Nursing home task force ready to discuss changes

A task force examining the safety of Illinois nursing homes is ready to discuss concrete changes.

A meeting Thursday in Chicago will bring the task force together to discuss ways to prevent assaults, rapes and murders in nursing homes.

Michael Gelder is Gov. Pat Quinn's senior health adviser and is leading the group. Gelder has said he sees three broad areas for solutions.

Those are: more housing options for adults with mental illness, higher standards of nursing home care and improved screening of potential residents.

Illinois nursing homes increasingly have housed younger adults with serious mental illnesses or violent criminal histories.

The task force plans to make recommendations to the governor by the end of January.