Illinois Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are calling out new owners of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Joliet for service reductions they say will compromise the healthcare of area residents.
Several months ago, owners of Prime Healthcare announced that the pediatric unit at the hospital would be shut down because of declining use.
Kaitlynd French, who previously worked as a nurse at the Joliet hospital and now serves as a union organizer with the Illinois Nurses Association, is asking residents to attend a meeting to be held by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to let their voices be heard on the elimination of the pediatric unit. The meeting has been scheduled for 9 a.m. June 24 at the Bolingbrook Golf Club.
“Prime Healthcare cannot cherry pick who is going to be able to come to our hospital,” French said.
Following the purchase by Prime Healthcare in California there were reports that Prime had a reputation of turning around financially struggling hospitals, like St. Joseph and had provided quality healthcare to more than 600 communities across the country since it was founded in 2001. Prime became the fifth owner of the Joliet hospital since the 1990s.
The Healthcare company purchased St. Joseph in March 2025 for $71 million, along with seven other Illinois hospitals previously owned by Ascension, which is part of the Catholic health system network. Following the sale, hospitals like St. Joseph changed from a nonprofit to a for-profit healthcare provider.
According to executives at Prime Healthcare, the hospital’s inpatient pediatric unit has been averaging less than one patient a day, while the need for other services like advanced surgical, neurosurgical and spinal care has increased.
The decision will impact two doctors and eight staff members. According to Prime, the physicians have been offered positions at the company’s affiliated medical group, and the nurses will be offered jobs in other departments at St. Joseph or other nearby Prime hospitals.
During a community meeting late last week in Joliet, nurses asked area residents to be vigilant in their fight against Prime Healthcare.
“I live in Joliet, and this is hurting our community,” said Bob Melvin, resident. “We have a community hospital that should be focused on providing top quality medical care. But what we get is people from California dictating how our services will be met. It just isn’t fair.”
Both Senators Duckworth and Durbin said in a letter, “since acquiring former Ascension hospitals in March, Prime Healthcare has eliminated inpatient pediatric care at the former St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, stopped delivering babies at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee and stopped Mercy Medical Center in Aurora from having a Level II trauma designation.
Urging Prime Healthcare to reconsider their decisions, Duckworth and Durbin also stated, “The consequences of these reductions hold the potential to strip patients of critical and specialized care.”
Prime Healthcare executives stressed that St. Joseph has already entered into an agreement to transfer pediatric patients to Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in Naperville, which is more than 20 miles away from Joliet.
Pediatric patients can also go to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, which is about nine miles away, or Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, which is more than 40 miles away. The letter emphasizes that St. Joseph will continue to treat children in its emergency department.
The Illinois Nurses Association, which represents St. Joseph, said relocating pediatric patients to other hospitals is in violation of its contract, which requires a 30-day notice if nurses are to be laid off or displaced. The union also accused Prime of going back on its word to not discontinue any services at St. Joseph for at least two years after the purchase.
A Prime spokesperson said many community hospitals across Chicago have closed their inpatient pediatric units due to decrease in demand. The spokesperson said families are opting to transfer their children to hospitals like Lurie, Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn and University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, which often are top choices for families seeking complex pediatric care.
