Welch Calls on Pritzker to Help Bring New Senior Care Facility to Help Serve Community Needs

HILLSIDE, Ill. – In an effort to bring quality care and housing for seniors and create jobs and economic development to our community, state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, is calling on Governor JB Pritzker to help streamline the process to allow for the opening of a new senior care facility in Maywood. 

“I am thankful that Gov. Pritzker has committed to an investment in communities of color, and this project would be a great first step in following through on his pledge,” Welch said. “As we continue the nationwide conversation on racial equity, it’s vital that we begin to turn these discussions into meaningful change and new investments in communities of color.”

Welch recently sent a letter to the governor requesting the governor’s assistance in working with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) to approve the proposed development. The new facility would provide 130 beds for low-income seniors of which 30 beds would be for dementia care. In order to offer dementia care, HFS must approve a transition permit. 

According to the Illinois Alzheimer’s Association there are currently 230,000 Illinoisans living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, with this number projected to increase 13% by 2025. There is a critical need for access to dementia care all across Illinois and even more so in communities of color. To begin to meet this need, HFS announced the development of 40 new dementia care developments, yet only three were located in Cook County and none of those three were in majority-minority communities. 

The proposed development is located in downtown Maywood on a site that has been vacant for over 15 years. The project already has $40 million dollars in funding through private investors and would require no taxpayer funds to be completed. Welch is calling on Gov. Pritzker to work with HFS to help streamline the process to bring vital health care and housing for seniors and help revitalize economic development.

“Black and brown communities likes ours have faced disinvestment for too long and it’s time to turn words into positive actions for our community,” Welch said. “This development is a perfect template of what so many communities of color desperately need, a proposal that will create new jobs, further economic development and help to serve our local seniors in their times of need.”