services administers a program called ‘In Touch’ which serves to shield at-risk youth from violence and drug interaction in communities throughout Cook County. Staff at Provident Hospital of Cook County are partnering with the local Chicago police district and neighborhood churches to ratchet up teen violence prevention efforts in local neighborhoods. POET is currently working to deploy support for its summer youth employment and training services. The Cook County Department of Public Health has garnered funding to support antiviolence efforts in its service regions. County health clinics are currently collaborating with community groups that include the Little Village Community Development Corporation, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, the YMCA, and nearly twenty other groups in the Violence Prevention Collaboration, founded to reduce gang violence and improve and increase access to educational institutions, recreational facilities, jobs, and affordable health care.

“We need to work harder – and smarter – to shore up anti-violence and crime prevention efforts throughout Cook County,” said President Stroger. “I cannot – and will not – stand idly by while this pattern of epidemic violence robs of us our children. We owe our residents more. Violence has root causes and practical solutions, and I look forward to working with area officials and members of the County Board in coming months to make practical antiviolence strategies a reality throughout our operations. That includes my pledge that the offices under my authority will work hand in glove with other County agencies and officials and municipalities throughout the region to embrace practical strategies and programs to address this critical issue.”

Attendees at Sunday’s press conference included Maywood Mayor Henderson Yarbrough Sr.; Robbins Mayor Irene Brodie; Joe Bertrand, Jr. representing Mayor Robert Donaldson of Hazel Crest; Dr. Jeffery Schaider, Chair of Emergency Medicine at Stroger Hospital; Dr. Charles Flowers, superintendent of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education; Kimberly Joseph, MD, FACS, FCCM, Division Chair, Trauma Intensive Care and Prevention, Department of Trauma, Stroger Hospital of Cook County; Johnny Brown, Stroger Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer; Darryl Davis, Emergency Department technician in Stroger Hospital’s Adult Emergency Department; Charles Booth, Director of Stroger Hospital’s police department; Babajide Libingo, Director of Transportation at Stroger Hospital; Dr. David Levine, Medical Director of Stroger Hospital’s Emergency Department; Jamil Ahmad, Administrator for the Emergency Department; John Jackson, Business Office Supervisor for PM emergency department clerks; nurse Rose Velasco of Stroger Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department; Cynthia Przislicki, RN, MSN, Director of Nursing for the Adult Emergency Department/Pediatric Emergency Department and the Observation Unit of Stroger Hospital; nurse Birdie Ivy of Stroger Hospital’s Adult Emergency Department; LPN Hattie Tucker of the Adult Emergency Department; Rodney Posley, Emergency Department Technician in the Adult Emergency Department; Manny Estrada of the Vista Health Center of Cook County, based in Palatine and one of 16 County clinics in the County’s Ambulatory and Community Health Network; Jorge Cestou, Executive Director of the Little Village Community Development Corporation; and Jesus Garcia, President of the Little Village Community Development Corporation; Dr. Stephen Martin, Director of the Cook County Department of Public Health; and Karen Crawford, director of POET – the President’s Office of Employment Training.

# # #