UMedicsChi

UMedicsChi We offer emergency and community care response training to build resilience and self-determination.
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Ujimaa Medics (from the 3rd principle of Kwanzaa, 'Ujimaa,' for "collective work & responsibility"), is a collective of Black people fighting to create healing & justice in our communities

We surveyed over 100 Cook County residents, and 10% were prevented by police or EMS from helping during a health emergen...
05/07/2026

We surveyed over 100 Cook County residents, and 10% were prevented by police or EMS from helping during a health emergency. It could happen to you. Will you be prepared?

If this sounds like you and you live in Cook County, we’d love to hear your story. Head to bit.ly/UMedics911Survey or the link in our bio to take our survey. You can stay completely anonymous or leave your contact info to be entered into a raffle for the BEST trauma kit in the world! When you have one of these on you, trust and believe you will .

We are working to keep our communities resilient and self-determined by sharing lifesaving skills while promoting health justice for all Black lives. At all of our workshops we make space for folks to contribute their lived experiences of being on the scene of a health emergency. Many of these stories include being prevented from providing lifesaving first response before handing off to a higher level of care. This is why at our skillshares we demonstrate how to confidently and efficiently call 911 while caring for an injured person, and how to engage with EMS and police when they arrive on the scene.

When we are prevented from keeping our friends, family, and even ourselves stable during a medical emergency, we are experiencing systems of inequality and oppression unfold before our very eyes. Interference from police and even bystanders can keep us from giving each other the care we need to survive. Being prepared for these moments by having the skills to spread calm and respond confidently is how we are in actionable solidarity with one another.

🔗Share the survey with your care network: bit.ly/UMedics911Survey

04/30/2026

Throwback to a recent Know Your Rights/Protestor Health & Safety training hosted by . Watch members Joe and Martine demonstrate how to flush eyes that have been exposed to a chemical weapon like tear gas.

These skills are necessary for everyone to know, even if you have never attended a protest or plan not to. Any of us could find ourselves on the scene of an emergency. Will you be ready?

🔗Visit the link in our bio to request a training!

We surveyed over 100 Cook County residents, and 67% reported that they have witnessed someone have a health emergency. I...
04/29/2026

We surveyed over 100 Cook County residents, and 67% reported that they have witnessed someone have a health emergency. It could happen to you. Will you be prepared? We still need help reaching our goal of 200 respondents. Talk to us about your experiences with 911 in Cook County by taking our survey. Visit bit.ly/UMedics911Survey or the link in our bio.

Our Community Emergency Preparedness Survey, the first grassroots research project of its kind in Chicago, has been open for a few months now; and your responses are already so insightful. Folks have been vulnerable with us about sharing their deeply personal experiences with calling 911 for health emergencies, all while expressing a desire to skill up in order to protect their neighbors next time it happens.

We know that a variety of health emergencies disproportionately affect Black and low income communities. This is shared cultural knowledge embedded in the ways we interact with one another, but it is also supported by research. We face higher rates of cardiac arrests (ex. when the heart stops beating), firearm-related injuries, and having to go to a hospital for an asthma attack.

In the 10+ years of Ujimaa Medics, across all types of our trainings, one thing is consistent: folks everywhere want to and know how to confidently help their village in the face of an emergency. Anyone has the ability to learn the skills that could save a life. Will you take the first step, get trained with UMedics, and commit to being in active solidarity with your community?

At the top of this year, we grounded ourselves in our collective vision: “We envision a world where Black people are fre...
04/10/2026

At the top of this year, we grounded ourselves in our collective vision:

“We envision a world where Black people are free to practice the principle of ‘Ujima’ (collective work and responsibility) by fostering resilience and a self-determined culture of health within our communities. We will stay ready to protect one another in a more just world.”

Now that we are almost halfway through the year and approaching our busy season, we are reflecting on our impact in 2025. From Asthma Community Care to Birth Emergency Skills Trainings, last year we reached over a thousand Chicagoans committed to learning how to use what they may already know and apply it to learning actionable skills to apply in emergency situations our communities disproportionately experience.

Last year we facilitated 105 skill shares, our top 3 being CPR/First Aid, Basic Gunshot Wound First Response, and Outreach & Quick Tips. Throughout the year over 1,000 of your friends and neighbors got trained in lifesaving skills, especially folks in Englewood, Back of the Yards, and North Lawndale.

For generations before you and me, Black and Brown people have relied on interwoven networks of care and support for survival. We implore you to continue this tradition of solidarity, preparation, and organization by inviting us to be a part of your care network. We all know when you , you don’t gotta get ready! As long as you can get five people together, we’ll come do a training. From basic First Aid to full CPR Certification or Protestor Health & Safety, you can request us to come and train up your people. Check out the link in our bio to see our offerings and request to get on our calendar.

P.S.👀 Did you know that you can attend a group CPR Training as an individual? If you’re serious about getting skilled up on First Aid/CPR but can’t gather 5 people, we can work with you to individually complete the training with a group!

We are about one week away from our first Birth Emergency Skills Workshop of 2026! Did you register but can no longer ma...
04/03/2026

We are about one week away from our first Birth Emergency Skills Workshop of 2026! Did you register but can no longer make it? Reach out to us or and let us know so we can give your spot to someone on the waitlist🫶🏾

See you next week!

Less than TWO DAYS until our Spring fundraiser!💐 Buy a ticket and make a one-of-a-kind bouquet at Flowers for Dreams wit...
03/31/2026

Less than TWO DAYS until our Spring fundraiser!💐 Buy a ticket and make a one-of-a-kind bouquet at Flowers for Dreams with UMedics, Chicago United Solidarity Project, and Women Unite!🫶🏾

womenunitechicago.org/events/petals-for-the-people

02/04/2026

We have our first winner of a UMedics trauma kit! CONGRATULATIONS FLUFFY🥳🥳 If that’s you, check your email. If we don’t hear from you in one week, the kit will be given to our runner up KR.

You can enter the raffle to win this fabulous and well-stocked trauma kit by filling out our 5 minute survey and sharing your experience with 911 emergency response in Cook County. Visit bit.ly/Umedics911Survey and share with your friends!

A new winner will be announced every month until we reach 200 responses🗣️‼️

Responding to a gunshot wound and deciding whether to call an ambulance or drive the injured person yourself? 🚨FIRST CON...
02/02/2026

Responding to a gunshot wound and deciding whether to call an ambulance or drive the injured person yourself?

🚨FIRST CONSIDER:
👉🏾 How close is the nearest Level 1 Trauma Center? Not every hospital can treat sever traumatic injuries.
👉🏾 Are you the only responder? If your hands are on the steering wheel, who is providing first aid?
👉🏾 How bad is their condition? Stay in your scope! What can you do for them in a car, vs. what can a paramedic do in an ambulance?
👉🏾 Are you intoxicated? Practice scene safety. Are you aware enough to drive?
👉🏾 Is it rush hour? What traffic obstacles could prevent you accessing a hospital?

Across all of our Gunshot Wound First Response trainings, people share their hesitance to wait for an ambulance to show up and to instead opt to drive the injured person to a hospital. Reasons range from concerns that by the time ambulance arrives it will be too late, to not wanting to risk dealing with police or ICE, and especially fears about the cost of an ambulance.

At UMedics we still recommend that you call 911, ask for the Fire Department, say you need an ambulance right away, and practice Tactical Awareness until the ambulance arrives.

As always, remember our First Aid Principles: 
👉🏾 U: Understand how they feel, ask for consent
👉🏾 M: Movement only when necessary
👉🏾 E: Examine but do no harm
👉🏾 D: Don’t go out of your scope
👉🏾 I: Injuries emotional and physical must be treated
👉🏾 C: Collective Responsibility (Ujima)
👉🏾 S: Scene Safety

01/30/2026

Join us on Friday, February 6th at Cole's Bar (2338 N. Milwaukee Chicago, IL 60647) from 6pm - 8pm for a Mixer and Fundraiser with Ujimaa Medics.

Come socialize, enjoy a drink, play some games, listen to music, and tap in with UMedics to expand your care network during these times. We will be raising money to ensure we can continue our work of spreading emergency first response, community care, and survival skills to access health justice and long term wellness for all Black lives❤️💛

Ujamaa invites us to tend the economic wellness of our communities through our personal financial choices.Contribute to ...
12/29/2025

Ujamaa invites us to tend the economic wellness of our communities through our personal financial choices.

Contribute to the work of UMedics with a single or monthly donation. $5 a month helps to sustain health supplies and training materials for our programs. Many employers also offer matching gifts to boost your donation's impact. Learn more at UMedics.org/donate.

Habari Gani? Today's Kwanzaa principle UJIMA, collective work and responsibility, is an invitation for us to honor the B...
12/29/2025

Habari Gani? Today's Kwanzaa principle UJIMA, collective work and responsibility, is an invitation for us to honor the Black-led and founded groups that collaborated with UMedics this year.

We invite everyone to reflect on how we can each contribute to communal work to solve communal problems. There is a difference between doing good to help a few and doing justice to free everyone. We invite you to contribute your time and talent towards collective work that has a political analysis and advances liberation. Contribute to local efforts to protect the people in your home, on your block, in your city, and beyond through mutual aid, safety planning, and being prepared for emergencies.

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Chicago, IL
60612

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