The Evergreen Health Care Center in Evergreen Park, Illinois is a large facility. With over 242 beds, they are licensed to house over twice the Illinois average of 96 residents in a facility. Nursing home facilities of this size are immensely profitable.
The Illinois Department of Public Health, during a routine inspection, discovered a series of alarming conditions at Evergreen Health Care Center. One of the freezers had a broken thermometer, making it possible for food to spoil.
Another cooler contained a 16-quart container of a yellow liquid that had no date or label. In addition, there were 9 brown bags that contained turkey sandwiches and beverage. None of the bags had a date.
In the same cooler there were 6 bowls of fruit that were uncovered, unlabeled, and undated and 6 packages of opened cheese. These were also undated.
The walk in cooler had food debris and dirt on the floor, and open bags of undated food.
It would be nice to assume that the reason for all the unlabeled food is that it was all fresh. Unfortunately, the labeled food that was found was frequently long past due. Open containers of cereal were found that were 12 months old.
Industrial kitchens have sanitizing equipment that is used to wash dishes.
The amount of sanitizer in the machine is displayed on the machine. The number is supposed be between 250-400 (parts per million). The number on the Evergreen Health Care Center dish sanitizer was zero. The residents had been eating off of unclean dishes for indeterminate time.
Eating spoiled food off of dirty plates can easily make a person very sick. Nursing homes have an obligation to provide their residents with a well balanced diet. Clearly, Evergreen Health Care Center committed nursing home neglect by providing unsafe food on unsanitary plates.
If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home who has developed a serious illness or infection, and you feel that unsanitary food or other lapses in sanitary practices may have contributed to his or her condition, contact our Chicago nursing home laywers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.