Tuesday, July 16

Hearing brings overwhelming
support for LDC

[JULY 16, 2002]  A public hearing to gather information for the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board brought an overwhelming show of support for keeping the Lincoln Developmental Center open.

[Click here to view more photos]

At least 150 people came to the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lincoln Monday morning, many of them to ask the planning board to deny the request of the Illinois Department of Human Services for a permit to close the embattled facility for the developmentally disabled.

Support came from at least 20 parents and guardians of LDC residents, as well as from LDC employees, citizens of the Lincoln community, and state senators and representatives.

The few dissenting speakers represented two organizations dedicated to placing the developmentally disabled in community settings: the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, a state organization whose leadership is appointed by the governor, and Equip for Equality, a nonprofit group designated by the governor to administer funds for the developmentally disabled.

Also among the speakers were two present residents of LDC, one to ask that he be taken out of LDC and placed in a group home and the other to ask the planning board not to let Gov. George Ryan close the facility.

The testimony given yesterday, which lasted from 9 a.m. until late in the afternoon, will be transcribed and given to the planning board along with other documentation about closing LDC. That includes a report from the Department of Public Health, which provides staff for the board, a copy of all written material received by DPH up to 20 days before the next planning board meeting, and a copy of the application for the permit and any other information DHS wishes to submit.

[Photos by Bob Frank]

The 15 members of the planning board, who are from all over the state, did not attend the hearing but were represented by hearing officer Frank Urso, an attorney with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The board is scheduled to meet on Aug. 15 and to announce its decision on the permit soon after. However, without intervention by the Illinois Supreme Court, there may be few residents left at LDC by that date.

In June Gov. George Ryan, citing continued allegations of abuse and neglect at LDC, announced that he was closing the facility completely as of Sept. 1. The union that represents most of the LDC workers, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Sen. Larry Bomke of Springfield; and parents Norlan and Eleanor Newmister filed suit in Logan County Circuit Court for a temporary injunction to prevent moves of residents until a permit is received by the Health Facilities Planning Board.

Although the injunction was granted, the state appealed, and last week the 4th District Appellate Court, in a 2-1 ruling, dissolved the injunction. AFSCME and the other plaintiffs announced that they were taking the case to the Illinois Supreme Court and asked for a stay to keep the state from moving any more residents.

At present there are about 190 residents at LDC, and unless the Supreme Court grants the stay the state can continue to move the remaining residents, said AFSCME public relations officer Anne Irving. She said she would not expect the state to grant the stay until later this week.

Testimony given before the board’s representative emphasized the quality of care given to LDC residents and the satisfaction parents and guardians feel with the placement of their family members at LDC.

Another theme, voiced by members of the Lincoln Parents Association and LDC employees, was that the Lincoln facility has been targeted for closure by officials in DHS.

Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, said that for the past nine months he has been issuing a challenge over local radio stations encouraging anyone who has had a negative experience at LDC to call him. He got his first negative call only recently. Sen. Claude Stone, R-Morton, said of the 100 letters he has received about LDC, all were positive.

Bomke also noted that LDC had received national recognition as a model institution not only for the state but also for the nation in 1997. Problems began in 1999, when a well-liked director, Martin Downs, was replaced by Gwen Thornton, a warden from the Department of Corrections, he said.

He also pointed out that although LDC has been charged with abuse and neglect, a study by the State Journal-Register newspaper showed it rated only fifth in such incidents.

"The irony is that many of the residents of LDC are being moved to facilities with higher incidents of abuse and neglect," he said.

State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, said it was the intent of the legislature to keep LDC open and that both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates have indicated their intention to keep it open.

"There is no method to this madness," said state Rep. Jonathan Wright, R-Hartsburg, speaking of the way DHS is managing LDC.

The closure is not being done consistently nor with any overriding policy, he said. One example is that DHS decided to send twin brothers who had lived together for years at LDC to separate facilities.

He called it "unconscionable" for employees to be mandated to put in more than 1,000 hours of overtime a week and be forced to care for people they were not trained to deal with.

The move of residents from Coty Cottage, set up for the medically fragile, to Bowen, "where medically necessary machines were plugged into an outlet strip like you use for your computer," was also without sense or logic, Wright said.

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Lincoln Mayor Beth Davis called it "abuse and neglect on our governor’s part to close LDC," noting that just two years ago it was one of the best facilities and five years ago a national leader in care of the developmentally disabled.

Sherry Jennings, a nurse at LDC, was critical of management, in particular about the way transfers of residents are being handled.

"The way these people are being moved is wrong. One man who fought being taken away was given drugs so he could be moved, also lied to, told he had a medical appointment. Management says we have to do this," she said.

Other employees were concerned that the moves were being made too quickly.

"Haste is the order of the day," said Laura Sandrolini. She said residents are given less than six weeks to get settled in group homes and that there are no answers about what will happen to LDC residents who can’t function in these community settings.

Hasty moves have caused problems for former residents, said employee Diana Humbert. Two former LDC residents are now in hospital wards for the psychotic, one will not eat, one is back at LDC, one is in a nursing home and two recently died after being placed in nursing homes, she said.

Linda Schaefer, a Lutheran deaconess who provides religious services at LDC as a volunteer, told of a deaf and blind LDC resident who was moved to a nursing home where no one knew how to communicate with him by sign language.

"He lived in total isolation for eight months in the nursing home. He had regressed to lying naked in a ball on a mat," she said. "Imagine when no one understands anything you are trying to express. Is this acting in the best interest of the person being moved?"

Schaefer also said Lincoln has been regarded as a place of last resort, where people could be placed when no other facility could take care of them.

Pat Brown, co-president of the Lincoln Parents Association, said that for some time there has been a push to downsize or eliminate the state’s role in the care of the developmentally disabled. DHS has a plan for specific yearly goals of downsizing, moving people out of state-operated facilities to less expensive community placement, and closing LDC would "greatly enhance" that goal, he said.

Removing former director Martin Downs was "the poorest decision ever made in DHS history," he added. During the term of Gwen Thornton, morale deteriorated, and the "much trumpeted" five-man team that replaced her were "puppets taking cues from DHS," he said.

Eleanor Newmister, parent of an LDC resident, said the state is trying to move developmentally disabled people to community settings without making proper preparations to serve them.

"Why did they not prepare for this first? Community agencies have said they cannot help some of these people with behavior challenges," she said.

"LDC has been set up to fail," said Robert Springer, parent of an LDC resident. "DHS has not been committed to keeping it open. The alleged failures are more due to management than to staff."

The new team that came to LDC in October of 2001 was not trying to get LDC back on track but to derail it, he said.

"No parent has asked for closure. DHS should be held responsible, not a committed LDC staff."

Parents and guardians who addressed the board’s representative were unanimous in their pleas to keep LDC open. Many have children who have been in the Lincoln facility for 30 or 40 years; they are elderly and say they will not be able to travel to see their children if they are moved to facilities in northern or southern Illinois.

Many parents said their children have had negative experiences in community living settings because these facilities lacked properly trained staff. They said placement at LDC was the best thing that had ever happened to their loved ones.

Several family members said they are in the habit of walking into LDC unannounced and have never witnessed incidents of abuse and neglect.

"I don’t understand why this is such a bad place. Why don’t I see it? I’ve been there over 300 times," said Bill Spahr, whose granddaughter is in LDC.

The few who spoke in favor of closing Lincoln cited the rights of the disabled to live in the community and participate in society, as well as negative experiences living in large facilities.

Gary Lowy of Equip for Equality said the Supreme Court has mandated that people be in the community if they can be. He said he was "troubled that DHS doesn’t have a plan to move more people into the community."

"Every time I come to Lincoln, residents come up to me and say ‘Get me out of this place,’" he added.

That statement was greeted with a few "boos" from the crowd. However, the two Lincoln police officers who were stationed inside the hall and the two state troopers stationed outside did not find it necessary to take any action then or at any other time during the hearing.

Both parents and LDC employees asked that the 125-year-old facility be kept open but with new and more dedicated management.

"We were a great place to work and we could still be great," Jennings said.

"LDC can get back on track with new leadership and more appropriate standards," Newmister said.

"It only took two years to tear LDC down," said AFSMCE Council 31 representative Dennis Corvin-Blackburn. "We could probably get it back up a lot faster than that."

[Joan Crabb]

[JULY 16, 2002]  The Lincoln City Council met Monday evening to discuss and vote on several items. Some items were basic housekeeping; others were part in developing projects.

The council voted unanimously to accept a bid put forth by Vulcan Materials, Lincoln, for bituminous asphalt patch to be used for road repairs. The local company proposed using CM 16, which costs less, as an alternate to CA15. IDOT approved the alternative material that was bid at $14,250. The bid was over $10,000 difference from the next closest bid.

Acceptance for bid packages two and three for the new wastewater treatment upgrade was deferred until the next voting session of the council. City Engineer Mark Mathon said that there were some unresolved questions that he and the wastewater treatment plant manager, Grant Eaton of EMC, felt needed to be answered first.

In other business the council voted to accept the 2002-2003 fiscal year appropriations budget. The May 1-April 30 budget received 100 percent approval.  According to the budget, net appropriations will be $10,105,109.00, whereas total revenues will be $10,227,109.00.

City Treasurer Les Plotner provided an up-to-date report on the city finances, including short-term holding investments. Currently, short-term savings investments are providing only 1.5 percent interest on CDs. This is not as good as it has been in the past and is not good for city finances, he explained.

Plotner also reported that he and Eaton would be meeting with the Economic Development Council to consider how the city might supply the $1.3 million requested of them to support the proposed north-side industrial park project. He said the city just cannot support it out of the current revenues. "We can’t just come up with it," he said, adding that "The only thing I know to do is take it to the people."

This past Friday Gov. George Ryan signed into law a new Illinois Vehicle Code regarding disabled parking placards. According to Mayor Beth Davis, Lincoln will be enforcing that law in an attempt to support people with disabilities. She sent this letter to Judge Donald Behle (see below).

The mayor also distributed copies of the LDC support letter presented at Monday’s Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board hearing. A copy follows below.

[Jan Youngquist]

LDC support letter submitted
to IHFPB by Mayor Beth Davis

[JULY 16, 2002]  Mayor Elizabeth A. Davis’ statement to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board during its public hearing at 9 a.m. July 15 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, Lincoln, regarding Lincoln Developmental Center closure:

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