As Reported by CBS 2 Chicago; CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker reports.
July 22 2011
CHICAGO (CBS) — At one non-profit agency on the West Side, employees are literally sweating it out because their air-conditioner is broken.
The state’s budget crisis is to blame, CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker reports.
“It’s hot, real hot, they need to do something about it,” Gilda Banks said as she sat between two fans in the waiting room at the Bobby Wright Mental Health Center.
She’s among the nearly 200 patients who visit the center every day, but this week they’ve been struggling to stay cool in a building where the central air-conditioning is broken.
“It’s tough for everybody — patients, myself, nurses,” psychiatrist Aftab Noorani said.
He has an A/C unit in the window and a fan on the desk. But after four days of extreme heat, his room was still 85 degrees.
The coolest rooms are reserved for the patients.
“It’s extremely important that when they come it’s a comfortable place. Otherwise, they’re not going to be a good counseling session,” facility vice president Charles Matthews said.
The building’s air-conditioning has actually been broken since June, but the center doesn’t have the $60,000 to fix it because the state owes it more than $800,000 in Medicaid payments.
The center has been waiting for full payment nearly a year, but it’s among the many state-funded organizations waiting hurt by the Illinois budget crisis.
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip,” Dr. Lucy Lang-Chappell said. “If they don’t have the money, they can’t pay us.”
Chappell is hoping to convince a repair service to fix the air-conditioning and bill them later.
A state government spokesperson said the center’s director should apply for “hardship” payment. She said the state would work as hard as it could to quickly get some funds to the organization.
# For Bobbie E Wright Mental Health Center visit: http://bobbyewright.org/
# For CBS 2 Chicago visit: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/
July 22 2011
CHICAGO (CBS) — At one non-profit agency on the West Side, employees are literally sweating it out because their air-conditioner is broken.
The state’s budget crisis is to blame, CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker reports.
“It’s hot, real hot, they need to do something about it,” Gilda Banks said as she sat between two fans in the waiting room at the Bobby Wright Mental Health Center.
She’s among the nearly 200 patients who visit the center every day, but this week they’ve been struggling to stay cool in a building where the central air-conditioning is broken.
“It’s tough for everybody — patients, myself, nurses,” psychiatrist Aftab Noorani said.
He has an A/C unit in the window and a fan on the desk. But after four days of extreme heat, his room was still 85 degrees.
The coolest rooms are reserved for the patients.
“It’s extremely important that when they come it’s a comfortable place. Otherwise, they’re not going to be a good counseling session,” facility vice president Charles Matthews said.
The building’s air-conditioning has actually been broken since June, but the center doesn’t have the $60,000 to fix it because the state owes it more than $800,000 in Medicaid payments.
The center has been waiting for full payment nearly a year, but it’s among the many state-funded organizations waiting hurt by the Illinois budget crisis.
“You can’t get blood out of a turnip,” Dr. Lucy Lang-Chappell said. “If they don’t have the money, they can’t pay us.”
Chappell is hoping to convince a repair service to fix the air-conditioning and bill them later.
A state government spokesperson said the center’s director should apply for “hardship” payment. She said the state would work as hard as it could to quickly get some funds to the organization.
# For Bobbie E Wright Mental Health Center visit: http://bobbyewright.org/
# For CBS 2 Chicago visit: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/
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