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STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO PROBE CARE AT YOUNTVILLE
VETERANS HOME -- Vet claims the floor in his
room is
always dirty, he had to use a wheelchair with
under-
inflated tires and had to lay two hours in bed
waiting for a nurse to come clean him up.
State VA Home at Yountville, California.
For the previous story on this matter...click
here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/
nf07/nfAUG07/nf082807-4.htm
For more on the Yountville Veterans Home in
California, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=yount
ville&op=and
Story here...
http://www.sfgate.com/
cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronic
le/archive/2007/08/30/BA0ARR
T73.DTL&type=politics
Story below:
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State to probe care at Yountville veterans home
Matthew Yi,Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writers
A legislative committee on Wednesday ordered the state auditor to
investigate the nation's oldest and largest veterans home after
residents and employees at the Yountville facility registered numerous
complaints about the quality of service attributed mainly to
understaffing.
State Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, said she requested the audit
after her office received about 100 pages of letters complaining about
the level of care at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville, a
123-year-old, state-run facility that includes a hospital and houses
about 1,100 residents.
One letter came from Ron Muzio, a disabled Korean War veteran who has
lived at the Yountville home for eight years followed by five years at
the hospital.
"When you enter the grounds at Yountville, they look beautiful, but when
you enter the hospital, it's a different story," Muzio told members of
the Joint Legislative Audit committee during a hearing Wednesday.
Muzio said the floor in his room is always dirty, he had to use a
wheelchair with under-inflated tires for at least two months while
living there, and, one time, had to lay two hours in bed waiting for a
nurse to come clean him up.
"I think more help and better supervision is needed at the hospital," he
said.
Wiggins said she's also received complaints from visually impaired
veterans who said they were not getting assistance on food choices on
the cafeteria menu, concerns about inadequate medical equipment and
questions regarding whether the more than 100 buildings on the 550-acre
campus meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"The number, diversity and severity of complaints cannot be ignored,"
Wiggins said.
But a representative of the state Department of Veterans Affairs
defended the staff and the facilities at Yountville.
J.P. Tremblay, a deputy secretary of the department, said recent
resident surveys, which included questions regarding care and food,
showed that overall satisfaction was very high.
He also said his department is in the process of renovating all
buildings on the campus to meet federal disability standards.
"We're not there yet, but we are making progress," he said.
And while Yountville is feeling the same strains of nursing shortage
faced by hospitals up and down the state, the facility is meeting the
federal requirement of giving each patient at least 3.4 hours of direct
nursing care per day.
Tremblay said his department will cooperate fully with the state
auditor, who told lawmakers that the probe should last about five
months.
"I believe when they are finished, they will find what we know:
Yountville is a well-run home ... (with staff members) who care about
our veterans," Tremblay said.
Staff shortage is the biggest source of the problems, Christina Freeman
told the committee.
"We make about 30 percent less than our counterparts in private
hospitals," said Freeman, 49, who has worked at Yountville for nearly
three decades as a nurses assistant. She added that on average,
registered nurses work two double-shifts a week.
"Shorter staff means a longer period of time that patients have to wait
for their care," Freeman said.
But some residents at Yountville wondered what all the fuss was about.
"I don't know where I could get better care," said Gary Hemphill, 74,
who on Wednesday afternoon was attending a sing-along in a recreation
area of the hospital. "You get superior care, plus entertainment and
crafts and music. The people who complain, they don't take advantage of
the facilities. They just won't get off their duff and do the things
they can do."
The veterans home has about 1,100 residents, 650 of whom live in
residential areas where they get no extra care and come and go as they
please. Most of them have cars and take regular trips to Napa and
beyond.
About 300 residents live in immediate-care facilities, where they get
some help with day-to-day living and meals delivered to them. The rest
of the residents live in an on-campus hospital.
The entire campus is tucked on a hill above Yountville with sweeping
views of tidy vineyards. A shady, tree-lined road leads to the main
entrance and paths wind among the deep-green grass separating
residential buildings. The campus also includes a 1,200-seat auditorium
plus a baseball field for high school games, a swimming pool and golf
course.
E-mail the writers at
myi@sfchronicle.com and
eallday@sfchronicle.com.
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Larry Scott --
