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LAWMAKERS GRILL MINNEAPOLIS VETERANS HOME
LEADERS -- "You don't in any way give us any
confidence that things are really changing."
Background with backlinks here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf030407-3.htm
Story here...
http://wcco.com/
topstories/local_story_068142913.html
Story below:
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Lawmakers Grill Veterans Home Leaders
(AP) St. Paul Minneapolis Veterans Home officials faced disappointment
and disbelief on Friday when they appeared before the state Senate panel
that oversees their budget.
Three nursing home residents died in January after medication errors at
the 411-bed home with a troubled history, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty sent in
the state Health Department to monitor operations last week. Now the
department is fining the home $1,850 a day.
Minnesota Veterans Home Board Chairman Jeff Johnson said he came to the
hearing "with a saddened heart and very high disappointment."
That didn't satisfy senators who said they've been fielding questions
about the problems. The word "disappointed" came up repeatedly as they
questioned Johnson and Chip Cox, the board's interim executive director.
"People ask me at the Legion and the VFW, they say what the hell is
going on here?" said Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, who asked whether
the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division had the authority
to fire people or cut off funding to the home.
"You gentlemen have failed," said Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth.
"You don't in any way give us any confidence that things are really
changing."
"I want some answers," said Sen. Jim Vickerman, who heads veterans
policy and funding committees.
An outside consultant, Health Dimensions Group, will begin supervising
the home on Monday, and all remaining problems found by state health
inspectors should be fixed next week, ending the fines, Cox said.
He also acknowledged that worker morale is low.
Several workers from the Minneapolis Veterans Home said they're
stretched too thin and have suffered as top managers have turned over
and co-workers have quit.
Lawmakers also heard from the niece of Harlan Jason, a diabetic who died
Jan. 4 at the Minneapolis home after nurses failed to properly monitor
his blood sugar and one gave him incorrect medication. Joan Willshire
said they didn't try to resuscitate him even though his chart indicated
he wanted that, and his family didn't get the full story about how he
died.
"He deserved better," said Willshire, who also heads the State Council
on Disability.
Two other men died at the home in January after they were given drugs
they were allergic.
Cox said his immediate focus has been on the citations. The fines
started Wednesday after health inspectors found that the home hadn't
fixed six of 26 rule violations identified in November. The home also
faces the loss of 20 percent of its operating budget if it doesn't
correct problems found by the federal government. A federal
re-inspection is expected this month.
Training for workers has taken top priority, and Cox said management is
also looking at staffing levels and electronic records that could help
improve care at the home.
"We stumbled. Now we need to get up," he said.
Two House committees delved into the home's troubles at a joint hearing,
where members asked about funding and staffing levels. Cox said staff
turnover in Minneapolis averages 21 percent a year -- higher than at
veterans homes in Fergus Falls, Hastings, Luverne and Silver Bay, where
competition for health care workers is less intense.
Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes, DFL-Winona, said she will push legislation
to install a full-time ombudsman at the Minneapolis home to look into
complaints about care.
She and others seemed incredulous over the recurring problems with care
at the home.
"When we're asking someone to join the military and put their lives on
the line and we can't even come through for them on something as simple
as their care, you know, I just -- I don't know why anybody would join
the military," Koering said.
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Larry Scott --
