County puts patients at risk by axing doctors, nurses

April 22, 2007
The issue: A Southtown examination of job reductions within Cook County health system shows a far greater number of doctors and nurses positions eliminated than administrators.
We say: Patients are being put at risk at the expense of keeping well-paid administrators on the payroll in the health department and elsewhere in county government.
When the entire orthopedic unit at Cook County-operated Provident Hospital was recently eliminated, surgeon Dan Ivankovich was concerned about his patients.
"All the patients said, 'We got appointments for May (at Stroger Hospital),' so I thought, cool, they're just going to transition them," Dr. Ivankovich said. "Then I found out it was May of 2008."
Welcome to the state of health care under Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. At least those former Provident patients still will be a part of the county health system come 2008. The same can't be said for the long-term care patients who resided at Oak Forest Hospital, which is also run by the county. Those patients have been told that come September, they'll probably have to find somewhere else to live.
Of course, Stroger will tell you that bringing up such details is part of the unfair coverage the Southtown has given his administration since he took office in December. In a letter published earlier this month in the Sun-Times (he never sent one to us), the county board president blasted the Sun-Times and the Southtown and asked us to treat him fairly.
We're trying to be fair on our end, President Stroger. Perhaps you could try doing the same on your end.
When we repeatedly asked for a breakdown of what jobs were eliminated within the health department in the wake of the recently passed budget, we were denied. So we filed a request through the Freedom of Information Act.
We wanted to see if, as you indicated you'd do, you were cutting from the top and eliminating administrative jobs. Turns out you did eliminate some of those jobs, but they only amounted to about 11 percent of the jobs that were cut in the health bureau. But what about other types of jobs?
As the Southtown's Jonathan Lipman reported this week, of the 1,032 cuts 260 were doctors (including Dr. Ivankovich) and 230 nurses or certified nursing assistants. Forty-seven percent of cuts were to the two most vital medical occupations -- the ones needed on the front lines of providing care. A total of 189 clerks, technicians and therapists also lost their job.
And then there are 670 jobs in the health bureau that were in effect cut, though the jobs remain on the payroll at a salary of $1. Since the county won't release details of those jobs, we don't know how many are doctors and nurses.
We trust, as we look at those numbers, that we aren't alone in worrying about the future health care of patients who have relied on county resources for many years. But looking at how those cuts have been proportioned we wonder if that fear is shared within the county hierarchy.
It's hard to determine where priorities lie in county government these days. What's more important -- a doctor who treats the sick or a public affairs director who doesn't talk to the press? Stroger indeed has made sure there is one of the latter on his payroll, at $100,000 a year. He replaced a woman who also didn't talk to the press who now works as a $95,000-a-year liaison to churches and community groups for the county. And don't forget the $86,000 new job for a former spokesman to inform the public (but not the press) about the county hospitals, which already have their own spokesman. These are just a few of the loyalists who have been rewarded with high-paying jobs at the expense of other county programs -- like the health department.
Stroger, in his rant about the Sun-Times and Southtown, said it was unfair to reveal the salaries of such workers. Huh? It's unfair for the public to know where their tax dollars are going? Sorry, Stroger, you're wrong.
Here's what's unfair: Putting the health of needy county residents at risk in order to ensure that friends and family are rewarded at taxpayer expense.

source:http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/opinion/editorials/350353,221EDT1.article
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