SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined Capitol Care Center $15,000 for two violations of the state Nursing Home Care Act. The 251-bed skilled care facility is located at 555 W. Carpenter St. in Springfield.

The first violation (Statement of Violation) was the result of a complaint investigation in which the Department found the facility failed to have a system in place that readily identified residents who were to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to have trained staff to perform the emergency procedure. These failures resulted in the initiation of CPR for a resident being delayed for more than five minutes.

The second violation (Statement of Violation) was the result of the facility's failure to adequately supervise a resident to prevent her from leaving the facility unnoticed. The resident was found about 1.5 miles away from the facility by a homeowner who contacted police. The resident was transferred to the hospital two days after the incident because of multiple attempts to leave the facility and her refusal to cooperate with care.

Department surveyors learned that, despite previous attempts to leave the facility, the resident was not assessed for her wandering behavior and continued to live on the first floor, where there are numerous exit doors.

The Department-ordered plan of correction required the facility to ensure that all nurses are aware of the code status of residents, to assess residents for their pattern of activity or movement in the facility and to provide adequate supervised nursing care.

Capitol Care Center requested hearings on the Department's actions. No hearing dates have been scheduled.