For the first time in nearly a year, Chicago ambulances are taking patients to Insight Hospital & Medical Center's emergency room, according to radio station WBEZ.
Insight Hospital & Medical Center, formerly Mercy Hospital, is one of the city's oldest hospitals. The hospital filed for bankruptcy in February 2021. However, it was saved from closing after nonprofit Insight Chicago purchased the safety-net facility from Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health for $1. Insight Chicago, which assumed control of the hospital in June 2021, agreed to keep the hospital open through at least 2029.
A Feb. 23 news release shared with Becker's said one of the issues Insight Chicago prioritized was upgrading the emergency room from basic to comprehensive so that the Chicago Fire Department no longer has to reroute ambulances to other area hospitals. The Illinois Department of Public Health granted it the comprehensive emergency department designation earlier in February.
"One of the first requests we received from community residents after assuming operational control of the hospital was to allow ambulances to return to the emergency room," Insight CEO Atif Bawahab said in a news release. "We heard the request loud and clear, and immediately began addressing staffing levels necessary to ensure we could safely handle the increase in patients once ambulance runs resumed."
The hospital plans to hold a community celebration and ER opening ceremony in March.