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Mental health agency seeks help keeping women's home open

A cozy duplex on Elgin's northwest side that has been a safe haven for mentally ill women for nearly 30 years is in danger of closing.

Ecker Center for Mental Health will have to close the group home, which houses eight women, in March if it doesn't secure $30,000 "relatively soon" to keep funding its operations, Executive Director Karen Beyer said. The agency is in dire straits because of the state's budget impasse, she said.

"It breaks my heart," Beyer said. "It's a very difficult decision, but it's the one I think that will do the least harm."

Providing crisis mental health services is the agency's priority, Beyer said. Founded 60 years ago, Ecker Center has another group home whose federal funding came in regularly until earlier this month, plus six residential apartment programs, she said.

The agency is owed about $1.1 million for services provided, including Medicaid, and about $460,000 from the state, Beyer said. Also, the agency had to deal with a nearly $614,000 hole this year because two state grants, including one for psychiatry services, were eliminated, she said.

  Karen Beyer, executive director of Ecker Center for Mental Health in Elgin, says the decision to close the group home would break her heart, but crisis service are the agency's priority. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com

The agency has spent $345,000 out of reserves since July, including $60,000 to fund the women's group home. It has all but closed its drop-in center for clients' activities and has eliminated 16 staff positions through attrition and layoffs, she said.

Ecker Center has a $5 million yearly budget, but pretty much all the money is earmarked and there are no new sources of income, Beyer said.

Staff members created a GoFundMe page with little success and have since taken it down. The agency also decided not to apply for an emergency loan from the city of Elgin because it doubts it can repay it, Beyer said.

"We are trying to stretch our reserves to last as long as possible," she said. "The goal of all of this is to not close the doors."

The group home is a true family for its residents, many of whom have no family, said Victoria Gesinger, director of residential services. There is virtually no chance the eight women would find placement together, she said.

"They would be separated from what they know," she said. "It's like being ripped apart from your family."

  A resident of the group home talks about how much she enjoys living at Ecker Center in Elgin. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com

Staff members have not yet discussed the situation with the residents because they want to avoid upsetting them prematurely. The Daily Herald is not naming the women to protect their privacy.

"I really like it," said one resident who has lived there for 13 years. "If I have any problem, I can get help. It's very important to be with people who support you."

Another resident agreed. "It feels like home," she said. "I lived in two nursing homes before and the rules are better here. The people are better. They are kind to us."

The women likely would be moved to nursing facilities if the Elgin home closes, because group homes across the state have long waiting lists, Gesinger said.

"In a nursing home you don't have the same ability to interact with the community, and you may not be able to leave the facility," she said. "It's a much more restrictive setting, and it's not what they need."

  If the group home for eight mentally ill residents operated by the Ecker Center for Mental Health in Elgin does not raise $30,000 quickly to fill a void in state funding, the residents who live there will most likely be separated and forced to live elsewhere. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com

Case manager Elizabeth Gortowski is among those who might have to find work elsewhere if the group home closes.

"It's not even about me losing my job. I don't care about that," she said. "It's about the fact that they have a family and their home here."

Beyer said she hopes the community will help before it's too late.

"We have a group of dedicated donors that have given and given and given," Beyer said. "We are hoping to reach beyond this time and find others that will give."

Ecker Center is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. Credit card donations can be made at eckercenter.org (click on "Donate") or via checks dropped off or mailed to Ecker Center for Mental Health, House Fund/Accounting Department, 1845 Grandstand Place, Elgin, IL 60123.

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