The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has reported three more Forest Park COVID-19 deaths: a 78-year-old female who passed away from COVID-19 on Dec. 19; a 74-year-old man who died on Dec. 12; and a 100-year-old woman who died on Dec. 8. All three were residents of Aperion Forest Park, 8200 Roosevelt Rd.
This brings Forest Park’s COVID-19 death total to 24 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Eleven of the total deaths have happened since Nov. 19, and eight in December alone.
Fourteen were among residents of Aperion.
Long-term care facilities have been hit hard by COVID-19, and Aperion Forest Park has experienced two outbreaks so far.
But Aperion also has a COVID recovery wing, established not long after the COVID pandemic began, to help alleviate the burden of hospitals.
In an email interview in May 2020, media relations from Aperion told the Review, “We are assisting local hospitals to ease their bed capacity for patients who no longer qualify for hospital stays but are not yet well enough to go home.”
Current media relations director for Aperion, Fred Frankel, said in an interview on Dec. 18 that part of the reason for COVID deaths at their facility is specifically because they take in recovering COVID patients from local hospitals, and recovery isn’t always a straight-forward path.
“Any loss is a terrible thing,” Frankel said. But looking at the total number of COVID patients the facility has accepted and the number of recoveries helps complete the story. Frankel said he will share this information with the Review in the next few days.
See maps.cookcountyil.gov/medexamcovid19/ for more information on Forest Park COVID-19 deaths.
