Read Lake Effect News' story: Cause of Lawrence House Fire “Suspicious” (photo courtesy of Lorraine Swanson/LEN)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Lawrence House: 46 Code Violations & "Suspicious" Fire
Read Lake Effect News' story: Cause of Lawrence House Fire “Suspicious” (photo courtesy of Lorraine Swanson/LEN)
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Ms. Swanson must be a person with an agenda! How dare she ask important questions on safety and put a spotlight on owners, management companies that are detached from their clients and careless towards the neighborhood??? I wonder where the vigilantes of Sommerset are? I guess when you are beholden to the political establishment for your paychecks, rent and office decorations doing something that might matter flies out the window and the vigils don’t happen!!!!! Maybe someone should start a blog titled ‘5900 Lawrence’ to speak of the mismanagement of the place and start it before their salaries are cut off to at least appear sincere! Any Lawrence House staff members wanna take a bite at it?
ReplyDeleteUptown,
ReplyDeleteI think your attempts to compare Somerset Place and Lawrence House as being the same sort of placement are incorrect. These are very different types of housing, as I understand them. I by no means am making excuses for either of them. Somerset Place could have been run differently and choices were made not to keep up with the best practices of mental health care. Don't really know about Lawrence House time will tell as more information is released.
I too, am glad Ms. Swanson is asking serious questions about Lawrence House, so that we will know more about what the management there was really focused on. I hope the safety of the residents was a major focus.
Somerset btw is not in the 46th ward. It is in Mary Ann Smiths Ward, along with a boatload of other very poorly run nursing home facilities that service the mentally ill. I still find it interesting that she spends so much time focusing on Somerset and not the other facilities having many of the same problems. I hope she will educate herself about what else is going on in her ward and work as hard to correct those problems as well.
Having a mental health facility as a neighbor does not have to be major community problem as many in this neighborhood have been lead to believe. Unfortunately the majority of the facilities in Uptown are poorly run and they are the only contact many Uptown neighbors have with the entire system. The State of IL does not value the mental health care and has refused to spend money to fix the system. This has allowed many types of treatment to get away with substandard care. The question I would like an answer to is if Somerset was so bad it needed to be closed in 30 days, what has changed to cause this to happen now? Why not 5, 6, or 7 years ago? I doubt anyone working for the State of IL will be able to answer because they do not know.
Thanks for clarifying UV, I do know the technical difference between the two establishments. However both populations are vulnerable segments of society and from the stories pouring out of both institutions it isn’t hard to see that these places have been managed in a way that exploits the vulnerability of its clients. My criticism is not directed at residence of these places but at all other parties that are supposed to be advocates from the elected to the self-selected and those who profit from these establishments… As for your questions on Somerset, please share any answers with us if you manage to get any.
ReplyDeleteThe point of the 5009Sheridan blog is to highlight the way in which the state of Illinois is (mis)handling service provision for the mentally ill, the fiasco at Somerset being merely one example. That the state is 'protecting' residents by closing down Somerset and moving them to places like Lawrence House (and Margaret Manor) speaks volumes. Substandard services and care, as the state alleges Somerset provided, is not unique to Somerset but endemic to the care provided to this population. And the state is responsible as it is the state's policies, oversight and funding that create and support the entire system. I think Uptown Vegetarian is asking the right questions.
ReplyDelete