Illinois Retirement Home Closed, Not Likely to Reopen
Bowes Retirement Center, a retirement home located in Elgin, Illinois, was shut down after the State of Illinois reportedly received complaints of neglect and poor living conditions.
Owners of the facility marketed the facility as a retirement facility, but in reality, the facility offered services to its residents that led state officials to determine that it was actually an unlicensed nursing home facility. A retirement facility offers room and board, meals, and laundry, while a nursing home facility offers assistance in bathing and with taking medication. According to Linda Voirin, the Kane County victim advocate for seniors, reportedly staff members would sometimes give residents their medications from a box kept at the front desk - a job performed a nursing homes. Retirement centers are allowed to remind residents to take their medications but not administer medications.
The Illinois Attorney General's Office is seeking an injunction preventing the Angel and Bell Corp. and Benjamin and Angelina Guzman from operating another facility unless they obtain proper licensing.
