Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Meadowbrook Manor–a large nursing home in Bolingbrook with 298 beds– is one of the nursing homes facing the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Illinois. As of May 29, 2020, the facility had reported 188 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents and 40 deaths–the highest reported death toll at any nursing home in the state. Considering that the average number of residents at Meadowbrook Manor is usually 244, these numbers are shocking. At this occupancy rate, as many as 77% of the residents at Meadowbrook Manor in Bolingbrook may have been infected with COVID-19. Even if every bed at Meadowbrook Manor was occupied, that would still work out to 63% of residents possibly infected. It’s hard to fathom how that could happen.
For comparison, here are the statistics on COVID-19 at some other senior facilities in Will County or in nearby DuPage County:
- Meadowbrook Manor in Naperville, 245 beds, 37 cases, and 3 deaths
City View Multicare Center is a for-profit nursing home located in Cicero, Illinois. They participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs and have 485 beds. Currently, they are one of many nursing homes in Illinois battling a severe outbreak of COVID-19. As of May 11, 2020, 262 residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 and 11 people have died at the nursing home.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has finally released information about the growing numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths at individual nursing homes in the state. As nursing home neglect and abuse attorneys, we have felt that families with loved ones in a nursing home deserve to know this important health information, and we had been dismayed by the secrecy and lack of transparency in Illinois up until now.
Nursing Home residents require around the clock care and focused one on one attention from skilled nurses and certified nurse assistants. Many nursing homes, however, have severe understaffing problems. These problems are largely the result of nursing home owners putting profits ahead of quality care. Why is a shortage of staff so important? Being short-staffed seriously impacts the quality of care that residents receive. Understaffing is one of the major contributing factors to nursing home abuse and neglect. And it can lead to the spread of infections like COVID-19 among vulnerable residents in nursing homes. Already, at least 400 nursing homes around the country have confirmed cases of COVID-19 and that number will likely increase in the days and weeks ahead.
As we now know from the tragic deaths at a Seattle area nursing home, the elderly and patients in nursing and long-term care facilities–especially those with underlying health conditions– are most at risk from the coronavirus. That is why it is so important for your loved one’s nursing home to be extra vigilant at preventing infections during this critical time. All long-term care facilities should be following the special nursing home guidelines from the CDC to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among patients and staff.