West Central Reporter

Illinois is still reeling from the COVID outbreak that occurred at the LaSalle Veterans' Home last fall, and the mismanagement by the Pritzker administration that is ultimately responsible for the loss of 36 veteran lives. 

At a May 18 press conference, many lawmakers who are veterans themselves spoke on how the outbreak continues to be impactful and how the administration has continually failed to ensure it won't happen again. 

"As both a veteran of the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, and former superintendent of the Henry County Veterans’ Assistance Commission, caring for our veterans is one of our most important charges we have in public service," said Rep. Dan Swanson (R-Woodhull). 

The state's repeated failures in regard to the veterans' homes is not new. In 2017, Swanson visited the Quincy Veterans Home, where the residents were in the grip of a Legionnaires outbreak that stole 13 lives and sickened many more. 

"[...] Specific lessons were learned in response to that outbreak by the very people who ended up leading [Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs] during this tragic outbreak of COVID," Swanson said. "They heard the same things I heard at Quincy. They knew how we could apply lessons learned for future outbreaks and in fact they said the same thing we are saying now – how can we learn from the mistakes here and prevent them in the future?"

The department leaders in question include former director Linda Chapa LaVia and Deputy Gov. Sol Flores, as well as the LaSalle administrator who was fired last year. Swanson accuses them of only giving "lip service" to the issues and not absorbing the lessons learned from the Quincy home. 

"Beyond the facility level problems though, which are frankly inexcusable, it’s clear to me the veterans homes were being managed remotely via Zoom and conference calls with insufficient followup protocols to ensure employees were actually following through on proper public health protocols and not just saying they were," Swanson continued. 

Swanson said Pritzker and his administration failed to manage their employees and ensure compliance to executive orders and CDC guidance. Swanson called on his colleagues to continue asking the important questions to bring the closure that the 36 families deserve. 

Swanson isn't the first lawmaker to lash at Pritzker for his administration's failure to act for the state's veterans; Republicans have been calling for an organized meeting to probe the outbreak since last year. 

"[Pritzker's] negligence led to dozens and dozens of deaths due to this failure to manage and failure to follow pandemic operating procedures throughout all of our Illinois veterans’ homes," Swanson said. "Each one of the hearings we’ve had, we’ve been able to peel back another more rotten layer to this management."