McHenry Times

Retired Air Force colonel and Minority Spokesperson for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Sen. Craig Wilcox called on former Veterans Affairs director Linda Chapa LaVia and other authorities to answer questions on the COVID-19 outbreak at LaSalle Veterans' Home.

Wilcox accused them of negligence and urged them to be accountable. He said that it is the government’s role to take care of the aging veterans “who are now living out their twilight years in one of our state-run veterans' homes.”

“Today, I also call on the former director of the Veterans Affairs Department to find the courage and the moral fortitude to come forward to answer questions in any additional investigation,” Wilcox said. “As the veterans behind me and I know, in the military we learn to do hot washes, learn to do recaps, and we do incident investigations in every step of the way. It's the only way we truly learn what happened, how to get better. The former director knows this, she learned it and I call on her to come forward, she knows what she should do.”

He stressed that there's no excuse for the negligence and incompetence demonstrated by the administration which resulted in claiming the lives of 36 veterans. Wilcox called for “a true independent performance audit and investigation of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Public Health Management,” noting that the report was conducted by the inspector general who reports to the governor. He called for an assurance “that there was no political influence and nothing that tainted the findings of the report.”

“As a veteran myself, the top-to-bottom incompetence shown in the management of this crisis is an outrage and many have culpability. The Pritzker administration, his appointees, and those managing the day-to-day operations of the facility had a responsibility to protect the veterans who live here. Instead, their carelessness and lack of compliance with life-saving protocols cost the lives of 36 heroes. It’s time for answers. It's time for action. It's time for accountability. It’s time to send a clear message to our veterans that this type of negligence is not OK.”

Wilcox added that proposed measures should be seriously considered.

“I'm also echoing calls for the general assembly to immediately take up the legislation that Sen. Rezin has filed in the past and has recently filed that has not been getting hearings. we need to take action at our level to improve the health and safety and emergency response mandates. There's no excuse not to move, not to hear, not to debate, and likely not to pass these pieces of legislation that have been discussed.”

Rezin filed SB2251 that would require timely facility on-site visits during an outbreak as recommended after the Quincy outbreak audit; SB 2252 would mandate the auditor general to conduct an independent investigation; SB1471 would require outbreak drills to prepare facility and staff.

Wilcox was joined by Sen. Sue Rezin and Rep. David Welter during Monday’s news conference where he expressed these remarks.