Calling Chicago’s South Side a “trauma desert,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced a bill Monday that would allot federal money for creating trauma care centers in underserved urban and rural areas.
“Every member of Congress’ district is affected by too long travel times from the site of a trauma to a hospital that will indeed care for that trauma,” Rush said Monday in front of Jackson Park Hospital on 76th and Stony Island, according to WBEZ.
Rush called the city’s South Side the “number one trauma desert” in the country when he introduced the $100 million Trauma Act, which has yet to be called to a House vote, the Sun-Times reports. Though funds would be matched by states, Rush acknowledged the high price tag that comes with Level One trauma care centers.
“We’re not under any illusion that $100 million aimed at this issue is enough money but we’ve got to start somewhere,” Rush said.
The matter is a personal one for Rush, who lost his adult son Huey Rich in 1999 and believes his son’s life could have been saved if a trauma care facility had been nearby
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