April 7, 1999

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The Illinois Department of Public Health has taken disciplinary action against two northeastern Illinois nursing homes.

• Alden-Long Grove Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, a 248-bed skilled and intermediate care facility located at RFD Hicks Road, Long Grove (Lake County).
• Mother Theresa Home, a 150-bed skilled, intermediate and sheltered care facility located at 1270 Franciscan Drive, Lemont (Cook County).

Alden-Long Grove was fined $10,000 for failing to provide necessary supervision to two women residents who wandered unnoticed from the facility. In one case, an 81-year-old woman was discovered early in the morning sitting on the facility's driveway with abrasions to her buttocks, knees and elbow and complaining of severe pain in her right leg. The woman was transported to the hospital 13 1/2 hours after being found and admitted with a hip fracture. In another case, an 88-year-old twice wandered from the facility unnoticed and was found walking along a nearby road by passing motorists. She was not injured.

Responding to complaints, Department surveyors documented that outside door alarms at Alden-Long Grove did not work, shut off automatically when the door shut, were turned off or could not be heard at the nurses station or were not installed on all outside doors.

As part of a mandatory plan of correction, the Department ordered the facility to install an alarm system on all exterior doors accessible to residents that would alert staff when a resident leaves the building, maintain constant visual supervision of any exit when the door alarm system is deactivated and train staff to follow procedures for responding when a door alarm sounds and for searching for missing residents. (Statement of Violation)

Mother Theresa Home was fined $10,000 for failure to begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or to call 911 when a resident was found slumped in a wheelchair and unresponsive. The resident did not have a "Do Not Resuscitate" order, which meant that all appropriate life-saving measures should have been attempted.

The Department instructed the facility to develop policies and procedures to follow during a medical emergency, including CPR, and to hold training for all nursing service personnel. (Statement of Violation)

Alden-Long Grove and Mother Theresa Home have requested hearings on the Department's actions. No hearing dates have been set.

Illinois Department of Public Health 535 West Jefferson Street Springfield, Illinois 62761 Phone 217-782-4977 Fax 217-782-3987 TTY 800-547-0466 Questions or Comments