SMP Health says it needs a lot of money right away to reopen the Peru hospital. Oglesby City Clerk Amy Eitutis last night read a letter from SMP Health to local officials about closing St. Margaret’s Health Peru. The letter goes into detail about financial problems, staffing shortages, the pandemic, and a cyber attack. It also talks about rural emergency hospital or REH status that lets a hospital run under somewhat different rules and with a bigger subsidy.
The letter explains how SMP Health believed it could let everyone know about the hospital closing in an orderly way. But the word was already out on social media before the first meeting with hospital administrators ended. Some hospital employees said they heard about it from friends or family sending them text messages before their employer got the word to them.