Mar. 2, 2020 10:40p; Updated Mar. 4 1:20p to correct and delete Fire Chief's comments re station location preference reported in error. Also adds patient data.
(WGTD)---The Kenosha City Council slammed Froedtert Hospital Monday night for closing the critical care unit at its Kenosha campus, forcing paramedics to transport cardiac patients and a few others to Froedtert- Pleasant Prairie, six miles away.
The council voted 17-0 to ask Froedtert to reconsider its decision. The resolution also asks citizens to contact the hospital directly to complain.
Representatives of Froedtert weren't at Monday's meeting.
"I think they acted in a way that was shameful," said Ald. Holly Kangas. "They're not acting as a good partner to the City of Kenosha," she said.
Offering an explanation, Kenosha Fire Dept. Chief Charles Leipzig said he was told that the closure was part of a shift of resources that would enable Froedtert's Pleasant Prairie hospital to grow its ER to a Level 2 trauma center that would allow it to treat patients that normally would be flown to Milwaukee.
Had the closure been in place in 2019, 64 patients who normally would've gone to Froedtert-Kenosha would've been transported to Froedtert-Pleasant Prairie, Leipzig said after checking KFD data.
Ald. Dave Bogdala said that Froedtert's decision to close the Kenosha CCU affects the entire city because rescue squads will be spending more time on the road. "All of these med units will now have to be out of their districts longer," he said.
Richardo Lebron, president of the union that represents Kenosha firefighters, said he and his colleagues are concerned. "We get to the hospital as quick as we can to get advanced treatment that we can't provide," Lebron said. "It's an issue for us," he said.
Leipzig said the department was initially given three days' advance notice to prepare, but then was granted a week-long reprieve. As a result of the closure decision, new drugs were added to the arsenel of medicines that rescue squads routinely carry, Leipzig said. He didn't specify which drugs.
Several council members expressed disappointment that Froedtert didn't consult first with city officials. "This decision didn't happen overnight," Bogdala said.
Ald. Dan Prozanski said he hopes the resolution would open a stronger line of communication between Froedtert and the city.
Ald. Keith Rosenberg called the decision a case of corporate greed. "Why can't they support both?" he asked.
Ald. Dominic Ruffalo said he feared that Froedtert would eventually close the ER at its Kenosha hospital.
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