Chicago's South Side Trauma Center Just Proved It Saves 79 Lives Per Every 2,000 Gunshot Victims — Now the Funding That Built It Is at Risk

In March 2026, a peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Surgery — and covered by WTTW Chicago News — provided the most rigorous quantification yet of what access to Level 1 trauma care means for gunshot victims on Chicago's South Side: after the University of Chicago Medicine Level 1 Trauma Center opened in 2018 — filling a "trauma desert" that had existed on the South Side since 1988 — transportation time following firearm injuries dropped by nearly 10 minutes.

That 10-minute reduction translated directly into an estimated 79 lives saved for every 2,000 firearm injuries treated. More than 38,000 patients have been served by the trauma center since its opening. Put another way: the South Side has not merely benefited from having better trauma care — it has been quantifiably, measurably, statistically safer because of it.