Your Legislators

Your representatives in Springfield have a lot to say about how well laws regulating nursing homes are enforced.  They also decide if better laws are needed.  These are the people nursing home owners complain to when the Department of Public Health cites a home for serious violations, and tries to collect a large fine.  They are the people who may call Public Health to express their “concern” that a nursing home is being treated unfairly.  That is the only side of the story most legislators ever hear. 

In 2010 and 2011, Illinois took passed new laws that took meaningful steps toward nursing home reform.  Almost as soon as the first reform law was passed, the nursing home industry began making efforts to weaken it.  ICBC and our allies were[mostly] successful in defeating those efforts, but we have no illusions that they will not continue.

Legislators need to hear from the citizens of their districts who want and need better nursing home care, not just from nursing homes that want to be left alone in doing business as usual.  They need to know if the laws now in place are not enough, or if they are not being enforced. If you have a complaint about bad nursing home care, you should call your state senator and state representative to tell them what is going on.  You should call them again once you get the results of the Public Health investigation, to let them know if you are satisfied, or that the resident you care about still needs help.

You can find the names and contact information for your legislators here.