According to internal city documents obtained by NBC 5 Investigates, Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration as of October said the city's immigrant shelters were “overcrowded with individuals,” so both immigrants and shelter workers It was shown that the respondents perceived themselves to be exposed to a “high risk of communicable disease''.
These same records, obtained by NBC 5 Investigations through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, show that a “lack of space” within the city of Chicago's immigrant shelter system poses “challenges” in both placement of people and “providing initial housing.” This shows that the city was aware that this was causing an “increase in the number of health care. “
The report, released as part of a larger review of thousands of pages of city records by NBC 5 Investigates, reveals potential gaps in the Johnson administration's approach to addressing migrant health needs. Became.
In the months following these initial reports, as the city of Chicago worked to remove immigrants from its police department, the number of people crammed into Pilsen's Halstead shelter rose from more than 1,000 in its early weeks of operation to 2,500. The number of people increased rapidly.
Complaints surfaced regarding access to food and health care.
Immigrants told NBC 5 Investigates there is no room to separate and people are getting sick.
At a City Council committee hearing in late January, city officials acknowledged that the city's largest shelter lacked isolation rooms.
Two health care providers are conducting health examinations at the evacuation center, and the city's own records show that the health care providers conduct tests once or twice a week.
Immigrants we spoke to off-camera said this has created bottlenecks that limit people's access to care.
Other findings include:
- According to city records, at least 272 medical operations were carried out in all migrant shelters and police precincts in the city in November alone. This number is based on what the city wrote in its status report, so it may be an underestimate.
- Eighty-six of the emergency medical operations involved children.
- At least 27 medical procedures mentioned patients with fever.
In November, there were 30 medical operations at the Halstead shelter alone, according to city reports.
On December 17, 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero was found unresponsive at the Halstead shelter and later died.
A coroner's report released earlier this month found that the boy died of sepsis caused by strep throat. Two viral infections have been cited as contributing factors: the coronavirus and another.
A more detailed report obtained by NBC 5 Investigates found strep throat in the boy's blood, liver and spleen, “indicating a widespread bacterial infection.”
Coroner's records do not indicate that Jean Carlos Martínez Rivero received medical attention in the days leading up to his death.
The medical examiner's report said he had a “recent history of fever” and had taken over-the-counter painkillers provided by someone at the hospital, including Tylenol and what the family thought was ibuprofen, two days before his death. It is written that it was. shelter.
According to police reports, the family was out begging until Sunday, Dec. 17, when he became unresponsive. Jean Carlos returned to the shelter and vomited the electrolyte drink. According to the report, the man said he felt bloated and needed to go to the bathroom, at which time he “got dizzy” and appeared to have a seizure. The family called for an ambulance, and staff began CPR.
The coroner found that Jean Carlos had suffered a laceration to his leg from a recent fall. Blood was detected in his brain, but the coroner wrote that it was a “non-specific incidental finding and not related to the cause of death.”
Other immigrants participate
Another immigrant woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said that when her son developed a fever in early October, staff at the Halstead shelter told her to let them know if her son was “really, really sick.” . They would call an ambulance. According to her, she was told she needed $1,000. The woman decided to take care of her son without using an ambulance because she didn't have money, she said.
Her family was at the shelter in December and witnessed Jean Carlos become unresponsive. Although she is grateful to the city for providing her with shelter, she said her family has since left and is temporarily living with a host family.
NBC 5 Investigates reached out to shelter operator Favorite Healthcare Staffing and the mayor's spokesperson on Monday for a response.
Four other immigrants interviewed off-camera by NBC's 5th Bureau of Investigation outside the Halstead shelter said they hope their health needs will be better addressed and that they hope to have their health needs better addressed after Jean Carlos' death. He said there was a noticeable improvement in the results.
However, one woman said there are still challenges. She recently received a $1,600 medical bill for her daughter's treatment in November. “She doesn't have the means to pay,” she said.
Annie Gomberg, a volunteer who has worked with migrants in shelters and city-designated facilities, said, “There are no people who have worked with this population who feel we have done a particularly good job in terms of health care.'' I don't know,” he said. landing zone.
Mr Gomberg has criticized the Johnson government's response to the migrant crisis.
Days after the death of 5-year-old Jean Carlos Martínez Rivero, volunteers, including medically trained volunteers from the Mobile Migrant Health Team, made up of medical students at the University of Illinois at Chicago, are denied access to the hospital. expressed concern that this is being done. He was in a shelter and was happy to help.
When NBC 5 Investigates asked Mayor Johnson about the matter in late December, he said he had no knowledge that medically trained volunteers would be willing to help, and where he got that information. I wondered if that was the case.
Representatives from the Mobile Immigrant Health Team previously testified at a City Council committee hearing in late September, explaining what they saw as obstacles and asking for assistance. The group's activities were also covered by NBC 5 Investigates and several other news outlets.
“My estimation is that there was always a gap, that necessity always dwarfed effort, and that there was always poor coordination,” Gomberg said.
Mayor Johnson responds
When asked by NBC 5 Investigates last week whether the Johnson administration could have done a better job of addressing the medical needs of immigrants, Johnson said:
“First of all, I would like to express my condolences and deep sadness as a father of three for the loss of this baby boy…It is an unimaginable pain.
As you know, the health care we have provided along with the county has certainly had its challenges, but it has never been a secret. People were arriving in the city of Chicago in very extreme conditions…. The way people got here wasn't right, and we were responding as best we could,” Mayor Johnson told NBC 5 Investigates after last week's council meeting.
But Gomberg said, “It's hard to imagine that the experts, the people who work in this field, the people who work in public health and medicine, would say this is the best of our ability.”
Johnson said his office has since announced partnerships with additional providers, including volunteers, who told NBC 5 Investigates that while negotiations with the city continue, there are still no migrant shelters available. He said he has not gained access to the site.
