CHICAGO – Pastoral leaders from Organization of the NorthEast (ONE) including Pastor Monte Johnson, Immanuel Lutheran Church; Pastor Doug Harris, North Shore Baptist Church; Father Dom Grassi and Pastoral Associate Peter Buttitta, St. Gertrude Catholic Church; and Pastor Barbara Cathey, Edgewater Presbyterian Church; held a candlelight prayer vigil on March 8th to highlight the need for better treatment of long-term residents of the Somerset Nursing Home in Chicago’s Uptown community, and to release a set of policy recommendations addressing the underlying issues of insufficient transition time to prepare residents moving from skilled care to community living.

“It is extremely unfortunate and disturbing that the haste of the Somerset closing prevented both the implementation of existing procedures established by the Division of Mental Health and the opportunity to enhance these procedures as called for in Governor Quinn’s recent report on Nursing Home Safety,” said Janet Hasz, Supportive Housing Providers Association. “The bottom line is more time was needed to put a plan in place, provide options to residents, and enabled providers to work with residents to prepare them for the transition.”

One of the state’s largest nursing facilities for people living with mental illness, Somerset Place was home to nearly 300 residents, many of whom lived there for more than 20 years. While Illinois officials stated in previous media coverage that there was “plenty of space in other nearby institutions for residents who want to move,” a majority of residents were ineligible for those beds and forced to move out of the community.

“While advocates acknowledge the well-publicized challenges facing Somerset, the timeline was not sufficient to support the special needs of the residents living with mental illness to transition to appropriate supportive-living facilities,” said Jamiko Rose, executive director of Organization of the NorthEast. “As a result, many residents have been forced to move away from their families and from a community which they have called home for decades.”

(Full Press Release Attached Below)