Earl Lewis was shot in the back in February, after his friend's memorial service. He says he helped another victim who had been shot into his truck, and drove straight to St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, which has served residents of Cleveland's Central neighborhood for years.
He arrived to find a closed emergency room, staffed by only a security guard.
The emergency room at St. Vincent's has been closed since November last year, but in the five months since, ambulances have been dispatched to the ER 58 times to pick up people who have driven to the hospital, sometimes responding more than once on the same day.
Hospital officials say they've tried to communicate information about the closure to residents, but community advocacy leaders say their strategy, which involved engaging neighborhood ambassadors and discussions at community meetings, is not meeting people where they are.
On Thursday's "Sound of Ideas," we'll dive into reporting on the aftermath of St. Vincent's ER closure by Ideastream's health team, and we'll talk about the larger trend of ERs closing nationwide, especially in hospitals more likely to serve low income communities.
This reporting is part of Ideastream's Connecting the Dots series, which looks at the intersection between race and health.
Later in this hour, we'll hear the next installment of our music podcast, "Shuffle."
Guests:
-Taylor Wizner, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Earl Lewis, Resident, Cleveland’s Central neighborhood
-Vikas Saini, MD, President, Lown Institute
-David Margolius, M.D., Director, Cleveland Department of Public Health
-Amanda Rabinowitz, Host, "Shuffle"
