SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Burnside Nursing Home has been fined $5,000 (Statement of Violation) by the Illinois Department of Public Health for failure to prevent a resident from leaving the facility unsupervised. The 105-bed skilled care facility is located at 410 N. Second St. in Marshall.

As part of an incident report investigation, Department surveyors learned a confused and disoriented resident left the facility unnoticed. The resident was found unharmed by a staff member in a wooded area on the facility's property near a lake.

The resident, who was admitted to the facility just the day before the incident, received medication for agitation and taken to her room. When an employee checked on the resident 10 minutes later she was gone. A search turned up the resident about 90 minutes later

Following the incident, it was determined that the facility could not meet the resident's care needs and she was transferred to another facility.

Although the resident was wearing an electronic monitoring device, only three of facility's 20 exit doors were equipped with this type of an alarm system and alarms on those doors did not sound. Staff recalled hearing the alarm on an exterior door in the chapel, but a search of the area did not turn up a resident.

A Department-ordered plan of correction required the facility to review its policies on door alarms and residents wandering away and to train staff on appropriate actions and interventions to prevent a resident from leaving the facility unsupervised.

Burnside Nursing Home has requested a hearing on the Department's action. No hearing date has been scheduled.