Chicago Teens Sound Off with Experts on Gun Violence at Town Hall

WHAT:    Chicago has seen more than 400 homicides this year and the homicide rate is currently more than four times that of New York. Homicides in Chicago, through September, are up 24 percent over the previous year.

Teens will present their findings on the public health issue of violence as part of a Columbia Links journalism and news literacy program. Adult experts on violence, including Hieu Ton-That, MD, trauma surgeon at Loyola University Health System, will participate.

In 2011, Loyola’s Level 1 Trauma Center received 123 gunshot-wound cases; 21 were fatal. “Just like cancer, violence is a disease and it has to be treated through constant education, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation,” said Ton-That, who also is an assistant professor of Surgery at Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine.
Loyola Emergency Department is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Illinois that is verified by the American College of Surgeons, a distinction held by a select group nationwide. Loyola’s Emergency Department cared for 53,000 patients in 2011.

WHEN:  5:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15

WHERE:  Columbia College Chicago Music Center Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.

MEET:  Teenagers who face the reality of violence in Chicago every day: Wesley Bogard, a senior at Harlan Community Academy; Lily Moore, a sophomore at Northside College Prep High School; Alan Peck, a junior at Mount Carmel High School; Kyler Sumter, a sophomore at Lindblom Math and Science Academy,  Matthew Wettig, a junior at Lane Tech College Prep High School.

Dr. Hieu Ton-That , who treats patients who suffer the adverse effects of violence at Loyola Level 1 trauma center.

Learn about strategies that some communities are using to successfully fight back against violence.