{"id":93803,"date":"2020-12-02T10:11:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T16:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=93803"},"modified":"2020-12-02T10:11:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T16:11:19","slug":"community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kelly Milan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Medill Reports<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a life-or-death issue,\u201d said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization People United to Save Humanity (PUSH) and Rainbow Coalition.<\/p>\n

Jackson addressed the $70 million the city spent to convert McCormick Place into an emergency facility that serviced only 38 patients, arguing that the money could have gone to Mercy instead.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Mercy, along with three other South Side hospitals \u2014 Advocate Trinity Hospital, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital \u2014 announced a $1.1 billion plan to consolidate the four hospitals into one new hospital. But the plan was defeated after the Illinois General Assembly did not pass<\/a> $520 million in funding for the project.<\/p>\n

The current plan is for the hospital to transition into a center offering outpatient services.<\/p>\n

If Mercy Hospital closes, Chicago\u2019s South Side residents will have less access to preventative care and quality service, activists said yesterday. With COVID-19 cases at an all-time high in the city, they charged that the closing of Mercy Hospital will cause irreparable harm to the historically Black neighborhoods most impacted by the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough with the platitudes. We need policies to support the humanity of Black people in Chicago,\u201d said Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. \u201cWe cannot continue to talk about \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 and then we are closing a hospital in Black neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to the Illinois Health Facilities and Service Review Board in July<\/a>, Mercy announced the loss of inpatient service and high maintenance as its main reasons for shutting down.<\/p>\n

Jitu Brown, director of Journey 4 Justice, said shutting down Mercy is an unjustifiable decision by Trinity Health, the $10 billion nonprofit healthcare system that owns and operates the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack Lives Matter means more than toppling Confederate statues and slogans on websites,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIt has to mean the transformation of our institutions function in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown also said that St. Anthony Hospital, 2875 W 19th St., and Norwegian American Hospital in Humboldt Park, along with two unnamed investment firms, may look to purchase Mercy from Trinity Health.<\/p>\n

By November, Black Chicagoans accounted for 40% of the more than 3,000 Chicagoans who have died from COVID-19, according to a WBEZ analysis.<\/a>\u00a0 As of Nov. 15, Chicago\u2019s Black community had experienced the highest recorded death rate among the city\u2019s four largest racial or ethnic groups, close to double that of white residents.<\/p>\n

According to the analysis<\/a>, 1,235 Black Chicagoans died from COVID-19, which is about 16.1 deaths for every 10,000 residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Black Lives Matter, then Black health care matters, too,\u201d said State Rep. Lamont J. Robinson (D-5), who is calling for a statewide moratorium on hospital closures during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Joyce Ball, a frontline nurse at Provident Hospital, 500 E. 51st St., said in an interview with the Herald that the shutdown of Mercy will lead to worse health outcomes for patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they choose to go elsewhere, they might decide not to.\u00a0 They might stay at home and possibly die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closure could also increase the burden on Provident, the nearest hospital from Mercy, Ball said. That comes after the county recently<\/a> said that it planned to reclassify Provident\u2019s emergency room as a stand-by unit with one nurse and one doctor on call.<\/p>\n

Ball said that meant giving less attention to COVID-19 patients on the South Side who are already disproportionately affected by the virus, and that Provident is already transferring some COVID-19 patients seeking immediate care to Stroger Hospital, 1969 Ogden Ave.<\/p>\n

Last year, Provident Hospital saw 29,000 patients, according to Ball. She said the number of patients they see will probably increase significantly without Mercy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how can we if they shut our emergency down to one nurse and one doctor on call?\u201d said Ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no empathy for Black Lives Matter,\u201d Ball said. \u201cThey have forced us to seek medical attention elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

See related: Community activists rally to prevent Mercy Hospital closing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kelly Milan is an investigative reporter at Medill. You can follow her on Twitter at @KellyMilan5<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kelly Milan Medill Reports Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic. \u201cThis is a life-or-death issue,\u201d said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":717,"featured_media":93804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5029,675,4892],"tags":[5038,4999,107,737,5066,5067],"class_list":["post-93803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19","category-social-justice","category-winter-2020","tag-black-community","tag-covid-19","tag-health","tag-health-and-science","tag-mercy-hospital","tag-save-mercy-hospital"],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kelly Milan Medill Reports Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic. \u201cThis is a life-or-death issue,\u201d said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kelly.milan.16\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-02T16:11:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1133\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelly Milan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@KellyMilan5\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly Milan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/\",\"name\":\"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-02T16:11:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eecebdeffad41283caa3c3bd9463f8d3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg\",\"width\":1700,\"height\":1133,\"caption\":\"\u201cI am a proud member of the Black Leaders Building Together Coalition and the Chicago Health Equity Coalition that have come together to make sure that safety-net hospitals in the City of Chicago receive the support they need to thrive and that we actually achieve health care equity in the City of Chicago,\u201d said Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance and former education organizer of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO)during a Wednesday afternoon press conference on 26th St. nearMercy Hospital. (Marc Monaghan\/Hyde Park Herald)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eecebdeffad41283caa3c3bd9463f8d3\",\"name\":\"Kelly Milan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc731fffd70cedbf2ac0eea674cc3b3488043dae916255a09b253c8227e047f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc731fffd70cedbf2ac0eea674cc3b3488043dae916255a09b253c8227e047f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelly Milan\"},\"description\":\"Social Justice and Investigative Reporter\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kelly.milan.16\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/krm2.0_\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kellyrmilan\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/KellyMilan5\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/kellymilan2021\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Kelly Milan Medill Reports Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., and community activists held a press conference outside Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on Tuesday to call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Mercy Hospital from closing amid the pandemic. \u201cThis is a life-or-death issue,\u201d said Jackson, head of Chicago-based nonprofit organization […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kelly.milan.16\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-02T16:11:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1700,"height":1133,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kelly Milan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@KellyMilan5","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelly Milan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/","name":"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-02T16:11:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eecebdeffad41283caa3c3bd9463f8d3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2020\/12\/Mercy.jpg","width":1700,"height":1133,"caption":"\u201cI am a proud member of the Black Leaders Building Together Coalition and the Chicago Health Equity Coalition that have come together to make sure that safety-net hospitals in the City of Chicago receive the support they need to thrive and that we actually achieve health care equity in the City of Chicago,\u201d said Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance and former education organizer of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO)during a Wednesday afternoon press conference on 26th St. nearMercy Hospital. (Marc Monaghan\/Hyde Park Herald)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/community-activists-to-prevent-mercy-hospital-closing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community activists to prevent Mercy Hospital closing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/eecebdeffad41283caa3c3bd9463f8d3","name":"Kelly Milan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc731fffd70cedbf2ac0eea674cc3b3488043dae916255a09b253c8227e047f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc731fffd70cedbf2ac0eea674cc3b3488043dae916255a09b253c8227e047f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelly Milan"},"description":"Social Justice and Investigative Reporter","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kelly.milan.16\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/krm2.0_\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kellyrmilan\/","https:\/\/x.com\/KellyMilan5"],"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/kellymilan2021\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/717"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93803"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93838,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93803\/revisions\/93838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}