An open letter to our Uptown neighbors— 

Weiss Memorial Hospital has a proud history in this North Side community, and we’re committed to building on that legacy in the years to come. From its founding in the  1950s, Weiss has been known for pioneering new approaches to clinical care, particularly in the surgical field. The hospital’s original practitioners, coming from the  Strauss Surgical Group, were in fact credited for their expertise in early cancer surgery techniques.

Today, we are building on that tradition of innovation at Weiss through continued  investment in the hospital’s operations, staffing and infrastructure to support our growing practices, including our new orthopedics robotic surgical unit and Weiss’ renowned Center for Gender Confirmation Surgery.

That is why our parent company Pipeline has made over $40 million in investments over the last two years, including $13 million for a new electronic medical records system, $12 million in facilities renovations, $5 million for our new orthopedics surgical practice and over $1 million for a new behavioral health program. That doesn’t count the millions invested in system upgrades for telemetry, new imaging and radiology equipment and other facility upgrades.

Weiss is also continuing to bring on more physicians and staff, including a new Women’s Health Program that opened in 2020, and a breast surgeon who joined the new program just this month. We are already the largest employer in the Uptown area, with over 700 employees, and we anticipate we will continue to hire more physicians and staff to support our growth.

Last year Weiss served almost 22,000 patients, with approximately 20,000 emergency visits, 5,000 admissions and 2,000 surgeries. Over 73% of those patients came from the Uptown neighborhood. We are not walking away from our community, in fact the opposite is true, we will continue to invest in the hospital and in our service to our  patients and neighbors.

Later this month, Weiss will have the opportunity to double down on our investments in the hospital through the sale of an adjacent surface parking lot. As we have committed to Ald. Cappleman, I commit to the community at-large that the proceeds from that sale will be used in their entirety (100%) to further invest in Weiss’ ongoing operations and long-term growth.

Some of our neighbors have understandably asked why we are selling this property if we have such ambitious programs and plans for expansion. The fact is, the proceeds from the sale of this property will fuel those plans. The recent upgrade to our parking garage allowed for excess capacity and has made the adjacent parking lot a surplus asset. We have more than ample physical space in our existing facilities to accommodate the growth we anticipate.

This is your community hospital, and we are committed to continuing its proud legacy of  care. We ask for your support in the sale of this property to allow us to continue to improve our operations and to better serve you and the community for years to come.

In service,

Irene Dumanis
CEO
Weiss Memorial Hospital