The death of a Chicago South Side nursing home resident provoked a two-fold action by Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs Today. According to an ADAPT flyer: “This protest will be to honor the life of Ivory Jackson who was killed in this nursing home by his roommate. This and many other tragic deaths are a regular feature of nursing home life and yet these nursing homes do so little to protect the residents. In this specific case the nursing home was fined $10,000. Why are the lives of seniors and people with disabilities valued so little?”
The first ADAPT action took place at the All Faith nursing home on Friday, Aug. 22, and involved 32 picketers who chanted: “We have no faith in All Faith,” “What do we want? Community care! When do we want it? Now!” and “Free our brothers, free our sisters, free our people now!”
At the 2nd ADAPT action on Monday, Aug. 25, 19 disabled activists marched six blocks led by a banner that read, “Disabled people think nursing homes stink.” At the destination of the march, the demonstrators gathered together and occupied the 20th floor office of the Illinois Department of Public Health and sat-in for nearly two hours, chanting slogans such as “IDPH, meet with ADAPT” and “Who do we want? Mr. Breen! When do we want him? Now!” Mr. Breen is the head of IDPH.
After much persistence by ADAPT, they finally won an agreement from the IDPH staffers in the office to meet in the near future to discuss the ADAPT demands for better nursing home care.
