Leaders take health care justice issues to Advocate headquarters

JULY 28, 2005—Nearly one hundred community leaders, pastors and their supporters jammed the lobby of Advocate Health Care headquarters July 28 demanding a response from Advocate CEO Jim Skogsbergh to community concerns about health care justice issues.
Those concerns were spelled out in a “Protocol for Agreement,” which was already in Skogsbergh’s possession, but was delivered again to Advocate spokesman Tony Mitchell, who met the group in the lobby. A document listing the scriptural foundation for the issues addressed in the Protocol also was given to Mitchell.
Pressed for an answer, Mitchell said Skogsbergh would respond by Aug. 5 to the coalition of 25 city-wide groups that drafted the Protocol, a document that provides a framework to “resolve the racial, social, and economic justice issues” that have been raised about Advocate Health Care and to “foster a constructive and collaborative relationship” between Advocate and the community.
Advocate is the state’s largest medical care corporation
“We have made numerous requests of Mr. Skogsbergh to address these issues,” said Rev. C.J. Wright, a member of the West Side Health Crisis Coalition. “Since he will not respond to our repeated requests, we decided it would be appropriate to personally deliver our concerns to him.”
Kathy Anderson, an executive board member of the Metropolitan Area Congregations (MAC), said the show of solidarity by the groups representing 500,000 people was impressive. She noted that many members reside in communities served by Advocate hospitals or clinics.
“We are their community and they have been ignoring us,” she said.
Rev. Janet Volk, pastor of Northlake Lutheran Church, put the occasion in a spiritual perspective.
“Jesus cared for all people,” she said. “We are calling on Advocate, which says it is faith based, to also show compassion and love in the way it serves the people, especially the poor.”
Advocate Health Care is sponsored by the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

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