Families of patients at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, along with workers and community leaders, reacted with concern after the state鈥檚 announcement this week that it plans to relocate more than 120 residents from the troubled state-run facility in southern Illinois.
Rita Burke, whose 53-year-old son has lived at Choate for more than 30 years, said Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace Hou and two other senior state officials called her on Saturday evening to inform her of their plans.
Burke said she was shocked because Ryan Croke, a senior official in Gov. J.B. Pritzker鈥檚 office who was on the call, had previously given her assurances that Choate would not close, and never suggested that large numbers of residents would be forced to leave, she said.
鈥淲e are devastated and so disappointed. It seems to us that DHS and the governor鈥檚 office are pushing our loved ones out of their homes of many, many years,鈥� said Burke, who is also president of the Friends of Choate parents association. (Asked about Croke鈥檚 prior characterization of the administration鈥檚 plans, a spokesperson for the governor鈥檚 office reiterated that Choate is 鈥渘ot closing鈥� and said it expects to continue a 鈥減roductive relationship鈥� with families and guardians during the transition.)
She moved to southern Illinois from Georgia with her husband and other children in 1990 because her son was unable to access adequate adult disability services in their home state. Now, she鈥檚 again left wondering about the future of his care.
For people like her son, changes in routine can be extremely disruptive and affect their ability to function, she said. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 be moved like puzzle pieces,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e human beings. I think we need to put the 鈥榟uman鈥� back into the Department of Human Services.鈥�
Burke, a former chair of an IDHS board that reviews internal abuse and neglect investigative reports, said she visits the facility often and maintains that it is safe.
In 2017, a Choate employee punched her son so hard that it broke two of his ribs. But Burke said the fact that the employee was swiftly arrested and charged, and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, showed that the oversight system worked. The employee was fired and barred from working in a health care setting.
In interviews with reporters in advance of Wednesday鈥檚 announcement, Pritzker and Hou stressed that they are not closing Choate, instead billing the change as a 鈥渞epurposing and restructuring鈥� of the facility that opened in rural Anna near the Missouri border in 1873.
In addition to immediate plans to begin the process of moving 123 residents out, the state will work with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to determine a plan for another 112 individuals who live in 鈥渟peciality鈥� units. The state expects to keep a 49-bed psychiatric hospital on the grounds open, and may expand it, Hou said.
Pritzker and Hou were not specific about where residents would go, other than to say they鈥檇 have the option to move into other state-operated developmental centers or community settings.
Hou and Pritzker said the changes reflect the administration鈥檚 desire to reduce the population at its state-operated centers and invest more heavily in community living options. The changes, they said, were also spurred in part by reporting on egregious cases of abuse, neglect and attempts to cover up mistreatment by staff. Those revelations were brought to light by an ongoing news investigation by Lee Enterprises, Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica.
Terri Bryant, a Republican from Murphysboro whose district neighbors Choate, said she believed the Pritzker administration鈥檚 plan is shortsighted and lacking in concrete details. In a call with reporters on Wednesday, she accused the governor of taking the 鈥渓azy-man鈥檚 route鈥� to fixing safety and workforce issues raised in news reports.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e wrapped this in a pretty red ribbon so the locals don鈥檛 throw a fight about closure when in reality they鈥檙e moving the most vulnerable members of our society two hours away, at a minimum,鈥� Bryant said.
During a Wednesday news conference, Pritzker told reporters IDHS was making reforms to ensure patient safety, but 鈥渢his is something that you can鈥檛 snap your fingers and fix.鈥�
In time, Pritzker said, it became clear that efforts to change the conditions at Choate weren鈥檛 enough.
鈥淲e are at a point today where all of those things weren鈥檛 working to the degree we wanted them to, so today we are making transformational changes,鈥� he said.
Other southern Illinois lawmakers are taking a wait-and-see approach. Rep. Paul Jacobs, a Republican from Pomona, a small town 15 miles north of Anna, said his primary worry was that the governor would seek a full closure of the facility. Jacobs and Bryant joined their 57 GOP colleagues in the House and Senate in calling for legislative hearings on Choate late last month. At the time, he and others demanded that IDHS take steps to fix issues while ensuring that the facility remained open.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e come up with a plan that will transform it, and I think it might be a good plan,鈥� Jacobs said.
Likewise, Sen. Julie Morrison, a Democrat from upstate Lake Forest who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, called it a 鈥済ood start.鈥� She added that it is 鈥渧ital immediate action is taken to double down on safety precautions鈥� at the same time people are transitioning out of the facility.
Advocates for people with disabilities applauded the governor鈥檚 decision.
Stacey Aschemann, a vice president with Equip for Equality, a legal aid organization that is appointed to monitor conditions at Choate, said the organization is 鈥渢hrilled鈥� that the majority of residents with developmental disabilities will no longer live there. But she said she is concerned about the safety of people who will remain there in units kept open or while awaiting a transition.
鈥淢any of the recent news stories are about incidents that happened a year or more ago,鈥� Aschemann said. 鈥淏ased on our recent monitoring, we can say without a doubt that these continue to be ongoing issues.鈥�
Union groups expressed alarm about what the decision means for workers. Pritzker told reporters on Tuesday that no layoffs are included in the plan.
But AFSCME Council 31 President Roberta Lynch, whose union represents many of the rank-and-file Choate employees, said in a statement that the union is 鈥渆xtremely concerned鈥� about the fate of Choate residents and employees.
Rick Loza, a specialist with the Illinois Nurses Association which represents nurses employed by IDHS and at Choate, said in an interview that 鈥渁 few bad apples鈥� were to blame for the abuse cases at Choate that have drawn headlines. The union on Wednesday filed a 鈥渄emand to negotiate鈥� with the administration based on concerns about future job losses, Loza said.
Local elected officials in and near Anna also were critical of the plan.
鈥淚 am encouraged that the closure rumors had been put to rest, but I remain concerned about the future of the facility,鈥� said Union County Board Chairman Max Miller.
The stories of abuse and neglect detailed in the news accounts weren鈥檛 a surprise to him, Miller said. He blamed the abuse on employees from outside of Union County.
鈥淭here are so many people working there now that aren鈥檛 local. That job is just a paycheck to them,鈥� Miller said.
Anna Mayor Steve Hartline, the former chief of security at Choate for 20 years, declined to comment.
Some with close ties to Choate said they didn鈥檛 think the governor鈥檚 plan goes far enough to keep residents safe.
Lutrice Williams, who lived at Choate for about four years until her discharge in 2020, said she was abused during her time there and didn鈥檛 get the level of care she needed. In February, an employee pleaded guilty to whipping her repeatedly with a belt in 2020.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not happening in just one unit,鈥� she said of the abuse of patients. 鈥淵ou know the saying, 鈥榥o child left behind鈥� 鈥� if you go, we all go. That鈥檚 how it should be.鈥�
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide, as well as hundreds of radio and TV stations. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
