©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Labor Day Protest Against Nursing Home Owner |
The group that wants to unionize employees of a privately-owned Galesburg nursing home now wants the state to investigate whether or not that company even should own or operate nursing homes.
The Service Employees International Union used Galesburg's Labor Day Parade Monday to announce they're asking the state to put into receivership Galesburg Terrace and three other nursing homes in the state owned by Gem Healthcare Management and its head, Michael Lerner.
That would mean the state would appoint some other management company to take over management of the nursing homes while the state investigates the allegations.
S-E-I-U spokesperson Paul Waterhouse says what they call a "white paper" they're putting out accuses Lerner of treating not only employees poorly, but also each of the nursing homes' residents.
"In the past two years, there have been 77 violations at Gem Healthcare nursing home facilities. Over 80 percent of those violations were found to be serious violations that could, or in fact, did lead to harm to nursing home residents."
The document indicates those violations range from failing to treat pressure sores, to failing to keep residents clean and groomed. Waterhouse says that could be connected to Lerner allegedly refusing to pay anything more than poverty-level wages, resulting in high turnover rates.
We tried to contact Gem Healthcare Services for comment -- W-G-I-L got a voicemail message saying their offices were closed until Friday and to NOT leave a message.
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| 09 01 08 by Newsroom |
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