(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A top aide to Mayor Brandon Johnson says city government is stepping up coordination of health care for migrants following the death of a five-year-old child who had been staying in Pilsen.
Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, stresses that an increasing number of asylum seekers are being sent from the U.S. Southern Border with advanced health problems.
Migrants are supposed to undergo health exams when they arrive in Chicago. But Cook County, which is providing the service, sometimes cannot keep up with the demand, Pacione-Zayas said.
She said city officials are studying how to better partner with community-based health groups like the Migrant Mobile Health Team, which is staffed by University of Illinois-Chicago.
Five-year-old migrant Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero died Dec. 17. He was staying at a warehouse converted shelter in Pilsen.
Since then, several more children who have been staying at that same shelter have been hospitalized with illness, though officials have said there is no connection.
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