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UPDATED: City Closes Temporary Clinic At Garbage Truck Garage

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Photos taken by a Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation worker show the stains on the floor of a garbage truck garage that was serving as a temporary clinic for wellness screenings. Workers said the floors and walls were covered in dirt, and the garage reeked of garbage. (Photo Courtesy Marty Zamora)

Photos taken by a Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation worker show the stains on the floor of a garbage truck garage that was serving as a temporary clinic for wellness screenings. Workers said the floors and walls were covered in dirt, and the garage reeked of garbage. (Photo Courtesy Marty Zamora)

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Reporting Steve Miller

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Updated 09/13/12 – 1:17 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) – City officials have decided to shut down a temporary clinic that had been set up in a garbage truck garage to provide wellness screenings for Streets and Sanitation Department workers.

WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller first reported that workers were complaining about unsanitary conditions at the clinic that had been set up inside the garage at Ferdinand Street and Tripp Avenue.

Streets and Sanitation employee Marty Zamora had said, when he and his co-workers arrived at the garage this week to find a temporary clinic had been set up, they “thought it was something unreal. I mean, are we seeing this?”

Zamora said he was shocked to see blood being drawn for cholesterol and triglyceride tests inside a garage that “reeked of garbage and decay.”

“The floors and walls were all covered in dirt,” he said. “Maggots and rats tend to show up at night, so we decided not to take this test.”

Zamora took photos – and they do show some oil stains on the garage floor – with the temporary clinic in the background.

“We were appalled, and disgusted, and felt there was no hygiene at all,” he said. “Ethiopian camps out there look better than this thing. I’ve never seen something so bad.”

After taking the workers’ complaints to city officials, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation said the garage would no longer be used to house a temporary clinic.

“We chose the Streets and Sanitation worksite at Ferdinand and Tripp in an effort to make the wellness screenings convenient for our employees. The equipment and testing tables … were sterilized,” she said. “However, in response to feedback from our employees, we will discontinue the use of this site and will continue to work closely with employees to connect them to alternative screening locations including libraries and park district facilities.”

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller Reports



LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller Reports


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  • http://ourtaxdollarsatwork.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/broke-chicago-illinois-set-up-wellness-clinic-in-garbage-truck-garage-ethiopian-camps-out-there-look-better-than-this-thing/ Broke: Chicago Illinois Set Up “Wellness Clinic” In Garbage Truck Garage – “Ethiopian Camps Out There Look Better Than This Thing” « Our Tax Dollars At Work

    [...] Appeared Here Share this:StumbleUponDiggRedditLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. [...]

  • http://scandalsfromthecosmopolitan.com/2012/09/13/city-workers-ae/ scandalsfromthecosmopolitan

    [...] (CBS) – City Streets and Sanitation workers say they were shocked when they walked into a garbage truck garage that had been converted into a temporary clinic for wellness [...]

  • http://scandalsfromthecosmopolitan.com/2012/09/13/city-workers-ae/ scandalsfromthecosmopolitan

    [...] (CBS) – City Streets and Sanitation workers say they were shocked when they walked into a garbage truck garage that had been converted into a temporary clinic for wellness [...]

  • http://www.nuttynewstoday.com/2012/09/wellness-clinic-set-up-in-garbage-truck-garage/ Nutty News | Nutty Facts | Nutty Jokes | Nutty Videos | New Nutty News Every Day at www.NuttyNewsToday.com

    [...] “Maggots and rats tend to show up at night, so we decided not to take this test.”  Full Article [...]

  • http://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/chicagos-government-run-health-care-is-almost-as-horrible-as-its-government-run-schools/ Chicago’s government-run health care is almost as horrible as its government-run schools « Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog

    [...] This article from CBS is a great example of the mindset of the people who run the city of Chicago. [...]

  • http://newrepublicoftexas.com/news/chicagoland-city-workers-appalled-garbage-truck-garage-used-as-wellness-clinic/ CHICAGOLAND: City Workers ‘Appalled’ Garbage Truck Garage Used As ‘Wellness Clinic’… | News

    [...] (First column, 15th story, link) [...]

  • http://theprevailingethos.com/2012/09/14/wellness-clinic-set-up-in-garbage-truck-garage/ Wellness Clinic Set Up In Garbage Truck Garage – The Prevailing Ethos

    [...] “Maggots and rats tend to show up at night, so we decided not to take this test.”  Full Article  [...]

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