Hope Creek has been cited for two separate incidents that they failed to report, as found by a survey done by the Illinois Department of Health and Human Services (IDPH) on March 6, 2014.
One incident that occurred on February 9th, 2014, involved a resident complaining about a staff member who was too rough with them during their morning care.
According to the survey, the resident said the staff member knew they were too rough because they cried while the staff member was assisting them. That report was not investigated until Hope Creek was surveyed on March 9th.
The second incident occurred on February 23, 2014 when a resident was sent to the emergency room for medical complications.
Upon arrival, an ER nurse noticed evidence of sexual abuse. The nurse reported their findings to Hope Creek immediately, but the nursing home did not investigate until the following day, on February 24, 2014.
After investigating, Hope Creek found that the patient was not sexually abused, but they were handled too roughly by nurses.
Hope Creek failed to report anything about the incident until February 27.
Board member Ron Oelke said his main concern was that these findings were posted on IDPH's website before the board ever knew about them.
"The surveys did reviews at our facility and made determinations based on their interviews. We now have an opportunity to dispute the findings of the surveys and that's what they've chosen to do," Oelke said.
Oelke also noted he still thinks Hope Creek is a safe place for residents.
So far no fines have been levied against Hope Creek pending further investigation by the IDPH. Hope Creek's policies and procedures have been revised to stress the importance of reporting cases of abuse immediately and staff members are receiving extra training.
The complaint filed by the IDPH can be found at http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6006761FA03062014.PDF.