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Ryan said in a press
release yesterday that the latest finding of four incidents of
neglect in four days was "the last straw," and he must close the
troubled facility for the safety of the residents. Local union
officials, however, charge that LDC was "set up" to fail because of
the state’s budget crisis.
Closing LDC has been
a priority for the Department of Human Services, the state agency
that oversees the facility that cares for individuals with
developmental disabilities, for some time, and the latest citations
were part of the plan, they say. Also, closing LDC may be just the
beginning.
"As soon as I heard
last week that Public Health had put us in immediate jeopardy, I
knew what DHS was up to," said Don Todd, president of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 425, the
union that represents LDC employees.
[Photos by Joan Crabb]
[Don Todd]
"With this governor
and this Department of Human Services, I think this was in the back
of their minds all along.
"I think for a long
time the DHS and the state have been trying to get out of the
business of taking care of those with developmental disabilities,"
Todd added. "In the long run, it’s just a plan to downsize and close
developmental facilities throughout the state."
"It’s the tip of the
iceberg," Dan Senters, AFSCME spokesman, added. "Taking care of
people with developmental disabilities is too costly. That’s the
bottom line. Their long-range objective is to close all 11
facilities."
[AFSCME
spokesman and former LDC employee Dan Senters]
Last week the
Illinois Department of Public Health and the Office of the Inspector
General, the OIG, announced that LDC was in "immediate jeopardy"
because of two incidents of neglect — allegations that residents
were left unsupervised and their health and safety jeopardized. A
press release issued by the governor’s office
[see
"Safety concerns force
closure of Lincoln Developmental Center"] cited two more
cases, making four separate incidents in four days where staff
failed to properly supervise residents.
The press release
also said the governor would completely close LDC, Logan County’s
largest employer, beginning on July 1, the start of the state’s new
fiscal year.
The governor began
downsizing the facility last fall, and in February he announced a
plan to reduce the number of residents to 100 and the number of
employees to about 210. However, a suit filed in March by AFSCME,
parents of an LDC resident and Sen. Larry Bomke of Springfield froze
the number of residents to about 240 and also halted massive layoffs
of employees.
The four recent
citations were minor infractions that would not ordinarily have been
investigated, Senters said.
"These are minor
allegations, the kinds of things that happen all the time in this
field. There have been other incidents more serious than these,
where Public Health and OIG were notified and they declined to
investigate. They didn’t see any basis to it," Senters said.
In one of the
incidents, he said, "One resident made a right turn and the others
made a left turn. The tech [staff member] went after him but he was
out of sight for a few minutes. He was just unsupervised for a short
period of time.
"These are the kinds
of things that happen all the time with people with developmental
disabilities. That’s why they need our services."
Senters said no
residents were hurt in any of the four incidents.
"They are making
these issues very important because they want to close Lincoln," he
added. Incidents at some of the other 11 state-operated facilities
have been much more serious, he said.
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"For example, Howe
Developmental Center, in Tinley Park, has had a resident missing for
a year. They still haven’t found him, but Howe is not getting the
same sort of attention that LDC has had."
Todd pointed out that
in 1966, the Lincoln Developmental Center was the first in the state
to receive accreditation by the National Accreditation Council, a
new agency that looks at facilities both in the United States and
abroad. He said the problems at LDC that led to the governor’s
decision to downsize, and now close, the facility began in 1999,
when DHS removed former superintendent Marty Downs.
"They removed a
superintendent that was well-liked and did a good job and put in
someone who had no experience with individuals with developmental
disabilities. Then they didn’t support her when she was here."
If LDC closes, he
said, its residents there will be sent to other state-run
facilities, and some residents at the other facilities will probably
be put into group homes in the community. Most of those now at LDC
are not good candidates for community placement because they have
such severe disabilities, he said.
He also pointed out
that in spite of all the charges of abuse and neglect brought
against the Lincoln facility since early last fall, the parents of
the residents have supported the present system.
"They’ve been with us
all the way. They’ve stood behind us, saying we gave their loved
ones quality care. The governor’s plan was wrong from the beginning.
The parents knew it and we knew it."
Todd was also angry
at the governor and DHS for blaming the failure of LDC on the AFSCME
lawsuit. According to a letter from Linda Renee Baker, secretary of
DHS, the lawsuit has prevented DHS from making reforms needed to
assure the health and safety of the residents.
Baker’s letter,
quoted in the governor’s press release, said, "Without the ability
to implement the reform plan we outlined to the federal government,
we contemplate that deficiencies at this facility will continue."
"For the governor to
come out and say our lawsuit is the reason LDC is closing is an
outright lie," Todd said.
Senters said layoffs
of employees have hurt the operation of LDC, which presently has 244
residents and about 506 employees.
"It looks like we
have a 2-to-1 ratio, but only 210 of those employees are
technicians, people who give direct care to the residents," he said.
The others are nurses, doctors, management people, truck drivers,
grounds crews, housekeeping and dietary workers.
Todd said the General
Assembly, which was called into special session this week to deal
with a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, can still save LDC.
"It’s in the hands of
the legislators now. They can refuse to support his plan and
override his veto. The General Assembly can turn this around if they
have the courage to stand up for what’s right," he said.
"I believe the
legislators we have in this district who have fought for us all the
way, Representatives Bill Mitchell and Jonathan Wright and Senator
Larry Bomke, have demonstrated that courage."
The Senate may vote today on whether to
override Ryan’s decision to close LDC, Senters said. However, the
override will take a three-fifths majority. If the Senate does not
override Ryan’s decision, the issue will not get to the House of
Representatives, he said.
[Joan
Crabb]
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Then the governor,
who announced Monday that he will close the state-run facility on
July 1, would see how well residents are treated and how much they
love the place that, for many, has always been home.
Staff members called
technicians, who work directly with the patients, become verys
attached to the people they work with, she says.
"It’s true you spend
more time with them than with your family. They are your second
family."
Sandy, who was slated
to be laid off June 30 under Ryan’s former downsizing plan and who
will be unemployed if LDC closes, finds her job very rewarding.
"It’s not an everyday
job, sitting at a desk. In my job, I make a difference in somebody’s
life. Just because people have disabilities doesn’t mean they don’t
have goals."
[Photo by Joan Crabb]
[Sandy Robertson]
She says the saddest
part of the LDC closure is taking the residents away from their
homes.
"When you experience
an individual in a hallway kicking and screaming because he doesn’t
want to leave, it just tears your heart out." This was the reaction
of many residents who were moved out last fall when the governor and
the Department of Human Services began downsizing the center, she
said.
"It makes me think
Governor Ryan is really inhumane, because he is taking them away
from what has been their home. That’s all these individuals know.
That’s home."
Ryan has said he is
closing LDC because repeated investigations have shown that patients
are not getting proper care and their health and safety is
jeopardized. Many LDC workers, however, believe the closure is a
financial issue, a way to cut the state budget.
"You can’t tell me
the staff at LDC doesn’t care about the individuals they work with,"
Sandy said. "Staff members buy things for residents using their own
money.
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"For instance, I have
an individual who doesn’t like to eat. It’s been a lifelong problem.
So if he eats, I’ll get him something — a treat like a Coke or chips
after he eats his dinner.
Staff members buy
little things like cologne, cigarettes and hair-care products for
the residents, she said, and many of them add to the $40 each
resident gets for Christmas presents.
"These may be little
things, but they mean a lot to the residents," she said.
Sandy also said she
believes LDC has been targeted for closure.
"They have been
shifting us [technicians] around arbitrarily since October. Some of
us are caring for people we have not been trained to care for."
Some of the residents
she sometimes has in her care are the medically fragile who were
moved from the second floor of Coty Cottage and who may have
tracheotomies, catheters, feeding tubes or be on oxygen. She said
she has had no training at LDC or at any time previously to know
what these residents might need.
Several former Coty
residents died after they were moved out of the cottage, and AFSCME
officials said the deaths occurred at least in part because they had
been moved from a protected situation and no longer had caregivers
who understood their medical needs.
Although there are
not a lot of jobs in her hometown of Mason City, Sandy says she
doesn’t want to work in a group home for the developmentally
disabled that is in the area.
"They don’t have the staffing they have
in Lincoln. The pay is low — $7 or $8 an hour — and there is a lot
of turnover. People don’t get the consistency of care and the level
of service in group homes that they do at LDC."
[Joan
Crabb]
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The Department of Human Services inspector
general is investigating four separate incidents in four days where
staff failed to provide proper supervision to residents, placing
people at imminent risk of injury. The new investigations come
despite the fact that the facility’s staffing levels are among the
highest ratios at state-run facilities for the developmentally
disabled.
Staff professionals at DHS told the
governor in a letter last week that an ongoing lawsuit by the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has
“thwarted” efforts by DHS to initiate reforms and help LDC keep its
federal certification.
“This is a very difficult decision because
it is going to disrupt the lives of many people who call LDC home,
as well as their families. But I have no choice,” Ryan said. “These
new incidents are the last straw. I want to make it clear that my
decision was not influenced by the state’s revenue shortfall but out
of concern for the health and safety of residents at the Lincoln
Developmental Center.”
The Lincoln Developmental Center was given
until July to come into compliance with federal standards under an
agreement reached by
DHS, the
Department of Public Aid and the
Department of Public Health, which act as regulators for the
federal government.
[Photos by Bob Frank]
[Lincoln Developmental Center]
The inability to implement the plan had
put the facility at risk of failing a survey scheduled for July,
which in turn would cause the facility to lose federal funding.
“We’ve tried to implement reforms at LDC
for some time, but our efforts have been undermined by AFSCME and
the staff at LDC,” Ryan added.
Last week Human Services Secretary Linda
Renee Baker and DHS professional staff recommended to the governor
that LDC be closed because the lawsuit filed by AFSCME prevented the
implementation of the reform plan, as well as the new incidents of
resident neglect.
“The latest allegations of neglect of two
residents at LDC are deeply troubling to me,” Baker said in a letter
to the governor. “Based on the professional judgement of my staff,
it is now my opinion that without the ability to implement your
Reform Plan, we cannot operate LDC in a manner that ensures the
health and safety of the residents and the facility must close.”
Baker added that the projected timeline of
the ongoing AFSCME litigation will run beyond the end of June.
“Accordingly, our reform plan calling for
a resurvey with a population of 100 has been thwarted,” Baker said.
“Without the ability to implement the reform plan we outlined to the
federal government, we contemplate that deficiencies at this
facility will continue.”
Baker added that the AFSCME litigation has
resulted in “continued uncertainty” at LDC and “higher than usual
absenteeism rates among staff,” as well as overtime, double shifts
and a reliance on administrative staff to do day-to-day tasks
instead of initiating reforms that would help the facility stay
certified.
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“…we regretfully conclude that the
continuing litigation has prevented this facility from making any
significant progress toward the objectives you outlined in your
reform plan. The most recent incidents appear to indicate that
health and safety issues remain,” Baker wrote.
A timeline and procedure for transferring
LDC residents and dealing with employees and facility property will
be outlined at a later date.
[Is this the fate of LDC?]
Despite court orders that have frozen the
LDC staffing ratio at approximately 2.13-to-1, monitoring reports in
April and May continued to identify significant substandard
performance in the care and treatment provided to the people who
live at LDC.
On June 4, two incidents involving a lack
of proper supervision were reported to DPH and the DHS inspector
general.
In one incident an individual was left
unsupervised and wandered away from his home without the knowledge
of staff. The second incident involved an individual who was left
unsupervised long enough to engage in self-abusive behavior, which
had the potential for very serious injury. After initiating an
investigation into the two incidents on June 7, DPH cited an
“Immediate Jeopardy” at LDC. Also on June 7, a third and fourth
incident involving breaches in supervision were reported.
The third incident involved an individual
who was left alone in his home after everyone else had left the
building for the morning. The fourth incident involved an individual
with pica behavior who was forgotten at her day program site when
the rest of her group returned home. A housekeeper found her alone
in a bathroom.
“These latest incidents are indicative of
the historical situation at LDC and will no longer be tolerated,”
the governor added.
In October of 2001, the governor
implemented a plan to downsize LDC by 90 people in response to LDC
being cited on four of eight conditions related to the safety of
residents and the quality of care they receive. He ordered 30-day
reviews in order to assess LDC’s progress in correcting its
problems.
In December, following the second review,
Ryan visited LDC and, based on continued problems at the facility,
ordered further downsizing.
In January of 2002, the governor directed
DHS to provide him with a plan for either further downsizing or
closure of the facility.
After listening to the families of LDC
residents, Ryan announced in February that the facility would be
downsized to 100 residents. This plan to downsize laid the
groundwork for a negotiated agreement that would afford LDC the
opportunity to stay open as a certified 100-bed facility if it
passed a final survey set for July. However, later that month AFSCME
filed a lawsuit to block the movement of residents out of LDC. In
April, a Logan County Circuit Court ordered a preliminary injunction
halting the planned downsizing.
[Illinois
Government News Network
press release]
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