Ascension Wisconsin planned service cuts; Milwaukee alderman concerned
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee alderman raises major worries about Ascension Wisconsin's planned cuts to services. On Thursday, Dec. 5, the alderman, community members and Milwaukee's fire chief will lay out concerns.
FOX6 News reported on these cuts when they were first announced in November. Now, Alderman DiAndre Jackson and Fire Chief Aaron Lipski are weighing in, with a planned news conference on Thurs., Dec. 5, followed by a Common Council committee meeting that will include discussion about the cuts.
Jackson says extra travel time for some patients of 15 to 30 minutes to get needed care will be "the difference between life and death."
Alderman Jackson's worries center on Ascension Wisconsin's plans to close the cath lab for cardiac patients at St. Joseph's Hospital on the north side. He said that means patients will have to be transported more than five miles away to hospitals that will still have them – Froedtert, St. Mary's or Aurora-Grafton.
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Jackson said the change will mean 115,000 residents will no longer be within a 15-minute drive of a cath lab for cardiac patients. The labs are places where doctors can diagnose and treat heart conditions.
In a news release, Jackson said, "Cardiac cath labs are crucial for providing health services to those suffering heart attacks and cardiac arrest."
Ascension is also eliminating its cath lab at St. Francis Hospital on Milwaukee's south side.
Community leaders, including the Milwaukee Black Grassroots Network for Health Equity, say they are worried about the cut in services.
"At a time where cardiovascular disease continues to kill Milwaukeeans, Wisconsinites and Americans, this is a horrible decision. Our community deserves to have quality health care facilities to meet our growing health care challenges. So, it’s disappointing once again. But in Milwaukee, we are losing health care access to critical services that are so important for persons in our community," said Quinton Cotton, co-founder of the MKE Black Grassroots Network for Health Equity.
"Think of a tire that's flat. You can only go so far on a flat tire," said Ericka Sinclair of Health Connections, Inc., and also of the network. "You're not going to make it without your rims being damaged. So, it's a very similar situation in that respect, except this is a whole person. And that is a person that can literally die because they don't have access to what they need within the distance, which needs to be short for someone who has a heart condition, heart disease."
An Ascension spokesperson did not respond to a FOX6 News request for an interview. However, in a November email, a spokesperson said the company is making "significant investments" in southeast Wisconsin. The system said it's plan is to have broad access to things like primary care and then to have concentrated specialized care at centralized locations.
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Ascension said it will invest $10 million in St. Francis Hospital to add 60 in-patient beds for behavioral health.
"Ascension Wisconsin currently operates more 24/7 cardiac catheterization (cath) labs than any other healthcare system in SE Wisconsin. Cardiac services will be expanded at Franklin Hospital to include 24/7 cath lab availability to service southern Milwaukee County and northern Racine County, a rapidly growing geography devoid of such services today," a November news release stated. "In Southeast Wisconsin, 24/7 cath lab services will also remain available at Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital - Milwaukee Campus, Elmbrook Hospital in Brookfield, and All Saints Hospital in Racine. These sites will serve all of Ascension’s Southeast Wisconsin hospitals and surrounding communities via an integrated STEMI and cath lab network. This strategy ensures highly experienced care teams can perform round-the-clock, minimally invasive heart procedures."