Northwestern Medicine to close nursing center and adult day care in Lake Forest – Chicago Tribune

The family members of some elderly patients receiving services at Westmoreland Nursing Center in Lake Forest are frustrated and angry at Northwestern Medicine's decision to shutter the facility later this year.

The relatives of some residents and day care clients say they don't have time to make alternate care arrangements for their loved ones.

"It's a bit unnerving," said Joyce Jackson of Lake Forest, who said she and her sister learned about the impending closure in a May 19 letter; their 92-year-old mother, who has dementia, was a longtime day care client and has been a Westmoreland resident for about 18 months. "I don't know why the residents up there couldn't have gotten until the end of the year."

Westmoreland will close in December, with full-time residents required to move out by Aug. 31, according to Christopher King, director of media relations at Northwestern Medicine, which owns Westmoreland.

He said rehabilitation patients, along with outpatient adult services, have until December to relocate.

The decision to close Westmoreland, which has been in operation since 1975, is related to the construction of a new Lake Forest Hospital, King said.

Outpatient clinics for the new $399 million hospital are scheduled to open this fall, with inpatient services opening in early 2018, King said.

King said he didn't know much notice would have been perfect.

"It was a difficult decision," he said. "We've spent the last few months really taking an extensive look at the facility and planning how to advance."

Westmoreland is connected to the existing hospital by a tunnel, King said. Food for Westmoreland is prepared and laundry done at the existing hospital, and Westmoreland shares technology with the facility, he said.

"Our plan is once the new hospital is open and fully functional, the old hospital will be coming down," King said, adding that the cost and "regulatory resources" needed to make Westmoreland an independent facility would not be "feasible."

King said he didn't know the cost of making Westmoreland an independent facility.

Westmoreland now has fewer than 30 full-time residents, King said, although he didn't know the full capacity.

Westmoreland, at 660 N. Westmoreland Road, has fewer than 10 people in rehabilitation, King said. He didn't know how many people were in outpatient adult services, he said.

The final fate of the Westmoreland building and land has yet to be determined, King said.

Jackson said she is unhappy with Northwestern Medicine's decision to close Westmoreland due to its quality and proximity to her home.

"For us, it's like two miles away," she said. "There are activities. We know everyone there; it's like a big family. People who have loved ones there all say it's the best place to go."

Jackson is also concerned how her mother will react to a move.

"She's older and frailer," she said. "Now, at a late stage in dementia, they don't like change. Now she's faced with this change."

Kathy Metke of Mundelein said her 93-year-old father, who has dementia, attends adult day care at Westmoreland four days a week.

"It's good for a person with dementia to do the same routine every day," Metke said. "That's what Westmoreland did. It was a clean facility. The food they provided was good. They had church service two times a week. The quality of life for a 93-year-old man with moderate dementia was very good."

So far, only a Deerfield facility may have a day care spot for her father, Metke said, and that is problematic for her.

"I'd have to go from Mundelein to Deerfield (to drop off her father) to my job at Waukegan and then at the end of the day, have to do that in reverse," Metke said. "I'm not going to spend my life in the car."

All of which leaves Metke unhappy.

"I'm kind of upset," Metke said. "I have to work. I have a mortgage. I'm not going to put my father in a nursing home when he's not ready to go into a nursing home. We had something that was working."

mlawton@pioneerlocal.com

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