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Illinois should focus on home and community based services more than long-term care institutions, eldercare advocates say.
Elder care advocates are urging state lawmakers to reduce the number of Illinoisans receiving long-term care at nursing homes after a study showing many of Illinois’ early COVID-19 deaths occurred at facilities that were both overcrowded and understaffed.
According to 2017 data reported by the AARP, 10% of residents living in Illinois nursing homes have “low care needs”, which is higher than the 8.9% national average.
Nursing home critics say because a number of facilities struggled to control viral transmissions among residents during the pandemic, the state should prioritize at-home and community-based care services.
Effingham, IL / Effingham Radio
May 6, 2021 12:36 PM
Springfield, IL -(Effingham Radio)- The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) wish to thank nurses in Illinois in recognition of the start of National Nurses Week for their dedication, commitment and selfless service during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently more than 230,000 nurses who hold Illinois licenses.
“Throughout the pandemic nurses have been on the frontlines – in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and doctor’s offices,” said
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “If there is a nurse in your life, whether a family member, friend, or the dedicated person who is caring for you when you need it most, please join me in taking this opportunity to say thank you to all
Supreme Court again will consider mandatory fees to public-employee unions
Supreme Court again will consider mandatory fees to public-employee unionsby wpjljron
Thursday, September 28th, 2017.Supreme Court again will consider mandatory fees to public-employee unionsWith a conservative majority back in place, the Supreme Court on Thursday announced it will once again hear a challenge to the required payment of fees to public-employee unions, an important but controversial tool for the American labor movement. Some public employees say their free-speech rights are violated by the requirement, and conservative legal activists […]
With a conservative majority back in place, the Supreme Court on Thursday announced it will once again hear a challenge to the required payment of fees to public-employee unions, an important but controversial tool for the American labor movement.
UpdatedFri, Apr 30, 2021 at 2:53 pm CT
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Lawmakers expressed they were wary to give money to an industry that profits off of understaffing. (Shutterstock)
CHICAGO A disproportionate number of patients to die in overcrowded nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic were Black or Latino sometimes packed three or four to a room so that facilities could squeeze more funding out of the federal Medicaid insurance program, state officials said this week.
According to a report from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, also known as HFS, nursing homes with more than three residents to a room had a much higher number of preventable deaths than less crowded facilities about 60 percent of COVID-related deaths of nursing home residents between March and July 2020 occurred in homes where at least 10 percent of residents were in rooms with three or more people.
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“Health care is a right, not a privilege, but for too long too many Illinoisans have been denied that right,” the governor said. (Shutterstock)
Saying it expands health equity across Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed the Health Care and Human Services Reform Act into law, but questions about the cost of legislation remain a matter of contention.
It was one of four pillars of equality the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus brought to the governor s desk.
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Pritzker previously signed Illinois Legislative Black Caucus-backed measures, approved during the lame-duck session in January, that address education, criminal justice and policing, and economic equality.