Feb 23, 2007 7:06 pm US/Central
County Cuts Funding For Community Health Clinics
by Dorothy Tucker
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Critics desperately fought to keep clinics open and save the jobs of doctors and nurses during the hearing process for the Cook County budget. The budget passed early Friday morning includes cuts in County health care workers and clinics.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker looks at the impact on the patients they served.
Nurses at the Orr Clinic serve about 1,100 students year.
With the care they receive comes free medication. But under new county budget cuts Orr's funding is being eliminated.
"A lot of time students come in and they're in dire need of an asthma pump to help ease the pain. Having these cutbacks will downgrade our health centers," said Jeffrey Riley, a student patient.
Orr is one of two school-based clinics where the county plans to cut funding. Crane is the other.
But at least those clinics will remain open. Six school-based clinics are slated to be closed for good. They are: Path, Beethoven, DuSable, Hayes, Morton East and Bond clinics.
Four neighborhood clinics will also close: Westside Bethany, Maywood, Thorek and St. Anthony's.
"Closing clinics, that's going to force patients elsewhere. They're going to end up primarily at Stroger," Batu Shakari of the nurses union.
At Stroger Hospital they will see cutbacks that have already reduced hours at the pharmacy and closed the dental facility. Nearly 400 doctors have already been given pink slips and an untold number of nurses expect theirs in the mail any day.
The biggest impact is that more people will be waiting in an overcrowded emergency room.
"Many of the patients are going to make the decision to just throw up their hands, turn around, and as a result of that type of decision they can very well lose their lives," Shakari said.
Cook Country Board President Todd Stroger defends the cuts. He says the clinics that are closing only serve four percent of the patients who use clinics.
Some of the doctors at the closed clinics will be transferred to the 14 that will remain open.
Clinics to close:Westside Bethany
Maywood
Thorek
St. Anthony
PATH
Beethoven
DuSable
Hayes
Morton East
Bond
Clinics to stay open but no longer receive funding:
Crane
Orr
Clinics to remain open:Woodlawn (new addition - was slated to be closed)
• Austin Health Center of Cook County
4800 W. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60651
773-826-9600
• Cicero Health Center of Cook County
5912 W. Cermak Road
Cicero, IL 60804
708-783-9800
• Cook County/Englewood Health Center
1135 W. 69th Street
Chicago, IL 60621
773-483-5011
• Cottage Grove Health Center of Cook County
1645 Cottage Grove
Ford Heights, IL 60411
708-753-5800
• Logan Square Health Center of Cook County
2840 W. Fullerton Avenue
Chicago, Il 60647
773-395-7400
• Near South Health Clinic of Cook County
3525 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60653
312-945-4010
• Oak Forest Specialty Health Center of Cook County
15900 S. Cicero Avenue
Oak Forest, IL 60452
708-633-2555
• Dr. Jorge Prieto Health Center of Cook County
2424 S. Pulaski Road
Chicago, IL 60623
773-521-0750
• Robbins Health Center of Cook County
13450 S. Kedzie Avenue
Robbins, IL 60472
708-293-8100
• John H. Sengstacke Health Center of Cook County
450 E. 51st Street
Chicago, IL 60615
312-572-2900
• Vista Health Center of Cook County
1585 N. Rand Road
Palatine, IL 60067
847-934-7969
• Woody Winston Health Center of Cook County
650 E. Phoenix Center Drive
Phoenix, IL 60426
708-225-9900
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