With the future of West Suburban Medical Center still up in the air, local faith leaders, doctors and employees gathered in front of the hospital Tuesday to demand it be reopened with the community’s needs in mind.
“We need to have a serious call to action,” said Bishop Dwight Gunn of Heritage International Christian Church in Austin, noting that his two children were born there. “Not so long ago this hospital stood as a place of hope for many.”
It can again be the type of hospital that provides quality heatlhcare to the Austin community, he said.
“In order for that to happen, there needs to be a sense of urgency about reopening this hospital,” Gunn said. He said it’s crucial that, if the hospital is reopened, the community becomes involved in leadership and oversight.
The Oak Park hospital closed abruptly in March, with owner and hospital operator Dr. Manoj Prasad saying he had to shutter the facility because of problems with its billing system. Prasad has said he’s resumed offering some outpatient, clinical services and hopes to reopen the hospital in phases this summer.
But his landlord and business partner Reddy Rathnaker Patlola has alleged that Prasad mismanaged the hospital, and Patlola wants to put a different operator in place to reopen the facility.
The hospital’s fate is now in the hands of a Cook County Circuit Court judge, who has been hearing arguments in two lawsuits filed by Prasad and Patlola’s companies
More Top Picks Best Sharp Kitchen Knife Set
against one another. Patlola, the landlord, wants the judge to place the facility in receivership, so a new operator can reopen it. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday.The faith leaders and hospital workers who gathered Tuesday said they didn’t want to wait any longer to make their voices heard.
“The people of Austin deserve a full scale hospital,” said Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church in Austin.
Acree said he’s seen the consequences of West Suburban’s closure firsthand. Weeks ago, Acree said his wife was at church and had a medical issue that needed immediate attention. An ambulance was called, and she was taken to Community First Medical Center in Portage Park.
“What would have normally just been a five-minute ride from Greater St. John Church to (West Suburban) ended up being a 20-minute ride across town,” Acree said. “When somebody is having a stroke, a heart attack, a seizure, or an aneurysm, 20 minutes can become a tragedy.”
The faith leaders on Tuesday asked that if any sort of forensic audit is done of West Suburban that the results be released publicly. The Cook County Circuit Court hearings have focused partly on what became of West Suburban’s funding in the years leading up to its closure.
Dr. Vishnu Chundi, a longtime West Suburban infectious disease doctor, said the area needs a hospital that can provide acute and emergency care, given the community’s medical needs.
“This hospital was an excellent hospital,” Chundi said. “We watched the Leapfrog A, which is the highest grade you can get as a hospital, slip to an F. We watched the deterioration of healthcare. … This area deserves much better care than it’s been getting and we should demand it.”
After the news conference Tuesday, the chief medical officer of PCC Community Wellness Center, Dr. Paul Luning, tried to bring a group from the news conference into the hospital, but security would not let them enter. PCC is still running clinics in the hospital building.
When Luning tried to go into the building on his own, he was told by Chicago Police he could not. It wasn’t until Patlola, the landlord, was called and told about the situation, that Luning was allowed back into the building.