Matters relating to the elderly
Darrell Hoemann
In one central Illinois nursing home, staff allowed a man labeled as an “elopement risk” to leave and wander 38 miles away. In another facility, two employees were caught whispering that one of the employees was having an affair with a female resident’s husband until the resident started crying.
AP
For many, nursing homes seem like the best option for aging family members because facilities offer the promise of 24-hour care. It is a promise, though, that many Champaign County and central Illinois nursing homes are finding hard to keep because of understaffing, particularly when it comes to registered nurses.
Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access
By Lauren Cox/For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- For Frank Bernhart, volunteering has made all the difference. Bernhart, 69, has worked as a volunteer at Stevick Senior…
Les Chatfield/Flickr Creative Commons
By Bailey Bryant, Sony Kassam, Shannon Kelly and Johnathan Hettinger/For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- With 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 each day, the size of the elderly population is getting larger.…
By Joanna Nowak, Natalie Leoni, Carissa Townsend, Gino DiVittorio/ For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- University of Illinois research shows that “one in 12 seniors do not have access to…
By Jack Preis, Ralph Cooper, Sarah Soenke and Taylor Rooks/ For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- According to the Humane Society, 62 percent of American households owned at…
By Joe Moyles, Carl Rosenberg, Charlie Maniates and Rebecca Jacobs / For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- The U.S. Fire Administration said that in 2010, adults 65 years or…
AP
Finding a nursing home or long-term care facility can be challenging. Read advice from advocates and nursing home administrators on what you should look for, recommended websites for comparison and questionnaires to use when looking for a nursing home.
Nursing home care is much different today than it was a decade ago. “Assisted living, supportive living (and) home health options have certainly made a big change within the last 10 years,” said Ben Craft, social services director at Colonial Manor in Danville.
AP
In July 2010, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law two bills that introduced broad reforms for the state’s nursing homes. The laws strengthened the screening process to keep residents with histories of violent crimes separate from vulnerable, elderly residents; instituted tougher quality and staffing requirements; upped fines for violations; increased the number of state inspectors by nearly 50 percent; and added new requirements for quicker reporting of fraud, neglect and abuse, among other changes.