South Central Reporter

Veteran state Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) takes the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans' Home that left 36 residents dead personally.

“When I was growing up I always envisioned myself as a military person as something I would do, and between my junior and senior year in high school I spent that summer down at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri in basic training,” Wilhour said at a news conference. “That had a profound impact on my life and I served for six years as an Army intelligence analyst and served in support of operation Enduring Freedom. So obviously this issue is something that's near and dear to my heart.”

Wilhour is further pained by an Illinois Department of Human Services report that found the veterans' home deaths could have been prevented, and the outbreak was made worse by a lack of leadership.

“What we have seen here is a wholesale failure, all the way around, from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and IDPH,” Wilhour said.  

Wilhour reserved most of the blame for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whom he accused of failing to protect the most vulnerable. Pritzker faced heavy criticism over his hiring of Linda Chapa La Via as VA director and standing by as she abdicated her responsibilities to a non-medically trained chief of staff.

“Dozens of veterans are dead,” Wilhour said. “You know these are people who have been down range for us. They've risked their self. They've sacrificed and is this really the thanks that they get, the respect that they get in the state of Illinois?”

As the virus spread, investigators said staffers at LaSalle operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic” with all the biggest failures coming from the top.

Pritzker’s office has since hired Navy veteran Terry Prince as acting VA Director to replace Chapa LaVia.

Wilhour argues much more needs to be done.

“You know people have died because this administration was more concerned with using their resources to do things like test and contract-trace teenagers, instead of focusing on the people that we know without a doubt are statistically vulnerable to critical illness and death,” he said. “There's never been a strategy on same-day testing in areas like these veterans' homes and any long-term facility. To my knowledge, it’s inexcusable.”