Lack of trauma centers means lives are being lost, say concerned lawmakers and officials

Someone shot or otherwise seriously injured on Chicago’s violence-plagued South Side waits nearly 50 percent longer to get to a trauma center than anywhere else in the city, a delay that medical experts say costs lives and that local community leaders and a leading area lawmaker say is simply unacceptable.

The situation came under the spotlight earlier this week when Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat, convened the first-of-its kind hearing looking into the lack of trauma centers across a wide swath of the city’s South Side.

These neighborhoods have been dubbed “trauma center deserts” because of the scarcity of high-level emergency care for adults. The real-world implications are that victims of violence have to be transported greater distances in situations where every second can be precious.

New loan program should open doors for greater diversity in state projects

Efforts to increase minority contractor participation in state projects took a step forward this week when the Illinois Senate approved the financing for a new loan program crucial to the diversity push.

“The people who build state roads and buildings should be as diverse as the people using them,” said State Senator Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat and the driving force behind the program.

State Senator Mattie Hunter joined representatives from the Illinois Lottery, family of Carolyn Adams and Department of Public Health Director LaMar Hasbrouck for the launching of the 10th edition of the "Ticket for a Cure," a lottery game that raises money for breast cancer research, promoting education and awareness. The event took place at the Loyola Medical Center in the Cardinal Bernardine Cancer Center in Maywood.

In 2011, Hunter sponsored legislation that allowed the Ticket for the Cure to be renamed in honor of former Illinois Lottery Superintendant Carolyn Adams, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2007 at the age of 44. This year's ticket is the first edition since the ticket was renamed.

One hundred women legislators and one hundred women community leaders from more than 35 states gathered Monday morning steps from the Capitol to call on Congress to work together to end the brinksmanship and get back to business doing the work of the people. The group is part of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND) and its program, the Women Legislators' Lobby (WiLL), a national nonpartisan network of women state legislators, who work together to influence federal policy and budget priorities.

“Our country is slowly recovering from one of the worst economic periods in our nation’s history and prolonging the budget process is a political cat and mouse game that is affecting our nation’s economy and people’s ability to provide for their families,” Illinois State Senate Majority Caucus Whip Mattie Hunter said. “We need to do what is best for the people of our country and shutting down the government as a political maneuver is unconscionable and irresponsible.”