Doctors on high: Unlike Chicago drivers who formed the classic “gaper’s block” watching the flamboyant image of Dennis Rodman take shape on a wall of a North Side building, motorists in the more sedate southwest suburbs aren’t stopping traffic, but they are slowing down for a look at life-sized mannequins of doctors perched on the edges of some Silver Cross Hospital billboards.
The figures underscore the message of the billboards — “World-class health care is closer than you think” — by illustrating the proximity of health-care providers, according to Tracy Simons, manager of community relations at Silver Cross.
The 6-foot-high figures are designed to look real, she said. “You can see every line and wrinkle in the clothing,” she said. But unlike real people, the models are dipped in fiberglass to protect them from the elements.
The mannequins now top the signs near Jefferson and Larkin Avenues, near Interstate Highway 80 and Illinois Highway 53 and on 159th Street east of Parker Road.
“We’ve had quite a few calls,” she said, and the reaction is favorable. “They really did freshen up the message.”