Drive-Bys

Post Title of the Day:

I Can See Clearly Now The Brain Is Gone

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Which, of course, prompted the Ear Worm of the Day:


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My love affair with William A. Jacobson continues with this little gem of truth:

Conspiracy theorists know no single political party or political philosophy.

Too right. By golly, I love a sensible man!
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If you live in the state of Illinois and have a parent of an age who may need a nursing home, or heading in that direction age-wise yourself, you need to know the following and do your homework now.

More than any other state, Illinois relies heavily on nursing homes to house mentally ill patients, including those who have committed crimes. But a Tribune investigation found that government, law enforcement and the industry have failed to adequately manage the resulting influx of younger residents who shuttle into nursing facilities from jail cells, shelters and psychiatric wards.

Mentally ill patients now constitute more than 15 percent of the state's total nursing home population of 92,225, government records show, and the number of residents convicted of serious felonies has increased to 3,000. Among them are 82 convicted murderers, 179 sex offenders and 185 armed robbers.

Yet the state's background checks on new residents are riddled with errors and omissions that understate their criminal records, the Tribune found, and homes with the most felons are among those with the lowest nursing staff levels.

The statistics are frightening and the failure to protect is staggering.

So how do you pick a decent nursing home in this state? Law Elderlaw is a great resource for issues pertaining to protecting the rights of Illinois' aging. And this dandy chart should be in your permanent links, as it shows ratings for nursing homes across the state. The Chicago Tribune also has a dandy link here where you can plug in the name of a specific nursing home, or an address or town and get information not reportable anywhere else.

I'm telling you, if you live in this state, you need this information.
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Giggle of the Day:


see more dog and puppy pictures

Stumbling upon this would do more trauma to TMBCITW than Godzilla, flying monkeys and the Wicked Witch of the West.
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