HOSPITAL SEEKS STATE INVESTMENT TO REMAIN OPEN

West Suburban Medical Center, located in Oak Park, is looking for the State to provide money to help it remain open so it can provide essential services to the residents in the community. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
West Suburban Medical Center, located in Oak Park, is looking for the State to provide money to help it remain open so it can provide essential services to the residents in the community. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 Hospital seeks state investment to remain open

BY TIA CAROL JONES
     West Suburban Medical Center, located at 3 Erie St., in Oak Park, has been in the community since 1914. Now it is seeking financial help from the state of Illinois to keep its doors open.
According to a press release, the medical center has treated more than 38,000 patients in its Emergency Department and more than 140,000 patients annually.
     Also, 74 percent of the patients are African-American and 11 percent are Hispanic or Latino and are from communities that include Austin, Humboldt Park, Hanson Park, West Garfield Park and Elmwood Park.
    Sylvia Williams has been a registered nurse at West Suburban Medical Center for 14 years. She came to know about the services provided by the medical center after her father, who was dealing with a chronic illness, was a patient there.
    Williams said her father received “a lot of great care” at the center. “When I wanted to speak to the social worker, the social worker was readily available,” she said. “I didn’t have to wait for two days. There weren’t a lot of layers,” Williams continued. She added that at academic medical centers, it might take two or three days to talk to different disciplines. “I just thought it was more therapeutic. I was able to reach my doctors at any given moment to talk about my dad and his plan of care.”
    Williams described West Suburban as a jewel of a hospital, adding that it’s a well-kept secret in the community. She said she saw all the great care and the collaboration between the physicians and the nurses. When she wanted more work-life balance, she applied to be a manager at West Suburban.
    “When I met with the staff, I had to meet with the directors of different departments, and physician departments, they talked to me about how they took care of patients in my community. They talked about their clinics, and looking at some of the disparities in healthcare that our community had, like with diabetes, renal failure, hypertension and how much work they had been doing. I just felt honored to be able to work in my community and to take care of the patients I love,” she said.
     She said if her father hadn’t received treatment there, she wouldn’t have known about it. She said there is a patient advisory council comprised of patients and family members who are committed to sustaining the hospital. Participants on the council have also made suggestions about how to do more community outreach with pregnant teens, churches and schools.
    “Our primary care physicians are really trying to reach out to patients to do health maintenance, so they don’t have to use the ED (Emergency Department) as their clinic. And, that’s pretty much what we see,” she said, adding that patients are staying home longer and the hospital is reaching out to hire more primary care doctors to be at West Suburban in the hopes of being more preventative and providing more education.
    Williams said there are a lot of programs for seniors who make up most of the patient population at West Suburban. There’s also a senior bus that brings seniors to the hospital, she said.
    “There’s a lot that West Suburban does and needs to continue to do that I think our community just doesn’t know,” Williams said. “In terms of funding, I’d like to see the hospital provided with more funding, because we do see a large patient population of Medicare and Medicaid, uninsured, non-insured patients and we want to be able to continue to provide all of those services with that kind of funding,” she added.

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