Criminals will no longer be able to work in Illinois Nursing Homes.  More than two years ago, Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich signed a House Bill 2531 into effect to protect nursing home residents.  Under the new law, nursing homes must do a full background check, including running fingerprints on a national database, prior to hiring employees who have direct interaction with residents. 

In addition to employees at nursing homes, the new law also screens prospective employees at: community living facilities, home health agencies, hospices, assisted living facilities, day training programs and community living arrangements.

The new law is welcome news to many nursing home residents who are more likely to become victims of violent crime in a nursing home than at any other time in their life.  Prior to implementation of this law, it was up to nursing home owners to implement their own screening process.  Many violent offenders simply changed their name or provided false information to avoid a 'name only' background search.  Unfortunately, the most commonly reported crimes involving nursing home residents are: sexual molestation, assault, battery, robbery and identity theft.