Sheltered Care Oversight Committee Established
Published by Al Adomite on April 24th, 2008
By Al
In what has to be the most under-reported stories of the week, Chairman Dunstan appointed a Sheltered Care Oversight Committee. The three person committee has been charged by Chairman Dunstan “to ensure the smooth transition of the home’s 36 residents to facilities where they will receive proper care for their respective illnesses.”
Could anyone have imagined that the election of a doctor to the County Board could be so important? Dr. Chris Wangard, who will chair the committee that includes Edwardsville board members Brenda Roosevelt and Jack Minner, brings great professional experience to the county in this transition. These three board members have to be some of the most no-nonsense and non-political members of the board and will also bring the compassion (that Mark talked earlier about in this post) to the process.
Meanwhile, the United Congregations of the Metro-East will meet Monday to “discuss the next steps,” which the Edwardsville Journal headline describes as a possible effort to keep the home open.
In the category of immediate disagreement, my opinion above about having a pediatrician help oversee the transition for the residents has been described by the lead opponent as “not right”:
[UCM Leader Larry] Evans on Tuesday questioned the arrangement and whether the panel picked by Dunstan, who opposed keeping the program open, will have the best interest of residents in mind.
“It makes me think whether this whole thing is legitimate,” he said.
This is exactly the type of rhetoric that will hurt the future policy-making product of the county board. And exactly the type of rhetoric this blog was created to discuss. There would not have been 16 votes to take the building project to bid if several members had known it would be used against them in this recent vote. Again, the proponents fell 8 votes short of accepting the bids. 8 votes.
And wouldn’t you want a trained medical professional leading the oversight of transitioning these residents? Dunstan even reached across the partisan aisle to create this committee, finding a Republican two Democrats; one proponent, two opponents. I appreciate Sheltered Care Administrator Donna Marrone’s comments:
Marrone, who in the moments after the vote last week criticized the County Board for rejecting the new building plan, said officials are trying to put differences aside to make sure residents are getting the best care.
I’ve never been able to get beyond the fact that Madison County is one of only two counties that offer this service. 100 other counties do not find this a necessary county service.
Filed under County Issues
April 24th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Dunstan and the board made a sound decision for the current and future people needing this type of service. These people will get just as good care, maybe better, certainly no worse. Mr. Evans appears to offer little in the way of facts to support his criticism. What are Mr. Evans motives? Who would have Mr. Evans put on the commission? Don’t you wonder why the newspaper reporter didn’t ask that question of Evans?
April 27th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Can anyone explain why the county went to all the work and expense of bidding this project and then caned it. I agree with the vote to find other means for care but just wonder why $482.000.00 they changed course.