Mayor Lightfoot will use $30 million to address declining life expectancy in Chicago

On average, the pandemic reduced life expectancy for Chicagoans by two years, and Black and Latinx Chicagoans faced the steepest declines.

By Claire Hyman, Lynnea Domienik, Daniel Tucker
ICU patient and doctors
In this Aug. 6, 2014 photo, doctors from Cook County’s Stroger Hospital in Chicago and medical personnel from the U.S. Navy check out a patient in the trauma unit at the hospital. Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press
ICU patient and doctors
In this Aug. 6, 2014 photo, doctors from Cook County’s Stroger Hospital in Chicago and medical personnel from the U.S. Navy check out a patient in the trauma unit at the hospital. Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Mayor Lightfoot will use $30 million to address declining life expectancy in Chicago

On average, the pandemic reduced life expectancy for Chicagoans by two years, and Black and Latinx Chicagoans faced the steepest declines.

By Claire Hyman, Lynnea Domienik, Daniel Tucker
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New data from the Chicago Department of Public Health show that Chicagoans’ life expectancy is going down inequitably.

Reset checks in with the city’s top doctor and talks with community health experts to learn more about Chicago’s plans to address the gap.

GUESTS: Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public HealthDonna Thompson, CEO of ACCESS Community Health Network

Ayesha Jaco, executive director at West Side United