ST. LOUIS — U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, former state Rep. Jamilah Nasheed and St. Louis Treasurer Adam Layne have joined a growing list of local elected officials in opposition to the use of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital name on a modest new medical facility.
They all also support a petition drive seeking signatures from neighborhood residents who also oppose developer Paul McKee’s insistence on using the Phillips’ name.
St. Louis Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed has not replied to numerous requests from The St. Louis American for a comment.
The American sought a comment from Bush, but had not received one by press time. Her office confirmed her stance against usage of the name, and her backing of the petition drive.
Both Layne and Nasheed attended a recent rally, and were contacted for additional comment which also had not been received at presstime, state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge confirmed.
More than 30 elected officials, community activists and residents protested at the unopened three-bed medical facility at Jefferson Avenue and Cass Avenue on Saturday., Nov. 13.
“The rally and protest started as a way to get people engaged,” Aldridge said.
“When people look at a rally or protest, they look at it to be disruptive. It’s disruptive for a reason. We repeated our message of the disrespect (by) Paul McKee, the medical facility’s board of directors, and attorney Darryl Piggee for their continuous refusal to engage with the community.”
McKee, who refuses to meet with community members, and his board of directors have stood firm on ‘not reconsidering a name change’ for the three-bed medical facility.
“They could simply change the name, but they would rather hold out in the hopes that ‘the noise’ will go away because they are doing a service to the community because it is a hospital desert,” Aldridge said.
He made it clear that this is not opposition to bringing health care to the north St. Louis neighborhood. Instead, it is challenging McKee’s stubborn insistence of dishonoring the legacy of attorney Homer G. Phillips, who in the 1930s championed creation of a hospital to serve people of color. It would grow to a 700-bed, 1,000-member staff hospital that became the leading training institution for Black doctors and nurses in America.
“This facility will not only do a disservice to Homer G., but to all of the people who believe in what the original hospital’s message was,” Aldridge said.
“To place a for-profit medical facility in an uninsured population is disheartening.”
Community organizers Zenobia Thompson and Walle Amusa, co-chairs of the Campaign for Human Dignity, spearheaded the event and stand in opposition of Homer G. Phillips’ name being used on the new medical facility.
The petition is being circulated at local community events.
“One thing that we are doing is starting to collect signatures from people who live in the neighborhood,” Aldridge said.
He said the signatures will be sent to McKee, the board of directors, and to the state level to demonstrate the community outrage supporting the removal of the name from the facility.
“The language of the petition talks about the reason why people are coming together to protest Homer G.’s name being used in vain and not having the decency to provide the same resources that Homer G. Phillips (Hospital) had while also naming people who are also in opposition including Treasurer Adam Layne, Mayor Tishaura Jones, Congresswoman Bush, and Comptroller Darlene Green,” Aldridge said.
State Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, who has openly spoken about her opposition to the naming of the medical facility, was not able to attend the protest due to previously scheduled community engagements.
The next protest is currently in the planning phase, according to Aldridge.