Orland Park Immediate Care Center Closes Temporarily: NU Medicine

ORLAND PARK, IL — Local officials are expressing surprise after Northwestern Medicine's immediate care facility announced it is closing immediately without giving notice that it was shutting its doors.

However, while Northwestern Medicine officials said the ball got dropped in not alerting the village of what was happening, the closure is just temporary while the facility's critical care staff is needed to address high caseloads at Palos Hospital, a Northwestern Medicine spokesperson told Patch on Monday.

Chris King, the director of communications for Northwestern Medicine, said the medical group hopes to reopen the immediate care center on Dec. 27. King said Northwestern Medicine will make updates to its website to allow patients to remain in the loop.

The announcement came after Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau said no one alerted the village that the facility was closing, albeit temporarily. On Monday afternoon, Pakau posted an update to the village's Facebook page saying that representatives from Northwestern Medicine had reached out notifying him saying the closure is only temporary.

The immediate care center, which is at 15300 West Ave., has been a staple of the Orland Park community for decades, officials said, and was known more commonly as the Palos Immediate Care Center .

"The closure of the immediate care center came as a surprise to me and I wasn't alone," Pekau said in a statement Monday morning.

"The closure of a medical service facility, without notice, is unheard of and unacceptable."

However, King said the lack of communication was not malicious. Instead, the need for staff at Palos Hospital to address increases cases of COVID-19 and the flu made shifting the staff from the urgent care center necessary. The primary care portion of the facility will remain open, King said.

"It's not intentional by any stretch," King told Patch. "As you can imagine, we're just dealing with a lot of patients and we're just trying to figure out the best way to provide the best care."

In addition to the village not being told of the closure, officials said that the Orland Park Fire Protection District was not notified. The fire district regularly transports patients to and from the facility, officials said.

According to the Northwestern Medicine website, the Orland Park facility is home to Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care Orland Park, Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory, Behavioral Health Services, Nutritional Services and a variety of offices.

“When Northwestern Medicine merged with Palos Health, Dean M. Harrison, president and chief executive officer, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare said the following, ‘We look forward to welcoming Palos Health to Northwestern Medicine. … We will join the physicians and staff of Palos Health to provide convenient access to world class care in the southwest suburbs.'"

Orland Park's mayor made the statement earlier on Monday without knowing the closure is expected to only last a week.

“This is neither world class care or convenient access and is a disservice to the residents of Orland Park and the surrounding communities,” Pekau said in the statement. “The Village of Orland Park, and more importantly the residents of Orland Park and the region, demand an answer to this egregious action taken with no notice.”

In the update, Pekau said he did not receive answers to many of the questions he had about the closure.

"Why was it closed? We were told it was due to patient surge," Pekau wrote on the Facebook page. "I noted that usually, when there is a patient surge, Palos Hospital goes on bypass and the Immediate Care has never closed in the past during these situations. We were assured that the hospital is not on bypass at this time. I then asked why this time is different and did not get an answer other than patient surge.

"I was informed that staff was moved to Palos Hospital and the immediate care center in neighboring Mokena. I asked why patient service in some towns take priority over others? Why Orland Park? Aren’t all residents deserving of their trusted medical services? I did not get an answer to these questions either."