Challenging a women’s clinic closure

THE UNIVERSITY of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), located on the South Side of Chicago and serving largely African American patients, has already closed its geriatric clinic and the dental clinic. But when it recently closed its women's clinic--which serves mainly Medicaid and Medicare patients--UCMC met with spirited resistance.

On June 30, patients, activists and other community members held the last of several protests outside of the University of Chicago's administration building, complete with a press conference, picket and speakers.

In addition to their demands to keep the women's clinic open, the organizers of the protest, CHART (Coalition for Healthcare Access, Responsibility and Transparency), have a list of five demands. They want the University of Chicago to:

Declare an immediate moratorium on clinic closures, bed cuts and staff cuts; restore and expand public transportation from the community to the hospital; expand staffing and beds in the Emergency Room and General Medicine; open the hospital to new patients looking for a doctor, regardless of insurance [nowhere in the hospital or clinics are new patients without private insurance being accepted]; ensure living wage jobs and good benefits for all staff.

The community activists see their fight for health care services as part of the larger struggle for national, single-payer healthcare.

One community member, 16-year-old LaSharee Brown, held a "Don't Close Our Clinics!" banner. "I think it's wrong to close down a clinic for the poor so the rich can take it over," Brown said. "I came here today so they can hear me!" One of LaSharee's friends is a patient at the 47th Street women's clinic.

While protesters marched and chanted outside the university's administration building, three members of CHART went inside to try to meet University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer. Although the group had let Zimmer know when to expect them, they were told he was out of town. CHART members then asked to speak with Zimmer's assistant and were told that she was out of town as well.

Just in case Zimmer actually was home, protesters walked a few blocks to his house and had a barbeque on his front lawn. A week later, CHART hadn't heard from Zimmer, and the women's clinic--albeit remaining open for two weeks longer than planned--did indeed close.

The battle won't end there, however. CHART sees its struggle for health care on Chicago's South Side as part of the larger struggle for universal, single-payer health care. Coalition members include South Side Together Organizing for Power, Students for a Democratic Society, the Southside Solidarity Network, Students Organized and United with Labor, Chicago Single Payer Action Network, the Illinois Single Payer Coalition, and members of Teamsters Local 743, which represents many UCMC employees.

Together, these activists will continue fighting to stop the devastating cuts in care that the UCMC has planned.