It was only four years ago that a group of north-side seniors struck a deal with the Illinois Masonic Medical Center, a deal heralded as a model for senior-citizen health care.
As for Shriman’s group, they opened the White Crane Wellness Center in the second-floor banquet room of Ann Sather’s restaurant on Belmont. They’ve managed to keep their exercise classes going, but money’s tight. Without more contributions, they won’t be able to pay Rob Skeist, their director. In the meantime, they’ve retained a lawyer–who’s working free of charge–to represent them in a sticky dispute with the hospital over the rights to the White Crane name.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
In general, the seniors felt that they were being overtreated with pills and shots, particularly in cases of arthritis.
“The typical medical reaction to arthritis is to tell the patient to take aspirin or an anti-inflammation pill,” says Skeist. “But there are other things you can do that don’t involve taking pills. If you exercise the muscle around the joint, you can alleviate the pain. Or you can take t’ai chi, which improves the posture, which also helps the muscles.”
“The hospital saw it as a marketing tool,” says Skeist. “Seniors who take t’ai chi might become the patients of a Masonic doctor. In other words, the hospital was hoping to use White Crane to take a larger share of the lucrative north-side medicare business.”
Masonic officials estimated that, for the hospital to gain one new patient, White Crane had to recruit as many as seven members. Meanwhile, the annual rent and utilities costs for the storefront were $90,000. All told, the hospital was losing over $300,000 a year.
Last summer Masonic discontinued the partnership, and in October it opened White Crane Medical Services.
