SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined three northern Illinois nursing homes for violating the state Nursing Home Care Act:

• Alden Park Strathmoor, a 189-bed skilled care facility located at 5668 Strathmoor Drive in Rockford,
• Aspenwood Health Care Center, a 63-bed intermediate care facility located at 1403 Ninth Ave. in Silvis, and
• Sterling Pavilion, a 121-bed skilled care facility located at 105 E. 23rd St. in Sterling.

Alden Park Strathmoor was fined $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failing to adequately supervise a resident who wandered unnoticed from the facility. The woman was found outside in a wheelchair when the temperatures were 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite having cold hands and feet and a temperature of 95.7 degrees, the resident was not sent to the hospital for evaluation. A Department investigation found that the door alarm did not sound when the resident exited the facility.

Aspenwood Health Care Center was fined $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for not responding to a door alarm and allowing a resident to exit the building without staff knowledge. The facility was notified of the resident’s disappearance by a neighbor who saw her lying on the ground near her overturned wheelchair. The temperature at the time was 28 degrees Farenheit with a wind chill of 16.5 degrees. The neighbor returned the cold and shivering resident to the facility. A Department investigation found that a physician’s order to transfer the resident, who had a history of wandering, to a locked Alzheimer’s unit was not carried out until after the incident.

Sterling Pavilion was fined $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for an incident in which a resident, who had Alzheimer’s disease, left the facility unnoticed. He was discovered at a nearby video store by an off-duty employee, who returned him to the facility. In the month prior to the incident, the resident had set off the door alarm 20 times while attempting to leave the facility. Despite the resident’s history of wandering, the facility did not have specific plans on how he should be supervised.

Alden Park Strathmoor and Sterling Pavilion have requested hearings on the Department’s actions. No hearing dates have been scheduled. Aspenwood Health Care Center did not request a hearing.