Articles of Interest

As the name explains, ICBC is an Illinois organization that works in a variety of ways to better the care and quality of life for Illinois nursing home residents.  It is the only statewide organization devoted exclusively to the protection and enhancement of the legal, health care, and human rights of nursing home residents and other long-term care facility residents.  They believe, as do most, that long-term care residents have a right to quality care in humane, compassionate, and dignified settings.  More than that, they act to ensure that this right becomes and remains a reality.

With such a critical and lofty mission at hand, ICBC determined to approach “quality care” from a variety of fronts in an attempt to empower families and patients alike.  By working directly with families, they are providing knowledge where it is needed most immediately and to those who can personally use it to make the most informed decisions possible.  Since 1978, they have been helping families choose a nursing home, shorten or avoid nursing home placement by finding alternative care, improve poor or abusive nursing home care and navigate the waters of Medicare and Medicaid.  The ICBC database aides this work by providing information on services various nursing homes provide, their violation histories and the experiences members have had with those homes.

ICBC also works as an advocate for nursing home residents with Congress, the Illinois legislature and various government agencies.  They worked with the Congressional staff to help prepare recent reports on the quality of Chicago-area nursing homes and they also worked with the Chicago Tribune on its series about the care of chronically mentally ill persons in Illinois nursing homes.

Among their legislative success stories:

• a Chicago ordinance that took effect in 2002, requiring nursing homes housing approximately 1600 people to become air-conditioned
• the strongest state law in the United States restricting the use of physical restraints and psychotropic drugs on nursing home residents
• a gubernatorial veto of a bill that would have allowed the Illinois Department of Public Health to investigate nursing home complaints without visiting the nursing home
• an Illinois law limiting the right of nursing homes to evict residents when their savings run out and they go on Medicaid
• creation of a nursing home residents' rights statement, now in 6 languages, distributed to all Illinois nursing home residents and their families
• protection for residents in the Illinois law regulating "assisted living"
• the first state funding of the Illinois nursing home residents ombudsman (advocate) program

In addition, ICBC has also published a book by Wendy Meltzer entitled, “Smart Care: When a Loved One is in a Nursing Home.”  The book is designed to act as a guide for residents to get the care they need and to which they are legally entitled from the day they first enter the nursing home.  Part One discusses general issues that most people will likely encounter and is set up chronologically with information in the order that you would most likely need it (i.e. what to do before the resident moves in, what to expect on the first day, and potential issues that may arise later.)  Part Two discusses more technical health care-related issues, which includes the use of restraints and psychotropic drugs, preventing falls, malnutrition and dehydration, good skin care and infection control.

ICBC charges nothing for any of their services and they get no government grants to support their work.  However, according to the ICBC, more than 100,000 residents in nearly 1,000 long-term care facilities depend on them to defend their rights and seek ways to improve the quality of their care.  To continue to respond to those needs, ICBC needs your support.  Donating or becoming a member will allow them to continue the essential work they do.
Click here to visit the ICBC website (www.illinoiscares.org) and to get more information on the organization, buy the book, or become a member.

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