Salem Village nursing home in Joliet will shut down

The city of Joliet will help residents of Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation in Joliet find new places to stay, Mayor Terry D’Arcy said.

D’Arcy commented on the pending closing of Salem Village at a City Council meeting Tuesday.

Salem Village management has not returned calls seeking comment on the closing.

But the mayor confirmed the nursing home is shutting down.

“I did get the call that Salem Village is closing, which is very unfortunate for all of us,” D’Arcy said. “I spoke to the facility director today, and I’ve made some calls to other places to see where we can help move folks to.”

The mayor said there are 15 spots available at Sunny Hill Nursing Home of Will County, which is run by the county.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has received written notice that Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation plans to close, with a target closing date of April 10, IDPH spokesman Mike Claffey said.

“Under state regulations, the closing facility is required to notify residents, residents’ representatives and members of residents’ family of the closure and assist with relocation,” Claffey said.

The facility also is required to maintain full service and an “adequate staffing level until all residents are relocated,” he said.

Claffey said the IDPH will monitor the process to “ensure quality of care is maintained.”

“Under state regulations, a long-term care facility is required to notify IDPH and the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office in advance of their closure,” he said.

A message and calls left with the nursing home were not returned Tuesday. The company did not have any statements regarding plans to close on its website as of Tuesday.

Bryan Kopman, an attorney who is listed in state records as a registered agent for the company, said he didn’t know if it was closing, and he is not a spokesperson for Salem Village.

“I can’t really make a comment on what’s going on over there,” Kopman said.

The nursing home received a two-star rating out of five by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services based on health inspections, staffing and quality measures.

The nursing home had four federal fines in the past three years. Those fines amounted to $159,796.

A resident died Nov. 18 after he was attacked by another resident at the nursing home.

William Paschall, 71, initially was jailed Nov. 18 on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Michael Pappas, 61. However, a grand jury returned an indictment that instead charged Paschall with the aggravated battery of Pappas.

Paschall no longer faces the first-degree murder charge.

Days before the indictment was filed, prosecutors said in a court filing that the preliminary results of Pappas’ autopsy listed his cause of death as “undetermined,” pending the results of toxicology tests.

The closure of Salem Village Nursing and Rehabilitation would mark at least the second major closing of a nursing facility in Joliet in the past two years.

Our Lady of Angels Retirement Home, 1201 Wyoming Ave., closed last year.

In a Herald-News story last year, Sister Jeanne Bessette, president of the order called Joliet Franciscans, said market changes in recent years made it impossible for the facility to continue, and OLA had lost $2.5 million in one of its previous fiscal years.

Bessette said OLA would have closed sooner if not for federal COVID-19 relief funding.

The Illinois Nurses Association had criticized the management of the facility and the transparency of its finances.