Editor’s note: This commentary is by Don Keelan, a certified public accountant and resident of Arlington. It first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
[I]n a previous column, I alluded to the shame that the Shumlin administration has incurred by suggesting that the state disengage from having to fund the Vermont Veterans’ Home with dollars from the General Fund. It was suggested that proceeds from tear-off (gambling) tickets be the source to make up the $2 billion to $3 million annual shortfall in the home’s operating budget.
In addition to the newfound source of funding it was also proposed that the home’s 171 certified nursing home beds be permanently reduced to 130. It is inconceivable that such a suggestion would have been made in the Secretary of Administration’s Nov.15 report to the Legislature.
Currently, the home has approximately 109 veterans as residents with the additional population made up of spouses and Gold Star parents. Of the former, 60 percent are veterans from World War II and Korea — the rest from Vietnam and the Gulf War.
The Nov. 30 Wall Street Journal noted “Rising Numbers of Veterans Seek Help Decades After War,” the war being the Vietnam War:
“ More than 530,000 veterans received treatment for PTSD from VA hospitals and clinics through March of this year, nearly double the total through 2006 according to the VA. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans make up a large portion of the increase but account for slightly more than a quarter of the PTSD patients; the rest served in earlier wars, mainly Vietnam.”
The home in recent years has seen its daily census fall below capacity — for a host of reasons.
With so many women now making up the ranks of our military, the home should be developing a wing that will house these veterans when they too will need the services now being provided to male service members.
The administration noted this and made the suggestion that the home’s certified beds be reduced when in fact it should be just the opposite — they should be doubled.
What has been missing for decades within the operation of this 130-year-old state-operated facility is an absence of promotion — statewide and regionally. The current census at the home places 72 percent of the residents coming from south of Rutland/Windsor. The bulk of the state’s population resides north of these counties. The home has had no funds in its budget to promote its services. Any wonder that veterans residing upstate would not even know about the home?
The long distance from families is a factor to be considered. But with the advent of telecommunications veterans at the home could be linked into sessions with their loved ones, if such a service was incorporated into the home.
The home’s location, just a few miles north and east of Massachusetts and New York, make it an attractive place for veterans of these states where backlogs exists in getting into a VA-approved nursing home within their state. We should tear down the regulations that exist today which prevent these veterans from coming to the Vermont Veterans’ Home.
The home has one of the finest facilities in the state, if not the nation, for the treatment and caring of patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. The home could very well be the center for research and the University of Vermont Medical Center along with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (which has a presence in Bennington) should be encouraged to work with the home in this area.
With so many women now making up the ranks of our military, the home should be developing a wing that will house these veterans when they too will need the services now being provided to male service members.
The administration and the Legislature should make up their minds as to whether they wants to be in the business of caring for its veterans. If not, it should close down the home or turn over its operation to an organization that won’t have to rely on gambling proceeds to fund its existence, as well as having a vision for this 130-year-old jewel.
