W E D N E S D A Y
December 13, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 17 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
Totally modular Homes page B5
Workers, activists protest Galewood bakery
After mass layoff of immigrants, Cloverhill’s now abusing blacks, they say By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Former and current workers at a large commercial bakery in Galewood, along with various activist groups from Chicago and Oak Park, say that recent reports about the bakery’s losing more than one-third of its employees in an immigration clampdown have obscured its history of labor abuses — which, the workers and activists claim, include wage theft, unlawful termination and racial discrimination. Bloomberg first reported last month that the Cloverhill Bakery, 2035 N. Narragansett Ave., which makes baked goods for restaurants and grocery stores, lost 800 employees after federal authorities came down hard on immigrant workers “without sufficient documentation.” Cloverhill is owned by Aryzta AG, a company based in Zurich. See ARYZTA on page 13
TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER/Staff
A GROWING PROBLEM: Vincent Palacios, a heroin addict in Chicago, has been receiving services from the Chicago Outreach Intervention Project for years. He gets fresh hypodermic needles, known on the streets as ‘rigs,’ to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Chicago Outreach says opioid addiction is increasing in the city — the same conclusion doctors are reaching in Oak Park. Read more about Chicago Outreach’s efforts on page 14.
Oak Park hospitals see spike in opioid overdoses Emergency room average has doubled in recent years By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
The number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the state of Illinois and across the country is skyrocketing, and Oak Park’s first responders and medical professionals are seeing those trends play out in real time. Doctors at both West Suburban Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital have
seen substantial increases in such overdoses, and “bad batches” of heroin on the streets, often combined with powerful opioid-based pain medications like Fentanyl, have triggered waves of patients in emergency rooms. The Illinois Department of Human Services reports that all drug-related overdose deaths in the state — 80 percent of which were caused by opioids — jumped 44.3 percent from 2013 to 2016. The total reported
deaths due to all drug overdoses was 2,278 in 2016, compared to 1,579 just three years prior. While the rate of all drug-related overdoses spiked in that three-year period, the reported 1,826 opioid-related overdose deaths grew faster, increasing more than 70 percent over the same time period. Dr. Kip Adrian, MD, chair of the West See HEROIN on page 15
NEW YEARʼS EVE LIVE MUSIC & SPECIAL MENU Reserve at mayadelsol.com
708.358.9800 | 144 s oak park ave