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* Hannah Meisel…
Beth Ouimet thought she had lucked out in the summer of 2019 when her father got a placement in the state-run LaSalle Veterans’ Home after an episode of PTSD made it clear that living on his own wasn’t an option for the immediate future.
And even after COVID-19 hit Illinois and locked down the facility, Ouimet still was grateful her dad was there.
“I actually thought I was saving his life by keeping him at LaSalle,” Ouimet said.
But this past fall, the LaSalle Veterans’ Home became the site of one of the largest COVID outbreaks in any congregate care facility in Illinois. In the months that followed, multiple third-party inquiries into what went wrong at the LaSalle home found damning evidence of lapses in responsibility. High-level personnel were fired or forced to resign. Gov. JB Pritzker has promised changes at the facility and the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.
None of it will bring back Ouimet’s father, a Navy veteran who served as a chief petty officer and hospital corpsman during the Vietnam War.
On Jan. 1, George Ouimet died at age 83 after battling COVID all of November and December. He was the last of 36 LaSalle residents who died after being diagnosed with the virus — more than a quarter of the facility’s population.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 1:51 pm
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What an incredibly sad and moving story. Rest in peace Sailor! Your life included the sacrifice of time you protected us. You deserve your paradise now. Peace to your family. The system came up short for you and for them. We simply have to do better. Like you did.
Comment by A Guy Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 2:43 pm
this is a tragically great story that puts a human face and voice on the what’s happened there.
Comment by Third Reading Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 2:58 pm
Truly heartbreaking to read, the tragedy of these deaths, these stories must be told as not to let any of what hspirged be forgotten.
Thanks for posting this.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 3:02 pm
Terrible situation at that facility. Some of the higher-ups were inept, didn’t take Covid-19 seriously or just did not care.
Comment by DuPage Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 3:07 pm
Once I started reading the story about Chief Petty Officer and Hospital Corpsman Ouimet I just could not put it down.
We owe this sailor and his family so much and words can not describe how we all should feel about the way they were treated.
Glad we have writers like Ms. Meisel.
Thanks to the author for covering this veteran and his family.
Comment by Back to the Future Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 4:32 pm
Our State facilities failed our Veterans and all seniors. We must learn from it and never repeat these mistakes once another disease outbreak occurs.
I am lucking that when Covid hit my senior parent was with me and still is. I kept him safe because I can manage my life and his at this point.
But we as a society must do a better job of taking care of seniors in their homes or homes of family to delay the need of a facility care. My goal will be to keep my senior parent at home and if a facility is needed. I will remove him should a Covid hit again.
Comment by Odd man out Tuesday, May 25, 21 @ 6:31 pm