By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined a Bloomington nursing home $25,000 for failing to respond to an exterior door alarm that sounded when a patient with dementia left the building on a cold evening in March.
The department announced the fine Friday against Aperion Care, at 1509 N. Calhoun St., as part of its quarterly report of nursing home violations.
The resident, 49, was said to have poor safety awareness and severe cognitive impairment when she left the building undetected through an emergency exit.
The nursing home’s administrator reportedly told investigators that staffers are supposed to respond to all alarms, but they probably ignored this alarm because they thought residents were going outside for a smoking break.
Department records indicated the patient was subjected to temperatures in the low 40s before her family returned her to the nursing home almost three hours after she left the building without wearing shoes or a coat.
Afterwards, the patient complained her feet hurt because she was walking outside, wearing just stockings on her feet.
The nursing home’s attorney was not immediately available for comment.
The 117-bed skilled care facility is also on a nationwide list of nursing homes with a history of serious quality issues, or if it’s determined that they need to improve their quality of care.
In its latest report issued Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services placed Aperion Care in Bloomington on a list of facilities showing improvement. Its last inspection was in May. The nursing home has been on the Special Focus Facility Program list for 19 months.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
