ANNA, Ill. (WJPF) – Governor JB Pritzker has put forth a plan that he says will address some of the persistent problems at the Choate Mental Health Center.
The Pritzker Administration says the psychiatric hospital will not be shut down, but over the next three years, some patients will be transferred to other facilities. The state will also work with SIU School of Medicine to implement new safety measures. Parts of the campus will be repurposed to meet demand.
Additionally, the Illinois Department of Human Services has created a new position of Chief Resident Safety Officer and will hire ten more people to work in the Office of the Inspector General.
Over the past few years, there have been multiple allegations of patient abuse and neglect and of employees covering up wrongdoing and stonewalling investigators.
