CU-CitizenAccess.org (https://www.cu-citizenaccess.org/tag/nursing/)
State officials have conducted hundreds of complaint-based nursing home inspections across central Illinois since 2011.
In the seven Medicare-certified nursing homes in Champaign County alone, inspectors from the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted at least 114 complaint-based inspections.
After months of interviews and reviewing Medicare data, Illinois Department of Public Health reports, court records and other documents, CU-CitizenAccess.org found that central Illinois homes are still accumulating steep fines and leaving residents at risk for untreated injuries, infections and medication errors. Credits
Reporting by Robert Holly and Claire Everett
Photographs by Darrell Hoemann
Graphics by Claire Everett and Acton H. Gorton
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Here are some of the key facts and findings:
In 16 Illinois counties, there are 81 nursing homes that accept government assistance under Medicare. More than 41 percent of those homes, a total of 34 facilities, are rated below what Medicare considers average. Champaign County has seven nursing homes. Three of those homes are rated as one-star facilities on Medicare’s five-star rating scale.
After being admitted to the nursing home Heartland of Champaign to recover from a hospital stay for chest pain last year, Gerald Warmbier’s health rapidly deteriorated. Just days after entering the nursing home in May, he became “very sleepy” and unresponsive, Illinois Department of Public Health inspection reports noted. As a result, he was sent to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where he slowly started recovering after a little more than a week. Return to Key Findings
Inspections find peril in central Illinois nursing homes
Warmbier vs Heartland
Click to read a copy of the Warmbier vs Heartland complaint.
In one central Illinois nursing home, staff allowed a man labeled as an “elopement risk” to leave and wander 38 miles away.
In another facility, two employees were caught whispering that one of the employees was having an affair with a female resident’s husband until the resident started crying.
Gerald Warmbier began a medical journey last year that took him to the nursing home Heartland of Champaign.
But instead of helping him recover after medical treatment at Carle Foundation Hospital, the nursing home delivered such poor care that it led to his death, according to a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Champaign County by his wife.
For many, nursing homes seem like the best option for aging family members because facilities offer the promise of 24-hour care.
It is a promise, though, that many Champaign County and central Illinois nursing homes are finding hard to keep because of understaffing, particularly when it comes to registered nurses.
An elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease leaves a local nursing home without staff noticing and is found wandering into traffic on Mattis Avenue in Champaign.
A patient in an Urbana nursing home is left unattended on a bed pan for hours until the bed pan creates a deep pressure sore in its shape.
Finding a nursing home or long-term care facility can be challenging.
Read advice from advocates and nursing home administrators on what you should look for, recommended websites for comparison and questionnaires to use when looking for a nursing home.
Nursing home care is much different today than it was a decade ago.
“Assisted living, supportive living (and) home health options have certainly made a big change within the last 10 years,” said Ben Craft, social services director at Colonial Manor in Danville.
In July 2010, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law two bills that introduced broad reforms for the state’s nursing homes.
The laws strengthened the screening process to keep residents with histories of violent crimes separate from vulnerable, elderly residents; instituted tougher quality and staffing requirements; upped fines for violations; increased the number of state inspectors by nearly 50 percent; and added new requirements for quicker reporting of fraud, neglect and abuse, among other changes.