LaSalle investigation prompts legislation strengthening inspectors
general
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[May 11, 2021]
By SARAH MANSUR
Capitol News Illinois
smansur@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD — Lawmakers representing the
LaSalle Veterans’ Home, including Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, unveiled new
legislation that would allow inspectors general of state agencies to
subpoena former state employees.
The legislation was prompted by an investigation into the COVID-19
outbreak last year at the LaSalle home that killed 36 veterans.
The former director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs,
Linda Chapa LaVia, and the former LaSalle home administrator, Angela
Mehlbrech, both declined to be interviewed for the investigative report
compiled last month by the state Department of Human Services’ inspector
general.
Chapa LaVia, who resigned, and Mehlbrech, who was fired, left their
respective positions in the aftermath of the deadly outbreak at LaSalle.
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“How could the former director of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs
and the head of the veterans home refuse to answer any questions about
the outbreak that costs the lives of 36 veterans?” Rezin said Monday
during a news conference at the LaSalle home. “When I asked that
question, I was told the inspector general does not have the power to
compel former directors and employees to testify. After learning this, I
was outraged.”
Rezin said she filed Senate Bill 1445 in response to the decisions by
Chapa LaVia and Mehlbrech to not cooperate with the investigation by the
DHS’ inspector general.
The bill allows agency inspectors general to subpoena a former state
employee in the course of an investigation undertaken to “correct a
systemic issue, problem, or deficiency,” according to the bill.
It defines former employee as “a former agency director, senior
administrator or any other individual who had the authority to implement
policy action for the department, an agency under contract with the
department or any facility or program operated for or licensed or funded
by the department.”
The DHS inspector general’s report found that the home lacked infection
prevention plans or policies before the pandemic hit in March 2020.
The report also found the home failed to maintain effective
communication among staff, as well as failures to properly train and
educate staff at the LaSalle home. In addition, the report found a
repeated lack of compliance with personal protective equipment
protocols.
Mehlbrech contributed to the ineffective communication and lack of
training, according to the report, which noted she initially held brief
meetings one to three times daily to inform the staff of the changing
policies within the home.
But these meetings did not contain in-service training and they stopped
entirely during the summer. In addition, the report states, Mehlbrech
did not hold any meetings with nurses.
Mehlbrech was “rarely seen at the home and often remained in her
office,” according to the report.
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![](../images/051121PIX/news_a69.jpg)
Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, stands with local veterans
on Monday in front of the LaSalle Veterans' Home to discuss
legislation that seeks to address the failures documented at the
LaSalle home during a deadly COVID-19 outbreak in November. (Credit:
Blueroomstream.com)
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
When Mehlbrech’s interim replacement, Anthony Vaughn,
arrived, one staff member told him, “I’m glad you’re here, because I
haven’t talked to Angela in six months,” according to the report.
Witnesses interviewed for the report described Chapa LaVia as “not a
hands-on or engaged day-to-day Director.” They also said that her
chief of staff, Tony Kolbeck, managed the agency and handled the
day-to-day operations. Kolbeck has also since resigned from the
department.
Chapa LaVia, who is a former state representative and an Illinois
Army National Guard veteran, told investigators that she would
consider sitting for an interview with the inspector general if she
received questions in advance.
The inspector general’s team declined to provide Chapa LaVia with
questions in advance, and she was not interviewed.
Gov. JB Pritzker, who appointed Chapa LaVia in 2019, said he hired
her to lead the IDVA because of her role in investigating the deadly
outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the Quincy Veterans’ Home. But
he admitted during a news conference on April 30 that if he knew
then what he knows now, he would not have hired her.
Pritzker appointed Terry Prince as IDVA acting director on April 1.
In addition to SB 1445, Rezin has introduced a bill that would
require facilities licensed and operated by the state to conduct
outbreak preparedness drills, and a separate bill to require an IDPH
onsite visit within one business day of an infectious outbreak at a
veterans home.
Those bills would codify recommendations made in a 2019 audit of the
Quincy Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that killed 13 veterans.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/11/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Rep. David Welter, a Morris Republican who also represents the
LaSalle home, passed a House Resolution by a vote of 111-0 that
calls on the Illinois Auditor General to conduct a separate
investigation of the deadly LaSalle outbreak. The auditor general’s
office also investigated state’s handling of the Quincy outbreak.
A representative from the auditor general’s office confirmed that
the office plans to conduct an audit based on the request contained
in Welter’s house resolution.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
news service covering state government and distributed to more than
400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois
Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. |