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AFTER COMPLAINTS, COLORADO MOVES TO IMPROVE
VETERANS' LIVES -- VA officials had reported that
Homelake was in such poor shape that half of
its
cottages were inaccessible to disabled
residents.
Homelake
Background with backlinks here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf041907-2.htm
Story here...
http://www.nytimes.com/
2007/04/28/us/28vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Story below:
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After Complaints, Colorado Moves to Improve
Veterans’ Lives
By DAN FROSCH
DENVER, — Federal reports that criticized
conditions at Colorado veterans’ nursing homes have caused an outcry
here. Legislators have scrambled to allocate new money to the homes, the
state agency that operates them has promised improvements and the
Veterans Affairs Department moved up its annual inspection of a home
suffering from especially serious disrepair.
Earlier this month, officials from the V.A. inspected that home, the
Homelake state veterans center, which was reported to be in such poor
shape that half of its cottages were inaccessible to disabled residents.
The department’s reports also documented a string of deficiencies at
other state-operated veterans’ nursing homes across Colorado, including
one where many veterans had contracted bedsores.
“Previously, I’m not sure what level of attention was there,” said Viki
Manley, the director of the Colorado office of state and veterans
nursing homes, which runs the facilities.
“Unfortunately, this has been going on for years, and it’s taking us
some time to catch up,” said Ms. Manley, who took over as director
earlier this year. “It’s time to take a comprehensive look at everything
we do.”
Colorado has five nursing homes for veterans scattered through the
state. Though they are overseen by the federal veterans’ department,
which supplements the health care of the roughly 400 veterans living in
them, the state is charged with their daily operation.
The Veterans Affairs Department survey reports, which focused largely on
patient care and home upkeep, were compiled last year and were first
reported by The Associated Press. At one home, in Rifle, the department
found there had been an inadequate follow-up investigation when one
resident died after a fall. At another home, the Walsenburg state
veterans’ nursing home, 42 residents had developed bedsores since the
previous annual report was conducted there, the reports found.
The most notable shortcomings, however, were at Homelake, a facility
that dates to the 1890s, when it served as a home for Civil War
veterans.
According to the reports, Homelake’s antiquated buildings suffered from
safety and maintenance deficiencies, including exposed hazardous
materials and problems with water and sanitary lines. Several of
Homelake’s buildings have been closed because of structural concerns,
the report stated.
“There have been problems for several years, and I think it’s mostly
because of funding,” said Paul Sherbo, a Veterans Affairs Department
spokesman. “When we see these problems, we try and work with the state
to resolve them. We’re always concerned with veterans’ care.”
Ms. Manley said that preliminary findings from the inspection emphasized
longstanding concerns with the rundown state of Homelake’s buildings and
residential cottages and some administrative issues, but no pervasive
problems with the overall quality of care.
Mr. Sherbo declined to comment on the inspection’s results because they
are still in draft form. The completed report from the Homelake
inspection is expected in May. Ralph Bozella, chairman of the state and
veterans nursing home commission, which helps oversee the facilities,
said that he was pleased by the care provided by the staffs at the
facilities but that the state had neglected proper maintenance of the
homes for far too long.
“We’ve known this was going on for a while,” Mr. Bozella said. “I have
testified, written letters, saying you guys have got to do something,
calling for the state to put money into the homes.”
Ms. Manley agreed with Mr. Bozella’s assertion.
“We lacked in getting the issue moved up in the eyes of the General
Assembly, who could get us the money we needed,” she said. “There
wasn’t, perhaps, the communication in the past to raise the proper
alarms.”
But the fallout from the reports has already changed the political
landscape. Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., a Democrat, recently signed two pieces
of legislation that will increase oversight of the homes, making the
existing state and veterans nursing home commission a permanent body,
and also creating local advisory boards in the communities where the
nursing homes are located.
The legislature has allocated an additional $917,000 from the state
budget to pay for repairs at Homelake, and Governor Ritter is expected
to sign off on the budget next week. After he does, Mr. Bozella said,
the federal veterans’ department will provide an additional $2.2 million
in matching money.
Other states are also facing pressure over substandard conditions at
veterans’ nursing homes.
In February, the Department of Justice began investigating conditions at
two state nursing homes for veterans in Tennessee. Also in February,
Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota created a commission to examine chronic
problems with veterans nursing homes in that state following a series of
investigations and three deaths at a Minneapolis home.
The director of the Arizona Department of Veterans Services resigned in
March after state health investigators discovered a litany of violations
at a veterans’ nursing home in Phoenix, including patients who were left
in soiled underwear and covered in bodily fluids that had leaked from
medical devices.
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Larry Scott --
