Problem-Riddled Chicago, Illinois Nursing Home Faces Possible Closure
A problem Chicago, Illinois area nursing home faces loss of funding and possible closure after reports of bloody fights and drug abuse occurring at the facility.
Wincrest Nursing Center, a nursing home primarily housing adults suffering from mental illness, has been a long-standing community problem. A 2009 Chicago Tribune article revealed that the facility failed to notify state officials that the facility was home to dozens of residents with felony records. In late February 2011, a 21 page report from the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was sent to the facility and its contents were not good.
Reportedly, the inspectors found that facility staff was poorly trained and failed to properly supervise dangerous residents or provide them with much needed psychiatric services "to prevent avoidable mental deterioration". It further reported that some facility residents were "often found in the facility intoxicated or under the influence of drugs" and other residents failed to receive prescribed psychotropic drugs.
A December 2010 report from the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly found that a female facility resident was prostituting herself in the neighborhood and using the money to purchase crack cocaine. A male resident of the facility threatened another resident with a foot-long knife. While the knife was confiscated, inspectors later found another knife in the man's room in full view. According to the report, Wincrest's policy and procedure manual "was about 45 years old" and, amazingly enough, the facility Administrator, Narad Persadsingh, could not name the facility's Medical Director.
WIncrest has been slapped with more than $400,000 in federal and state fines since December 2010 and, as of February 9, 2011, faces an ongoing $10,000 per day fine. Wincrest faces loss of their Medicaid funding on March 20 if the "immediate jeopardy" citations are not properly corrected. As Wincrest depends on Medicaid for approximately 99% of its funding, cutoff of Medicaid funding will likely force Wincrest to shut its doors.
According to State Rep. Harry Osterman, "This action is long overdue. Wincrest has been a problem nursing home in our neighborhood for a number of years."
