Only East St. Louis hospital with emergency room closes

The only hospital emergency room in East St. Louis has now closed. The owners of Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital had been losing millions and won state approval last month to close the long-troubled hospital. No date had been announced for the closure, but it came Tuesday, at 7 a.m., in part because the air conditioning wasn't working at Kenneth Hall, said Ronda Sauget, a spokeswoman for the company that owns the hospital. "That's one reason we closed it today," she said. "It is what it is. It's unfortunate the air conditioning doesn't work." Anyone coming to the hospital in need of emergency care is being told to go to Touchette Regional Hospital, five miles away in Centreville.