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COLORADO VA NURSING HOMES IN SORRY SHAPE -- If
the
state does not make repairs to meet federal
standards, the
VA may withdraw its affiliation and financial
support.
Story here...
http://www.denverpost.com/
news/ci_5579666
Story below:
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VA nursing homes in sorry shape
By Karen Augé
Denver Post Staff Writer
Four of Colorado's five state-run veterans' nursing homes are in
disrepair, and one has been unsafe and unfit for habitation for at least
four years, according to federal Veterans Affairs officials.
Viki Manley, office director of State Veterans and Nursing Homes, said
it would take about $3 million in state funds to make the needed repairs
to fix the physical problems at homes in Homelake, Rifle, Florence and
Walsenburg.
If the state does not make repairs to meet federal standards, the VA may
withdraw its affiliation and financial support, Wayne Valey, a federal
VA official, told a state Senate committee in February.
VA surveys have catalogued a series of problems at homes, according to
The Associated Press.
In one facility, a patient fell and died. At another, 42 residents
suffered bed sores and a resident was left to measure out his own
medicine, according to VA reports.
The state Human Services Department estimates it needs $3.15 million to
repair Homelake - the worst of the homes.
The state has asked for $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs, and the legislature would have to agree to contribute
$917,000 to the project, Manley said.
Twenty-five assisted-living "cottages" at the Homelake facility contain
aging and defective electrical systems, asbestos and lead paint. They
also lack functioning emergency-response systems, according to state
inspection reports.
Those cottages were built between 1914 and 1939 and have not been
repaired since, according to the state.
Most of those aging cottages lack "grab bars" in bathing areas, their
front doors are not wheelchair accessible, and their narrow entrances
and concrete stoops create tripping hazards for the elderly residents,
according to the inspection reports.
Colorado collects a user fee from the veterans who live in its nursing
homes, and that money is used to cover operating expenses, said Manley.
"The problem is, when you've got buildings that old, the fees don't take
care of the repairs," Manley said.
Although the homes have been in bad condition for years, Manley, who has
overseen the homes for only a few months, said there was little momentum
to fund repairs.
In the past, she said, "I don't think the homes were encouraged, if you
will, to ask the legislature for capital-construction money because of
the economic downturn."
That downturn forced state legislators to cut tens of millions of
dollars from the state budget earlier this decade.
Manley said federal VA officials have given the state a grant to remodel
the home in Florence.
"Now, we'll have to figure out how to get the state end," she said.
While the VA pays two-thirds of the cost of such projects, the state has
to come up with the remainder.
The state health department inspects all nursing homes, including those
for veterans, every nine to 15 months.
The VA does its own inspections of the homes as well.
The VA reports found some buildings at Homelake unstable, a failure to
investigate the death of the patient who had a fall at Rifle, and 42
residents at Walsenburg suffering bed sores, The Associate Press
reported.
Colorado operates five nursing homes serving nearly 600 military
veterans and qualified family members.
The newest, at the former Fitzsimons Army hospital site in Aurora, had
widespread problems with substandard care of residents shortly after it
opened in 2002.
The problems were so severe that operation of that home was taken over
by a private outside management company in 2003.
Those problems have been corrected, and the state now runs the
Fitzsimons home once again, said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the
Human Services Department.
The current problems, McDonough said, "are not quality or
standard-of-care issues. They are physical-plant issues."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Larry Scott --
