Nurse who recently quit says West Side nursing home has squalid conditions, insufficient staff
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former employee at a nursing home in the West Side's Austin community is speaking out about what she calls "deplorable" conditions there.
The facility is now on watch by the federal government.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported Friday night, the nurse told us she wants to speak for the residents who she says don't have a voice.
There are more than 230 beds at the Symphony Chicago West nursing facility, 5130 W. Jackson Blvd. – and sometimes there are four residents to a room. The employee says leaders are creating an environment of neglect that is just getting worse.
"I always tell people I was born a nurse," the now ex-employee of Symphony Chicago West told us in Oak Park.
The nurse just quit her job at the facility. She asked us to remain anonymous as she looks for work in the field.
She told us why she is sharing her story now.
"I'm no longer there, and someone has to speak up for them," she said.
By "them," she means the residents of the nursing home – who she says are living in filth. The nurse shared pictures from inside the facility during her last few weeks on the job.
The photos showed mold on the walls and ceilings and dirty beds – at a time when there was one nurse assigned to more than 200 patients.
But it got worse than that.
The nurse pointed out "a pillow soaked with urine – and then they will just put a pillowcase over it."
The nurse also pointed out: "a patient with all type of feces on the floor. He would probably be there for quite a while until somebody comes to help him."
Symphony Chicago West has a Special Focus Facility candidate warning from the U.S. Department of Health and Human services. This means the facility has a recent documented pattern of poor care, and is being monitored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The nurse says the Illinois Department of Public Health has made several visits this year alone – with no sign of improvement.
"Several times, I've voiced my concerns about the conditions and how the patients were not being taken care of," the nurse said, "but I was not heard."
The nurse said she quit because she felt she could not work at a place that put the residents at risk.
"These are people trusting us to take care of them, and then this is the way some of them are going to die in these types of conditions," the nurse said.
Most of the residents of Symphony Chicago West are on Medicare or Medicaid and don't have other options for care. The last public inspection report at the nursing home was from last summer.
We have reached out to the management team at Symphony Chicago West multiple times – with no call back.
We are also waiting to hear from the IDPH on whether they too are looking into the facility.
