Illinois Valley Times

Eleven days to visit an outbreak site is “unacceptable,” according to state Rep. David Welter (R-Morris).

Following the release of the inspector general’s report on the unfortunate event at the LaSalle Veterans' Home, he, together with two other Republicans, have called for accountability during a news conference this week held outside the LaSalle home care facility.

“If 3 days (before an official site visit) was too long at the Quincy home, then 11 days was completely unacceptable,” Welter said. “Here we are trying to find solutions so that this will never happen again and we continue to be met with resistance from the governor's administration and others.

The Republican representative also announced that he filed HB4077 with Rep. Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa) that would require the Department of Veterans' Affairs (IDVA) and Department of Public Health (IDPH) “to conduct the site visit as soon as practical, but in no event shall the visit be delayed later than the end of the next business day,” if an outbreak occurs.

“I want to emphasize this report that came out the previous Friday that talked about the failures from the governor's inspector general that they put out, the inspector general is a hiree of the governor's administration and when you look at that report it really talks about the shortcomings of IDVA, and some with IDPH. But it takes no onus from the governor's office and what they knew and their action or inaction with the situation.” Welter continued.

Welter has also previously filed HR0062 which “Directs the auditor general to conduct a performance audit of the state's response to the management of the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home.”

“What I continue to tell people and some people don't get is that I believe many of the findings that they will come about from this are findings that came about after the 2019 report the same findings that were signed off by IDVA, IDPH, or the governor's office when they had met and said that they were going to implement these policies,” he said. “Here we are many, many months after this outbreak here in LaSalle County, even prior to the coronavirus and this pandemic shutdown, there was time to implement these recommendations that were made but they simply were not done. That is un-excusable.”

Welter said that Pritzker’s administration should take action and that they will continue to demand this from the governor “until he comes forward, takes ownership and decides that he wants to move on this.”

“It was unfortunate to see as the governor took questions last week on the report that came out and the failures of his administration and his appointees but there was no remorse or even an apology to those families and those who have been impacted here. So, on behalf of the state, I want to apologize for our failures to properly care for your loved ones,” Welter said to the veterans’ families.