911 call

In a 911 call to Belleville emergency dispatch, obtained by the BND under a Freedom of Information Act request, a Midwest staff member asked for an ambulance with “lights and sirens” stated that “we had a resident in a wheelchair fall down the steps.”

Juanita Simmons, 85, died from injuries consistent with a fall, St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone said. Her body was found strapped to a wheelchair at the bottom of a set of stairs March 12 at Midwest Rehabilitation and Respiratory, 727 N. 17th St., Belleville.

The Coroner’s investigators talked to residents and staff and obtained surveillance video from the nursing home. The video showed Simmons, sitting in the hall, alone, staring at a soda machine, Stone said. Minutes later, she was found at the bottom of the stairs. The fire door that covered the stairs was equipped with an alarm, but, Stone said, it was turned down to a chime, instead of an actual alarm.