Memorial Health says it will restore valet parking services at the entrance to Springfield Memorial Hospital sometime this spring.
The Springfield-based health system laid off about a dozen parking attendants in early August in a move that resulted in public criticism and was part of about 300 layoffs designed to save the nonprofit system an estimated $40 million a year.
Illinois Times requested an interview with a system official on the planned restoration but instead received a three-sentence reply by email on Feb. 26.
“Springfield Memorial Hospital will provide entrance attendant services at its main lobby entrance starting in spring 2024,” the email from spokesperson Anne Davis said. “This service will provide parking and hospital access support for patients and visitors with accessibility needs. Entrance attendants will be available Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.”
When an IT reporter left a voicemail with follow-up questions – such as the reason for the change, when valet parking will start back up and the status of Memorial’s finances – Davis replied by email on Feb. 27, saying, “The exact start date isn’t finalized, and no one is available for an interview.”
It’s unclear whether the resumption of free valet parking will mark a reversal of any other cuts, though a former employee of Memorial Health said the other cuts apparently will remain in effect.
The time period when valet parking will be offered is shorter than what was provided previously. For years, the service operated weekdays as early as 4:30 a.m. and as late as 9 p.m., and for limited hours on Saturdays, according to David Kissick, one of the attendants who was laid off.
Kissick, an Athens resident and retired state corrections officer, now is working part time for Springfield Clinic’s valet parking service at the Springfield Clinic First – 800 Building at 800 N. First St., immediately east of Springfield Memorial Hospital.
He said he was glad to hear valet parking is returning to Springfield Memorial. “There’s a definite need for it,” he said.
Springfield resident Elaine Boardman, 76, a retired state worker, said she was grateful for valet parking at Springfield Memorial in the past because it gave her the freedom to use the hospital so she wouldn’t have to bring along friends or relatives to help her park and make her way inside safely.
When told of Memorial Health’s decision, she said: “Thank God. I’m so happy to hear that. There are people that really need help.”
Boardman said she is planning to undergo knee replacement surgery at Springfield Memorial in April, and she hopes valet parking is restored so she can drive herself if she needs follow-up care at the 500-bed hospital after the surgery.
Both before and since Memorial’s initial decision to cut valet parking, HSHS St. John’s Hospital has continued to offer it at the main lobby entrance from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and at Prairie Heart Institute between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, St. John’s spokesperson Jennifer Snopko said.
The approximately 300 layoffs at Memorial Health, which operates five central Illinois hospitals, a mental health affiliate, a durable medical equipment affiliate and a physician group, included 120 people in leadership, system officials said at the time.
The layoffs were expected to reduce the system’s salary and benefit costs by 5% and eliminate one in every five leadership positions.
Memorial Health’s president and chief executive officer, Ed Curtis, told Illinois Times for a story published Sept. 7 that the cuts, mostly to administrative and support positions and mostly avoiding frontline care staff, were a “last resort” after other cost-trimming measures.
The cuts included part-time staff in Springfield Memorial’s pastoral care department, layoffs of the president and several other staff members at Memorial Behavioral Health and the elimination of the hospital’s three-person Clinical Ethics Center.
Curtis said the cuts were needed to preserve core services and help return the system to “break-even” status by fall 2024.
He said the financial situation leading to the cuts was related to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed to severe labor shortages locally and nationwide as burned-out workers left health care.
Memorial experienced a 40% increase in labor costs since August 2020 because of the extra money the system and other health care employers nationwide had to pay for traveling nurses and other clinical staff, and the higher pay they had to provide to attract permanent employees, Curtis said.
Memorial experienced a record loss of almost $107 million on operations and a $227.5 million loss when counting investment losses related to the downturn in the stock market for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2022.
Finances improved somewhat in the fiscal year that ended in September 2023. The total loss for the system was $74 million, with a $143 million loss when counting investment losses.
Total operating revenues improved from $1.32 billion in fiscal 2022 to $1.4 billion in fiscal 2023, according to Memorial’s consolidated financial statements.
Springfield Memorial, the system’s flagship institution, posted $807.4 million in revenues and a $31.5 million loss in fiscal 2022. Decatur Memorial, the system’s second-largest hospital, posted $306.9 million in revenues that year and a $49.7 million loss.
In fiscal 2023, Springfield Memorial was back in the black, posting a net gain of $5.8 million and $805.3 million in total revenues. Decatur Memorial’s loss that year was $75 million based on $290.2 million in total revenues.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at 217-679-7810, dolsen@illinoistimes.com or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
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Ed Curtis should be canned. Memorial Health, or whatever they are calling themselves today, should have its tax-exempt non-profit status revoked. Since it wants to act like a private buisness and its arrogant behavior, plundering money, they can start paying taxes