The regional ombudsman for the La Salle County Nursing Home is saying the home's administrator, Adrienne Erickson, got it wrong.

The Illinois Department of Public Health issued a report June 4 faulting the nursing home for failing to protect female residents from the molestations of a male resident between January and May. The day after the report, the male resident was moved from the home to the mental health unit at Ottawa Regional Hospital. Following a June 12 inspection of the home, Erickson told the IDPH that staff had asked the home's ombudsman to help develop "interventions" for the male resident, noted the ombudsman has a duty to report abuse and neglect and said the ombudsman did not consider the male resident's behavior to be abuse or neglect.

The ombudsman for the home is Laura Zeedyk, who is ombudsman through her job with Alternatives for the Older Adult agency in Ottawa. The regional ombudsman, based in Moline, is Nancy H. Schold. Zeedyk acts to solve complaints made by or on behalf of the home's residents.

Schold sent a letter dated Aug. 12 to Erickson saying Erickson's statements to the inspector about Zeedyk were wrong.

Schold said the home's staff never asked Zeedyk to help develop interventions and Zeedyk is prohibited from reporting or sharing information — about such things as neglect and abuse — without permission from the resident in question, because if Zeedyk did report information, it could compromise her role as advocate for the resident.

Schold attached to the letter a brochure outlining the ombudsman's role. Near the end of her letter, Schold wrote Erickson, "In the future, any mention of Ombudsman involvement should be accurate..."

Copies of the letter were sent to nine recipients, including La Salle County Board Chairman Jerry Hicks, D-Marseilles, Nursing Home Committee Chairman Gary Small, R-Utica, the Illinois Department of Public Health and two newspapers.

The Times left two messages Tuesday for Erickson, but they were not returned. Erickson had been on medical leave, but Assistant Administrator Cathy Harvey said Erickson was at work Tuesday.

The county is facing a $20,000 fine from the state and at least a possible $20,000 fine from the federal government for the abuse committed by the male resident.