February 26, 2024

As you know, the former Champaign County Nursing Home has been totally shuttered. The County Board sold the nursing home to Avi Rothner and his company, which then renamed it University Rehab. Mr. Rothner was to operate the nursing home – as a nursing home – for a minimum of 10 years. Four years into the operation, Mr. Rothner shut down the nursing home, after also failing to pay the bank loan, interest, and taxes for the purchase of the nursing home (despite providing proof from his bank at the time of purchase that he could have paid cash for the purchase of the nursing home).
 
The bank that issued the loan for the nursing home now wants to sell the nursing home, but needs the County Board to lift the deed restriction in order to allow the sale.
 
The sad story of this valuable community health asset continues, and the most tragic aspect is that Champaign County is severely underserved in terms of nursing home beds. Too many individuals in need of long term care or post-hospitalization rehab care are having to travel to communities far away in order to get the care that they need. This is a hardship for them and their families, as ease of visiting and supporting a loved one in a nursing facility is made more challenging by distance.
 
An amazing group of advocates, activists, health care providers, and local agencies have banded together to form a group called Advocates for Aging Care (AAC) and are working to create solutions for this health care crisis in our county. CCHCC is proud to be a member of the AAC. This is community health planning at its best!
 
To try to address the problem of lack of nursing care and aging care resources in our community, AAC has created a survey to try gather information on our community’s needs, and they will also be participating in the County Board’s Study Session, to be held TOMORROW at 6 p.m.

If you would like to help with , there are a couple of ways to do so:
 
First, you can complete the survey that the AAC has created. The survey closes on March 15. The survey takes approximately nine minutes to complete. If you are or have recently had to take care of a loved one – whether at home or in a facility – we would especially like to hear from you. However, the survey is open to everyone. To take the survey, visit the link below:
https://illinois.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9nKiIdv2D57JDDw
 
Second, you can attend the Champaign County Board’s Study Session TOMORROW evening – Tuesday, February 27 at 6 p.m. – to come and get informed and listen to presentations.
 
The meeting is in-person at Brookens. To view the Agenda for tomorrow night’s Study Session, you can visit the link below:
https://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/CB/2024/240227_Study_Session/240227Agenda.pdf

As always, thank you for your support, and stay tuned for more information about the nursing home issue and AAC’s activities.

Sincerely,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers