Public discussion of the plans for a new Emergency Department at West Suburban Hospital will begin on Sept. 20 with a meeting for neighbors.
Tuesday morning the hospital hand-delivered a letter to Oak Park homes between Lake Street and Chicago Avenue, Austin Boulevard and Harvey. The letter, signed by hospital executive Jay Kreuzer, sketched out plans for the meeting.
“We intend for this meeting to be the first of a series of meetings engaging the entire community as we develop our future plans, which will include a new Emergency Department,” said the letter.
Reports this summer in Wednesday Journal about the hospital making the case for a new emergency room have stirred concerns in the immediate neighborhood from some residents. A neighborhood organization has formed, in part, to address issues related to the hospital.
Molly Gaus, manager of marketing and public relations for West Sub, said Kreuzer will “talk about the need to build a new emergency department to serve the community. Why we need it and what it means to the community. He’ll talk about how we are going to work with and listen to the community. We also want to provide the community with a forum.”
Gaus said it too early to know additional details about the format of the meeting or exactly what might be presented to residents.
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 6:30 p.m. It will be held in the Lecture Hall on the lower level of the hospital at Erie and Humphrey.
A more complete report on this story will appear in the Sept. 14 edition of Wednesday Journal and the Austin Weekly News.
