Committee gets update on conditions at LaSalle Veterans home after deadly outbreak
(The Center Square) – Lawmakers continue to gather information regarding the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home.
Thirty-six residents died since the outbreak was discovered in November 2020. Republicans have repeatedly criticized Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s health department for taking more than 10 days to visit the facility after the outbreak was discovered.
The outbreak at LaSalle was first identified on Oct. 31, 2020, when a routine test on a staff member came back positive and a resident who was hospitalized for a separate issue tested positive.
Tony Kolbeck, chief of staff for the state VA department, told the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday that just over half of employees at the homes have received the vaccine.
“IDVA facilities were able to begin vaccinating residents and staff between Christmas and New Years,” Kolbeck said. “To date, 96.9% of the residents and 53% of the staff at the homes have been vaccinated.”
Kolbeck said standardized procedures to prevent another outbreak at one of the state’s facilities are in the draft phase, which concerned state Rep. Lance Yednock.
“If it is in the draft stage, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, I would hope you guys are putting a lot of effort into this so it is not just a draft that we are there and we are ready because I still have concerns we could see another variant of this come right back through,” Yednock said.
Illinois Veterans Affairs officials have admitted that employees who tested positive for the virus continued to work at the home.
The state has released a report stemming from infection control visits at the LaSalle home. The report detailed the findings from a Nov. 12 visit which found a range of issues including improper mask usage, the lack of social distancing by employees, and wall-mounted dispensers filled with alcohol-free hand sanitizer.
Yednock also raised questions about a report of a Halloween parade that went from room-to-room at the home, but Kolbeck said he had no knowledge of the event.
Legislation has been introduced to address the delay in responding to the outbreak. State Sen. Sue Rezin’s bill would require the state departments of Public Health and Veterans’ Affairs to make an on-site visit before the end of the next business day when an outbreak is identified.
Former Democratic Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia resigned in January as head of the Illinois VA on the same day the House committee held a hearing into the matter. The administrator of the LaSalle home was fired a month earlier.
The position of Senior Nursing Home Administrator, who would oversee all the veterans’ homes in Illinois, has been vacant for nearly two years and has yet to be filled.
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