The History of the HSA

Intern, resident, and fellow physicians (housestaff) have always played an active and essential role at Stroger Hospital (formerly Cook County Hospital).  We have more responsibility for delivery of patient care than do housestaff at many other institutions.  Stroger Hospital housestaff have a real and immediate concern about both day-to-day issues of patient care and fundamental questions of public health policy.  The fact that Stroger housestaff are organized into a union, with collective bargaining rights, means that we can affect patient care and public health policy.

 

The residents at the then Cook County Hospital became one of the first housestaff organizations in the nation to unionize in the early 1970s.  Our union was a direct outgrowth of CCH housestaff efforts over the decades to improve the quality of patient care and the quality of the residency training programs.

 

In 1975, the CCH House Staff Association was forced to go on strike for the staff and equipment necessary to provide quality medical care to County Hospital patients.  After an 18-day strike, the longest doctors’ strike in the U.S. history, the House Staff Association won the right to have a say in patient care decisions and quality standards.  Our contract contained extensive, itemized patient care improvements.  It also created a Medical Care Review Committee to carry out the improvements and deal with future patient care problems.

 

In the late 1970’s, financial crisis at the then Cook County Hospital caused state and federal cuts in funding.  This cut resulted in staff reductions, the halting of physical plant improvements, and the closing of essential services.  As a result, Cook County Hospital could not pay their employees for a short period.  Consequently, the HSA joined other unions, interested community groups, and the Committee to Save Cook County Hospital to circulate petitions, hold demonstrations and lobby in Springfield.  Saving Cook County Hospital for the communities it serves rewarded the efforts of the HSA and the other groups.

 

The 1980’s saw an ongoing need for Cook County Hospital in light of economic trends and federal policy, which were depriving more and more people of affordable health care.  The HSA continued to support the rights of the medically indigent people.

 

In 1993 the HSA membership made one of its most important decisions by voting to affiliate with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE), the health care section of the 1 million strong American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).  The affiliation gives the HSA the kind of research, political and organizing support to allow us to influence issues such as patient care at Stroger.  In fact, with the assistance of NUHHCE, the HSA can influence the future of Graduate Medical Education in the United States.

 

In response to difficult times, the CCH administration imposed significant layoffs in 1991, 1993, and 1998.  The downsizing of hospital staff is a result of the Administration’s plan for a newer, more efficient, but much smaller Hospital.  The aging physical plant was long overdue for replacement and advocated by the HSA, the new Stroger Hospital opened in December 2002.  An HIV Center was built and the County is continuing with its plans to expand to community-based ambulatory care system, again advocated by the HSA.

 

The year 2002 also saw the foremost threat to our existence.  After reducing the total number of housestaff positions by approximately 10% and the closing of the combined Med/Peds program, the administration merged the Family Practice Program with the Loyola University program, who began to administer the program in 2003.  We grieved this violation of our rights to participate in the Hospital’s decision. Thankfully, in 2017 the administration agreed to reopen the Family Practice program as Family and Community Medicine, and the residents have been a valuable part of the union and our community since then.

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Since the beginning of the  COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the HSA has fought for the safety of our housestaff and patients through advocating for proper PPE, safe staffing ratios, and monetary compensation for the grueling workload required of us.

 

Our contract between the HSA and the County protects our membership’s working conditions, benefits, educational rights, and gives housestaff a say in patient care standards while at Stroger. The HSA contends that housestaff contribution to the care of the residents of Cook County is more valuable than ever.