SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health fined Good Samaritan Care Center $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to take necessary precautions to prevent a confused elderly resident from leaving the facility unsupervised. The 94-bed skilled care facility is located at 2299 Metropolis St. in Metropolis.

Responding to a complaint, Department investigators learned a resident, who had short- and long-term memory impairment and was at high risk for wandering, left the facility unnoticed three times on the same day. On the third occasion, she was picked up by an unknown person as she walked along a roadway near the facility and taken to a nearby nursing home. Facility staff were unaware the woman had left the facility until a visitor informed a supervisor that she had seen the resident walking down the road. The resident was returned to the facility unharmed.

Less than an hour prior to this incident, the resident left the center and was found by an off-duty aide walking barefoot away from the facility. Upon her return, she again exited the facility. This time, an exit door alarm sounded and she was immediately returned.

During the Department's investigation, surveyors learned the woman was fitted with an electronic monitor after the first two elopements, but apparently was able to leave the facility a third time through a door without an electronic monitor system. The door's regular alarm had been deactivated when employees went outside on break.

A Department-ordered plan of correction required the home to provide residents with adequate and properly supervised nursing care, to provide constant visual supervision of any exit when the alarm system is deactivated and to accurately assess residents for their risk of leaving the facility unsupervised.

Good Samaritan Care Center has requested a hearing on the Department's action. No hearing date has been scheduled.