BURNHAM NURSING HOME DISCIPLINED

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined Burnham Healthcare $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to investigate an incident involving a resident who was sexually aggressive toward another resident. The 309-bed skilled and intermediate care facility is located at 14500 S. Manistee Ave. in Burnham.

As part of an incident report investigation, Department surveyors learned a resident reported to the facility’s security guard he heard his roommate, who had a history of inappropriate sexual behavior, scuffling with a female resident. The guard went to the room and found the resident trying to get the woman to inappropriately touch him.

The facility did not conduct a thorough investigation of the incident, protect the resident from further abuse or refer the resident for medical evaluation. The facility was aware of repeated inappropriate sexual behaviors toward female residents and staff, but made no effort to implement effective treatments or monitoring to manage his behaviors.

Later on the morning of the incident, a nurse started the process to transfer the resident to a hospital after he exposed himself to female residents and staff. However, the facility did not closely monitor the male resident to protect the other residents while waiting six hours for his transfer.

Burnham Healthcare has requested a hearing on the Department’s action. No hearing date has been scheduled.