Rauner Names Coordinator Of Quincy Legionnaires’ Response

Governor Bruce Rauner has named Michael Hoffman as his new senior advisor to oversee the state’s response to the multiple outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at the state-run veterans’ home in Quincy

In a statement - the Rauner administration is now saying there’s a quote ‘health crisis’ at the facility.

Hoffman is a retired U.S. Marine officer, who had been director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, the state’s personnel and procurement agency.

Rauner’s announcement comes as four more residents of the veterans’ home recently tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease. The latest cases follow outbreaks there in 2015, ‘16, and 2017, that killed 13 residents and sickened dozens more.

And a special committee of legislators is scheduled to meet Monday into why administrators didn’t act on a 2016 report that addresses the plumbing at the facility.

Legionnaires’ disease is a pneumonia-like malady that is caused by bacteria-infected water vapor that is inhaled.