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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
CALLING FOR THE CREATION OF A GUN VIOLENCE RESEARCH CONSORTIUM AS A PROJECT OF THE COOK COUNTY HEALTH AND HOSPITAL SYSTEM’S COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH UNIT
WHEREAS, every year the physicians of the Cook County Health and Hospital System’s Stroger Hospital treat approximately 900 victims of gun violence; and
WHEREAS, the cost to Cook County taxpayers of treating victims of gun violence typically ranges between $35,000.00 and $50,000.00 per victim; and,
WHEREAS, Chicago and Cook County are presently engulfed in a gun violence crisis, with 1,823 people in Chicago shot in 2016 to date, and 312 people killed during this same time period; and
WHEREAS, gun violence in Chicago and Cook County has strained the resources of Cook County and stretched the limits of many of the institutions of Cook County government, including the Cook County Medical Examiner, Cook County Jail, the Cook County Circuit Court, and the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, among others; and
WHEREAS, numerous national, regional and local public policy experts have clearly identified gun violence as a public health issue; and,
WHEREAS, on June 14, 2016, the American Medical Association publicly proclaimed Gun Violence to be a “Public Health Crisis,” and implored the United States Congress to lift its ban on research of gun violence by Centers for Disease Control (CDC); and
WHEREAS, on June 21, 2016, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Health and Hospitals System CEO, Dr. Jay Shannon, stood with other leaders and advocates and demanded that the gun violence epidemic in Chicago and Cook County be treated as a public health crisis; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Shannon stated that, as a health crisis, gun violence “has to be addressed with an equally complex, data-driven approach”; and
WHEREAS, Cook County Health and Hospitals System engages in multiple forms of research in order to expand and improve understanding of the diseases and related conditions impacting the patients that the system serves; and
WHEREAS, among the research projects operating under the auspices of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System are the AIDS Malignancy Consortium, the Intimate Partner Violence Protocol, and the Chicago Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention Epicenter (CARPE); and
WHEREAS, Cook County Health and Hospitals System contains a Collaborative Research Unit which was created in 1998 to promote research on significant problems impacting the health of the vulnerable and diverse patient populations of Cook County; and
WHEREAS, the current gun violence epidemic is a significant problem that impacts the health of the vulnerable and diverse patient populations of Cook County
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President and Cook County Board of Commissioners do hereby call for the creation, by the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, of a Gun Violence Research Consortium, as a project of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System’s Collaborative Research Unit; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Gun Violence Research Consortium shall research and analyze a broad scope of activities, including but not limited to clinical care, health services research, medical education, and community-based studies, with the goal of improving the health of the citizens of Cook County by significantly reducing gun violence throughout Cook County.
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