The Daily Herald has little snippets of editorial opinion on Saturdays.
I found one asking a pretty good question:
Should McHenry County be in the nursing home business?
Here’s what was written:
A lesson to learn?
At the behest of special interest groups,
governments sometimes are asked to enter areas not specifically reserved for government. Often they are experiments that don’t work out so well. As in recreation centers in Elgin. And nursing homes in McHenry County.
The Centre has never operated in the black since it opened, and McHenry County is now thinking about turning over the operation of its Valley Hi Nursing Home to a private firm.
Could it be that it’s wiser for government to stick to what only government can do and leave the rest to the private sector?
One of the more liberal Republicans in my memory disagreed. His name was United States Senator Charles Percy.
And, one of the most conservative Republicans I ever met agreed with Percy.
He was State Rep. Webber Borchers of Decatur.
Webber used part of his office allowance to pay a woman to visit the nursing homes in his district with a simple checklist.
I tried to find it in what I have shipped to the Northern Illinois University Regional History project, but came up dry.
I do remember two items on the list:
- Is a glass of water within reach of the person in bed?
- Can you smell urine?
There were other common sense things he had discovered over the years that were essential for good nursing home care, but, unfortunately, I can’t remember them.
The point of both Percy and Brochers was that nursing homes like Valley Hi have a mechanism for improvement built it.
Any relative, even a patient, can go to a county board member with a complaint…as they have in McHenry County.
And, they can get action.
As they have in McHenry County.
You can’t do that with a nursing home run by a corporation.
Having said that, there are reports that people who know county politicians get into Valley Hi.
And, Valley Hi should be run on a business-like basis, that is, it should break even.
It’s not.
= = = = =
The photograph is of Elgin’s Recreation Centre’s swimming pool. It’s a great place to take pictures of swim meets, but it can’t be very energy efficient with all that glass.
The picture of Valley Hi is from the McHenry County web site.