Inclusion Daily Express -- Lincoln Developmental Center: Illinois Governor Strives To Return To The Past

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Lincoln Developmental Center -- Illinois Governor Strives To Return To The Past

"The mindset here in Illinois of the institutionalization greatly concerns me."
--Gwen Gillenwater, who heads up Illinois' Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, talking about plans to re-open Lincoln Developmental Center, an institution that was closed in 2002 amid allegations of abuse and neglect of its residents (August 8, 2003)

2008
Feb. 22: Good News For Now: No LDC Funding In Governor's Budget
2007
Sept. 11: Governor's Office Tells Advocates Lincoln Estates Will Never Open As Developmental Center
July 26: Community Advocates Protest Plan To Open Facilities On LDC Campus
2006
Sept. 22: Illinois Begins Year-Long Study On Institutions
May 16: Blagojevich Shows Signs Of Dropping LDC Plan
May 10: Opening Of 'Lincoln Estates' Postponed
March 30: Community Advocates Asks Feds To Deny Funds For "Lincoln Estates" Plan
2004
Oct. 22: Board Approves Large 'Group Homes' On LDC Grounds
May 21: LDC Parents Balk At Smaller Homes On Former Institution Campus
2003
October 16: Panel Votes To Reopen LDC
September 18: Families To Be Surveyed About Moves Back To LDC
August 22: Blagojevich Bucking All To Get Institution Reopened
August 13: Lawmaker Says Governor Should Just Admit Institutions Will Stay Closed
August 11: Lincoln Developmental Center Not Likely To Reopen For Nearly Another Year (WBBM)
August 8: Lincoln Developmental Center To Re-Open And Boost Local Employment
May 7: DHS chief sees 'new' LDC (Lincoln Courier)
2001
November 16: Closure, Not Reform, Needed To Ensure Safety Of Residents Say Advocates
October 30: Problems Lead To Transfers, But Not Closure

Related:
Old picture of the Illinois Institute for the Feeble-Minded, former name of Lincoln Developmental Center:http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/lincoln_il/index.html

Problems Lead To Transfers, But Not Closure
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
October 30, 2001

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS--The state of Illinois is taking actions to save Lincoln Developmental Center, an institution housing 370 people with developmental disabilities, despite recent federal and state inspections that have revealed unsafe conditions at the facility.

According to a story in Sunday's Herald & Review, the inspections found extensive problems, including that Lincoln officials failed to properly investigate and follow up on reports of residents' injuries. Surveyors found that the institution staff needed to improve their interactions with residents, perform required assessments, and provide individualized activities to help each resident to reach their potential.

The citations put the facility in jeopardy of losing federal funding. If that were to happen, the institution would be forced to close because federal money pays for about one half of the budget.

Governor George H. Ryan ordered immediate corrective action, to include strengthening investigations of abuse and neglect, installing a new four-member management team and negotiating labor contracts to allow easier movement of staff.

Ryan also ordered the facility to transfer 90 of the institution's residents to other state-operated institutions to improve staff-resident ratios.

Linda Renee Baker, the secretary of the state's Human Services Department, told a legislative committee this month that the goal was "to keep Lincoln viable and to make sure the people living there are safe."

Nearly 100 parents, family members and guardians of Lincoln residents met on Friday with about 10 legislators to plead for keeping the institution open.

Also last week a group of community advocates met at the state Capitol to call for the closure of Lincoln Developmental Center. They pointed out that the history of problems at the institution go back more than 20 years.

"Enough is enough," said John Eckert, director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois and chair of the Consortium of Illinois Disability Advocates.

Matt Abramson, director of the Coalition of Citizens With Disabilities in Illinois, said politicians and others in Lincoln are more concerned about the loss of 698 jobs than improving the lives of center residents.

Lincoln Developmental Center is one of 11 state-run facilities in Illinois that house a total of 3,100 people with developmental disabilities.

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Closure, Not Reform, Needed To Ensure Safety Of Residents Say Advocates
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
November 16, 2001

LINCOLN, ILLINOIS--An advocacy agency is calling for the permanent closure of Lincoln Developmental Center following an investigation that revealed more than a decade of horror stories of residents' "pain and suffering, loss of individual rights, endangered health, numerous hospitalizations and documented deaths".

Lincoln Developmental Center is a 124-year-old institution that currently houses 370 people with developmental disabilities. The facility has been on notice to improve conditions or lose federal funding which amounts to about one half of its $35 million annual budget. At the direction of Governor George Ryan, the Illinois Department of Human Services is attempting to keep the facility open by instituting reform measures.

Equip for Equality, the state's Protection and Advocacy System, discovered 8 documented incidents of gross abuse and neglect which resulted in death and near death in the past year. Despite officials' promises to improve safety conditions, Equip for Equality staff determined during unannounced visits last month that Lincoln residents remain at substantial risk of serious harm.

"We are recommending that the state shift its focus from saving Lincoln to facilitating a well-planned and orderly transition of residents to community integrated living arrangements (CILAs) or to other facilities based on individual preferences and needs," said Zena Naiditch, President and CEO of Equip for Equality in a press release. "What is clear, however, is that Band-Aid improvements are not going to remedy the deep-seated problems that have plagued Lincoln for so many years."

"Gov. Ryan, the legislature and the public need to focus on the tragedy and despair inside Lincoln," Naiditch added.

"We should not be supporting a facility where people are neglected and continue to be at risk of serious harm."

More details are available from this Equip for Equality web page:
http://www.equipforequality.org/pressrelease.html

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Lincoln Developmental Center To Re-Open And Boost Local Employment
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 8, 2003

LINCOLN, ILLINOIS--A year ago, then-Governor George Ryan oversaw the closure of Lincoln Developmental Center, after a state advocacy agency discovered more than a decade of horror stories of residents' "pain and suffering, loss of individual rights, endangered health, numerous hospitalizations and documented deaths."

But Illinois has a new governor with an old way of looking at institutions housing people with developmental disabilities-- as a means to provide jobs for unemployed state workers.

Governor Rod Blagojevich has a 30-member task force charged with reopening the boarded-up, 126-year-old facility and moving people back in. His current budget includes $7 million to remodel part of the vacant facility, and another $5 million for operating expenses this fiscal year.

LDC, which operated with a $35 million budget and employed 600 workers, was one of the largest employers in Logan County before it closed last August. Nearly 200 of those employees are still out of work, and the county and nearby towns are struggling financially.

"We hope that everything comes to fruition very soon," Beth Davis, mayor of the town of Lincoln, told the Lincoln Courier.

State Senator Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, said "It's imperative that we open up the employment opportunity within a year."

State officials had hoped to open the aged facility on the first of January, 2004. But questions regarding the power plant that services the 14 buildings on the 10-acre campus have delayed opening until at least next spring or summer.

Re-opening an institution goes against national and international trends and worries disability rights advocates.

"When I first went by Lincoln Developmental Center, I thought 'Oh my God, horror movies,'" said Gwen Gillenwater, who heads up Illinois' Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. "The mindset here in Illinois of the institutionalization greatly concerns me."

Related article:
"State pushes back LDC's reopening" (Lincoln Courier)
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/03/08/06/b.asp

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Lawmaker Says Governor Should Just Admit Institutions Will Stay Closed
August 13, 2003

PEORIA, ILLINOIS--The following four paragraphs are excerpts from a brief item in Wednesday's Peoria Journal Star:

Peoria Congressman Ray LaHood believes Gov. Rod Blagojevich will break his campaign pledges to reopen Zeller Mental Health Center in Peoria and Lincoln Developmental Center.

"He's made promises to people in Peoria and Lincoln that he's going to open up facilities, and I think it's wrong to hold out promises to people when you know you're not going to do these things," LaHood said Tuesday.

LaHood, a Republican whose 18th Congressional District includes Peoria, Lincoln and part of Springfield, said he believes officials in the Democratic governor's administration know the two facilities will remain shuttered.

"I think they just ought to come out and say it, so people can move on," LaHood said. "You've got people living in Lincoln and in Peoria, holding out hope that these facilities are going to reopen, that their jobs are going to be back there again."

Entire article:
"LaHood: Governor should come clean on Zeller and LDC" (Peoria Journal Star)
http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/g127705a.html

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Blagojevich Bucking All To Get Institution Reopened
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 22, 2003

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS--You might call Governor Rod Blagojevich a maverick.

The newly-elected governor wants to go against the decision of his predecessor, George Ryan; the 30-plus year trend toward de-institutionalization; the U.S. Supreme Court; the Americans with Disabilities Act; a state legal advocacy group; his state's budget minders; and even time itself.

Yes, Blagojevich wants to reopen Lincoln Developmental Center, a state-run institution that housed 250 people with developmental disabilities until shortly before Ryan had it closed last August. Ryan's order to close the facility came after pressure from federal officials and after a state advocacy agency discovered more than a decade of horror stories of residents' "pain and suffering, loss of individual rights, endangered health, numerous hospitalizations and documented deaths".

Ryan's decision also came a couple of years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unnecessarily institutionalizing people with disabilities is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But Blagojevich won the governorship partly on a campaign pledge to reopen LDC and another institution -- to turn back to the "good ole' days" of segregated, institutional housing, and, of course, to provide jobs for hundreds of state employees who were laid-off last year when the facility closed.

Now, the committee charged with reopening LDC is saying he is about $5 million short of being able to make good on his campaign promise.

Never fear, jobless ones.

". . . If they need it they will find it," Sheila Romano, executive director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, told the Lincoln Courier.

Related article:
"$5 million for LDC is missing in budget' (Lincoln Courier)
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/03/08/21/b.asp

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Families To Be Surveyed About Moves Back To LDC
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 18, 2003

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS--The state of Illinois will begin mailing questionnaires to parents and guardians of hundreds of people who left Lincoln Developmental Center last year -- to see if they want to move their family members back, the Lincoln Courier reported Wednesday.

State officials doubt if many will want to go back, but are following through as ordered by the state's new governor, Rod Blagojevich.

"We do not anticipate a lot of interest in large numbers of residents returning," said Tom Green, a spokesman with the Illinois Department of Human Services. "A lot of people who left there are happy where they are."

The institution, which two years ago housed 372 people with developmental disabilities, was closed last fall after federal and state inspections had revealed unsafe conditions at the facility. Community advocates noted that the problems were not new, but had been going on for more than two decades. The governor at the time, George H. Ryan, ordered the 126-year-old facility to be shuttered and the residents moved to other institutions, nursing homes or group homes across Illinois.

Gov. Blagojevich bucked the international trend toward de-institutionalization by promising during his campaign that he would reopen the institution. Blagojevich wants LDC opened by next spring, perhaps with "group homes" built on the 10-acre campus along with current nursing-home-style facilities. His budget calls for spending $7 million to renovate the aging facility, but money to operate it has not been specified.

The people that seem most interested in a return to LDC are the institution's 200 former employees that have not found jobs since the facility was boarded up. They want to see the massive power plant that heats the campus' 30-buildings be fired up immediately since it takes 60 days to fully come online. They also want existing buildings to be opened up right away so they can get back to work.

Related article:
"LDC residents return? State will survey parents" (Lincoln Courier)
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/03/09/17/a.asp

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