State of Illinois Closes Facility Doors Citing Health and Safety Issues
The doors to the Bowes Retirement Center in Elgin, Illinois were closed permanently on Friday, October 1, 2010, following two years of state investigation on health and safety issues at the facility.
Inspections in October 2008 and May 2009 both found employees providing personal and nursing care at a facility that was not licensed as a long-term care or assisted-living facility. The Illinois Department of Public Health had also received complaints of inadequate meals, of the facility not having toilet paper available, and of its two dozen residents being cared for by a high school student one weekend. The facility was cited with 12 fire safety code violations in May 2009, which included defective heat sensors, failure to provide smoke detectors in each unit, and failure to post evacuation plans.
According to Linda Voirin, a Kane County victim advocate for seniors, the needs of some residents went beyond the scope of what the center was licensed to provide, which included a bedridden resident, an oxygen dependent resident, and residents not mentally sound enough to care for themselves.
To add insult to injury, the facility, which is owned by Angel and Bell Corp., was also under threat of foreclosure.
