(Lake County, IL) The Lake County Gun Violence Prevention Initiative (GVPI) and the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center at Advocate Condell Medical Center announced today that they will work together to stop the cycle of gun violence in Lake County through an innovative collaboration that connects shooting victims with community resources and trauma outreach workers inside a hospital setting.
Advocate Condell Medical Center is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Lake County. As a result, major gunshot injuries in Lake County are treated at Advocate Condell Medical Center. Trauma outreach workers help patients and families impacted by violence to counsel them through trauma and to connect them with free services such as:
- Individual therapy
- Support groups
- Psychiatric services
- Social services workshops
- Case management and referrals to community agencies to assist with: housing, employment, finances, legal advocacy or resources, and education.
Through this partnership, the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center’s trauma outreach workers will contact the violence interrupters when a gunshot patient arrives. The hospital staff and interrupters will work together 24/7 to identify patients, their family members or their friends who are at risk of future gun violence or who may engage in retaliation. The interrupters, known as the Lake County Peacemakers, will mediate disputes and connect those in need to the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center.
“This partnership will connect the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center’s existing trauma services for shooting victims with professional violence interrupters who are trained to prevent retaliation, to mediate disputes, and to connect at-risk survivors with community resources,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
“We are grateful for this partnership with the Lake County Gun Violence Prevention Initiative. We understand that to be successful in ending the cycle of violence, we need to partner together,” said Dr. Kim Miller, director of the Advocate Trauma Recovery Center. “While our relationship with an individual may begin in a hospital, our whole-person approach to care does not end when the physical wounds heal. We meet our patients where they are, and provide comprehensive services to meet each individual’s emotional, psychological and spiritual needs.”
"Advocate Condell Medical Center has a long history of working in the community to treat the physical and psychological symptoms that gun violence has on our patients and families,” added Dr. Halleh Akbarnia, an emergency medicine doctor at Advocate Condell Medical Center. “Our Trauma Recovery Center is committed to addressing the underlying trauma and social determinants of health that contribute to violence. By working closely with the Lake County GVPI community violence prevention program, we will be able to connect our patients with resources and services that can help them heal and thrive, and help break a vicious cycle this public health crisis can create."
“We know that many shooting victims come from underserved communities and do not have access to long-term trauma care after a shooting. This lack of investment in Black and Brown communities is one of the drivers of violence. But if we can quickly connect them with interrupters who are already credible peace messengers from their community, we can stop the cycles of violence and retaliation,” said Shawn Lewis, peacemaker program manager.
In 2023, the Waukegan Township and nonprofit organization Coalition to Reduce Recidivism began hiring violence interrupters who are focused on the areas most impacted by gun violence in Lake County: Waukegan, North Chicago, and Zion. While the State’s Attorney’s Office serves as the leading organization for the overall prevention and outreach efforts, the interrupters are employees of the Waukegan Township.
The Lake County Peacemakers is one of dozens of community violence interrupter programs that have been formed over the last ten years in cities all over the country including Boston, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Chicago. Neighborhoods with interrupter programs have seen decreases in gun violence by 30-50%.
The Lake County Gun Violence Prevention Initiative was started in 2022 by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and is one of only a few violence prevention programs that are housed in a prosecutor’s office. Initial funding was provided by the Lake County Board and was supplemented by larger funding awards by the Illinois General Assembly and, eventually, the United States Congress.
Rinehart added, “We would not be here without the support of our local leaders such as Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, State Representative Rita Mayfield, State Senator Adriane Johnson, and US Congressman Brad Schneider.”
Lake County Board Member and Chair of the GVPI, Sara Knizhnik, added, “This partnership between the GVPI and Advocate Trauma Recovery Center is a powerful example of how public and private entities can and must work together to address the gun violence epidemic in order to make all residents of Lake County, no matter where they live, safer.”
