SOUTHERN ILLINOIS – State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) says for the past several years she has been a “loud voice” when it comes to our state taking care of our developmentally disabled community.
Bryant, who serves as the minority spokesperson for the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee, says it’s the state duty to ensure that all of our facilities that serve this vulnerable community, whether state-run or state approved, provide the best possible care.
Bryant says the sad reality is that Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration has failed in that duty and mentioned the situation addressed earlier this year regarding reports of abuse and other lingering issues at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna.
Regarding Choate, Bryant says the administration chose to take the easy way out and announced residents would be moved to other facilities across the state instead doing the hard and necessary work required to fix the problems.
Bryant says after being alerted about the latest ProPublica report about abuse that unfortunately occurred within the state’s other facilities, she is extremely nervous to see what this administration’s response will be.
Bryant says legislative hearings need to be held to get answers they’re seeking. She says they have asked for and demanded hearings in the past, but they haven’t happened.
State Rep. Dave Severin says after news broke by ProPublica in February regarding resident abuse at Choate, he and his colleagues held a news conference calling for joint committee hearings of the House and Senate Human Services and Human Services Appropriate Committee, the House Mental Health and Addiction Committee along with the Senate’s Behavioral and Mental Health Committee.
Severin says with ProPublica’s latest report detailing cases of abuse at other developmentally disabled state-run facilities, House and Senate Democrats and the officials at the Illinois Department of Human Services and the governor’s staff must be held accountable for these failures.
Severin is calling for joint committee hearings to be held now and not in the future in order to get their questions answered on the record for the media and the public to see and hear.
Regarding the staff at Choate, Severin says there are many there who have been there for several years and decades that take their job very seriously, who are very experienced and doing a great job, and are concerned about what’s going on.
Governor Pritzker announced earlier this year that Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center will undergo a three-year transformation that will effectively repurpose Choate while implementing new safety enhancements and expand support for families and the residents living there.
Last month, the governor signed a bill into law designed to strengthen penalties for health care employees who conspire to hide abuse or interfere with investigations into abuse or neglect allegations.
The legislation was introduced following an investigative series by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica into rampant abuses and cover-ups at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center.
Comments from Bryant and Severin were made during a Zoom press conference Wednesday.