SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined Chestnut Corner Shelter Care $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to take the necessary precautions to prevent a resident from wandering from the facility. The 81-bed sheltered care facility is located at 905 W. Chestnut St. in Louisville.

Responding to an incident report, Department investigators learned a resident, who had a history of leaving the facility unattended, exited the facility unnoticed and was returned the same morning by a facility employee. Five minutes later, the resident was left unsupervised and again wandered away. After a 3½-hour search by local police and facility staff, the resident was not located. The outside temperature at the time was 12 degrees.

Chestnut Corner staff told surveyors the exit door the resident used to leave the facility is equipped with an alarm, but the alarm is disconnected at 6 a.m. and staff does not maintain constant visual supervision of the exit. State regulations require that the door have a functioning alarm or be monitored by staff at all times.

One month prior to this incident, the resident walked out of the facility and was found by the sheriff's department hitchhiking along a highway. The exit door alarm was turned off and facility staff were not watching the exit.

A Department-ordered plan of correction required the facility to maintain all exterior door alarms and to ensure constant visual supervision of all resident-accessible exterior doors not equipped with an alarm or if the alarm is deactivated.

Chestnut Corner Shelter Care has requested hearing on the Department's action. A hearing has been scheduled for June 6.