SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined East Peoria Gardens Healthcare Center $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to prevent a resident from wandering away from the facility unnoticed. The 120-bed intermediate care facility is located at 1910 Springfield Road in East Peoria.

Responding to a complaint, Department surveyors learned the facility was unaware a resident was missing until an employee at a nearby gas station notified them an elderly woman was at the station. The gas station is located on a major road with a 40-mile-per-hour speed limit. The woman was returned to the facility unharmed.

The resident had been assessed as being unaware of her surroundings and at risk for getting lost in the community if she left the facility alone.

At the time of the resident's elopement, the front exit door alarm sounded. An employee told surveyors someone entering the facility triggered the alarm, but no one was visually monitoring the door and no check was conducted inside or outside the facility to determine if a resident had left the facility.

A Department-ordered plan of correction required facility administration to ensure residents with wandering behaviors are properly monitored and all exit door alarms are working properly or are under constant visual supervision.

East Peoria Gardens Healthcare Center has requested a hearing on the Department's action. No hearing date has been set.