Ujimaa Medics

Ujimaa Medics train people in how to care for shooting victims until an ambulance arrives, including caring for the victim, training in how to handle crowds, and how to communicate effectively with police and paramedics. The training now includes lessons on how to treat those suffering from an asthma attack.

Ujimaa Medics are a group of Black community organizers, activists, pastors, healthcare professionals, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, cousins, and friends of African Descent in Chicago who offer training in Urban Emergency First Response, primarily to people who live in or love people who live in communities where shootings often occur. The group works hard with few resources and for little or no money because, in their words, "we love our communities. We get up and active because we know we can’t depend on hospitals that refuse to open trauma centers, or medical centers with slow emergency response times. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for and we’re much more wise and powerful than we often think we are." Cofounders Amika Tendaji and Martine Caverl came together after losing a young person in their community to gun violence. "The fact that he was shot just a few blocks from one of the biggest and best hospitals in the country, and died on the way to another on the other side of town seemed to add grievous insult to grave injury. At his viewing, standing beside his casket, Amika became convinced that the hood could do better, that we could stabilize people if we knew how. Martine consulted first responders and added to her own medical training to develop the first version of our training that was shared with just a few family and friends. After more loss, we knew we couldn’t live with ourselves if we did not act, and finally taught our first public workshop in Fall 2014. Our first Train the Trainer was Spring 2015. UMedics was born." 1

As of 2023, hundreds of workshops have been given, more than a thousand people trained, and five gunshot victims aided, including one survivor who, when he got out of the hospital, hosted a UMedics training with at his family's house. 2 

Sources:
1 UMedics
2 Shannon Heffernan, 'Can you help me?' When a man burst through her back door after being shot, Journey Jamison was able to help, because of a training program called UMedics, WBEZ, June 2, 2017