Peoria receives grant to fund trauma center

Posted on March 30, 2018
Advocates suggest the trauma recovery center in Peoria has been a long time coming. (Photo courtesy Facebook/OSF Saint Francis Medical Center)

By Jaymee Toler/WMBD-TV

PEORIA – Thanks to a partnership between OSF Healthcare and Peoria public schools, Peoria is getting a $1.1 million grant to provide a trauma center in one of the state’s most economically distressed areas.

Advocates say this trauma recovery center will serve the needs of the victims of violent crimes in Peoria’s most marginalized communities. That includes students and families of those impacted by those kind of situations, as Sister Judith Ann Duvall explained.

“We are serving human life. How beautiful is that? What is more important than that? Than to care for our own?” said Duvall.

State Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth said the million dollar trauma center will not only help students, but also anyone in the community who finds themselves battling needs that underserved communities face, like poverty, violence and homelessness.

“We are standing in a community, in this zip code, that is without question..one of the most harmed communities in this state, but it is also one of the least served,” Gordon-Booth explained.

Jaymee Toler can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…