Kankakee Times

Last fall an infamous COVID outbreak claimed 36 lives of veterans at the LaSalle Veterans' Home.

Now, lawmakers are clamoring for more accountability from the Pritzker administration and the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA) leaders whose negligence caused the outbreak to spread. 

In a May 14 news conference, state Rep. Jackie Haas (R-Kankakee) slammed the state for not being able to responsibly care for veterans in their final years of life. She also noted that several important updates about the mismanagement of LaSalle have come to light, including the fact that IDVA's mismanagement didn't start with the LaSalle outbreak. 

"Known issues in the IDVA went unaddressed, and a key administrative position has gone unfilled for the past year and a half as the executive branch failed to provide effective oversight of agency operations, resulting in a total failure of the department to ensure the appropriate infection control protocols were in place," Haas said. 

The leadership shortcomings that contributed to the 36 LaSalle deaths can be found at all the state veterans' homes, Haas stated. 

"Many of the failures that contributed to the deaths at LaSalle aren’t specific to that facility [...]," the representative continued. "The deaths of 36 residents at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home were a tragedy, and devastatingly, these deaths weren’t an isolated incident. In total, 76 of our nation’s heroes have lost their lives to COVID-19 during outbreaks at all three of the veterans’ homes."

Prtizker and his administration have been criticized for the series of failures that caused the severity of the outbreak, including a recent condemnation from an audit into the events. 

"Today we are calling for more hearings and further investigation to get to the bottom of this grossly negligent failure and ensure that it doesn’t happen again," Haas said. 

She isn't the only Republican concerned that justice be brought for the 36 lost lives. Last year, the GOP requested a meeting to initiate an investigative probe into the outbreak and IDVA. 

"Considering what we know about the handling of the outbreak at LaSalle, it's time to get a more complete picture of how the department of veterans affairs has handled the COVID-19 pandemic across the board," Haas said. "Our nation’s heroes deserve better."