Nurses at Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest say a new parking policy is causing headaches and potentially affecting patient care, with at least two dozen employees having their cars towed recently as a result of the new policy.

The center, 114 N. Orchard Drive, houses people 18 and older with developmental disabilities.

It has 383 beds in three residential units, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Flyers recently put on employee vehicles notify them that any vehicle parked in a fire lane, regardless of whether it displays a parking placard, will be towed.

The notice also informs employees the entire campus is considered a fire lane.

Units at Ludeman are set up in a configuration of 40 residential homes spread over 60 acres.

Ludeman has 327 people living there, according to the state. The facility has 761 active employees, including 52 represented by the Illinois Nurses Association.

The center’s administrator did not return messages seeking comment.

Marika Loftman-Davis, a nurse at Ludeman and chief union steward for the Illinois Nurses Association at the facility, said 26 vehicles were towed in one night, but she was unsure whether they were all nurses’ vehicles.

She said the union plans to file a grievance over the parking policy.

“This is causing a problem for patient care,” Loftman-Davis, who has been at Ludeman for nearly 10 years, said Friday.

She said staffing has been a problem since the parking policy and towing has gone into effect, with several nurses calling off from their shifts after learning about vehicles being hauled away.

“At what point does logic take over and ensuring safety is paramount,” Loftman-Davis said.

One nurse, Nkechi Almona, said she had her car towed while responding to an emergency involving a patient.

“Is a nurse supposed to choose between saving the life or parking their vehicle?” Loftman-Davis said.

Almona said that parking in lots farther away from the homes themselves works for most employees, who go to their specific job site for the duration of their shift.

Nurses, however, have to make regular visits to clients throughout their shift, checking on things such as blood pressure or feeding tubes, said Almona, who in October will mark her fifth year as a nurse at Ludeman.

“We move around truly all night,” she said.

She works an overnight shift and got a taste of the new tow policy just before 5 a.m. Wednesday.

A supervisor alerted her a patient in one of the homes was suffering a seizure and hit his head and was bleeding. Almona said she rushed over to the unit and parked, but not in a way that blocked traffic, such as an ambulance.

While inside the home tending to the patient, a tow truck hooked up to her car, she said.

“Staff were yelling out of the door at the driver that it was an emergency,” Almona said. “I couldn’t do anything. My attention was focused on the patient.”

She said her coat, purse and other belongings were in her car when it was hauled away, and that she had to borrow money to pay the $240 charge to retrieve her vehicle from a tow lot in Markham.

Joy Abuwa also found her car towed while she worked her nursing shift Tuesday night.

Abuwa, who started at Ludeman in September 2022, said she had not been parked illegally, but said a tow truck came just before 2 a.m. to haul her car away.

“I parked my car in a good place,” she said Thursday.

The nurse said she grabbed her keys and ran out to her car, opening the front passenger door as the tow truck began to drive away, only to lose her grip and fall to the ground.

Abuwa said she tried to convince the tow operator to leave her car alone, but that “he physically pushed me on the ground.” She was taken by ambulance to Franciscan Health in Olympia Fields.

She said nothing was broken, but “I have excruciating pain all over me,” particularly in her right shoulder and hip, and is taking pain medication prescribed at the hospital.

Abuwa said she cannot return to her job until after she is cleared by her own doctor.

Almona said in the situation she had early Wednesday, it was important for her to respond quickly to the patient who was bleeding.

“They are not thinking about the safety of the patient,” she said of Ludeman administration.

Because of the size of Ludeman’s campus, walking, rather than driving, from home to home to see patients isn’t always an option, particularly in the middle of the night.

“There are wild animals out there and it’s not well lit,” Almona said.

She said nurses also carry large bags of supplies with them, making walking for extended distances difficult.

“This is not going to work,” she said. “Just allow us, even if we put our blinkers on, to go in and administer medication then leave.”

Loftman-Davis echoed Almona’s concerns about walking the campus to conduct patient rounds, even in good weather.

“We have deer, possum, coyotes and random dogs that approach at times,” she said. “There are a lot of safety concerns.”

Loftman-Davis said the parking placards nurses display in vehicles were declared “null and void,” but she was not sure if that came from police or campus security.

“It’s quite disgusting, especially after a woman was injured,” she said.

She said that Ludeman management have not provided any clarification to the union since the new policy went into effect.

She said the union is “definitely going to grieve and fight this,” and that the Illinois Nurses Association “will do their best to make everybody whole” as far as paying towing tickets.