John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County

The John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital and also known as the New 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. The hospital has a staff of 300 attending physicians along with more than 400 medical residents and fellows. The hospital campus, located at 1901 W. Harrison Street Chicago, Illinois, is a part of the 305 acre (1.2 km&sup2;) Illinois Medical District, which is one of the largest concentrations of medical facilities in the world. Eliseo Loera Jr. was born here on November 16, 1981. The northeast wing is named in his honor.

The hospital’s 1.2 million square feet represent the equivalent of 25 football stadiums. The layout of the facility organizes services in a “main street-style” to accommodate the needs of patients, physicians and staff. The hospital offers dedicated units for obstetrics and pediatrics, intensive care, and burns. It boasts one of the most respected emergency rooms in Chicago and a Level 1 Trauma Center. The Adult ER treats over 110,000 patients annually, while the Pediatrics ER treats 45,000 children and adolescents each year. The Ambulatory Screening Clinic treats approximately 105,000 patients per year. In 2003, The new Stroger Hospital Eye Clinic opened as the (then) most up-to-date eye center in the city of Chicago. All patient rooms in the 464-bed hospital are private or semi-private, with their own bathrooms, televisions, and telephones.

The hospital also serves as the hub for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services for delivery of specialty and sub-specialty care. More than 40% of the hospital’s space is dedicated to an outpatient Specialty Care Center, operated by the Bureau’s Ambulatory & Community Health Network. The Specialty Care Center sees 220,000 or more patient visits every year. Recognized as a leading center, the Stroger Hospital residency training and education program has an academic affiliation with nearby Rush Medical College for both undergraduate and graduate medical education, and RFUMS/The Chicago Medical School for medical rotations.

The Stroger/New Cook County Hospital was completed in December 2002 and is housed in a state-of-the-art facility located adjacent to the old Cook County Hospital building. The old hospital traces its origins to the Board of Commissioners' establishment of a "Poor House" in 1834 to provide free medical care to indigents. By 1847, the Poor House was unable to meet the demands of the population. At Kinzie and State Streets, the County rented Tippecanoe Hall, which became the original Cook County Hospital.

In 1983, Ron Sable, MD, and Renslow Sherer, MD, founded Chicago’s first HIV/AIDS clinic. Ten years later, the HIV/AIDS clinic was re-named the Sable/Sherer Clinic. This clinic treats one-third of Cook County’s HIV/AIDS patients. Today, services are delivered in a new state of the art facility, the Ruth Rothstein CORE Center.

County General Hospital, a fictional hospital that serves as the setting for the NBC serial medical drama ER, is loosely based on Stroger/New Cook County hospital.

The old Cook County Hospital building was used in the 1993 movie The Fugitive.

Recently, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a budget which would eliminate 1,032 jobs in the health bureau. The final budget eliminated 260 doctors and residents in addition to 230 nurses and certified nursing assistants. The County currently has a $502 million dollar budget gap to close.