Battle is on to save Hope Creek nursing home in Rock Island County

Facing a plot by some members of the Rock Island County Board to privatize the county-run Hope Creek Care Center in East Moline, the nursing home's employees, their union—AFSCME Local 2371—and supporters are planning a large turnout at the county board meeting Tuesday night, Oct. 15.

In addition, union members are reaching out to families and guardians of Hope Creek residents, who are speaking out strongly against the outsourcing threat.

Support for maintaining the center as a public entity is coming from loved ones of some of Hope Creek's most prominent residents, including former U.S. Congressman Lane Evans and former Rock Island County State's Attorney Marshall Douglas, Sr.

"I've been in many homes, including veterans' homes and private nursing homes, and Hope Creek is one of the best," said Mike Maelstrom, a longtime member of Congressman Evans's staff and his legal guardian. "Lane has Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia—conditions that affect his muscles, his ability to control his movements and his memory—and whatever he needs, the staff provides. They have done a fantastic job."

"The Hope Creek employees are more like family than just regular staff," Marshall Douglas II said. "My dad has lived there four years, and before that he was having a difficult time. Once he moved to Hope Creek, it was like a huge burden lifted. We don’t have to worry about trusting his health care providers and the people who take care of him every day. Now Hope Creek is the place my father calls home."

Christine Baker agrees. Her father, Merwin Baker, moved to Hope Creek some 18 months ago.

"We visited several nursing homes, but Hope Creek has been an absolute godsend," Christine said. "The staff members have become our extended family. My mom, siblings and I visit every day, and the care and attention the staff gives us, it’s like my mom and dad were their own parents. I don’t know what we’d do without them."

Family members like Maelstrom, Douglas and Baker are deeply concerned about the push by some members of the county board to sell or lease Hope Creek to a private corporation.

"Lane was always sympathetic to the need for county homes because he understood that many folks don’t have insurance or the wherewithal to pay for a private nursing home," Maelstrom said of Congressman Evans. "With the county home, folks know they have a place where they’ll be taken care of. If this home would go private, if it were bought or leased by a corporation out to make a profit, they’d cut corners."

"The staff at Hope Creek is special," Christine Baker said. "They don’t do it for the money; they do it because they care about the people. The private homes we went and talked to don’t have that."

"What these corporations look for is how to cut costs," said Marshall Douglas II. "That's what businesses do. But when it comes to caring for people, profit should not be part of the equation. I can't see Hope Creek getting turned over to a private, for-profit corporation that would sustain the quality of care."

"This community has supported a public nursing home for more than 170 years," AFSCME staff representative Dino Leone said. "Hope Creek is for the public good, not private profit. Residents and their loved ones are counting on the county board to do the right thing. Don't abandon Hope Creek. Keep it where it belongs, in the hands of the people, now and for generations to come."

To contact Rock Island County Board members and tell them to keep Hope Creek public, click here.