Experts Discuss Cook County Gun Violence: 744 Deaths In 2017

COOK COUNTY, IL -- Leading clinical experts gathered in Cook County this past week to discuss gun violence as a public health issue.

In 2017, 744 people in Cook County died in gun-related homicides, county officials said, and more than 1,100 were treated for gun-related injuries at Stroger Hospital, the flagship center for Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS).

“When we talk about gun violence in Chicago, Cook County and America, we rarely frame the issue as a public health crisis," Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle said on Wednesday. "And that’s wrong. Because for every other health issue or disease affecting our communities – whether it’s the flu or cancer or AIDS – we rely on clinical data to inform our governance, legislation and science to try to improve outcomes for our residents and patients. Willful ignorance to our gun crisis enables it to flourish.”

The panel of experts included Cook County chief medical examiner Ponni Arunkumar, Ph.D.; Dr. Faran Bokhari, chair of the Cook County Trauma & Burn Unit at Stroger Hospital; and Rev. Carol Reese, violence prevention coordinator at Stroger Hospital, and director for hospital-based intervention program, Healing Hurt People.

As part of an effort to increase transparency and awareness of Cook County’s public health issues, such as gun violence and drug-related fatalities, Arunkumar unveiled a database that allows users to explore statistics about local deaths.

The system shares medical examiner data from August 2014 to present and is accessible online. In its "downloads" section, users will find gun violence fact sheets and data from CCHHS, one of the nation’s leading social safety net hospital systems.

The expert panel that convened on Wednesday is just one step in an information-gathering process that Preckwinkle is spearheading, county officials said. She's expected to unveil a comprehensive, strategic policy platform later in 2018.

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