He says it was a nudge from his sister and brother-in-law, whose Kenwood home he visits often. ‘We’re coming into a situation where I believe we’re underwater.’ KOCO is one of about a dozen members of the Chicago Health Equity Coalition. “We will be voting members on the board or else.” Credit: Maxwell Evans/Block Club Chicago Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization board president Jitu Brown speaks at a press conference ahead of Monday’s candlelight vigil to keep Mercy Hospital open. “We will not have token representation,” Kenwood Oakland Community Organization Executive Director Shannon Bennett told Block Club after a recent press conference. Among their list of demands for the 169-year-old institution is fully operational emergency and obstetrics departments, and seats on the new hospital’s board. The Chicago Health Equity Coalition has been on the frontlines of the struggle to keep Mercy open since Trinity Health announced its closure last spring, staging protests Downtown and on the hospital’s Bronzeville campus for months afterward.Īfter broken promises and failed merger attempts, the coalition of residents, clergy, activists and medical professionals have made it clear the old way of doing things without community input is over. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in the Near South Side neighborhood on March 29, 2021. There to make sure Insight keeps its word will be a group of community activists and organizers who battled for months to stop the hospital at 2525 S. We have to take leaps of faith, we have to be aggressive in what we do.” “What that means to me is that it’s not simply financial opportunity, it’s opportunity to do good, opportunity to innovate. “One of the things I think we do well, humbly speaking, is that we see opportunity where others don’t,” Shah said in an interview with Block Club. Knowing what lies ahead, Shah said Insight Chicago is prepared to do the work. Insight Chicago will also have the delicate task of rebuilding trust with a community that routinely has had to fight to receive even a basic standard of medical care. When Mercy Hospital exits the Trinity Health umbrella next month, it will do so facing severe challenges and with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |