Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County

Oak Forest Hospital of Cook County is a medical center located in south suburban Oak Forest, Illinois. It specializes in long-term 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.

History
Oak Forest Hospital used to serve as an infirmary where the city of Chicago exiled their poor and mentally ill to be "patients" here. 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.

They are currently in the process of closing down their long-term care facilities, due to funds being cut, mostly due to legislation pushed by Todd H. Stroger.

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").