Residents, workers to demand community benefits agreement requiring Loyola Medicine to pay its fair share so residents don’t get hit with higher property taxes and/or lose vital services

Agreement would obligate Loyola to pay hospital workers a living wage and allow them to join a union

BERWYN— Homeowners, teachers, clergy, and hospital workers will voice their concerns about the potential sale of MacNeal Hospital to Loyola Medicine during a 3:45 p.m. press conference outside Berwyn City Hall on Thursday, Feb. 22.  Immediately following the press conference, members of the group will voice their concerns at a 4:15 p.m. hearing before the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.

Critics say the purchase of MacNeal, a for-profit hospital, by the not-for-profit Loyola Medicine hospital system will take badly needed tax revenue from the community, further burdening Berwyn taxpayers and impacting schools and other services. MacNeal is the #1 taxpayer in the City of Berwn. Loyola Medicine, while technically a non-profit, operates like a corporation. In fact, MacNeal Hospital devoted more of its net revenue to charity care than did Loyola Medicine in 2016 (1.02% v. 0.47%). The Cook County Clerk’s office is expected to testify to the precise dollar amount of loss property tax revenue at the hearing.

Workers and faith leaders will highlight the harm Loyola Medicine causes by paying its front-line service workers poverty wages and contrasting those low wages with the high salaries to its CEO and managers. The group also plans to voice concerns that jobs and services currently performed in the community at MacNeal could be moved to other Loyola facilities outside Berwyn.

 

WHO:

Anne Igoe, Vice President of Hospitals & Health Systems, SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana

Emily Kraiem, Berwyn Homeowner

Rob Bartlett, Berwyn High School Teacher

Shantell Grace, EVS hospital worker at Loyola Medicine-owned Gottlieb Hospital

Pastor Marvin Hunter, Grace Memorial Baptist Church

WHAT:

Press conference to voice concerns about loss of property tax revenue and other issues with sale of MacNeal Hospital to Medicine, a low-wage employer whose charity care falls far below state standards

WHERE:

Outside Berwyn City Hall, 6700 West 26th Street, Berwyn, IL

WHEN:

3:45 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22 (press conference); 4:15 p.m. (Hearing before the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board

 

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