Mount Sinai Partnering With Anti-Violence Group CeaseFire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new program will soon offer shooting victims at one Chicago emergency room more than just medical care. WBBM's Nancy Harty reports Mount Sinai Hospital is partnering with CeaseFire.
Two crisis responders and a case manager from CeaseFire will be on call 24/7 for Mount Sinai's emergency department.
Mount Sinai's director of social services Cara Pacione says the one-year program is thanks to a grant from the Michael Reese Health Trust.
"We've always seen that there's been a need for this CeaseFire program at Sinai, but funding has not allowed us to implement it," she says.
Pacione says program, which is expected to roll out next week, comes amid a growing number of shootings and aims to prevent retaliation by friends or relatives of victims.
Mt. Sinai says last year it treated more than 1,700 trauma patients.
The violence-prevention group already works with Stroger, Christ Advocate and Northwestern Memorial Hospitals.
Ceasefire Illinois Executive Director Mark Payne says the lack of a state budget has meant it is currently working in only 5 communities instead of 24, as it had been.