Cook County needs to retain commitment to
long-term patients
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Daily Southtown Editorial
March 25, 2007
The issue: Cook County's top health official is considering
eliminating most or all of the beds in Oak Forest Hospital's
long-term care unit.
We say: Closing -- or even reducing -- this unit would
be disastrous for the needy patients who require the
complex care the facility provides. The county should
look for cuts elsewhere and not put patients' health
at risk.
In the heat of the poker game known as the Cook County
budget battle, one of the biggest chips was the county's
health care services. The Todd Stroger administration
claimed there were cuts that could be made without forsaking
the care of those for whom the county health system
is the only viable option. Stroger proposed cutting
several county clinics, saying only a few patients a
day used them, and those patients could be treated at
the many clinics that would remain open.
That seemed reasonable. But other moves did not seem
as rational -- primarily the elimination of hundreds
of doctors' and nurses' jobs. In the meantime, far too
many county political hacks were allowed to keep their
cushy jobs.
Now comes word that the county wants to severely reduce
the availability of long-term care at the county-run
Oak Forest Hospital. Though the county has yet to produce
its final appropriation plans, the county's top health
official, Dr. Robert Simon, has proposed reducing the
number of long-care beds from 220 to 70. And, according
to two doctors who were present at a recent meeting
with Simon, he may just eliminate them all.
As it is now, the 220 beds almost always are
occupied. And many of them are occupied by patients
who have called Oak Forest Hospital their home for 15
years or more. These indigent patients are so severely
disabled they require constant medical attentiveness
that most certainly could not be provided by family
members or at a private nursing home -- even if the
financial arrangements could be made to move them into
one.
Oak Forest Hospital would continue to provide other
services, such as an emergency room and limited surgical
care. But that's of little consolation to the long-term
patients whose future is loaded with uncertainty due
to games politicians play.
A group of patients recently visited with the Daily
Southtown editorial board. They spoke glowingly of the
care they have received through the years. Louis Smith,
who has been a resident since being paralyzed by a gunshot
wound 18 years ago, described the long-term unit as
"a community, vibrant and lively." He and
his fellow patients couldn't understand why the Stroger
administration was putting them through this ordeal.
Doctors and other caregivers at the hospital, some of
whom could be pink-slipped at any time, are advocating
strongly for the patients and urging the county to keep
the long-term unit in tact.
"I don't sleep well at night," Dr. Jody Ashenhurst
said. "Everyone is in turmoil."
Both the patients and caregivers claim Simon refuses
to provide timetables or any answers at all. There's
no place for such insensitivity. The fact is, these
patients have few, if any, options. Sending them away
goes against the mission of what county health care
is supposed to be. The county simply cannot
play games with patients in need of complex health care.
Instead of eliminating 220 beds, the county
should look down the personnel roster in the Division
of County Hacks. If money still needs to be saved, we
suggest they start there. What's more, officials should
ratchet up attempts to correct the county's chronic
failure to collect payment for health care services
from individuals who are able to pay.
But for the sake of human decency, leave patients like
Louis Smith where they are and where they can receive
the best care.
