The Knox County Board’s nicknamed “Caring” Committee met Monday, December 17th at the Knox County Annex. The “Caring Committee” is made up of the Knox County Sheriff’s Department, Knox County Nursing Home, and the Mary Davis Home. Sheriff David Clague gave the board a recap on the number of calls dispatch took during the blizzard on November 25th. Over the course of the night – dispatch was taking a call every second. “From Sunday (November 25th) at 4:30 pm to Monday (November 26th) at 8:30 am, dispatch received a total of 942 calls – unbelievable,” Clague reported. “We responded to well over 200 calls. The snowmobile rescue unit responded to 130 plus calls – separate from the 200.” Clague said by 7:30pm that night – everything had been shut down including the Knox County Snowmobile Rescue team. Two volunteer team members became lost due to the lack of visibility but were eventually taken in by an area resident. The snowmobile team traveled as far as Galva to bring a heart attack patient to Galesburg. The team also received a call about an elderly man on foot that had been walking for two and a half hours. The team located the man who still had ten miles to go and brought him to safety. Clague said it speaks volumes to a team of volunteers unlike anything like it in the state of Illinois.
Administrator for the Mary Davis Home, Wendi Steck updated the committee. An energy upgrade/boiler upgrade to the home has been made and is “running good” according to Steck. Steck also pointed out that with the budget shortfall from the State – she doesn’t expect to hear back from legislators until after the new year. Interim Administrator for the Knox County Nursing Home Donna Motz updated the committee for the month of November. The nursing home is running in the black between the revenues for the month – just over $270,000 – and with an incoming medicare payment, December bills – which total over $400,000 – will be covered. A shortage of CNAs and LPNs at the nursing home is an ongoing concern according to Motz. “LPNs are still down by 10 to 12 LPN positions,” she said. “I don’t believe we currently have any full-time LPNs on second shift so that pulls management to the floor to try to cover those holes right now. Night shift is in (just) as bad of shape. There (are) about two full-time people working the night shift. So it does pull us in all different directions. Motz said the nursing home website has been updated with a link to apply for open positions.
