Certainly disappointing news Tuesday from Bolingbrook for Ottawa residents wishing to keep OB and ICU services in town. The Illinois Health Facilities and Review Board voted to approve OSF’s request to discontinue OB and ICU services at their Ottawa hospital and move them to the Peru hospital. The vote was 6 – 3. The decision was handed down Tuesday in Bolingbrook at a meeting of the State’s Health Facilities and Review Board.
The board’s nine members listened to over two hours of comments from both sides of the issue. Our Jeremy Aitken counted 32 speakers against OSF’s plan and 21 in support, including Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski.
A majority of physicians who spoken to the board appeared to support OSF’s regional care model. Dr. Robert Morrow called OSF’s model ‘forward thinking.’ However longtime Ottawa pediatrician Dr. Amar Lal Dave argued that demographics support keeping OB services in Ottawa…