Walther Memorial Hospital
Walther Memorial Hospital Soundex Code H213
Closed 1987
Chicago Tribune, Sunday, March 22, 1987
Walther Memorial Ordered To Close
Walther Memorial Hospital, a 66-year-old West Side hospital that had been beset with financial problems because of cuts in federal aid and a declining number of patients, has been ordered by a federal bankruptcy judge to close.
Judge Robert E. Ginsberg on Friday, March 20, 1987 rejected as inadequate an offer by a private health-care firm, Gateway Medical Systems, to take over the hospital. Ginsberg, who had rejected two similar offers in a hearing earlier in the week, appointed a trustee to oversee the shutdown of the 212-bed hospital over the next two to three weeks. The trustee, Thomas Raleigh, met Saturday with representatives of Chicago Health Resources Corp., which has operated the hospital since July, 1986, to discuss patient care and the fate of the hospital`s 340 employees.
Edward Lorgeree, chief operating officer of the hospital, has said that he hopes the employees will be paid accrued vacation time and receive outplacement services.
Neither Lorgeree nor Raleigh could be reached Saturday, March 21, 1987. A Walther Memorial supervisor wouldn`t comment. Also unknown is the fate of the hospital site, at 1116 N. Kedzie Ave.
Walther Memorial served the Humboldt Park neighborhood and had 150 physicians. The hospital`s 59 patients will be transferred to other hospitals. Walther Memorial, which filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday, January 22, 1987 despite its nonprofit status, is the fourth Chicago hospital in less than two years to make plans to close because of declining occupancy and other financial problems. But it is the first to file for bankruptcy protection.
The number of Walther outpatients increased in 1986, but number of patients in beds declined to 4,834, from 5,694 in 1985.