Illinois Nursing Home Guide Blog

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Symphony nursing home

Symphony nursing home chain has 5 homes in Chicago among state’s 25 hardest hit by COVID

The Lincolnwood-based company has had 147 coronavirus deaths and 1,016 coronavirus cases involving residents and workers, Illinois Department of Public Health data show.

By Frank Main and Caroline Hurley Nov 20, 2020, 4:30pm CST

Symphony Care Network | Post-Acute Care and Senior Assisted LivingFive Chicago nursing homes run by Symphony Care Network are among the top 25 in Illinois for coronavirus cases and deaths, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state data.

The Lincolnwood-based chain — which operates 29 nursing homes in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan — has had 147 coronavirus deaths and 1,016 coronavirus cases involving residents and workers, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

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JMF Law Reaches $400,000 Settlement in Nursing Home Case

The Law Office of Jeffrey Friedman, P.C. recently reached a $400,000 settlement in a nursing home death case against a Chicago nursing facility in which a 67-year old Schizophrenic woman with insulin-dependent diabetes suffered a hypoglycemic episode, which caused her to fall into a coma from which she ultimately never awoke.

On the day before the decedent suffered her hypoglycemic episode, the nursing facility was alleged to have recorded the decedent’s blood sugar level (referred to as Accu-checks) at a level which necessitated contacting her physician. The nursing home disputed that the doctor needed to be contacted.

Read more: JMF Law Reaches $400,000 Settlement in Nursing Home Case

South Beloit nursing home fined for violations

SOUTH BELOIT, Ill. (WIFR) – A South Beloit care facility is fined $25,000 after the Illinois Department of Public Health says it failed to ensure a patient’s safety to prevent a death at Fair Oaks Rehab back in August.

According to the department’s report, Fair Oaks faces a number of other violations including failure to evaluate residents to make sure they received enough supervision and assistance and making sure all treatments and procedures were administered to patients as ordered by a doctor.

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2 Investigators: Nursing Patient’s Last Days

2 Investigators: Nursing Patient’s Last Days Included STD

(CBS) – A mother says her daughter died after suffering repeated abuse and neglect at a nursing home. That same nursing home is facing nearly 90 lawsuits against it.

2 Investigator Dave Savini reports.

Mary Mims’ daughter Letasha started suffering from severe mental-health issues, including dementia, and ended up needing full-time care at Alden-Wentworth Rehabilitation.

Mims says Letasha couldn’t speak or use her arms or legs, yet was repeatedly left in her own feces. Mims took pictures to document the alleged neglect, which she says resulted in bed sores and wounds.

“I’ve never seen a wound as bad as my daughter’s. It was all the way to the bone,” Mims says.

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Illinois has plenty of other dysfunctional nursing homes Governor Rauner should visit

By Ryan Smith

I took notice of your week-long stay at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy. You could’ve just done the easy thing and popped by for a quick photo op while promising to fix the nursing home facility where bacteria-contaminated water caused three outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease over as many years—killing 13 and leaving dozens of elderly veterans critically ill. Instead you showered, slept, and ate there (how was the meatloaf?). You pledged to replace the pipes and do other upgrades to the nursing home’s infrastructure.

That’s great, Bruce. Is it OK if I call you Bruce?

Some of your political opponents have called your unusual decision to lodge in Quincy “a cynical and transparent publicity stunt.” They note the conspicuous timing, following a WBEZ report about the crisis. Plus, you’re deep in campaign mode—locked in a billionaire-versus-billionaire battle against J.B. Pritzker. But I refuse to believe that you camped out at the vet facility just because of the potential political fallout. Sure, you didn’t want to be the next Rick Snyder, the Michigan governor haunted by the drinking water crisis in Flint (where deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease have also killed at least a dozen over the last few years). But you were genuinely concerned with some ailing vets, I bet.

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Illinois nursing homes sue state over low Medicaid rates

Tracy Rucinski

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A handful of Illinois-based nursing homes sued the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services on Friday, saying low Medicaid rates are jeopardizing their ability to provide adequate quality of care.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, five groups that jointly operate more than 100 skilled nursing facilities across the state said Illinois’ reimbursement rates and methodologies violated certain requirements under the Medicaid Act.

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the governor’s office did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Retirement home shut down months after attack on 86-year-old

(CNN)A newly uncovered video of a resident at an assisted living facility in Florida mercilessly beating another resident raises new questions about the safety of the elderly in places meant to protect and care for them.

In the video, obtained last week, a 52-year-old resident is seen punching an 86-year-old resident with dementia more than 50 times as the older man lay curled up on the floor.
The younger resident accused the older resident of eating his cupcake, according to law enforcement.

UPDATE: Probe underway in death of woman found outside nursing home

The exterior of Helia Healthcare of Champaign

Tue, 01/02/2018 – 12:41pm | Debra Pressey

The exterior of Helia Healthcare of Champaign is shown Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, at 1915 S. Mattis Ave., C.

CHAMPAIGN — An 89-year-old woman who was found dead outside a Champaign nursing home this weekend was a frequent wanderer inside the facility, according to the family member of a fellow patient.

The victim, identified as Annette White of Champaign, was found outside Helia Healthcare, 1915 S. Mattis Ave., C, a facility the state has fined three times in the past 11 months for violations.

Ms. White was pronounced dead at Helia at 12:11 a.m. Dec. 31, according to Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup.

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Family sues nursing home over death

champaign county nursing home

Posted: Jan 03, 2018 8:49 PM CST Updated: Jan 04, 2018 8:56 AM CST

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – A family is suing a nursing home after a woman’s summer death.

Workers at the Champaign County Nursing Home discovered 78-year-old Sonya Kington’s body on June 6, 2017 in an outdoor courtyard. Video surveillance at the facility showed Kington entering the courtyard area before 2 p.m., when the temperature stood at 87 degrees.

Investigators with the Illinois Department of Public Health say workers didn’t find Kington until after 5 p.m., when she had already died. Kington’s skin was hot and vomit showed on the side of her mouth. Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup found hyperthermia caused her death and ruled it accidental.

In response, the nursing home fired two of its workers.

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When nursing homes push out poor and disabled patients

 

By: Jocelyn Wiener – @inquirerdotnet California Healthline / INQUIRER.net US Bureau / 02:35 AM December 27, 2017
Anita Willis says the social worker offered her a painful choice: She could either leave the San Jose, California, nursing home where she’d spent a month recovering from a stroke — or come up with $336 a day to stay on.

She had until midnight to decide.

Willis’ Medicaid managed-care plan had told the home that it was cutting off payment because she no longer qualified for such a high level of care. If Willis, 58, stayed and paid the daily rate, her Social Security disability money would run out in three days. But if she left, she had nowhere to go. She’d recently become homeless after a breakup and said she couldn’t even afford a room-and-board setting.

In tears, she said, she agreed to leave. Thus began a months-long odyssey from budget motels to acquaintances’ couches to hospital ERs — at least five emergency visits in all, she said. Sometimes, her 25-year-old daughter drove down from Sacramento, and Willis slept in her daughter’s car.

Read more: https://usa.inquirer.net/9024/nursing-homes-push-poor-disabled-patients