Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Illinois board rejects plans to close essential South Side Chicago hospital
Source: The Guardian
Illinois board rejects plans to close essential South Side Chicago hospital
Healthcare advocates had warned closing Mercy hospital would leave Black Chicagoans with even fewer resources amid a deadly pandemic
Eric Lutz in Chicago
Wed 16 Dec 2020 00.05 GMT
Last modified on Wed 16 Dec 2020 00.09 GMT
In a victory for health advocates and community members in Chicago, a review board has unanimously rejected a plan to shutter a safety-net hospital that would have likely worsened the medical desert on the city’s predominantly Black South Side.
The 6-0 decision came after activists rallied in support of Mercy, and after hours of often-emotional public comment Tuesday – including from the former Illinois governor Pat Quinn and a representative for the current governor, JB Pritzker – against Michigan-based Trinity Health’s plan to close the facility early next year, despite the pandemic.
“I do not believe that Mercy has made a reasonable case that [the closure] will not have an extremely negative impact on the South Side of Chicago,” Dr Linda Rae Murray, a member of the Illinois health facilities and services review board, said in voting against Trinity’s plan to shut down the hospital.
“I am really distressed that this is going on in the midst of a global pandemic,” Murray added, calling the notion “unconscionable in my mind”.
Mercy, located in the historic Black neighborhood of Bronzeville, is the oldest hospital in Chicago, and serves a primarily Black, poor and elderly community – a population that has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus crisis.
-snip-
Healthcare advocates had warned closing Mercy hospital would leave Black Chicagoans with even fewer resources amid a deadly pandemic
Eric Lutz in Chicago
Wed 16 Dec 2020 00.05 GMT
Last modified on Wed 16 Dec 2020 00.09 GMT
In a victory for health advocates and community members in Chicago, a review board has unanimously rejected a plan to shutter a safety-net hospital that would have likely worsened the medical desert on the city’s predominantly Black South Side.
The 6-0 decision came after activists rallied in support of Mercy, and after hours of often-emotional public comment Tuesday – including from the former Illinois governor Pat Quinn and a representative for the current governor, JB Pritzker – against Michigan-based Trinity Health’s plan to close the facility early next year, despite the pandemic.
“I do not believe that Mercy has made a reasonable case that [the closure] will not have an extremely negative impact on the South Side of Chicago,” Dr Linda Rae Murray, a member of the Illinois health facilities and services review board, said in voting against Trinity’s plan to shut down the hospital.
“I am really distressed that this is going on in the midst of a global pandemic,” Murray added, calling the notion “unconscionable in my mind”.
Mercy, located in the historic Black neighborhood of Bronzeville, is the oldest hospital in Chicago, and serves a primarily Black, poor and elderly community – a population that has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus crisis.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/15/chicago-mercy-hospital-safety-net-south-side-closure
______________________________________________________________________
Related: Mercy Hospital closure proposal rejected by state board (Chicago Sun-Times)
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
