Bomke,
Brauer, advocates say Lincoln Developmental Center services must be
restored; proposed new veterans home could share site
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[AUG. 22, 2006]
SPRINGFIELD -- State Sen. Larry K. Bomke, R-50,
and state Rep. Rich Brauer, R-100, say the long-delayed opening of a
new state center to serve individuals with severe developmental
disabilities should go forward, and that a proposed state veterans
home could share space at the same site but must not replace the
developmental center.
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Bomke, whose 50th District
includes the city of Lincoln, has led the fight to reopen a state
developmental center on the site of the shuttered Lincoln
Developmental Center. Gov. Rod Blagojevich committed to the project,
and the Department of Human Services led a broad-based task force
that laid plans for Lincoln Estates, with group homes that would
provide the most innovative programs and intensive services for
individuals with severe developmental disabilities in central
Illinois. Construction of the new group homes is under way, and they
are virtually constructed, but the governor withdrew the funds in
the fiscal 2007 budget to operate the facilities once they were
completed.
Bomke and Brauer spoke Tuesday at a state Capitol news
conference, where they were flanked by parents of individuals with
developmental disabilities and officials representing veterans
organizations.
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"Rod Blagojevich should keep his promise to the central Illinois
individuals and families who rely on the comprehensive behavioral
and medical services that only a state-operated center can provide,"
Bomke said. "They have waited far too long for such a center to be
restored in this community."
Lincoln Developmental Center was closed in 2002. The following
year, Bomke secured a commitment in writing from Blagojevich to
reopen the facility, and after much deliberation and discussion, the
task force recommended it take the form of four 10-bed homes where
individuals with severe developmental disabilities could get the
intensive services and specialized support they need in a
residential setting near their families.
"The governor should stop backtracking and get Lincoln Estates
open now," said Cheryl Sheay, whose daughter Renee was forced to
move from LDC when it closed. "Before LDC closed, we tried a
community placement for Renee, but it couldn't meet her needs. We
live in Decatur, so the next closest state center with a vacant bed
was at Howe, in the Chicago suburbs. It is a great hardship for
Renee and for our family not to have the care she needs in Lincoln."
Bomke also addressed the governor's recent indication of support
for a proposal to open a state veterans home at the LDC site in
place of the planned developmental center. The state already
operates four veterans homes, Bomke pointed out, which are now so
poorly funded that they have hundreds of empty beds due to lack of
staff.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2006/Aug/22/images/ads/current/statebank.gif) "It's hard to take seriously a proposal for a new veterans home
when this administration has failed to provide the staff and
resources needed by the veterans homes we already have," Bomke said.
Standing with Bomke and Brauer, Fred Albers of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars Department of Illinois said: "The VFW in Illinois would
not support the opening of the Lincoln Developmental Center as a
veterans home until funding is restored to the current Illinois
veterans homes. The four veterans homes have some 200 empty beds
waiting to be filled, with some 800-plus eligible Illinois veterans
waiting for care. These homes should be fully funded and their beds
filled immediately. The VFW cannot support placing veterans above
the developmentally disabled residents that Lincoln Estates is
intended to serve."
Bomke indicated he would support a plan to build a state veterans
home in Lincoln if it shared the site with the new Lincoln Estates
center for the developmental disabled. "It is wrong to pit the
legitimate needs of two groups against each other," Bomke said. "We
should serve both individuals with developmental disabilities and
our state's veterans -- and we can, if the administration makes it a
priority. Once Lincoln Estates is up and running, I would welcome
discussions about building an Illinois Veterans Home on an adjacent
part of the campus."
"The state has an obligation to provide quality care to our most
vulnerable members of our community," said Brauer. "This
administration has chosen to spend millions of dollars on pork
projects to fund ballparks and music festivals this year instead of
keeping their promises to those with severe developmental challenges
and their families."
In a written statement, Lincoln Mayor Beth Davis stated: "The
community of Lincoln would welcome veterans services to the planned
development of Lincoln Estates. It would add to our vision of a
residential development open to people of different ages and
abilities. But we cannot accept that development happening at the
expense of our former townspeople who wish to return to LDC."
[News release from
Sen.
Larry Bomke]
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