After more than 150 years on the South Side, Chicago's Mercy Hospital is closing. [View all]

After a long, storied history in Chicago, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Bronzeville plans to close next year, dealing a blow to the South Side community it’s served for more than 150 years.

The shutdown follows a decision in May by Mercy, Advocate Trinity Hospital in Calumet Heights, South Shore Hospital in South Chicago and St. Bernard Hospital in Englewood not to pursue a planned merger.

State lawmakers failed to set aside funding for the deal.

Community groups and labor unions decried the decision as another hit to African Americans living and working on the South Side. The hospital maintains 292 beds and employs 1,680.

“People in the surrounding neighborhoods will have to go outside their community for treatment, which can be difficult if they’re experiencing life-threatening situations or don’t have transportation,” said Deborah Harris, executive director of Action Now, which works to empower Black families on the city’s West and South sides.

Anne Igoe, vice president of health systems for SEIU Healthcare Illinois, said she’s disappointed in the decision given the size of Mercy’s owner, Trinity Health, which acquired it in 2012.

At: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-mercy-hospital-closing-20200729-dql6xd36g5dazkzviq3upyukvi-story.html

Mercy Hospital, in the Bronzeville neighborhood south of downtown Chicago.

Closing the hospital amid COVID-19, according to Deborah Harris, executive director of Action Now, “is outright telling me you do not care about Black folks, brown folks, disenfranchised folks finding access to health care.”