Advocate required to submit plan of investment in communities of need
State offers conditional approval of Advocate hospital expansion

Pressure from community organizations including ACORN, TARGET Area Development Corporation, MAC West and South Austin Community Coalition Council (SACCC) has forced Advocate Health Care to explain its plan to invest in its suburban hospitals while leaving poor, minority communities behind.

In the last year, no capital projects have been planned for its city hospitals including Bethany Hospital on the West Side and Trinity Hospital on the South Side, while over $500 million in improvements have been committed for its suburban hospitals like Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington or Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

At a hearing of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) Advocate Lutheran General received conditional approval on their application to build a $239 million bed tower in suburban Park Ridge. The proposal was approved on the condition that the state’s largest health care corporation provides documentation to the IHFPB showing its commitment to facilities in underprivileged communities.

“We’re glad that the board has heard our call to review Advocate’s capital improvement plan because everyone deserves equal access to affordable, quality health care,” said Minister Terry LeNoir, Sr., of TARGET Area Development Corporation, who testified at an October public hearing for the inclusion of urban hospitals in Advocate’s expansion projects. “Thanks to our work, Advocate is accountable.”

“Organizations and churches on the West Side, the South Side, and the North and Northwest Sides have worked to ensure that Advocate lives up its mission of providing access to health care.” said Rev. Gregory Livingston of the West Side Health Care Crisis Coalition. “We are grateful that the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board shares that thought.”

Albany Park Neighborhood Council (APNC), Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), Northwest Neighborhood Federation (NNF), West Town Leadership United (WTLU), ACORN, TARGET Area Development Corporation, the Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations (MAC) and SACCC are part of this committed coalition to end the separate and unequal system of care at Advocate.

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Hospital Accountability Project, Service Employees International Union
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