PEKIN FACILITY FINED AFTER LEAVING RESIDENT BEHIND

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Marigold Estates has been fined $5,000 (Statement of Violation) by the Illinois Department of Public Health for failure to implement procedures to ensure individuals are not left behind while on community outings. The 16-bed intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled is located at 3240 Barney Ave. in Pekin.

As part of an incident report investigation, Department surveyors learned that during an outing to a movie theater for nine residents one resident was inadvertently left behind. The resident was observed by theater employees walking back and forth outside the building and appeared disoriented. Police were called and the resident was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

Once staff realized the resident had not returned with the others to the facility, they called police and were told he had been transported to a Peoria hospital. The resident was picked up at the hospital 2 ½ hours after the van carrying the other eight residents had arrived back at the facility.

Staff did not count the individuals riding in the van before leaving the movie theater as required by facility policy.

The facility did not train staff to provide special supervision to the resident due to his medical condition. In addition, the resident had not been taught the name, address and telephone number of the facility or educated on the importance of providing such information in an emergency. Following the incident, a program to teach the resident identifying information was implemented.

Marigold Estates has requested a hearing on the Department’s action. No hearing date has been scheduled.