PeoriaStory

Closing Heddington Oaks

PEORIA, IL -- A crisis is a terrible thing to waste!

So the Peoria County Board on April 23 voted to close Heddington Oaks, the county owned nursing home that's a valuable part of the safety net for the area's poor.

It's something that the Republican board members have wanted for years, for  ideological reasons, while the Democratic majority promised to resist it as they ran for election. So much for broken promises.

The Peoria Journal Star story was filled with 'boo-hoos" from them as they voted for closure.  The vote was unanimous.  Amazing.

The story also says the public has expressed unanimous opposition to the closure.

And it all happened in less than a week, with no way to attend the meeting because of the virus shut down, and no public hearing. (Note  -- Woodruff High School was also closed with no notice and no hearing, and those that wanted that on the school board are gone.)

Apparently the board did not take my advice in a previous post, to up the marketing and lease part of the huge building to other uses.

The PJS in a previous story said a public vote will be required to sell the property.  Good luck with that.

Meanwhile the Apostolic Christian Skylines nursing home is expanding by five beds a 3,300 square foot facility for dementia residents, according to the PJS on April 23. Don't board members read the newspaper? Hummm. 

Now all the public can do is vote not to sell, and vote out those who lied about protecting Heddington.  That includes my rep on the board. I won't be going door to door for her again.

I'll bet someone big -- a hospital, a nursing home chain, has their eyes on Heddington, hoping for a bargain. And the board bought it.  Taxpayers beware!

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Don't close Heddington Oaks

PEORIA, IL --  A story in the April 18 issue of the Peoeria Journal Star says the county-owned nursing home, Heddington Oaks might be closed and sold. That is a huge mistake.

My husband was a patient there in the rehab wing for two weeks in Sept., 2019, and was always treated with kindness and respect. Medicare and health insurance paid for his stay.

I noticed the lack of good programming and mediocre food but liked the laid back atmosphere of Heddington.

It needs better marketing and PR. I don't recall any, and knew about it only because I am a former reporter. It is less expensive than its competitors, but people don't know that.  It's also a lovely facility.

If it can't be filled, part of the huge building could be leased for other medical activities. That would likely bring in enough revenue to offset the deficit.

Peoria County has a nursing home to function as a way to keep all  nursing homes as inexpensive as possible -- and take Medicaid patients when others won't accept them.

The voters have shown they support the nursing home, so it should not be closed and sold.  Candidates for the County Board promised that in campaigns.

I hope a public hearing will be organized and publicized before any more talk of this bad idea takes place. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

The real "Mrs America"

PEORIA, IL -- The new streaming TV series on HULU, "Mrs. America," portrays Peoria native, the feminist Betty Friedan, but the central figure is anti-ERA activist Phyllis Schlafly. 

Here's a report from someone who knew her, former Western Illinois University professor Betty Kaspar: 

The show, she writes, "brings back many memories of my years on the IL. Commission on the Status of Women with Phyllis.

She was the only non-feminist appointed to the group by a governor who astonished us. Was he against the work that we were doing? It did not stop her, however, from trying to be a bottleneck at every turn.

She never missed a meeting! The commission had 20 members , 5 senators, 5 house members, and 10 public citizens, all appointed by the governor. We were able to get more than 200 discriminatory laws against women removed.

We held hearings in the Capitol on a variety of topics, e.g., credit card discrimination and discrimination in higher education. That one was under a different, friendlier administration, and every university president was ordered to show up and testify.

When the ERA was to be discussed in the legislature, I would see Phyllis, always in red to stand out, with her bullhorn and her busload of frightened women. She told them that if the ERA passed, their husbands would not have to support them!

I once asked Phyllis that if she believed so strongly that women should remain in the home, why was it that about every time we called her on commission business, she was not home. She replied that hers was most important business necessary for her to be out.

She added that she had a wonderful mother too, who took care of her children. Each year we were required to put out an annual report. Once she was appointed, she insisted on adding a rebuttal, trying to negate all that we had done.

Phyllis strongly supported Trump.  He flew to St. Louis (MO) to speak at her funeral."

Here's an interesting story on the TV show and Schlafly: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/hulu-mrs-america-phyllis-schlafly-long-shadow/610129/

 

Ending house arrest

PEORIA, IL -- The end of house arrest, aka shelter at home/stay home, seems to be in sight.  It should happen gradually this way, and require 6 feet of separation for customers:

Open the golf courses, parks and playgrounds, and nurseries so people can buy plants. 

Open the salons and barber shops to customers separated by six feet.  Do the same with restaurants.

Open the libraries.

Open government offices, then other places.

Remember the saying: "Better 6 feet apart than 6 feet under."

 -- Elaine Hopkins