Fw: Arc and Alden North Cited in Another Death

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Ellen Garber Bronfeld

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Arc and Alden North Cited in Another Death

The Arc of Illinois

January 11, 2011

Leaders in The Arc:

Alden North is once again cited in the death of a 14 month-old girl in July! Why

this facility remains open and why do we continue to place children in nursing

homes is beyond me!

I continue to meet with the Governors staff about on these reform issues but we

already know there are alternatives to nursing home for children. We need to

invest in community systems and close institutions like Alden North!

We need you to continue with your calls.

Here is an 800 number from the Responsible Budget Coalition you can use to

connect with legislators in their Springfield offices: 800/664-9903.

Your message:

Pass the tax increase and do it now!

Keep your calls to the Capitol coming!!!

Tony auski

The Arc of Illinois

815-464-1832

Center cited in 14th death

By Sam Roe and S. Hopkins, Tribune reporters Tribune staff reporter

10:00 a.m. CST, January 11, 2011

State regulators have cited a troubled Chicago facility for disabled children in

yet another death, this one involving a 14-month-old girl.

Authorities concluded that staff at Alden Village North waited two days to

contact the girl's doctor when test results in July showed signs of a serious

infection. After the doctor was reached, the girl was sent to a hospital, where

she died within hours.

Regulators also cited Alden for 21 additional violations, including failing to

investigate allegations of neglect and not taking children on outings for months

at a time problems that have plagued the facility in the past.

Alden has been under fire since October, when a Tribune investigation revealed a

high number of deaths at the home and the worst safety record in Illinois for

facilities of its kind. The girl's death brings to 14 the number of children and

young adults who have died at the home since 2000 in cases that resulted in

state citations.

The Illinois Department of Public Health finished investigating the girl's death

last week, an agency spokeswoman said. About 90 people live at the North Side

facility, most of them children and young adults with severe or profound

cognitive impairment.

" We care for a very fragile patient population who suffer from very serious

medical conditions, " Alden Management Services, which oversees the facility,

said in a statement Monday. " Our residents are like family to us and we grieve

whenever one of them passes. We continually evaluate the care that we provide to

all of our patients to see if there are areas for improvement. "

State inspection records show that the 14-month-old girl, whose identity was not

disclosed, suffered from heart ailments and a seizure disorder. On the morning

of July 3, test results showed she had " heavy growth " of MRSA, or

methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a kind of staph bacterium that is

resistant to some antibiotics. Yet her doctor was not notified until the evening

of July 5.

The girl arrived at a hospital with a temperature of 105.4 degrees and a pulse

of 180. She died the next day of septic shock, a drop in blood pressure brought

on by infection.

While investigating the girl's death, state inspectors learned that another

Alden Village North resident, a 14-year-old boy with profound mental

disabilities, was also sent to the hospital in July after a lengthy delay.

Records show that after the boy began breathing rapidly, Alden staff paged his

doctor six times over 19 hours before the physician responded. In citing the

facility, regulators concluded that the home should have contacted its medical

director instead of waiting for the doctor to respond.

The teenager died two months later, but records do not state whether the delayed

trip to the hospital was a factor.

Though inspection records do not name the boy, his stepfather, Noe,

contacted the Tribune and identified him as Pruitt. Both the stepfather

and the boy's mother, Shirley Noe, told the newspaper they think a lack of care

at Alden hastened 's death.

" The bottom line is I think they were inattentive to him, " Noe said.

Shirley Noe, of downstate Wood River, said she was planning to visit her son the

weekend he died. " He had the prettiest smile, " she said. " If he could laugh out

loud, he would. "

Last month, Floyd Schlossberg, president of Alden Management Services and

operator of the Alden nursing home chain, said in an interview that Alden

Village North had improved since he acquired it in 2008.

But eight of the 14 deaths resulting in citations have occurred since he took

over.

And the 21 violations found in the public health department's most recent annual

inspection of the facility are double the number typically found before

Schlossberg became its operator. From 2005 to 2007, nine violations were found

on average during annual checks. Since Schlossberg took over, the average has

been 25.

Alden Management Services said in its statement that the most recent annual

inspection " showed that we continue to improve the care that we provide at Alden

Village North. We will evaluate each finding and look for ways to improve. "

The latest annual review took place in December, though some violations involved

incidents that occurred months earlier. Inspectors frequently spot older

violations when reviewing patient records.

One citation was for not thoroughly investigating two allegations of abuse and

two allegations of neglect.

The guardian of a 14-year-old blind girl alleged in November that the child had

such poor hygiene that she had to be bathed at school. Yet the facility did not

follow up, the inspection report states.

In another case, a 19-year-old resident who breathed with the aid of a

ventilator complained to staffers in February that " he was dropped on the floor

on his back. " Again, the allegation wasn't fully investigated, inspectors wrote.

The teen died the following month, though inspection records do not state the

cause.

Inspectors also checked the files of 10 residents and found that the facility

rarely took any of them on outings. One 11-year-old boy with profound mental

disabilities had been to a park once in June and once in July but nowhere else

for the next five months.

The facility now has been cited six times in the last three years for not

providing enough activities or outings.

Bob Molitor, chief operating officer of the Alden chain, said in an interview in

December that the facility had recently stepped up activities, including trips

to the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum.

Asked to explain the most recent violation, Alden did not respond.

Other violations in the latest inspection included nurses making or about to

make mistakes while administering medicine to several children, the facility not

fixing two residents' wheelchairs and staffers allowing two residents to develop

bedsores, a painful condition that can occur when immobile patients are not

frequently repositioned.

Meanwhile, in a separate regulatory action, state monitors have been visiting

the facility several times a week since October, when Gov. Pat Quinn ordered the

additional scrutiny in response to the Tribune articles.

The two monitors a registered nurse and a licensed social worker contracted by

the state spend much of their time observing interactions between residents and

staff. According to their reports, copies of which were obtained by the Tribune,

the monitors have not observed any serious problems.

But they have noted an unusual number of Alden corporate officials at the

facility, with one monitor writing: " I wonder how the facility operates when

staff from corporate are not present. "

In fact, on the day monitoring began, Molitor greeted the monitor at the

facility. According to the monitor's report, Molitor said there was no " legal

reason " for monitoring because the home was in compliance with the rules.

Nonetheless, he said, the facility would cooperate. " He also mentioned, " the

monitor wrote, " that he 'knows the governor.' "

In an interview with the Tribune, Molitor said he recalled greeting the monitor

but not making those comments. He said he did not know the governor.

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