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County Hospital Workers: Budget Cut Unthinkable

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Jan 8, 2007 10:28 pm US/Central

County Hospital Workers: Budget Cut Unthinkable

Proposed 17 Percent Cutback Could Mean 6,500 Layoffs At County Hospitals

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by Rob Johnson
CHICAGO (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 3: People at Stroger Hospital say budget cuts are a prescription for disaster.
CBS
Click to enlarge 2 of 3: County healthcare workers are fighting against proposed budget cuts that would affect facilities including Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
CBS
Click to enlarge 3 of 3: Todd Stroger has called for a 17 percent across-the-board budget cut in Cook County departments. (File)
CBS

Proposed budget cuts could mean big layoffs at Stroger Hospital of Cook County.

CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports health care workers say cutbacks are a prescription for disaster.

A meeting of county healthcare workers Monday night provided a bleak assessment of the 17 percent budget cut ordered by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.

The cuts could mean up to 6,500 layoffs at hospitals like the one bearing his father's name, in a healthcare system already stretched thin.

"This is the last stop. The only reason people come here is because they have no where else to go," said Curly Cohen of the Cook County Patient Board.

For doctors and nurses on the front lines, this prospect is ominous.

"This is not a factory. Things don't come off a line. These are human beings," said Cook County nurse Regina Ellis.

"What we are going to have is a lot of patients that are not well-taken cared for by confused, angry, exhausted personnel," said Cook County doctor Jody Ashenhurst, M.D.

This issue has become so contentious that Tuesday Service Employees International Union Local 20 will announce that up to 600 doctors countywide are going to unionize, concerned about their futures and those of their patients.

"These proposed budget cuts are reckless and irresponsible and I think what the doctors want first and foremost is a real voice in the process," said SEIU Local 20 President Byron Hobbs.

As for Stroger, he was in Springfield Monday night at inaugural festivities and unavailable for comment.

Those Cook County doctors will announce their union plans just before the County Board meeting Tuesday morning.

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