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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
IN SUPPORT OF COOK COUNTY HEALTH’S PLANNED CONSTRUCTION OF A MODERN REPLACEMENT FACILITY AT PROVIDENT HOSPITAL
WHEREAS, Provident Hospital is one of the most storied and cherished hospitals in Chicago, particularly to the African American community; and
WHEREAS, Daniel Hale Williams, a Black medical doctor, founded the original Provident Hospital in 1891 and Provident Hospital was one of the first non-segregated medical facilities in the country; and
WHEREAS, after its establishment, Provident Hospital trained Black nurses while patients were seen by doctors of all races; and
WHEREAS, on July 9, 1893, Daniel Hale Williams performed the first open heart surgery in the world, repairing the pericardium of James Cornish who suffered a stab wound to the chest; and
WHEREAS, in 1987 Provident Hospital closed; and
WHEREAS, the current Provident Hospital facility is not the original hospital; and
WHEREAS, repeat this for as many Whereas clauses you have; and
WHEREAS, Cook County purchased, renovated, and reopened Provident Hospital in 1993 as a part of the Cook County Health system and since that time, Provident Hospital has served as an important provider of both inpatient and outpatient care; and
WHEREAS, in recent years, Provident Hospital has added extensive outpatient services for the community; and
WHEREAS, in 2016, Cook County Health opened an ophthalmology center and new digital mammography suites at Provident, and will deliver outpatient hemodialysis services beginning in 2020; and
WHEREAS, Provident has more than 127,000 visits annually; and
WHEREAS, the current Provident Hospital facility is dated and requires tens of millions of dollars to update; and
WHEREAS, based upon a needs and demand assessment of Chicago’s south side and the south suburbs and an analysis of existing surgical capacity and patient need at Provident Hospital, Cook County Health is proposing to build a smaller, modern facility to replace the current hospital and to include comprehensive outpatient clinical and diagnostic services; and
WHEREAS, this modernized Provident Hospital facility will allow Cook County Health to provide patients with comprehensive, high-quality healthcare close to where they live and eliminating the need for many of them to travel to Stroger Hospital for more complex care; and
WHEREAS, this plan helps fulfill a key component of Cook County Health’s strategic plan, IMPACT 2020, which calls for significant investments to modernize CCH facilities to attract and retain top-notch clinical staff; and
WHEREAS, the cost for the modernized Provident Hospital facility was included in the Cook County FY2019 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget; and
WHEREAS, the existing Provident Hospital building will not close until the modernized Provident Hospital building opens; and
WHEREAS, Cook County Health and the Cook County Bureau of Asset Management are committed to the inclusion of minority- and woman-owned business hiring goals as well as a community hiring component; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President and Cook County Board of Commissioners do hereby express their support for Cook County Health’s planned construction of a modernized Provident Hospital facility; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cook County Board Health and Hospitals Committee conduct a hearing to receive an update from Cook County Health and on the Bureau of Asset Management on the Provident Hospital project.
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