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Dan Senters, AFSCME
Local 425 spokesman, said yesterday that 120 of the 242 residents at
the Lincoln facility for the developmentally disabled are ready to
move. Beds are available for them in other state-operated
facilities, and their families or guardians have been notified.
Reginald Marsh,
spokesman for DHS, also confirmed that the state plans to begin
moving LDC residents soon.
"We are going to
begin the move in an orderly fashion," he said. "The residents are
going to various state-operated facilities. Parents and guardians
are aware of the plans.
"The state
legislature has made a clear decision not to provide funding for LDC,
and the governor has decided to close the facility."
Marsh said he did not
know exact numbers of residents who will be moved soon or their
destinations.
Senters, however,
said that 52 residents are scheduled to leave next week, and shortly
after another 68 are scheduled to be moved.
On July 2, he said,
three residents are scheduled to go to Fox Center in Dwight, four to
Jacksonville and six to Ludeman Center in Park Forest. On July 8, 10
are scheduled to be moved to Murray in Centralia, 19 to Howe in
Tinley Park and nine to Shapiro in Kankakee.
Senters said he
believed the state has no legal right to move the residents because
of decisions pending in the appellate court.
Logan County Circuit
Judge Don Behle issued an injunction in March which barred DHS from
moving any of the 240 remaining residents without a permit from the
Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. The state appealed, and
the appellate court heard testimony from both sides on Wednesday.
However, the court has not yet handed down a ruling.
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The lawsuit filed by
AFSCME and others, including parents of an LDC resident, contends
that the state cannot move residents until the permit is in hand.
DHS, however, has
already applied for the permit and contends that it need not wait
for the permit’s final approval before beginning to move residents.
The IHFPB is a 15-man board appointed by the governor which
represents various health-care constituencies.
"The state is moving
them in spite of the court order. They believe it doesn’t apply to
them," Senters said.
The Lincoln facility
has been fighting downsizing and finally, closure, since incidents
of abuse and neglect of residents were reported last fall. A new
management team was brought to LDC, and monitors from other
state-operated facilities were on the grounds to oversee the
residents’ care. Gov. George Ryan began moving residents out of the
facility, and in February announced a plan to downsize LDC to 100
residents and about 200 workers.
In June, however, citing more charges of
abuse and neglect, Ryan announced that he was closing LDC
completely. AFSCME and the Lincoln Parents Association, which has
been strongly supportive of LDC, say they will not give up the fight
to save the embattled facility.
[Joan
Crabb]
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Fortunately, it was
nothing more than an exercise to train fire department and sewer
plant personnel in the proper procedure for dealing with a
potentially dangerous situation. At close range, chlorine gas can
kill in less than a minute by eating away and collapsing the lungs.
It can also form a
plume that can travel to other areas. With the wind in the
southwest, one sewer plant worker pointed out, the gas would have
traveled to Lincoln Community High School, the Recreation Center and
Friendship Manor.
Since the report
included a person inside the building where the leak occurred, two
firemen suited up quickly in their turnout gear, including gas
masks, pulled the "employee," (a life-size dummy) out of the
building and worked to resuscitate him. Paramedics were on hand to
transport the employee to the hospital.
The firemen then
began spraying water on the "plume" of gas to knock it down and keep
it from spreading. Had they sprayed water inside the building, the
water and the chlorine would have created hydrochloric acid, which,
besides being fatal to humans, would also corrode the building’s
metal pipes and fittings.
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To shut off the valve
and stop the chlorine leak, fire department personnel had to suit up
in hazmat gear. An area also had to be set up to decontaminate the
firefighters after they turned off the chlorine and exited the
building. Four firefighters put on red-orange suits with breathing
apparatus strapped to their backs; two were to go in, and two were
to stand by in case the first two needed help.
Others wore white
decontamination suits to protect themselves as they hosed down their
fellow firefighters who had gone inside.
Tom Martin, incident
commander, notified the Lincoln Police Department and the local
utility companies to let them know about the problem. Then, because
all four firetrucks were on the scene at the sewer plant, he asked
Lincoln Rural Fire Department to stand by in case of problems in
Lincoln.
"It was a successful
exercise," said Mark Miller, who was safety officer for the
exercise. "We came out here and did the job we had to do."
"Through training and teamwork we got the
job done," Martine said. "We worked multi-jurisdictionally, and we
had fantastic cooperation from all agencies involved."
[Joan
Crabb]
[Click here for pictures from
Thursday morning.]
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"Illinois FIRST was
designed to not only repair, replace and upgrade our vital
infrastructure, but to also improve the quality of life for Illinois
residents," Gov. Ryan said. "These funds will be used to leverage
$7.3 million in federal funds which will permit Pace to purchase
seven new buses, 28 paratransit vehicles and other needed equipment,
thereby providing for more comfortable and efficient suburban bus
service for thousands of riders in the Chicago area."
The seven buses will
play a vital role in the lives of thousands of people in and around
Chicagoland by providing accessible transportation to and from work
or the doctor’s office. These buses will replace 12-year-old buses
that require expensive maintenance in order to remain in operation.
The paratransit vehicles are smaller than buses and are equipped
with a lift or ramp for the elderly and people in a wheelchair. The
paratransit vehicles will replace equipment up to seven years old
and with more than 100,000 miles on it, most of which has provided
1.5 million rides a year in the six-county region. Pace also will
replace 11 vehicles for maintenance and support staff.
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article]
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The bus system will
also be purchasing equipment that will better secure wheelchairs in
buses, which will be an upgrade in comfort and convenience. Pace
also plans to replace the roofs at both the North and South Division
garages. Computer equipment will be upgraded which will allow paratransit staff to monitor reservation calls at remote ADA and
dial-a-ride sites.
The Illinois FIRST funds are made
available through the State Mass Transportation Capital Grant
Program.
[Illinois
Government News Network
press release]
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