Organized doctors will have a stronger voice in providing and improving healthcare delivery in hospitals and clinics of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services (CCBHS) and a stronger voice in helping to avoid problems like the current budget crisis, the physicians said.

Doctors from Oak Forest Hospital, Cermak Medical Center and county clinics already have organized under the National Doctors Council and Local 20.

“I am happy to announce that this morning in a secret ballot election a majority of physicians of Provident Hospital have joined their colleagues (in the union). Furthermore, we remain alarmed at the current budget stalemate at the Cook County Board. This threatens the County’s Health Services’ very existence,” said Dr. Lester Wright of Provident. He was joined by Kevin Collins, director of contract administration for the National Doctors Council, and Cook County Commissioners Forrest Claypool and Roberto Maldonado.

“We demand a negotiated solution and immediate resolution of all outstanding matters related to governance and the passage of a budget to restore the vast cuts of last year that have so negatively impacted our patients,” Dr. Wright said.

Dr. Sonia Lott of Cermak Health Services at the Cook County Jail welcomed Provident doctors to the union and described the rise in infectious and sexually transmitted disease rates among young men who enter Cook County Jail as “one of the legacies that have been bequeathed to the residents of this County” as a result of budget cuts.

“At a time when increasing numbers of county residents are uncovered by health insurance and when new and ominous health problems are besetting our communities, it is inappropriate for our elected representatives to be arguing over who can control the distribution of patronage. The Board’s responsibility is the patients and their care,” she said.

The decision by Provident Hospital doctors is the latest step in a more than 20-year effort to organize CCBHS physicians. Doctors at Oak Forest filed for recognition in 2002 and recently signed a union contract with the hospital. Doctors at Cermak and county clinics are in the process of formalizing a contract. With Provident, there now are nearly 250 doctors in the union.

“These physicians have decided to organize because they see it as the only way for them to protect the quality of care they deliver to their patients and have a voice that will be heard when it comes to decisions being made about health care policies in our hospitals. As primary care givers, they know first hand how budget cuts and the failure now to pass a budget that delivers the necessary funding to hospitals and clinics impact the health of our citizens,” said SEIU Healthcare Local 20 President Byron Hobbs.

Speaking at the historic hospital founded by African Americans, Dr. Srinivas Lolepalem of Oak Forest Hospital said, “The ability of this county to provide long term care to ill and infirmed patients was a source of pride for over 75 years. It was destroyed by decisions made responding to threatened budget cuts within a few months. This is and should be a source of shame for us all.”