CHICAGO (WLS) — People coming out of Uptown’s Weiss Memorial Hospital, whether they were treated or working there, said the conditions inside are unbearable on Tuesday night.
Hospital management said the repairs are expected to take several days as temperatures are expected to increase this weekend.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
In a statement, Weiss Memorial Hospital called what happened a “catastrophic loss of its air conditioning system.”
No cause was given for the outage, but management said the previous owners of the hospital did not properly maintain what they described as “aging infrastructure,” which is why repair and restoration will take a long time.
Earlier, outside the emergency room entrance we saw several patients being placed into ambulances.
Weiss Memorial Hospital said staff have transferred most of their patients to its sister hospital, West Suburban Medical Center, and reached out to other area hospitals for help.
ABC7 spoke to one man, Steven Acosta, after he was discharged, and he talked about what the conditions were like inside.
“To be honest it’s like an oven. The only thing is they got a machine like this for air, but it’s for the hallways only. But inside the rooms? No air. Just wind blowing out of the vent,” Acosta said.
Weiss Memorial Hospital says its outpatient areas and other areas not impacted will stay open, but their emergency room is redirecting ambulances and will still be open for walk-in patients.
Hospital management says after the repairs are done, the hospital will need to be cooled to a certain temperature before normal operation can resume.
Copyright © 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
