New Lenox Hospital Complies With IDPH Order To Take Prisoners

A day after being criticized by local leaders for not accepting inmates from Stateville  infected by COVID-19, local hospitals including Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox will be accepting those patients. ER doctor John Walsh was the first to sound the alarm about the conditions at St. Joseph Medical Center, calling it a war zone. The Joliet hospital was the only hospital where inmates from Stateville were being transferred due to a rule forcing prisons to transport inmates to the nearest hospital.

Silver Cross Hospital tells WJOL that they have, “received a letter from IDPH EMS Division Chief stating that we must take 2 prisoners from Statesville.” The hospital has confirmed that they will comply.

The letter was sent in order for Silver Cross and other hospitals to “load share” patients coming from Stateville Correctional Center. Other hospitals taking inmates include Morris Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, and St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee.

As of Tuesday, St. Joe’s Medical Center had 18 inmates being treated for COVID-19 and/or other medical issues. As of Wednesday, two inmates, of which one was not a COVID-19 patient returned to Stateville while one inmate was transferred to Morris Hospital and another transferred to St. John Hospital in Springfield. There is talk of load sharing outside of our Region 7 district to allow downstate hospitals to load share patients from Stateville.