Days after being fired by Mayor Brandon Johnson from her position as commissioner for Chicago Department of Public Health, Dr. Allison Arwady sat down with NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern for an excusive, wide-ranging interview that candidly touched on everything from when to Chicagoans should get their next COVID booster, to the abrupt way Arwady received notice she was being terminated.
"So I got a call from the chief of staff, and I met with him and he said, 'This is a hard discussion, but you are being terminated,'" Arwady said."And I said, 'That is not a major surprise at this point.' Just knowing the mayor, of course, has the opportunity to bring on whomever he wants. But then what really was disturbing to me, was I said, 'Let's talk timeline,' and he said, 'It's effective immediately.
"This was not entirely unexpected," Arwady said."You know, [Johnson has] been in office for three months and we want him to be successful. Even now, I want this mayor and his team to be successful. And I kept hoping that there would be an opportunity to talk with him and meet with him, explain the work that the department does. And although I was sometimes in the same room with him in a cabinet meeting, for example, we never exchanged three words.
"COVID was a very difficult time for the entire country and it was a very hard job for me. Whether you are a business owner or you were a childcare provider, it was difficult for all of us and created a great deal of stress.
Despite the unexpected abruptness, Chicago's former top doctor said she is still willing to help with the transition, should her help be requested. "All of the laboratory work that we do is under my medical license," Arwady said."Emergency preparedness storage is under my medical license. Many things are happening in a very big and complicated department. And so, you know, over the weekend, I was hearing from team members who were distraught and we were attempting to do, you know, transition work because everybody we've got to make sure that the work continues.
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