Elder care residences in Illinois are more than just places were senior citizens live. They are facilities that are supposed to take care of elderly folks and make sure that these people remain healthy and happy for the rest of their lives. We trust these facilities to care for the ones we love – which is why we feel so angry when that trust gets violated due to substandard treatment of our elders.
One Latino nursing home in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood is coming under fire for garnering the lowest possible quality rating offered by a government website. The Center Home for Hispanic Elderly received just a single star (on a five-star scale) fromMedicare’s Nursing Home Compare service. This rating represents quality that is “much below average.”Last month, the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services opened an investigation into Center Home. And on Tuesday, the nursing home received a visit from surveyors from the state’s Department of Public Health. Some family members had previously complained that some of their relatives at the facility were not receiving clean diapers on a regular basis.This is apparently not news to the staff and health care personnel who work at Center Home. They say that they have expressed their dissatisfaction to management for many months about various problems at the facility, including inadequate staffing levels, shortages of supplies, and unsafe or unsanitary conditions.
If a senior at the Center Home for Hispanic Elderly has developed medical issues resulting from nursing home abuse or neglect, they could file a civil lawsuit against the facility to recoup costs spent on medical bills and/or hospitalization expenses. In addition, they might be entitled to compensation for aggravating pre-existing conditions, disfigurement, disability, or pain and suffering. If they chose, they could use these funds to move to a different elder care facility where their needs would better cared for.