Elgin retirement home likely to remain closed

The state of Illinois wants to make sure the owners of the now-shuttered Bowes Retirement Center in Elgin don't open a similar facility again.

An injunction filed by the Illinois Attorney General's office could be granted Wednesday against the former owners of the retirement facility, which the state has argued was really an unlicensed nursing home.

The facility, in a historic mansion at 105 N. Gifford St., closed in September amid numerous complaints of neglect and bad living conditions. Owners Angel and Bell Corp. and Benjamin and Angelina Guzman are also facing a foreclosure suit.

Bowes marketed itself as a retirement facility that provided room and board, meals and laundry service. But it offered much more, like helping residents bathe and take medication, according to the state's complaint.

Under state law, a license is required to provide nursing or personal care to three or more people not related by blood or marriage.

Linda Voirin, the Kane County victim advocate for seniors, said staff members would sometimes give residents medicine from a box at the front desk. Retirement centers are allowed to remind residents to take their medicine, but not administer it, she said.

“People weren't capable of saying, ‘They're not feeding me right, or serving me the right medications.' That's so scary to me. Those people can't self report. There's no one to speak for them,” Voirin said.

The Guzmans' attorney, Lawrence Stark, said the owners never intended to operate Bowes as a nursing home.

But what actually is and isn't medical care, he said, is a fine line.

“If you help an elderly person into the shower or help open their medication bottle to take some pills, for example, I would argue that's not providing health care, but the state may disagree,” Stark said.

When the facility closed, 26 people were living there, which is less than the facility's full capacity of 40. That, coupled with a lower cost compared to an average nursing home, amounted to the Guzmans' financial difficulty, Stark said.

The closing of Bowes marks the end to “old style retirement homes” in Elgin, said Mike Alft, a local historian and former Elgin mayor.

Bowes operated in a 125-year-old mansion, once home to prominent Elgin publisher David Cook. Alft said Elgin had about a dozen such retirement homes in mansions in the 1960s. The facilities began to close when the state began enforcing licensing requirements.

If the state's injunction filing is approved, the Guzmans wouldn't be allowed to operate another facility like Bowes unless they obtain the proper licensing, said Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office.

“We will continue to monitor Bowes and pursue further action if they violate the injunction. This injunction ensures protection for the elderly and disabled adults of our state,” Possley said.