Champaign County Nursing Home Woes
Published by Al Adomite on June 6th, 2008
Thanks to Gord, er, IlliniPundit for pointing out this interesting tidbit from the Champaign News-Gazette about the only other County-funded nursing facility in the state:
[A] $592,000 loan was approved by a voice vote at Thursday night’s committee meeting. Two Republican board members, Brad Jones of Champaign, the vice chair of the committee, and Chris Doenitz of Mahomet asked that their “no” votes be recorded.
The original plan was to lend the facility $460,000, but committee members decided to transfer a greater sum to avoid having to do the same thing in just a few months.
Even majority Democrats showed signs of bucking future loans to the nursing home.
Meanwhile, this letter caught my eye in the News-Democrat:
Madison County Board member Dr. Hal Patton has spent countless hours supporting the residents of the Madison County Shelter Care Home. He has not been afraid to stand up to County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan and Christopher Wangard.
He is a bright young man who has researched the financial facts about the cost of caring for the residents.[...]
If one has doubts about the politics of this situation, one could ask these questions. Why did Dunstan appoint Wangard, a Republican, to the transition team? Wangard is very much opposed to keeping the home. Dunstan appointed only one person, Brenda Roosevelt, who is in favor of keeping the home, and she is a new board member. All of the members on the transition team should be people who have extensive knowledge about the home, and that team should be led by Patton.
Ouch! Talk about knocking bipartisanship. 22 board members voted to shut down the sheltered care home. Personally, I find that Patton, Wangard and Roosevelt all resemble the terms “bright and young.” I wonder if the letter writer has actually ever talked with ALL three of the board members referenced?
Filed under County Issues
June 6th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Let’s be real. County government should NOT be in this type of business. In the end, everyone will be taken care of and appropriately placed in the care of private nursing homes. You can be sure that Madison County will make any and all commendations in getting this done appropriately.
I feel bad for the employees and current residents that are involved. But in the end, there are plenty of jobs that pay just as well and plenty of private facilities that can more than take care of the residents.
It’s just not good business on behalf of the County.