Missing Person Case Exposes Lack of Transparency

LA GRANGE, IL — Police said they became concerned in December when a Robbins mental health nursing home wanted one of its residents removed from the national missing persons list, even though he was still unaccounted for. He was found later the same day.

The seven-story nursing home is Lydia Healthcare, and it is owned by Susan Simonsen, who has ties to La Grange. In mid-December, Lydia resident Fredric Davis, 53, went missing during an evening trip with a group of residents to Brookfield Zoo. Lydia reported his missing status later that night.

Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel, whose department has jurisdiction, said he was disturbed by the nursing home's request to remove Davis from the list three days later, so he wrote a letter to ask the Office of the State Guardian, which advocates for those with disabilities, to look into the situation.

For conventional nursing homes, the public can visit the Illinois Department of Public Health's website to read inspection reports. And they can go to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website to compare nursing home ratings.

But this information is not available online for a long-term mental health facility such as Lydia Healthcare. While this type of home undergoes inspections and serves Medicaid recipients, its surveys and ratings are not included in the state and federal databases.

Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health, said homes such as Lydia and Abbott House in Highland Park are designated "specialized mental health rehabilitation facilities," and as such, the federal government does not require their information be online.

"This is a bit confusing, so we may need to indicate this on our website," Arnold said.

She advised Patch to contact the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about why mental health facilities have an exemption from the online reporting requirement. A couple of weeks ago, Patch emailed a spokeswoman for the federal agency. She said she would provide an answer within a week, but did not.

Patch asked Arnold why the state did not publish the inspections online in the name of transparency. She replied in an email, "I am advocating strongly to have these surveys posted on our website, but like with most things, it's now a matter of finding staff with the time to do this. This is something we will work toward."

Arnold's department provided Patch with Lydia's last survey, which showed inspectors found no deficiencies. Arnold said her agency is currently conducting a complaint investigation into Lydia, but could not confirm whether it was because of the Riverside police chief's letter. She said complaints are confidential.

When Lydia requested Fredric Davis' name be removed from the National Database of Missing Persons, police said they declined to do so because the nursing home said Davis had not been found.

"That was the first time in my career of 35 years plus that someone had asked to take someone's name out of the system before we found them," Chief Weitzel said in an interview.

Davis was found hours after the nursing home's request. He was in downtown Chicago. He was found thanks to social media and news publicity about his disappearance, Weitzel said.

Weitzel put out a news release about his concerns with Lydia after he wrote the letter to the state advocate.

When Patch reached a Lydia supervisor's office about Davis earlier this month, a woman answering the phone said, "He's been found. I don't want to get involved in this kind of b-------" and then hung up.

The nursing home's owner, Simonsen, has not returned numerous calls since then. In a 2015 radio interview that is online, Simonsen said the 412-bed Lydia is one of the largest employers in Robbins, a poor south suburb.

"Lydia is Robbins. Robbins is Lydia," Simonsen said.

She bought the nursing home from her father in 1999.

"I believe God gave me this feeling of caring," Simonsen said in the 2015 interview. "I walk in each day to my business and say how glad I am here. I can't wait to get to work each day. Those with mental illnesses can get recovery with the right programs, with the right medication."

According to state Board of Elections records, Simonsen listed a La Grange address as recently as 2018. She has contributed to political candidates.

Patch could not find a website for Lydia Healthcare. It does have a Facebook page, but there have been no posts since 2017.