Monday, March 22, 2021

Updating: WBEZ had named the names of judges offered vaccine at Loretto Hospital

....as several readers have pointed out, mostly in tones of outrage. Here's the link.

Here is the excerpt that names the names:

The 13 judges who were sent the email invitation from [Judge Diann] Marsalek were: William Sullivan, Susanne Groebner, Celia Gamrath, Michael Hogan, Athanasios Sianis, Krista Butler, Cara Smith, Daniel Tiernan, Lindsay Huge, Lynn Weaver Boyle, Patricia Sheahan, Clare Quish and Joe Panarese.

Here, however, is the bottom line regarding the alleged line jumping:

It’s unclear if any of them got the shots through that offer or brought others with them for vaccines at Loretto. WBEZ sent messages to all 13 judges and none of them would comment. Loretto’s CEO, Miller, said federal health privacy law prevented him from discussing specific cases.

The real news is that the City of Chicago has cut off Loretto Hospital from further supplies of City-controlled COVID-19 vaccines.

One might have thought that Loretto Hospital, at 645 S. Central, in the heart of a community hit especially hard by the COVID-19 virus, could be chastised, and publicly shamed, and thereafter more carefully monitored as it continued the vital mission of distributing vaccine in the area.

Of course, there have been further allegations about hospital management arranging to vaccinate people outside the Austin community, including members of the CEO's suburban Oak Forest church. I have received comments, some of them quite specific, that contend that nearly every Cook County judge had the opportunity to be vaccinated at Loretto, not just the 15 so far named by WBEZ. I have no idea what the City has been able to determine, but it is certainly possible that the City deemed the hospital beyond redemption.

The optics are bad for the judges. Granted. There is certainly an appearance of impropriety. Because the supplies of vaccine have been so limited, and there are so many people who so despearately want it -- and can't figure out how to get it.

But that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real problem here. None of this "excuses" the judges -- all of whom surely could have found ways to obtain vaccinations somewhere else than Loretto Hospital. But focusing on the judges takes the glare off the City of Chicago.

The City of Chicago has to take a huge amount of blame here.

Science teaches us that getting the vaccine into the arms of as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, will be the best way out of this mess. It really doesn't matter who gets vaccinated first in terms of developing true herd immunity. Only numbers count.

Common sense, empathy, and, yes, political reality, however, all demanded that we "prioritze" the vaccine rollout, especially because our initial supplies have been so limited: Vaccinating nursing home residents was the absolute first priority, since so many nursing home residents died from COVID-19. We could send people into the nursing homes with needles, and did, though not as fast as public health authorities wanted.

Communities of color were also hard hit by the disease, so it also made sense that the City would make these the next priority. But vaccines are still scarce, so the City had to limit availability, at least at the outset, to the elderly in those communities.

And that's where things went wrong.

And predictably so.

There is a well-documented inverse correlation between increasing age and decreasing computer literacy. And there is an equally well-documented digital divide or technology gap between Black and Brown communities, on the one hand, and European-descended communities on the other.

So... older people in communities of color are the least likely to be comfortable online, or even to have online access, and the City of Chicago rolls out its vaccination program for online registration only. No, you can't make a vaccination appointment when you pick up your prescriptions. No, you can't make a vaccination appointment when you see your doctor. Zocdoc is the City's preferred platform.

Is it any wonder that the City is lagging far behind the rest of the State on vaccinations?

And don't give me statistics about 'how many' have been vaccinated in Chicago as opposed to outside. Chicago is going to enter Phase 1C of the vaccination rollout on March 29, a week from today. The State says any resident 16 or older (Phase 2 of the rollout) will be able to register for vaccinations as of April 12. The City's target date for Phase 2 is currently May 31.

All public health authorities are aware that there is some... reluctance... some resistance... to vaccinations in communities of color. There are perfectly understandable historical reasons for this. So there was always going to be an element of persuasion in some areas in any large-scale vaccine rollout.

Why didn't the City partner with churches from the outset when starting large-scale distributions? Granted, the City had trouble getting some of them to close in the first place. And God forbid that some progressives miss any chance to forbid God.

But ramping up vaccine distributions through the churches would have given the churches the opportunity to resume operations, or resume full operations, and promote the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, without computers. Older people would have had a level of comfort going to their churches for vaccinations that they'd never, ever get from Zocdoc. The politicians have no difficulty asking churches for help at election time. Why couldn't they have asked for their help on this? (And there are some churches now getting involved... not just those attended by officers of Loretto Hospital. Efforts were made along these lines in Aurora, for one example. Why couldn't it have been done here, too? And much, much sooner.)

Stepping down, now, from soapbox....

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Injustice Watch's John Seasly will be camped outside Loretto Hospital with a professional photographer to provide judges with keepsake photos of their second shot at Loretto. #retetnion2022 #retention2024 retention#2026

The Whole World Is Watching

Anonymous said...

As we all know, Loretto Hospital is in Cara Smith's subcircuit (7th). I'm sure she just went there because she is a constituent. LOL. Good luck at slating.

Anonymous said...

There is a huge difference about not wanting to tell someone that you have AIDS, cancer or herpes versus whether you have gotten a vaccination for lockjaw, tetanus, polio or, yes, COVID-19. If judges want to hide behind "health privacy," they are welcome to do so. I will consider it an admission of guilt and hold it against anyone who does come retention time -- whether your name was on an email or not.

Marsalek knew these weren't leftovers and she is unfit to be a judge, much less an "Acting" Presiding Judge of the Traffic "Division."

Anonymous said...

The last starw. Keyser Soze and Baba Yaga are coming. When they are done, judicial elections in Cook County will not be the same.

Anonymous said...

What part of priority goes to the hardest hit and medically-sensitive people did the judges fail to comprehend? And quit blaming the city, Jack. Lots of crime victims do stupid stuff, but it doesn't change the fact that the criminal is still the culpable person. These judges are hardly "essential." They haven't been to work in a year. Doing ZOOM hearings where simply enter and continue motions is a joke.

Anonymous said...

So judges can't return to work for trials, but they can take vaccine from old Black grannies? Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

OMG! How will these poor judges get their second shot if Loretto is prohibited from doling out more vaccinations? These poor, poor, $200K-a-year public "servants." Lightfoot is coming for you.

Anonymous said...

Blaming the city because the judges clouted their way in ahead of impoverished Black grandmothers on the westside? What's next, blaming ANTIFA?

Anonymous said...

If Injustice Watch is on the scent, then the truly guilty cannot hide. I mean, why else would these mostly Caucasian judges who earn $200,000 annually plus health insurance be going inside Loretto Hospital for anything other than a COVID vaccination. And when they email you for comment, don't forget that health privacy laws say you don't have to answer their question, but those same laws don't mandate your silence either. And what does the law say about the inferences that can be made from silence in the face of an accusation . . . in a civil proceeding . . . that's right: we can infer you did it.

And voters don't care about the rules of evidence. Or the unfairness of guilt by association when you got a shot and their dying grandparents and children couldn't get one.

Judges One Percent Are Doomed to be Sub-60 Percent in November 2022.

The proletariat.



Jack Leyhane said...

Anon 3/22 @1:37 p.m. -- Pay attention. I'm not blaming the City to excuse the judges. The judges have to live with that. I am also blaming the City for what it did.

And don't tell me there'd be lines around the block if Loretto Hospital any hospital) could distribute vaccine first come, first serve. Of course that would happen. But the City won't let it happen that way. The "old Grannies" that some commenters envision as being elbowed out of the way by these judges never had a chance to get in line in the first place -- because they couldn't jump through the online hoops that the City was trying to force them into.

That doesn't excuse the judges. And it doesn't excuse the hospital either. But the City surely knew, or should have known, that an online registration system was the least effective way to reach elderly people on the short end of the digital divide. And that's terrible. And, I would argue, worse.

Anonymous said...

Jack's right. The City screwed up royally with the online process given the well-documented digital divide among the mostly poor and elderly minority communities. And yes, Lightfoot is coming for the judges. In today's press conference she said more stories are coming. She had that evil smile on her face the same way she did when she gave Eddie Johnson that "farewell" press conference and then three weeks later publicly fired his *ss after he caught that not-a-DUI that everybody knows was a DUI. Indeed, Lightfoot IS COMING FOR YOU JUDGES. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Anonymous said...

Today Lori said that there will be more stories about Loretto in the coming days. Did some of you not read those consent forms you signed when you got your Loretto vaccination? Oops. "It's all Greek to me," is no defense.

Anonymous said...

First there was Mayor One Percent. Now there are "Judges One Percent."

Don't think for a second that Injustice Watch won't be putting ALL of you on blast in 2022. Better be prepared to produce your vaccination card because nobody will be accepting your assurances about where and when you were vaccinated at face value. Cook County Judges, as a category, have done too much dumb stuff for too long, to get the benefit of the doubt.

This one is far more egregious than lying about your primary residence on your mortgage application or sunbathing in your backyard during work hours.

Anonymous said...

Has a JIB been initiated against these judges. Because there is certainly enough information to trigger an investigation about what they actually knew and when they knew it.

Anonymous said...

Where's my torch and pitchfork because these monsters need to be chased out of the county.

Anonymous said...

What? They don't make enough money and have enough contacts at Northwestern Hospital that they couldn't cut in line there? POS.

Anonymous said...

Going covert in COVID.

Anonymous said...

Self-report to LAP, claiming that you were on drugs. Paper a defense now for the inevitable JIB or else it will be your J-O-B.

Anonymous said...

Disgraceful sense of entitlement.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that the judges were just going there to pick up Viagra before they drove back to their second homes in Michigan and/or Wisconsin.

Anonymous said...

Tim Evans will need to mandate cultural sensitivity and ethics training for the judges. Perhaps Loretto Hospital can be the host site. They all know where it's located and they clearly know how to get there . . . when it's to their advantage.

Anonymous said...

Facebook Pages are suddenly going dark. Or they better be.

Anonymous said...

The lives of people of color should not be dependent on the whims of entitled judges. At least not in the distribution of life-saving vaccines. I mean, sure, you deep fry them in your "justice" system. But you shouldn't be allowed to let your robe play GOD in the healthcare arena.

Anonymous said...

How many of them will try to sneak into the vaccination event in Mt. Greenwood on March 23, 2021? What will Alderman O'Shea be doing to ensure that all of those Irish judges living in his ward don't cut in line? Yes. We know about that event too and we are watching with the video camera ready to roll.

Anonymous said...

It's all Greek to me indeed. LOL