Michael Reese Hospital

Michael Reese Hospital in 2008

Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital founded in 1881. In its heyday, it was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest hospitals in Chicago, Illinois. It was located on the near south side of Chicago, next to Lake Shore Drive (U. S. Route 41) which is along Lake Michigan.

In 1991, the hospital was purchased by Columbia/HCA and became a for-profit hospital, which eventually became one of the reasons for its closure. In the 1990s, Michael Reese was part of Columbia/Hospital Corporation Of America Healthcare Corporation and was also associated with Humana. In 1991, Humana Hospitals Of Louisville Kentucky purchased the hospital and health plan. The hospital closed its Internal Medicine Residency at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year and finished transferring patients to Mercy Catholic Hospital before the end of 2008; the 37-acre (150,000 m²) campus was then vacated. In July 2009, the streets through the campus were closed, and calls to the main number were greeted by: "We're sorry. All circuits are busy now. Will you please try your call again later." Demolition began in late fall 2009. Medical staff residency training records and verification have become available through the Federation Credentials Verification Service (FCVS)^[1] Closed Residency program records ^[2]. Reese had been most recently owned by Envision Hospital Corporation of Scottsdale, AZ. The hospital officially closed August 31, 2009. At one time, the hospital had a large health plan which included 300,000 patients; at the time of the hospital's closure the health plan was terminated and it only had 2,900 clients.

History

Michael Reese was a real estate developer who died in 1877, leaving funds in his will to build a new hospital. Reese's heirs requested that the hospital would be open to all people, regardless of creed, nationality, or race. Construction of the first hospital (on the corner of 29th and Groveland Avenue) was completed in 1880.

The original Michael Reese building was demolished in 1905 and replaced in 1907 by another, larger 1000 Bed, building on the same site.

Louis Katz, the Medical Research Institute's first full-time investigator and former president of the American Heart Association, was one of the first to explore the relation of coronary heart disease to cholesterol concentration in the blood. Cardiovascular Institute researchers Dr. Alfred Pick and Dr. Richard Langendorf, perfected the use of the electrocardiograph.

Leonidas Berry was a pioneer in the development and use of the gastroscope. Dr. Samuel Soskin and Dr. Rachmiel Levine made important discoveries about the "gatekeeper" action in insulin, which is of fundamental importance to the understanding of diabetes. Dr. Albert Milzer and his research team were the first to kill the polio virus and make an effective vaccine against this debilitating virus. The hospital was also the first to have an infant incubator (1915), and the first permanent incubator station for prematurely born babies (1922), both of which were innovated by Dr. Julius Hess.

As early as the 1940s, the area surrounding Michael Reese Hospital was already in economic and physical decline. The hospital, along with Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Mercy Catholic Hospital (several blocks away), was one of the businesses in the area responsible for creating the South Side Planning Board. IIT and Michael Reese opted to try urban renewal instead of abandoning the neighborhood altogether.

From 1954 to 1986, the hospital purchased adjacent properties, demolishing structures on those properties, and building additional clinics and pavilions on the growing campus. These buildings formerly held many specialty clinics, including a tumor center, a Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Institute, a city public health clinic, a nurse's residence and school building, a heart surgery center, the Siegel Institute for Communicative Disorders, and the Simon Wexler outpatient psychiatric facility. At its height, the hospital had 2,400 beds and was the largest hospital in Chicago. At the time of its closure, there were only 150.

Financial difficulties

In 1998, ownership was transferred from Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation, to Humana, to what is now known as Envision Hospital Corporation. At this time, the number of beds was reduced from 1,100 to 450 Beds, and the hospital began closing clinics and laying off employees.

Operating expenses for the aging facilities continued increasing, while the hospital itself operated at a loss for the last several years. Heating and physical plant expenditures were staggeringly high compared to newer and more modern facilities such as Mercy Catholic Hospital and Little Company Of Mary Hospital.

In the face of escalating financial challenges, the hospital abandoned their effort to return to profitability. Many buildings on the campus had fallen into disrepair, and some were already completely unused. In 2004, archived medical records were kept in unsorted piles on wooden pallets, in a gutted clinical research building on the campus. In mid 2007, the number of beds was reduced to 150. By this time, almost all of the clinics had closed and the medical research centers had closed.

On June 5, 2008, WLS-TV reported that the hospital filed with the State of Illinois a letter of intent to close by the end of 2008. And on September 28, 2008, the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Healthcare Business News reported on September 29, 2008, that the hospital owed $6.6 million to its landlord (Medline Industries), $4.7 million to gas, electric, and water utilities, $2.3 million to the University of Illinois Medical Center, and more than $860,000 in county and state taxes. When the hospital closed patients were transferred to Mercy Medical Center And Hospital.^[3]

Demolition progress and preservation efforts

Being 100 years old, the hospital campus has wide historic value.

Its older buildings are very ornate. The Rothschild Nurses' Residence may have the most extensive detail and ornate styling, with elegant molded ceilings, arched double windows, solid hardwood floors, and extensive woodwork throughout. As of January, 2010, the building has been completely gutted and is partially demolished.

The oldest standing portion of the main hospital building abandoned in 1997 boasts significant detail and ornate styling in the auditorium and the common areas. The building is in an increasing state of disrepair, however the building has been preserved and many details survive.

Perhaps the most historic portion of the campus, however, is the series of buildings completed after a 1946 master plan created by Walter Gropius, the first director of the Bauhaus in Germany and a leading modernist architect. Though officially attributed to Chicago firms, most of the buildings built from 1946 to 1959 were designed, to varying degrees and with a strong influence by Gropius. In addition, the landscaping on the campus was designed by modernist landscape architect Hideo Sasaki,^[4] a colleague of Gropius's at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The City of Chicago has issued a request for proposals, which calls for the demolition of all 29 structures.

Preservation Magazine reported in June 2009 that "according to [Molly] Sullivan in the city's Community Development department, the original 1907 Prairie-style building designed by Schmidt, Garden & Martin will be preserved (despite its accidental addition to the city's request for proposals for demolition), but the rest of the 29-building campus is not "feasible to save," she says. "Our intention is to utilize the main Michael Reese building, but everything in addition to that, including the Gropius buildings, needs to be cleared from the area." ^[5]

According to Preservation Magazine, looting and demolition by city contractors was already underway as of June 2009. City spokeswoman Sullivan stated that "no demolition has begun" in response to an email inquiry. By the start of 2010, Michael Reese buildings were undergoing demolition.

Planned use for 2016 Olympics

The Chicago 2016 Olympic organizing committee had advocated a plan to construct the Olympic Village on the Michael Reese site as a reuse project, should Chicago be awarded the Games.^[6] The city had originally planned to build an Olympic Village above the truck yards south of McCormick Place, but focused their planning on the Michael Reese campus as soon as they learned that the hospital would be closing. Under the new plan, the city of Chicago would borrow $85 million to buy the Michael Reese Hospital campus from its then owner, Medline Industries. Medline would have received $65 million because the company agreed to make a $32.5 million charitable contribution back to the city. The city would then have used that $20 million to pay up to five years of interest on its $85 million debt, demolish the hospital, and clean up the 37-acre (150,000 m²) site. Then sometime in the next couple years it planned to sell the site for at least $85 million to a developer or developers, who in turn would build a complex big enough to house about 15,000 Olympians. After the games the developer would then sell or rent out the units.^[7] Instead, demolition and cleanup costs were projected at $32 million and rising; as a result Medline agreed to raise its charitable contribution to $32.5 million.^[8] The site was purchased in early July 2009 for $86 million after Medline agreed to the changes in the contract. However, after Chicago's Olympic Bid failed, the Olympic Village plan was abandoned. The site may be used for mixed income housing and shops. A documentary named Waiting For Michael was made about the hospital.

References

1. ^ http://fcvs.fsmb.org
2. ^ http://www.fsmb.org/fcvs_closedprograms.html
3. ^ http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20080929/REG/309299960
4. ^ http://www.savemrh.com
5. ^ http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/story-of-the-week/2009/an-olympic-battle.html
6. ^ Spielman, Fran (June 13, 2008). "Olympic Village might replace Michael Reese". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1003658,CST-NWS-oly13.article. 
7. ^ Joravsky, Ben (2008-07-24). "Magic Beans: The mayor’s new Olympic Village plan would bet taxpayer dollars on risky real estate speculation.". Chicago Reader. http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theworks/080724/. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
8. ^ Spielman, Fran (2009-07-23). "MCommission awards contracts to begin demolition of Michael Reese Hospital to build Olympic Village". Chicago Sun Times. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1682500,contracts-demolish-michael-reese-hospital.stng. Retrieved 2009-07-27. 

External links

• official site
• Michael Reese Hospital History on Forgotten Chicago