The Illinois Department of Public Health said July 7 that the decision by West Suburban Medical Center to abruptly shutter its obstetric and neonatal units was “concerning” and said the agency would “be gathering more information about this action to ensure the hospital complies with its obligations under the Hospital Licensing Act.”
A spokesman for IDPH told Austin Weekly News that it was notified on July 3 that West Sub was closing the unit temporarily due to a shortage of nurses. “Even if temporary, this closure is concerning.”
There were reports from multiple sources that several nurses at West Sub were escorted from the hospital last week by security.
Rumors are swirling around West Sub about this decision and its ongoing cooling issues during the recent heat wave. IDPH sent staff to the hospital last week to assess the status of its HVAC.
West Sub claims it replaced HVAC in 2024 for $1 million
With confirmation that the Illinois Department of Public Health sent staff last week to monitor cooling issues at West Suburban Medical Center comes this question: Did West Sub completely replace its HVAC system on its Oak Park campus in 2024 as it has claimed?
Responding to emailed questions from Growing Community Media two weeks ago about West Sub admitting 22 patients transferred from Weiss Memorial Hospital, its sister facility, after a complete failure of its HVAC system, the hospital’s contracted communications person said West Sub’s entire HVAC system had been replaced last year. Asked the cost of that repair, the spokesman said the price was not publicly available.
However, the next day, when the Sun-Times and Block Club Chicago reported on patient and family complaints of overheated rooms at West Sub, Dr. Manoj Prasad, CEO of Resilience Healthcare, parent of West Sub and Weiss, was asked at a press conference about conditions at the Oak Park hospital. He told reporters that West Sub had spent more than $1 million to replace West Sub’s HVAC in 2024.
The dissonance between having a new HVAC system in 2024 and major parts of the hospital experiencing room temperatures well into the 80s led Wednesday Journal and the Austin Weekly News to file a Freedom of Information request with the village of Oak Park, asking for any and all public records of West Sub or its parent pulling permits to replace its HVAC in 2024. The newsroom also asked for any record of village staff inspecting work done on a new HVAC system last year.
The reply to the FOIA was that the village government had not found any records that were “responsive” to GCM’s request.
GCM sent an email to the West Sub communications person asking for an interview with Prasad and for any documents detailing the major HVAC project. The communications person replied that his firm no longer worked for Resilience as of last week.
Two emails then sent directly to Prasad from GCM have gone unanswered.
An initial response from the Illinois Department of Public Health on July 7 confirmed that the agency had sent staff to assess cooling conditions at West Sub in response to complaints.
The hospital’s contracted communications firm told Austin Weekly that it no longer worked for Resilience as of last week. Multiple emails to Dr. Manoj Prasad, CEO of Resilience Healthcare, the parent of West Sub and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown, have gone unanswered.
Labor and delivery services at West Sub have been in flux for months as West Sub separated itself from the long-time maternal services provided by PCC Wellness and midwives. Last November, midwives and family medicine physicians at West Suburban were told they would no longer be able to deliver babies at the hospital with less than a two-week notice.
“To us, it’s access, it’s birth equity, it’s leaving a disenfranchised community in the lurch,” Annette Payot, director of midwifery for the PCC Community Wellness Center, which operated out of West Suburban for over two decades, previously told Austin Weekly News.
Prasad said at the time that those decisions were made for legal and insurance reasons. Prasad has previously said that West Sub had hired a third-party firm OB Hospitalist Group to take over deliveries at the hospital.
There have also been ongoing legal issues between PCC and West Sub over payments reportedly owed. PCC said the amount is $1 million. Prasad previously told Austin Weekly that PCC owes West Sub money. But, he said, he was unsure if he could disclose how much as the litigation is ongoing.
Last May, resident doctors began protesting for a better investment in their education and improved patient safety amid ongoing union negotiations. And earlier this year, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education withdrew West Sub’s accreditation.
