Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County
Encyclopedia
Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County is a 600+ bed hospital located in south suburban Oak Forest, Illinois
. It specializes in long-term care
, Ventilator care, chronic disease and rehabilitation services
. It is part of the Cook County
Bureau of Health Services, which also includes the more prominent and newer John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County
.
Until recently, uninsured patients from other Cook County Hospitals requiring sub-acute, chronic, long term, ventilator care, or rehabilitation were sent to Oak Forest Hospital as an alternative to remaining in acute hospitals such as Cook County or Provident Hospital or going to nursing homes.
exiled their poor and mentally ill patients, as well as a sanitarium for patients with tuberculosis
. The living conditions were very poor and the management was corrupt. With the start of suburban sprawl in the Oak Forest area in the 1940s and 1950s, this establishment cleaned up their act and became a more respectable hospital.
Many services and facilities at Oak Forest Hospital have been cut or closed down recently, including long term care units, some Rehabilitation services, and conveniences such as the hospital's cafeteria. Patients who lived in the long term care units, some for twenty years or more, have now been farmed out to unfamiliar and poor-quality nursing homes.
Originally, the Rock Island railroad
line, which now runs from Chicago-LaSalle St. Station to Joliet, ran directly to Oak Forest Hospital, the "Cook County Poor Farm." Hospital patrons typically purchased a one-way ticket from Chicago to the hospital and stayed at the hospital. The town of Oak Forest developed to provide services to the hospital patrons and to its workers, and in the 1950s development in the area led to the rise of the Fieldcrest subdivision of Oak Forest, located south of the hospital grounds and separate from the rest of Oak Forest, a sort of "company town" for many of the hospital workers. The hospital is surrounded by woods, fields, and lakes (once truly the "Farm"), the St. Roch's Friary, the Midlothian Meadow Cook County Forest Preserve, and the haunting, tombstone-free St. Gabriel Cemetery ("potter's field").
Oak Forest, Illinois
Oak Forest is a suburban city about south/southwest of downtown Chicago in Bremen Township in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 28,051 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. It specializes in long-term care
Long-term care
Long-term care is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical need of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods of time....
, Ventilator care, chronic disease and rehabilitation services
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physical medicine and rehabilitation , physiatry or rehabilitation medicine, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician having completed training in this field is referred to as a...
. It is part of the Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Bureau of Health Services, which also includes the more prominent and newer John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County
John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County
The John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, formerly Cook County Hospital is a public urban teaching hospital in Chicago that provides primary, specialty and tertiary healthcare services to the five million residents of Cook County, Illinois. The hospital has a staff of 300 attending...
.
Until recently, uninsured patients from other Cook County Hospitals requiring sub-acute, chronic, long term, ventilator care, or rehabilitation were sent to Oak Forest Hospital as an alternative to remaining in acute hospitals such as Cook County or Provident Hospital or going to nursing homes.
History
Oak Forest Hospital used to serve as an infirmary where the city of ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
exiled their poor and mentally ill patients, as well as a sanitarium for patients with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. The living conditions were very poor and the management was corrupt. With the start of suburban sprawl in the Oak Forest area in the 1940s and 1950s, this establishment cleaned up their act and became a more respectable hospital.
Many services and facilities at Oak Forest Hospital have been cut or closed down recently, including long term care units, some Rehabilitation services, and conveniences such as the hospital's cafeteria. Patients who lived in the long term care units, some for twenty years or more, have now been farmed out to unfamiliar and poor-quality nursing homes.
Originally, the Rock Island railroad
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.-Incorporation:...
line, which now runs from Chicago-LaSalle St. Station to Joliet, ran directly to Oak Forest Hospital, the "Cook County Poor Farm." Hospital patrons typically purchased a one-way ticket from Chicago to the hospital and stayed at the hospital. The town of Oak Forest developed to provide services to the hospital patrons and to its workers, and in the 1950s development in the area led to the rise of the Fieldcrest subdivision of Oak Forest, located south of the hospital grounds and separate from the rest of Oak Forest, a sort of "company town" for many of the hospital workers. The hospital is surrounded by woods, fields, and lakes (once truly the "Farm"), the St. Roch's Friary, the Midlothian Meadow Cook County Forest Preserve, and the haunting, tombstone-free St. Gabriel Cemetery ("potter's field").