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[Bumped up to Wednesday for visibility.]
* Uh-oh…
Newly disclosed records from the office of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner document a pattern by the state of slow-walking and soft-pedaling bad news about deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run home for war veterans in downstate Quincy.
That pattern began with Rauner’s office early on putting a kibosh on informing the public about a 2015 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that killed a dozen residents at the veterans’ home, state records show.
* Remember our Quincy timeline? I’ve added the new information from today’s WBEZ report and highlighted them for you…
July 24: Earliest known case of Legionnaires’ disease at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy, according to a report issued later by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
August 21: Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Erica Jeffries later claims that on this date, her department “shut down the water, we removed aerators from all the showers, we shut down our fountains, we started issuing bottled water” because of the outbreak.
August 21: Illinois Veterans’ Home resident Melvin Tucker develops a fever. He is given Tylenol.
August 23: Illinois Department of Public Health notifies CDC of “five laboratory-confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease among residents and staff.”
August 24: Adams County Health Department Director of Clinical and Environmental Services Shay Drummond claims this is the date when “environmental control and mediation” actually starts
August 24: In an email, a state Veterans’ Affairs spokesman alerted the governor’s press staff about the Legionnaires’ test results, saying, “We have a situation at the Quincy home.” The spokesman went on to say he did not intend to publicize details of the test results that day unless “directed or in the case of wide media interest.”
August 25: Rauner does Springfield media event with Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries at Springfield airport.
Aug. 25: Rauner’s press secretary at the time, Lindsay Walters, directed press aides in the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and Illinois Department of Public Health not to issue a public statement about the growing Legionnaires’ threat at the home, documents show. “I do not think we need to issue a statement to the media. Let’s hold and see if we receive any reporter inquiries,” she said.
Aug. 26: There are now 28 Legionnaires’ disease onsets, the CDC reports later.
August 26: Three days after CDC was first notified of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, and 2-4 days after remediation efforts began, Gerald Kuhn, 90, is given Tylenol for a fever that reaches 104 degrees. Kuhn asks to go to the hospital and tests positive there for Legionella.
August 26: Last day Dolores French is seen alive. Her military veteran husband lives in another section of the complex.
August 27: “The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced eight confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in residents at the Illinois Veterans’ Home - Quincy. There have been no known deaths related to this outbreak.”
August 27: After six days with a fever, Melvin Tucker is still not on any kind of antibiotic and hasn’t yet been tested for Legionnaires’, despite the CDC being notified four days earlier of an outbreak and the state announcing eight confirmed cases that same day.
August 28: “Two residents of an Illinois veterans home have died of Legionnaires’ disease, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday…. [both] had underlying medical conditions. Both were among 23 residents of the facility who had earlier been diagnosed with the disease.”
August 29: Dolores French is found dead and her body was decomposed. Her only underlying medical condition was deafness.
* OK, let’s get to more new stuff. Fast-forward to 2016, when the veterans home was hit yet again with another outbreak of five Legionnaires’ cases…
Spring/Summer: Between April and June 2016, testing within the home’s water system found the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ between 42 percent and 90 percent of the time, state records show.
September: [Quincy home administrator Troy Culbertson] said no one is hiding information. He explained that we have a big responsibility. What we say and how we say it is very important. There is a responsibility to public safety, to economic development in the Quincy area and tourism.
* Let’s move now to new information from 2017…
Cases emerged in March, May and September of [2017], but there was no public acknowledgement of those cases by the state until WBEZ pressed the question last December.
* And then in October of 2017 the home was hit by two more cases, and one was fatal…
No written press release was issued about the two October cases, though a draft press release circulated to the Adams County Health Department alluded to the undisclosed cases earlier in the year, records show. That release never was made public.
Instead, the state initially called media outlets only in Quincy to report just the two October cases. That outreach didn’t happen until about four days after the second positive case that month, records show.
*** UPDATE *** The Pritzker campaign responded last night and I just saw it now…
“We’ve long known that Bruce Rauner fatally mismanaged the Quincy Veterans’ Home, but now we’re presented with the shameful truth that the governor’s office was directly involved in the cover-up that cost Veterans their lives,” said JB Pritzker. “Instead of informing Veterans, their families, and the dedicated staff providing critical care, Rauner’s office kept quiet and hoped no one would ask questions about the deadly bacteria. Lives were at stake, but this failed governor was more worried about bad press coverage than keeping our nation’s heroes healthy and safe. This unconscionable negligence cannot be tolerated, especially at the highest levels of government. Bruce Rauner failed our Veterans, and he must be held accountable.”
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 1:49 am
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Except this is a real scandal with real consequences.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:15 pm
While the deterioration of the facility had been ongoing for years before Rauner came into office, his actions and those of his staff failed to recognize the seriousness. The lack of real action was a failure of leadership. That lack of action killed people. This is one of many reasons I will not vote for him.
Comment by FormerParatrooper Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:18 pm
Oh yeah, this is very well.
I mean, I don’t want to sound crass, but we’re talking about the cover up of dead veterans. There’s really no spinning this positively. Because this isn’t positive, at all.
Comment by Nick Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:31 pm
I trust he can’t sleep.
Comment by Lt Guv Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:36 pm
But please, tell me more about how Mr Pritzker’s toilet removal is the real scandal…
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:38 pm
The thing with emails… it’s not just what is said, it’s time stamped, so you get a chronological idea of not only what is being said, but what are the thoughts in real time response.
It’s heartbreaking to the victims.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:40 pm
I think this trumps toilets. This is really criminal behavior, made worse by those in charge. Veterans across Illinois should all be livid.
Comment by Retired Educator Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 7:48 pm
The infrastructure is one thing. The incompetence, mishandling and cover up are another. Doesn’t help his agenda involved stripping down and starving government so take your demand for future both sides-ism and beat feet.
Comment by Sonny Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:06 pm
Don’t forget Darlene’s email using duckworth to take responsibly
Comment by Rabid Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:07 pm
But hey figuring out ways to bust AFSCME and take state employee wages is more important of a priority to Rauner than this.
Comment by Real Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:13 pm
So the toilet isssue was referred to the Feds and not this? Where is Pat Brady? Why no Federal investigation by now?
Comment by Real Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:22 pm
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, how incredibly sad. This story should be etched into everyone’s minds, and in November… remember those veterans. As mentioned in a comment above, one of the many reasons I will not vote for him.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:35 pm
=When Pritzker gets elected, he will wear the collar of the State’s inadequate infrastructure. I hope to see the same comments when another outbreak occurs.=
Of course none of that has actually happened.
Do you have any thoughts on what actually happened under the Rauner administration or do you just play “what if” for funzies?
Another deflecting, pathetic Raunerbot comment.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 8:48 pm
Doesn’t surprise me. Could my family at least get an apology from this administration. Sheesh.
Comment by Glengarry Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:13 pm
When you are the Governor you need to assess and take action on the critical issues. Rauner didn’t do that and he owns it.
Comment by SSL Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 9:17 pm
Really Cadillac? Very classy
Comment by AnonAnon Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 10:25 pm
@Cadillac, you should hope that it doesn’t happen again. I can’t believe that’s your only comment on this tragedy.
This timestamp on these events is pretty compelling. The Rauner administration was trying to cover it up.
Comment by The Dude Abides Tuesday, Oct 2, 18 @ 11:36 pm
Shah’s last quote in the WBEZ article reminded me of this from 2015:
Rauner, who has famously promised to shake up Springfield, said last month that he’s not afraid to take the heat, and he’s been talking to legislators.
“As many of them said, ‘So long as you take the arrows and the heat, we’ll take the votes to get you most of the apples,’” Rauner said. “I’ll take all of the heat. I’ll take all of the arrows. Blame me. I’ve got no problem with that. I just want the solution. That’s all I care about.”
https://illinoistimes.com/article-14932-illinois%25E2%2580%2599-broken-tax-system.html
Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 6:13 am
Don’t forget how the IL Dept. Of Labor sent a letter saying they failed to notify the employees of the hazard too.
Comment by The Dude Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 6:15 am
What kills me is former CMS director Mike Hoffman is being paid 250,000 a year to clean this up.
Clean up the evidence implicating Rauner maybe.
Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 6:40 am
Because Republicans believe in personal accountability and not blaming others for their failures. Right?
Comment by low level Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 6:59 am
Saw that GOP Congressmen all signed a letter asking US Attorney to investigate toilets.
I haven’t heard anything from them on this?
Better get on it quick, those ads will do more damage than toilets and Madigan will ever do to your opponent.
Comment by DuPage Bard Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:10 am
–September 2: E-mail from Director Nirav Shah: I think we should refer them to the Gov Office. There are several other sensitivities here.–
Keeping timely information to residents, their families, staff, and the public were not among them, obviously.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:22 am
It’s a complicated world. Not everyone gets upset over the same things. The fact that I care, or get angry over this does not mean that everyone should too.
Just do your best.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:25 am
Some people are upset over Pritzker’s tax fraud scheme because it’s so shocking that taxes are so disliked, even a billionaire would do something as bizarre as ripping toilets out of his mansion, yet want to be our governor.
But to his supporters, it’s preferrable to Rauner.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:29 am
This needs to be hammered in the upcoming debate, period.
Comment by TomServo Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 8:43 am
Bruce Lied Veterans Died.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 9:16 am
The WBEZ report this morning ended with the comment that Director Nirav Shah claiming the handling of the outbreak as a 2015 major accomplishment.
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 9:32 am
Where is the State’s Attorney investigation into the handling of this incident?
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 9:33 am
Google search for news with “rauner veterans quincy” yielded the Cap Fax story and Politico’s take.
Is no one else reporting on this?
Comment by TomServo Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 9:34 am
Every building in Quincy tests positive for Legionnaires, because the problem is with the drinking water source, not the facility. There shouldn’t be any nursing homes or hospitals in Quincy. Period. That doesn’t mean the Governor or his administration isn’t liable politically, or legally. It’s just frustrating that there is a concensus with Republicans and Democrats that there has to be a Veterans’ Home in Quincy. State jobs are not more important than human lives.
Comment by I guess this is how it works Wednesday, Oct 3, 18 @ 11:52 am