Citizens fighting to keep Kenneth Hall Hospital open in East St. Louis will travel to Springfield, Ill. next Tuesday morning to learn whether the facility will be moved off the ‘critical list.’
“We are going to be on the agenda in the early part of the morning on the 15th,” said Frank Smith, East St. Louis Movement to Keep Kenneth Hall Hospital Open spokesman.
The trip will be at no cost to sojourners – other than a few hours of sleep and a willing spirit to be a part of an effort to save the hospital.
Businesses and civic and community leaders are sponsoring the trip and the effort to save the hospital.
“We’re taking 20 buses. If everyone should come out it will be right at a 940 people,” said Smith, who is also one of the trip organizers.
“The trip is free. We will feed (travelers) a continental breakfast and lunch that afternoon. We will have juices and water and all of the amenities. If they care to bring a box lunch they can do so.”
After a month delay, the Illinois Health Facilities Board is set to vote on the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation (SIHF) request to change the Certificate of Need for Kenneth Hall Hospital in East St. Louis during its monthly meeting Jan. 15-16.
Under the proposal, SIHF will move medical services from Kenneth Hall to Touchette Hospital in Centreville, Ill.
Kenneth Hall would remain open as an emergency room unit and a 39-bed behavioral health inpatient facility.
It is a grossly unpopular proposal in predominantly African-American and indigent communities in the metro east. A petition against the merger brought in 30,000 signatures to keep the only hospital in East St. Louis open, which has a population of 31,524.
“We are going on Martin Luther King’s birthday. The theme is ‘Get on the Bus.’ We are saying his dream is still alive. It’s literally a matter of life and death for us in the community,” Smith said.
SIHF said Kenneth Hall Hospital has been operating in the red for a number of years and the cost to renovate it for updated equipment would be too costly.
Sharece Johnson, an SIHF spokesperson at Kenneth Hall Hospital told the American SIHF will close the facility if the proposed changes in the Certificate of Need are not approved.
“As of now, the doors will close if we are not granted our Certificate of Need. We cannot continue to incur the losses,” Johnson said.
Organizers of the grassroots effort offer a different remedy – keep the Kenneth Hall Certificate of Need intact as a full-service medical facility and let SIHF go after a separate certificate for its long-range health care plans for Touchette and Sauget, IL without using East St. Louis’ demographics to do so. The tiny and predominantly white Village of Sauget, with a population of 249 is where SIHF is looking to build a new hospital.
“Moving a hospital out of a poor, underserved community is irresponsible and unacceptable! To have life more abundantly you must have all tools to preserve life,” East St. Louis Mayor Alvin L. Parks, Jr. said.
Supporters are keeping the faith that their work will not be in vain.
“We have some churches with as many as 50 people from each church,” said Kelvin McNeil, pastor of Body of Christ Worship Center.
An organizer said buses will be stationed in several communities and locations in East St. Louis and will begin boarding between 5 – 6 a.m. to join the caravan at East St. Louis City Hall. Drivers traveling to Springfield by car asked to join the caravan as well.
According to organizers, locations to board buses for the trip to Springfield Jan. 15 include:
? Brooklyn Village Hall building, 312 S. 5th St. – Brooklyn, Ill.
? Centerville Township Bldg., 5800 Bond Ave. – Centreville, Ill.
? Power of Change Christian Center, 2348 Jerome Lane – Cahokia, Ill.
? East St. Louis City Hall at 301 River Park Drive – ESL
? Clyde Jordan Center at 6755 State Street – ESL
? Galilee Central Baptist Church, 2334 Lincoln Ave – ESL
? Macedonia Baptist Church 10 NE Owens Place – ESL
? Mt. Zion MB Church-2235 Bond Ave ESL
? New Bethel MB Church 5803 Belmont Ave – ESL
? New Life Community Church 1919 State St. – ESL
? Pilgrim MB Church 1121 Dr. MR Lemons Blvd – ESL
? St. Luke AME Church-414 N. 14th St.- ESL
? United Congregations of Metro East 1660 5th St. – Madison, IL
Those who are planning to attend the meeting of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board will leave East St. Louis City Hall at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, January 15 to drive to Springfield. The meeting takes place at 9 a.m. (Tues.-Wed.) January 15-16, 2008 at the Northfield Inn Suites & Conference Center, 3280 Northfield Dr. in Springfield, Ill.