Community

Residents of Spring Valley:

It is disheartening and tragic, but as of June 16, St. Margaret’s in Spring Valley will be closing. As many of you know, a memo from the hospital to staff explaining its dire financial condition is circulating. Similar to the situation in Peru, the hospital in Spring Valley is now pinning its hopes on a last-minute rescue package from the legislature to stay financially afloat. While I still hope that our elected officials at the state level can assist St. Margaret’s, the likely outcome is that similar to Peru, the funding will not materialize, and on June 16 and the hospital will close.

We are incredibly aware of the negative impact this will have on our residents as the hospital closing results in fewer medical services for residents and longer ambulance rides to nearby hospitals when every moment matters. From the beginning, the city council has fought to keep the Spring Valley Hospital open, filing a formal objection with the Illinois agency considering St. Margaret’s petition to close the Spring Valley location. We also contacted Senator Rezin and Representative Yednock, asking them to support our objection. Our attempts to communicate with management at St. Margaret’s Hospital, as its employees know, have been frustrating and futile. The hospital in Spring Valley is not city-owned. We have done everything in our power to avoid this result, but ultimately, the city does not control the hospital.

The city council will continue to reach out to elected officials at the state level and attempt to communicate with the management of St. Margaret’s and OSF to ensure that the residents of Spring Valley can still access the health care they deserve. We will also ask our local ambulance service about their action plan.

We hope that the uncertainty surrounding the situation will resolve itself soon, and further hope that the resolution will include the high level of health care and services the residents of Spring Valley have come to expect.