In 2004 there was a sexual assault complaint against one of the Champaign County Nursing Home employees and the possible victim was a female resident. I was trying to find out if any criminal charges were ever filed but I was unable to locate any court records regarding this assault. That doesn't mean there aren't any but only that I couldn't find them. However, it was serious enough that the nursing home terminated the Nursing Supervisor over the matter.This may be old news to some of you but I would wager that there are just as many people who have never heard this story. I have uploaded the official document detailing this attack to http://www.davidcearlock.com/champaign/11.17.04b.pdf . While reading this report I want you to ask yourself one question. For every reported sexual assault how many go unreported?
People on the county board let themselves get bogged down in what is essentially unimportant details, ex nursing home employees and current Champaign City Council members like to wax poetic about their days at the good old nursing home. What I am concerned about is the climate of abuse that seemed to have no end at the nursing home. Even worse are decisons made by "whomever" to not make these complaints public knowledge,,abuse of the elderly,,and the infirm is a disgrace,and while I can sure see why the County would not want to take an ad out and advertise these incidents,,,,this only creates a situation where these types of incidents can keep recurring. Much has been made of the $50,000 fine for failure to do the paper work timely,,,,,what of the fines for abuse,,,and poor med policy,,,,and not feeding the residents properly. One can find the truth about the mold sitiuation and reading thru it,,,and the e-mails etc about it,how the County could still keep a total boob like Inman employed is unreal. This whole deal is really much worse than anyone has stated,
here's a News-Gazette story on it:
Nov 18, 2004
Headline:
Nursing home appealing $10,000 fine
Body:
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health announced a $10,000 fine against the Champaign County Nursing Home on Wednesday, alleging that the facility did not properly respond to a situation where an employee was suspected of sexually abusing a resident.
The nursing home has requested a hearing to appeal the fine and the allegations, but a hearing date has not been set. The fine will be stayed pending the outcome of that proceeding, said public health spokeswoman Tammy Leonard.
´There is absolutely no evidence of abuse of any kind,´ said a written statement from Champaign County Nursing Home Administrator Jeremy Maupin. ´All allegations of any wrongdoing are speculative. Champaign County Nursing Home has appealed these allegations, as well as filed a formal complaint against the Illinois Department of Public Health surveyor who investigated the self-reported allegation. CCNH will again navigate the legal process with IDPH, where we have been successful in the past. This allegation was fully investigated by Champaign County Nursing Home and local law enforcement. There was no evidence of any misconduct on our part, nor any evidence of a resident being harmed in any way.´
The Illinois Department of Public Health's statement of violation alleged that ´facility staff failed to intervene immediately on behalf of the resident in a presumed sexual abuse incident´ that occurred on June 19.
According to the statement of violation, the nursing home also allegedly failed to investigate a claim that the same employee had brought a weapon into the facility a few months earlier.
The Department of Public Health's report said a nurse's aide responded to a call in the early hours of June 19 and allegedly found the room completely dark. When she turned on the light, she allegedly found the patient's 82-year-old roommate unclothed from the waist down with one side rail of the bed down, something she would not be able do on her own.
In the room was a male employee of the nursing home, who was allegedly adjusting his pants and belt, the statement of violation said.
The aide reported the incident and the night nursing supervisor was told, but did not pass that information along to the nursing director for 28 hours, according to the Department of Public Health. In the meantime, the alleged perpetrator had access to residents of the facility during the remainder of his shift, the statement of violation said.
´The failure to follow notification procedures delayed the start of a criminal investigation and an examination by a physician of the resident who may have been assaulted,´ that report said.
According to the Department of Public Health, the alleged perpetrator and the nursing supervisor were fired shortly after the alleged incident.
The entire statement of violation is available online at www.idph.state.il.us/about/nursing_homes_violations04/11.17.04b.pdf
You can reach Kate Clements at (217) 782-2486 or via e-mail at kclements@news-gazette.com.
Writer:
By KATE CLEMENTS
News-Gazette Capitol Bureau Chief