Oak Park, Ill.-based West Suburban Medical Center completely closed June 11 after the building’s final functioning elevator broke down, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The sudden closure forced a dialysis clinic to relocate about 140 patients, according to George Naratadam, DO, a nephrologist at West Suburban Medical Center.
PCC Community Wellness Center, an independent federally qualified health center, also shuttered three clinics it operates within the hospital on an emergency basis, relocating care for more than 100 patients.
“It’s a very difficult situation for patients and for us because PCC is a federally qualified health center,” Paul Luning, MD, chief medical officer at PCC, told the Tribune. “We’ve been here for 35 years and we exist to serve the West Side of Chicago, but if we can’t have patients seen in our offices then obviously it significantly decreases their access to care.”
West Suburban’s parent company, Resilience Healthcare, temporarily paused all patient care services in its emergency room, hospital and clinics in late March due to payroll challenges. With a goal to reopen in July, the hospital began reopening hospital-based clinic and outpatient testing services April 15, which brought about 80 of its 670 furloughed employees back to work.
Firefighters were called to help patients stuck on upper floors before Oak Park city officials ordered the building closed to the public, with only security and maintenance workers may now enter the facility.
At least two elevators must pass inspection before Oak Park allows public access to resume. A Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court hearing in an ongoing lawsuit between Resilience Healthcare and landlord Ramco Healthcare Holdings is scheduled for June 22.
Becker’s has reached out to the village of Oak Park, the city of Chicago, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and West Suburban Medical Center for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
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