I like Bruce Elegant, the long-time CEO and president of Rush Oak Park Hospital. But then I’ve liked most of the men, and one woman, who have headed our two local hospitals — Rush Oak Park and West Suburban — over the past three decades.
That I have admired them, coupled with the fact that the hospitals have always been among our biggest advertisers, has made it awkward when, as the two hospitals have perpetually botched the communication side of expansion planning, I’ve had to ask so many of them this question: “What were you thinking?”
It happened again Tuesday morning when I interviewed Elegant about the string of hospital neighbors who turned up Monday night at Oak Park’s village board meeting to object to the hospital’s conversion of a half-block of land it owns into a surface parking lot for employees.
Those who spoke, and those who sat in support in the council chambers, were, to a person, thoughtful and calm. But they were frustrated that they learned of the hospital’s plans either via Wednesday Journal or in a letter from the hospital that arrived a day before the construction fencing and bulldozers.
None of those who spoke doubted that the hospital is going to get its way here. It owns the land, it has a 15-year-old deal with the village that allows its actions and it has already demolished homes on the property.
But they are upset that their input has not, to this day, been sought by the hospital. The neighbors want serious input into the traffic patterns tied to the parking lot, the landscaping and fencing that will create a feeling of separation from their homes just across the street.
Anan Abu-Taleb, the village president, said following the final speaker that he found the neighbors requests totally appropriate and said he would broker a meeting between the neighbors and hospital executives.
Tuesday morning Elegant said, “We are definitely ready to meet with the neighbors on the parking lot.” And he said Rush would welcome the village’s involvement.
That’s progress.
When I asked why the hospital had not engaged with neighbors earlier he said, “I didn’t believe this was going to be controversial.”
He said he heard regular complaints from neighbors that hospital staff parked frequently on their streets and believed he was solving that problem.
“In hindsight, it would have been better to begin the discussions with neighbors sooner,” he said.
But here’s the heads-up to the neighbors, the village and the hospital: This parking lot is, relatively, small potatoes. It’s what is coming from Rush Oak Park Hospital in the next couple of years that is going to test the good will and communications skills of all involved.
Elegant is rightly proud and ready to tout the success of the hospital he has run. And he readily offers up the strong consistent growth in visits to the cramped but efficient Rush ER — up 16 percent just this year.
Outpatient visits and surgeries are up 10 percent this year, he says. Then there is the matter that two years ago Rush University Medical Center finally bought full ownership of the hospital and is now ready to plan for its expansion and updating.
On Tuesday, Elegant said that subject to approval from downtown Rush and the local Rush Oak Park board, that pending the availability of funding, that the hospital will during this calendar year start a “formal planning process for a facility plan.”
Myself, I picture a much needed new ER. Elegant said he starts this process with “no preconceived notions.”
When I ask if the current dust-up over the parking lot isn’t an occasion to build connections with neighbors for the bigger, harder discussions ahead, he said it would be premature since there is neither a plan nor dedicated funding.
But he allowed that “I know that any change on our campus will be a topic of discussion.”
And he pledged that before the hospital ever went to the village government for any approvals for any notable future project that conversations with neighbors will be undertaken.
So, in the next couple of weeks, as the hospital president, the village president and the neighbors gather to decide how high the berm, how dense the evergreens, they’d do well to build relationships strong enough to address the more complex issues sure to come.
