Austin Weekly News 051524

Sinai Chicago celebrates its West Side history with new exhibit

It aims to capture more than 100 years of ser vices to Jewish, African- American, and Latino communities in and around Nor th Lawndale

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

Sinai Chicago’s One Lawndale Community Care and Surgery Center in Ogden Commons has opened an exhibit to celebrate more than 100 years of the hospital’s history on Chicago’s West Side

The display on the first-floor lobby of One Lawndale Community Care and Surgery Center is made up of panels installed over a partial street map of North Lawndale and shows a timeline of Sinai Chicago. The exhibit is the first of its kind

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

About two dozen resident doctors at West Suburban Medical Center demonstrated in early May against what they said are worsening conditions and a lack of resources since Dr. Manoj Prasad took ownership of the hospital in December 2022.

And in what residents call an unprecedented move, the hospital’s teaching fac-

ulty have called on an accrediting agency to investigate whether the residency program is good enough to continue operating.

The 26 resident doctors at the West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park unionized in November, the first time that medical staf f there had done so.

After struggling to meet with Prasad, the Residents United at West Suburban

JESSICA MOR DACQ

DOUBLE YOUR INVESTMENT IN OUR LOCAL NEWS

Growing Community Media’s Spring Fund Drive is under way. Help us raise $130,000 by June 30.

Generous long-time GCM supporters have put up $10,000 as our first match of the drive. We can double those dollars with your investment in our nonprofit newsroom.

We need you and we need you now.

No other newsroom covers the Greater West Side – Austin to Oak Park to Forest Park to Brookfield – like the reporters and editors at GCM. We tell the stories that unite and empower our communities. Help us grow stronger, more connected neighborhoods.

May 8-15

BIG WEEK

A Growing Community Media Partnership

Fleye, Free, and Forward: An ILAVA Function

Friday, May 24, 6:30 – 10 p.m. Kehrein Center for the Arts

Enjoy a meal of hearty soups, bread and desserts provided by local Community chefs from Oak Park, River Forest & Forest Park, all while listening to the tunes of the Szurko Trio. The fundraiser is for A House in Austin, which provides family support for young families on the West Side. Pay what you can. Personal care items, diapers and household supplies also will be collected. 7327 Madison St., Forest Park

The Mayor’s Youth Commission Information Session

Monday, May 20, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Chicago M ayor’s O ce

The 2024-2025 cohort is a paid opportunity for a group of up to 40 Chicagoans between the ages of 14 and 19 who ser ve as a liaison between the Chicago Mayor’s O ce and Chicago’s youth. The application is now open and any youth interested must apply by June 15. For questions, email: mayorsyouthcommission@cityofchicago.org. Apply here: https://ow.ly/Nvbc50RBHWw

Hub 101: Austin Workfo rce Collaborative Partner HIRE360

Tuesday, May 21, 12:30 – 1:45 p.m., AC TS’s Austin Community Hub team

This is virtual info session to learn about job training resources from HIRE360, hosted by ACT’s own Austin Community Hub team. You’ll learn about jobs in the construction trades and about on-the-job training that starts at $20 per hour. This is a Facebook Live event. Register: https://ow.ly/2vHx50RBI4E

We want to hear from you

The Austin Weekly News is looking to invigorate its coverage of arts, food and enter tainment. We want to hear from you! Please take this short sur vey to help us learn what you want when you’re looking for things to do. Please submit your answers by May 26. https://forms.gle/yss7eCACoXW49jqNA

The nal iteration in our series of three events focused on environment, sustainability, and economic development, “is an evening of fashion at the intersec tion of social consciousness Kehrein Center for the Arts showc ases IL AVA’s unparalleled fashions center stage, modeling what style and social responsibility looks like These gorgeous, socially conscious garments will turn every head, all while fostering sstainable living for women in Tanzania. And as if that’s not enough to leave us speechless, Austin native, Kelley D. Moseley, owner of K~Fleye jewelr y, will be there to accentuate each garment and share about her entrepreneurial journey here in Chicago. At the end of the show, Reesheda Graham Washington, exec utive director of Kehrein Center for the Arts will share the stage with Rahel & Mwasi Mwitula, owner/operators of ILAVA and Kelley of K~Fleye, and will have a conversation about the intersections of the “glocal”: living between the lines of Africa and America as Black women. Doors open at 5 p.m.; admission includes one drink ticket and plant-powered refreshments. RSVP: https://ow.ly/6cnB50RBK ko. 5628 W Washington Blvd.

Youth Mental Health First Aid

Saturday, May 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

In the event, hosted by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. participants will complete a two-hour, self-paced online course and participate in a 4.5 - 5.5 hour instructor-led course The course helps you learn about suicide risk, nonjudgmental listening and other resources. This is for: teachers, school sta , coaches, camp counselors, youth leaders, parents, and others who work with youth. Register here: https:// ow.ly/iygE50RBHEn. 4133 W. Madison St.

AU STIN WEEKLY news

Editor Erika Hobbs

Sta Reporters Jessica Mordacq Amaris E. Rodriguez

Special projects reporter Delaney Nelson

Digital Manager Stacy Coleman

Digital Media Coordinator Brooke Duncan

Reporting Partners Block Club, Austin Talks

Columnists Arlene Jones, Aisha Oliver

Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead

Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea

Designers Susan McKelvey, Vanessa Garza

Sales & Marketing Representatives

Lourdes Nicholls, Ben Stumpe

Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan

Circulation Manager Jill Wagner

Publisher Dan Haley

Special Projects Manager Susan Walker

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chair Judy Gre n

Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson, Gary Collins, Steve Edwards, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer

CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com

ONLINE www.AustinWeeklyNews.com

WEST SUB

Residents’ unrest

from page 1

union started contract ne gotiations in February, requesting investment in their education and better patient safety at the for-profit hospital where a majority of patients are on Medicaid, according to medical residents.

“During these meetings, Dr. Prasad has made it very clear that he does not care about our request to improve patient safety, re garding the stripping of the resources of this hospital, resident education and having absolutely no budg et,” said Maryam Farooqui, a first-year resident at West Suburban and one of three residents bargaining with Prasad’s lawyers for the union contract.

As contract ne gotiations continue, West Suburban faculty who teach residents in the hospital’s family medicine program have requested that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education return to West Suburban to analyze what they say is a substandard and underfunded program. That’s an unprecedented action by hospital faculty, according to residents.

“After the faculty announced that they had sent the letter to the ACGME, there was just so much apathy and desolation amongst the residents because we were like, ‘We’re going to go on probation again, and the residency might get shut down,’” said Lauren Lucas, a first-year resident who’s also on the union’s bargaining team. “We have the ability to do something and say something about what’s happening, and this was the result.”

Resident doctors said they have asked Prasad to meet to discuss their issues with patient care, but he has refused, saying the only way he’d meet was with resident doctors’ lawyers.

“The residents have chosen to exercise their rights to unionize and bargain collectively through lawyers,” Prasad said in an email to Growing Community Media. “Respecting that process, I do not feet that it is appropriate for me to directly deal with the residents on matters dealing with wages, hours and terms and other conditions of employment.”

At the start of 2022, the ACGME withdrew accreditation from the hospital’s internal medicine residency program.

The ACGME also gave West Suburban’s family medicine residency program probationary accreditation. Although the

program is no longer on probation and is now the hospital’s only program for medical residents, the call to bring the ACGME back inspired residents’ recent “unity break,” or demonstration, to fight against the underfunded program.

“Every resident in the United States gets federal funding from Medicare,” hundreds of thousands of dollars per resident, according to Clarissa O’Conor, a third-year resident and member of the union’s bargaining team. “Since Prasad has taken over, he has refused to allocate any money to the residency program.”

When asked how much funding goes toward the residency program, Prasad told Growing Community Media that the program is funded with federal money tied to patient volume and other metrics.

Underfunded programs like this not only affect the quality of training residents receive, but also impact morale at work, residents said.

“The quality of care given to patients is dependent on the wellbeing of our residents,” said Emily Goodlin, a second-year resident, at the demonstration.

Patient safety

“Working at our hospital has become an insurmountable task. The lack of resources makes it almost impossible to provide the most basic services,” said Iris Marin, a third-year resident.

Second-year resident Nkiru Osefo ag reed

“In the last two years I’ve been here in my residency, I’ve seen a dramatic shift in patient care, staf f safety and education that all would say are more than disgraceful and disrespectful,” Osefo said.

Medical residents said West Suburban’s building has fallen into disre pair, and its resources have followed, affecting the care they give to patients. They said they experience daily environmental hazards, including air conditioners and elevators that don’t work re gularly and rusty drinking water.

“We’ve had to do procedures, which are supposed to be sterile, with drops of sweat running down our face because of the AC in the hospital not working. Patients deliver babies that then have to stay in a hot nursery because the chillers are, once again, down,” Marin said. “Patients are not able to attend appointments because the elevators are out of service and they cannot go up six flights of stairs.”

Residents said their clinics have shut down several times because of overheating. Residents bought fans with their own money to cool their lounge, where the

lights are often off to keep the room cooler and the water cooler — a source of nonrusty drinking water — was recently removed because of budget cuts, according to residents.

Prasad said these claims are inaccurate. The hospital, he said, doesn’t have rusty water, uses faucet filters, and the Village of Oak Park re gularly tests the water.

Prasad said the building did recently experience a failure in its dated cooling system, leading to repairs that are still inprocess He added that West Suburban installed an 8,000-ton cooling unit that should last for decades. Six of the hospital’s 24 elevators are out-of-service due to abuse by users, Prasad said. Repairs to fix bent elevator doors are underway.

“We inherited a 100-year-old building that had not been adequately maintained due to frequent ship changes,” Prasad said.

Because of these conditions several staf f members have worked at West Suburban for years quit within the last year since Prasad hasn dressed their concerns, acco ing to residents

“Our specialists have and many services are no longer available or are only able on a very limited basi Marin said.

established to become an impactful safety tool, participation has been limited to certain members of our staf f.”

‘I don’t want to send anybody I love here’

Residents said Prasad’s behavior is all the more frustrating because, when he took over the hospital at the end of 2022, he promised to save it from bankruptcy and continue caring for the community.

In October 2022, Pipeline Health filed for bankruptcy, then sold West Suburban to Resilience Healthcare, where Prasad is CEO.

Prasad previously told the Wednesday Journal that Resilience Healthcare acquired West Suburban and Weiss Memorial Hospital for $92 million, which included their real estate and over $80 million of Pipeline’s debt. ing with Pipeline, these venture capitalists in California who really eroded the integrity of the care to provide,” third-year resident. “Dr. Prasad started in the auditorium in front of a hospital full of employees promising ” he added.

Access to services like surgery and psychiatry have dwindled. Farooqui said nurses no longer have transport staf f on weekends to help them move patients from floor-to-floor

“Like any other hospital, we have many who have left and many colleagues who have joined us, and more importantly, some who left us have come back to us,” Prasad said. “We continue to offer services in the safest way possible and services have not diminished.”

“The hospital, which was teetering and tottering on the verge of closure at one time, is now stabilized, functioning and slowly growing.

M ANOJ PRASAD CEO of Resilience Healthcare

According to residents, Prasad also barred resident doctors from attending re gular hospital patient safety meetings, where three resident doctors are on the committee. Residents said Prasad sent a notice to faculty and residents that they were no longer welcomed at that meeting.

Prasad, however, denied this.

“I did not send any such notice. We have invested in a new incident reporting system and [are] designing new incident evaluation processes with a limited number of individuals,” Prasad said. “Until that gets

“Dr. Prasad said that he would transparency and accessibility than employees have ever experienced.”

When Prasad took over West Suburban, he said his goal was to first financially stabilize a hospital experiencing crumbling infrastructure and a lack of equipment and supplies. While he works to get the hospital out of debt, he said West Suburban has not missed or been late in paying any of its 1,800 employees.

“We always obtain and provide supplies on time, every time, to provide safe services. We have added and re placed a lot of medical equipment, repaired and stabilized the infrastructure and [are] continuing to do so,” Prasad said. “The hospital, which was teetering and tottering on the verge of closure at one time, is now stabilized, functioning and slowly growing.”

But residents said Prasad hasn’t listened to their feedback to improve patient safety and want him to follow through on his promises to invest in the hospital.

See WEST SUB on pa ge 6

SATURDAY, JUNE 8

GARFIELD PARK 9:00 a.m.

The Bank of America Chicago 13.1 is collaborating with West Side residents to offer FREE wellness-based activities during race weekend that support, advance and celebrate health, wellness and movement on Chicago’s West Side. Activities include a family-friendly 1.31-Mile Wellness Walk, youth running events, and opportunities to showcase local West Side businesses. REGISTER TODAY!

chicago13point1.com/ saturdaywellnessevents

SINAI

History displayed from page 1

at Sinai Chicago and was developed with input from community partners.

“Because the building itself was developed in collaboration with our communities, it seemed like a natural home for this display, which celebrates Sinai’s close relationship with the neighborhoods it serves,” Sinai Chicago officials said in an email to the Austin Weekly News.

The exhibit’s history begins in the early 1900s when Morris Kurtzon founded Sinai Chicago. As a Jewish immigrant and businessman, Kurtzon wanted to open a hospital in North Lawndale, which had a large Jewish community at the time. He wanted to provide care that was culturally and religiously appropriate for his Jewish neighbors, plus create jobs for Jewish doctors and nurses who were discriminated against at other hospitals.

By the 1940s, a quarter of Chicago’s Jewish population lived in North Lawndale, according to the exhibit. Also, around that time, the demographics of the area began to change.

As Black families fled the Jim Crow South, many of them settled on Chicago’s West Side and, by the 1960s, North Lawndale was predominantly Black. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. moved to North Lawndale, bringing awareness to the neighborhood’s civil rights disparities, according to the exhibit.

As the West Side’s population grew and

WEST SUB

from page 4

“I don’t want to send anybody I love here,” said first-year resident Anna Petersen during the unity break. “We are some of the best doctors I’ve ever met. We’re brand new, but these people here care so much, and the fact that we can’t provide good medical care to the people who need it the most is devastating.”

“We care about our patients, but do you care about them, too?” first-year resident Jamie Chan rhetorically asked Prasad at the unity break. “We hope that you will finally put patients first, over profit, on your agenda.”

became predominantly Black and Latino, Sinai expanded its real estate and services. Hospital leadership worked with community organizations to better understand local needs — a process that continues today to provide equitable healthcare and celebrate diversity.

“The exhibit shows how the history of the hospital has been de eply connected to the Jewish, African-American and Latino communities we’ve served and continue to serve,” said Raul Garcia, Sinai Chicago’s director of community relations, in a statement.

The latest stamp in Sinai Chicago’s history is the launch of the One Lawndale Community Care and Surgery Center at Ogden Commons, which opened in June 2022 at 2652 W. Ogden Ave. The center provides health services, a grocery store, af fordable housing and commercial space for those on the West Side. The new building offers resources to those who have long seen disparities in health services because of factors like inadequate access to food and housing

Today, Sinai Chicago serves about 150,000 patients yearly, a majority of whom live on Chicago’s West and Southwest Sides, according to the hospital.

The center’s new exhibit was funded by Crown Family Philanthropies and created by Peter Alter, Rodney Brown, Irving Cutler, Anne Cohn Donnelly, Raúl Garcia, Luis Gutiér re z, and Blanche Killingsworth.

“It explores our commitment to the city’s West Side and how we remain dedicated to our mission of advancing health equity for Chicago’s most underresourced communities,” Ngozi Ezike, president and CEO of Sinai Chicago since 2022, said in a statement.

In the most recent bargaining session for their contract May 8, Prasad’s lawyers of fered residents no raise over the next three years and declined to increase funding for educational conferences and supplies, like textbooks and stethoscopes, according to O’Conor. The work phones residents are required to carry have been malfunctioning for months, O’Conor added, and Prasad keeps crossing out “functioning” in the contract proposals for improved phones.

“Like other small community hospitals, our hospital is not immune from the challenges of increasing costs and shrinking reimbursements, but we feel confident that we can overcome,” Prasad said. “Our goal is to remain a dependable and robust hospital serving the needs of our community.”

‘Girl Get Up’ debuts at May event in Gar eld Park

The event also marks the soft opening of Nelson Mandela Community Center

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

Hundreds of locals will gather in Garfield Park later this month at the corner of West Madison Street and Central Park Avenue for the first get-together of the year hosted by the community outreach nonprofit To Walk in My Shoes.

They will dance to music played by DJ Chillins and Tyrone, and shop with local vendors selling food and clothes. There will be no alcohol, drugs, weapons or fireworks at the event.

“We want to show our children, the children of the community and the community, that we can all get together, listen to music, dance and have a good time without any violence,” said Shrone Conaway, cofounder of To Walk in My Shoes.

The May 26 event marks the first of similar semi-monthly ones this year and will come with the announcement of a new To Walk in My Shoes facility and the launch of a new organization, Girl Get Up.

Conaway, who lives in the Austin-West Garfield Park community, co-founded To Walk in My Shoes in 2016 as a community outreach organization to connect locals with resources and bring West Siders together.

At 3 N. Cicero Ave., To Walk in My Shoes offers free programs for substance abuse, violence prevention and money management. Plus, it helps with resume writing and HIV/AIDS testing. When the nonprofit doesn’t offer the resources someone is looking for, it connects them with the appropriate organization.

To Walk in My Shoes also holds re gular family-friendly events for the community throughout the second half of the year.

What star ted as a monthly af fair in 2016 quickly became weekly in the summer months. And although about 100 people attended some of the first To Walk in My Shoes get-togethers, in recent years, Conaway said that number has been over 500.

“We’re trying to get this thing as big as

Riot Fest or Taste of Chicago,” Conaway said. “I want people to look at it like a family reunion.”

The Nelson Mandela Community Center and Girl Get Up

At the event, Conaway will soft launch the new To Walk in My Shoes Nelson Mandela Community Center, located next door to its existing facility at the intersection of West Madison Street and North Cicero Avenue. The site will allow the nonprofit to expand its services and will be open June 10.

On May 26, Conaway will also launch Girl Get Up, a new organization she started plans for late last year.

“You’re lying around, you’re not doing anything, and the first thing your grandparents say to you: ‘Girl, get up and do something,’” Conaway said. “Girl Get Up is just a lot of self-love. Get up and do something for yourself. You don’t have to just sit in a bad situation.”

Through Girl Get Up, Conaway hopes to provide motivation and support to local women, from those who have lost a job or are getting bad grades to those dealing with substance addiction, domestic violence and poor mental health.

In addition to providing these women with, or connecting them to, local resources, Conaway plans to schedule herself for monthly speaking engagements and hold monthly get-togethers with women on the West Side.

“Just like To Walk in My Shoes, we want to provide whatever service one may need,” Conaway said. “The goal is to tap into as many resources as we have in our community. That’s why it’s so important that we network with each other,” like at the event May 26.

“I want people to come out and enjoy. Bring the family, bring the kids,” Conaway said. “I love my community. I see so much potential in my community.”

The event is also sponsored by HOPE Coalition organizations and Black Men United. It will take place at Garfield Park from noon to 7 p.m. Interested vendors can email Shrone Conaway at Shrone36@yahoo.com or visit the To Walk in My Shoes facility at 3 N. Cicero Ave.

chicago13point1.com/ volunteer

VOLUNTEER WITH US

IBozo’s circus is back

grew up hearing, “Bozo’s Circus is on the air!” every day at noon. I had either a bologna and cheese, tuna fish or BLT sandwich in front of me, along with a nickel bag of Yo-Ho potato chips. Channel 9 at noon had a captive audience of school children, and when the Grand Prize Game was over, it was the signal to return to school. When that show went of f the air, it was the end of an era, a lost piece of history that would forever be a memory until … the election of Chicago’s current mayor, along with his band of 50 merry aldermen and a bunch of other minions in his administrative sideshow. I’ve given our current mayor the moniker of Bozo Brandon (BB). His administration team is an absolute circus of ineptness.

His nomination of Pastor Ira Acree to the RTA board (which in ef fect is also CTA and PACE) is a good example.

For those who ride the CTA, it is a vital public service that has become increasingly worse over the years. All one has to do is stand downtown on the el platfo rm at State and Lake trying to get home to the West Side One could age a lifetime waiting on a Green Line train to show up while Brown Line train after Brown Line train come and go So to have someone from the West Side get on this board to address many of the worst ills with CTA service is imperative. Think about all the Westsiders who have gotten parking tickets for bus zone violations when the Lake Street bus no longer exists! Or the way the bus lane was added to Chicago Avenue forming a single lane for drivers when

it’s really not needed west of Pulaski.

There was a time when a Black person who was nominated for a particular position would come in and display Black excellence. Their knowledge on a subject showed they were prepared to do the job. Pastor Acree has no transportation knowledge. So it was no sur prise at his hearing to get on the board that he made the unfortunate comment that, as a man, he doesn’t use the CTA. “I’m for tunate to have a car.”

What does that say to CTA riders? Women don’t matter and only punks ride the buses and trains?

Acree’s comment comes from the same playbook that BB uses all the time. The only difference is BB would have prefaced his comment with, “As a Black man living on the West Side of Chicago raising two boys ...”

What is Acree going to bring to the RTA table other than being another political appointment? When Acree was made aware of the $730 million shortfall the RTA is under, his response was: “This is my first time hearing about a $735 million shortfall. So I wouldn’t want to respond to that today without doing the research.”

What happened to being pr ep ared and doing research before showing up for the interview? Is there any other job that a candidate could come in so unprepared for and expect to g et the position?

Not in the private sector or real world. But this is the circus, with BB’s office on the fifth floor at City Hall. The Grand Prize Game is being played and won by hacks. Bozo’s circus, folks, is again

Local pharmacists say Walgreens needs new Rx for pay, working conditions

The pharmacists’ union wants salary increases, better sta ng and no telepharmacy services

By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter

More than a dozen Walgreens pharmacists and supporters gathered outside stores in the area in late April and ear May to draw attention to what they said is inadequate pay and working conditions.

At the Walgreens in Forest Pa Roosevelt Road May 3, they stood in front of a large inflatable rat as a truck with a video screen on its side displaye Walgreens Pharmacy Staf f!” wh around the block.

Pharmacists also demonstrated in front of the Walgreens at 4748 W. North Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on April 25. These actions came as a part of the Phed Up Pharmacists Tour, where Walgreens pharmacists who had the day of visited 46 Chicagoland Walgreens. They aimed to raise awareness for inadequate pay and working conditions for the company’s pharmacists, who ha working without a contract for the last nine months, according to the National Pharmacists Association-Laborers’ International Union of North America, represents nearly 900 phar macists at 400 Chicagoland Walg reens locations

Chicagoland Walgreens pharmacists aren’t on strike and are in the process of ne gotiating their union contract with Walgreens, asking for a pay raise, job security and checks on telepharmacy

“We’re hoping that this will help to move the needle, showing some of the discontent and getting the word out to the public about what’s going on,” said Robert Kobleski, a pharmacist at a Walgreens on the Northwest side of Chicago and secretary of NPhA-LIUNA’s executive board.

Walgreens pharmacists have received a 2% pay raise in the last seven years, NPhALIUNA officials said in a statement, which doesn’t adequately acknowledge pharmacists for their work. Officials added that, last year, 74% of Walgreens sales occurred at pharmacies, while only 26% was from retail. Representatives from Walgreens did not respond to requests for comment.

“We have a really dedicated group of

Walgreens pharmacists on the Phed Up Pharmacists Tour stand outside 7200 Roosevelt Road in Forest Park May 3.

pharmacists who really care about their patients and who are willing to stick around at a job, though they have basically been losing money for the past seven years,” said Kobleski, who has worked for Walgreens for nearly 25 years and participated in the Phed Up Pharmacists tour.

Pharmacist demands

In addition to a pay raise, union Walgreens pharmacists are also calling for improved scheduling in their contracts. Rather than hire more pharmacy staff, Walgreens has cut pharmacy hours and closed stores, according to the NPhA-LIUNA.

Walgreens announced last summer that it would close 150 locations in the United States. At that time, Walgreens had imple-

mented reduced hours at over 1,000 locations, the Chicago Sun-Times re ported.

Although Kobleski’s store on the Northwest side of Chicago is open 24 hours and one of the busiest in the Chicagoland area, he said that wasn’t the case at the previous Walgreens he worked at. Kobleski lives in Naperville and was a pharmacist at a 24hour location in the Chicago suburb, along with at a 24-hour Walgreens in Berwyn.

But when Walgreens cut both of those locations’ hours, Kobleski started working at his current Chicago location.

“It’s displacing a lot of full-time pharmacists and forcing them to either be part-time or to float from store to store,” Kobleski said. “It’s definitely causing a lot of turmoil amongst the pharmacists and a lot of uncertainty, stress and worry.”

Walgreens pharmacists are also worried pharmacy.

Walgreens plans to add harmacy services in Illinois stores ould change processes so that only technicians operate physical pharmacy Walgreens pharmacists peremotely, speaking to a patient when required. According NA, telepharmacists aren’t required to be located or licensed in Illinois. leski said tele pharmacy would vidualized care and relationships with patients know many pharmacists who went to pharmacy school to just talk to somebody who they don’t even know or any history with on a screen,” Koblesthink it’s good for business, ’t think it’s good for the patient.”

“Plain and simple, the point of telepharis to increase Walgreens’ profits by cutting the number of pharmacists while workload of the few remaining,” said Joe Pignataro, NPhA-LIUNA’s president and a full-time Walgreens pharmacist, in a statement. “Recent decisions orations have taught us that outsourcing, de-skilling and ignoring experts — putting profits over people — is not a sustainable business model.”

Despite these qualms, pharmacists like Kobleski and Pignataro have stayed with Walgreens to improve pay and working conditions for their peers.

“We’ re proud to be Walg reens p harmacists,” Ko bleski said. “We’ve always been highly re ga rded in the retail industr y. We f eel li ke the b est p harmacists c ome out of Walg reens.”

But Kobleski would like Walgreens to listen to their pharmacists’ demands, and have his contract reflect that.

“You have to do something to step up, to maintain the integrity of this company into the future,” Kobleski said of Walgreens. “You need to do something to retain this excellent staf f that you’re taking for granted.”

Kobleski said the union’s next contract ne gotiation with Walgreens will take place June 6.

JESSICA MOR DACQ

PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE OF COURT DATE FOR REQUEST FOR NAME CHANGE STATE OF ILLINOIS, CIRCUIT COURT COOK COUNTY

Request of REGINALD LASHUN ABERNATHY Case Number 2024CONC000504

There will be a court date on my Request to change my name from: REGINALD LASHUN ABERNATHY to the new name of:

Reginald Lashun Abernathy

The court date will be held:

On June 13, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. in Courtroom # 1706 on Zoom. ZOOM ID 970 3250 0245 Passcode 895226

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals.

To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-6699777. GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENTCHANCERY DIVISION US BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE TO LASALLE BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR BEAR STEARSN ASSET BACKED SECURITIES I TRUST, ASSET BACKED CERTIFICATES SERIES 2007-HE4; Plaintiff, vs. REOLA JERNIGAN; MIDLAND FUNDING LLC; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NONRECORD CLAIMANTS; UNKNOWN HEIRS AND LEGATEES OF ROBERT LEE JERNIGAN AKA

ROBERT L. JERNIGAN, DECEASED; CONSTANCE JERNIGAN; THOMAS P. QUINN, AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF ROBERT LEE JERNIGAN AKA

ROBERT L. JERNIGAN, DECEASED; Defendants, 18 CH 5964 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above entitled cause Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, June 10, 2024 at the hour of 11 a.m. in their office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, as set forth below, the following described mortgaged real estate: P.I.N. 16-02-302-019-0000. Commonly known as 1119 North Springfield Avenue, Chicago, IL 60651.

The mortgaged real estate is improved with a multi-family residence. The successful purchaser is entitled to possession of the property only. The purchaser may only obtain possession of units within the multi-unit property occupied by individuals named in the order of possession.

Sale terms: 10% down by certified funds, balance, by certified funds, within 24 hours. No refunds. The property will NOT be open for inspection.

For information call Sales Department at Plaintiff’s Attorney, Manley Deas Kochalski, LLC, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601. (614) 220-5611. 18-010728 F2 INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION intercountyjudicialsales.com I3243216

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Riveredge Hospital is here to help any member of your family.

This month, make your mental health a priority. We offer specialized inpatient and outpatient services for children, teens and adults.

Did you know? The average delay between the onset of symptoms of a mental health issue and the start of treatment is 11 years.

- National Library of Medicine