JOLIET, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Several nurses who work at Our Lady of Angels were protesting outside the Joliet nursing home Monday in an effort to keep it from closing after more than sixty years.
They dressed for the cold and carried signs that read ‘Save OLA’ and ‘Better Pay Now’.
Nurses who work at the 80-bed Catholic retirement home like CNA Emily Delgado say pending closure is making the holiday season stressful for families trying to find a new place for residents to live.
"All the nursing homes are pretty much... have a waitlist, so not everybody knows where they're going," she said.
"Some families are having to have to take their loved one out of Joliet and somewhere a little bit farther just because they can't put them anywhere here, where they live for years and years."
Delgado and roughly 70 other staffers are represented by the Illinois Nurses Association since voting this summer to unionize.
They say their suggestions for ways to keep the nursing home open including fundraising and allowing for an audit of the books, were not considered by management.
Back in November-the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate announced it was closing the home before March because they say it continues to lose money.
The union has urged the home’s management company, CSJI, to share financial information so potential buyers can review it.
WBBM has reached out to the Joliet Francisicans for comment.
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