AFSCME sues Pritzker, DHS to keep Choate working
Council 31 has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the state of Illinois’ plan to close major portions of Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center. If the state is allowed to move forward with its plan, some 280 Choate employees would be laid off and mental health and disability services in southern Illinois would be gutted.
Council 31 filed the lawsuit in circuit court in Union County, where Choate is located.
The state’s threatened cuts violate multiple state laws intended to protect essential services for people with mental illness and developmental disability and to prohibit disruptive closures to large facilities without adequate oversight, AFSCME’s lawsuit argues.
AFSCME filed the suit alongside Union County state’s attorney Tyler Tripp and AFSCME Local 141 president Tina Winfield.
The State of Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Human Services and IDHS secretary Dulce Quintero are defendants.
The lawsuit asks the court to stop the state from taking further steps to slash services and jobs at Choate and to direct DHS to comply with all applicable laws.
“AFSCME members who work at Choate care about the individuals they support and are committed to the mental health and disability services they provide,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said. “Southern Illinois needs these services, and state laws exist to protect them. That’s why we’re asking the court to step in.”
These drastic cuts violate three separate state laws which requires the state to ensure all residents have access to health care, improve access to mental health, and follow a strict set of guidelines whenever it desires to shut a state-operated facility down.
Since the state’s sudden announcement that it would drastically reduce services at Choate came down in July, AFSCME has been fighting back.
Members of AFSCME Local 141, which represents around 450 Choate employees, have been organizing in their communities, urging local residents and business owners to show their support for Choate, and gathering thousands of signatures on a petition telling the governor to reverse the decision.
Many of those petition signers have left powerful comments on the petition testifying to Choate’s importance.
“Southern Illinois can’t afford to lose Choate. The impact would be catastrophic,” wrote one signer.
“Choate is the only facility that made a life change for our daughter. Southern Illinois needs long-term, inpatient psychiatric care,” wrote another.