Portside

The community surrounding the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus has one of the highest shooting rates in Chicago and consequences of the lack of a Level 1 adult trauma center are acutely felt. In Oakland, California, activists and trained first responders were frustrated by the lack of urgency they observed among police and EMTs after shootings. Keeping trauma care inequality campaigns grassroots gives lasting power and impact. Elsewhere, activists agree.

The Ebola outbreak, which is the largest in history that we know about, is merely a reflection of the public health crisis in Africa, and it’s about the lack of staff, stuff and systems that could protect populations, particularly those living in poverty, from outbreaks like this or other public health threats.