Nebraska VA using Skype to help families stay connected during COVID-19

Nebraska Department of Veterans' Affairs launches ‘virtual visits’ to keep veterans’ home members and families connected

The North Plate Telegraph
March 11, 2020

Members will have access to computers, tablets and other devices loaded with video messaging software, such as Skype and FaceTime. Teammates will be available to assist members and their families in connecting.

The Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs is launching a virtual visitor system to keep veterans’ home members and their families connected while the facilities are limiting entry, according to a press release. Access to the four state veterans’ homes is currently limited to NDVA teammates and medical professionals only as a precaution against COVID-19 exposure.

“Protecting our members’ health and safety is our top priority,” said NDVA Director John Hilgert in a press release. “However, we also want to protect the bond they have with their loved ones and ensure they can remain connected. Through our virtual visitor system, we’re striking a balance between the two.”
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skype

Vietnam veteran in Georgia VA nursing home bitten by ants...until he died

update VA announces leadership shakeup after veteran patient was covered in ant bites in his room

A director was placed on administrative leave and several other staff members were moved to non-patient positions during an investigation.

Author: Jason Braverman

 September 18, 2019

ATLANTA — Just over a week after a Vietnam veteran died of Stage 4 cancer while in the care of the VA, a major shakeup was announced on Tuesday, adding that the VA hopes to "restore trust." 

The Veterans Health Administration Executive in Charge announced a number of actions he is taking in response to "recent events" at the Atlanta VA Medical Center’s Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center and "ongoing issues" at other VA facilities in that region. 

Two top administrators and seven staffers were removed from their positions, effective immediately. 

It's all because of what a dying veteran at a VA facility in Atlanta suffered in his final days. 

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Georgia woman says father was bitten by ants 100 times in veterans' nursing home

Associated Press
Monday, September 16, 2019

Employees bathed her father and cleaned the room, but the ants were still around the next day, Ross said. Marrable was then moved to a new room, where he died, she said.

At least three veterans were affected by the Sept. 2 ant infestation, Isakson said the Atlanta VA Health Care System confirmed to him.

DECATUR, Ga. -- U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson is demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after a Georgia woman said her father was bitten more than 100 times by ants at a veterans' home in Decatur.

Isakson says he was horrified and "downright maddened" after Laquna Ross told WSB-TV that she found her father, Joel Marrable, with swollen, red bumps all over his body when she visited him at the nursing home near Atlanta last week before his death. Marrable, an Air Force veteran, had cancer.

"I am shocked, horrified and downright maddened by the news that a veteran under the care of the VA was treated so poorly and without any regard for his wellbeing," Isakson said in a statement.

"This patient, at the end of his life, was clearly not being monitored closely enough, and I am so sad for his family who had to discover his insect-infested conditions before anything was reportedly done," Isakson said.
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Audit finds veterans accounts had "breach of the home's fiduciary" responsibilities

Audit finds funds missing from veterans' bank accounts at Grand Rapids home

Detroit Free Press
Paul Egan
June 14, 2019

LANSING – An audit at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans found discrepancies totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars involving the bank accounts of residents, prompting a separate forensic analysis.

The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, which manages the home, transferred $304,250 into the bank accounts of home residents to make them whole, spokeswoman Suzanne Thelen told the Free Press on Thursday.

It's not clear from the audit whether any resident funds were improperly taken, but "the matter represents a breach of the home's fiduciary responsibilities to appropriately segregate and safeguard the personal funds attributed to it by its members," the report said.
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84 year old veteran's widow had nerve to lead Bible study....at nursing home?

California veterans home threatens to expel 84-year-old widow for leading Bible study group

Fox News
By Caleb Parke

An 84-year-old widow claims California officials are threatening to kick her out of a residence for veterans if she doesn't stop hosting a longtime Bible study.

Artis Breau, an 84-year-old widow of a WWII veteran, has been threatened with expulsion from a veterans home in California if she doesn't stop leading Bible study. (Google/iStock)

Artis Breau and her husband moved to the Veterans' Home of California in Yountville nine years ago. Breau's husband, who died a few years ago, served as a Merchant Marine, Army, in World War II and then, during the Korean War he served in the Air Force. The two met in the 1950s while she worked at the Pentagon as a civilian employee in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army.

She has been volunteering with the chaplaincy program and led Bible studies much of the last decade at an area of the residence known as the Holderman Building, which is a shared space for residents of the home. Recently, the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) notified Breau that she would face "involuntary discharge," or expulsion, from the home if she doesn't give up her status as a volunteer Bible study leader.
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Family of Veteran Wins Lawsuit Against Nevada State VA Nursing Home

State will pay $750,000 to family of veteran who died after legionella found in nursing home's water 
The Nevada Independent
Michelle Rindels
September 13, 2017

Gov. Brian Sandoval apologized to the family of an 88-year-old man who died at the Nevada State Veterans Home in 2015 after legionella bacteria was found in the water, then voted Tuesday to approve a $750,000 payout to his survivors.

The settlement with World War II veteran Charles Demos’ five children comes after the family sued the state on a litany of grounds, alleging negligence, wrongful death, elder abuse, infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, training and supervision and breach of contract. A court denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case, and officials with the Nevada attorney general’s office said lawsuit costs could have spiraled to $2.5 million absent a settlement.

“I feel horrible that this has happened,” Sandoval said at a Board of Examiners meeting where the settlement was approved. “It’s a tragedy. This is a gentleman who served our country with distinction … I think this is a fair settlement and I just want to make sure that it was clear on the record that they have my apology.”

Demos, who would have turned 91 on Monday, was a member of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps and had a decades-long legal career in Florida before retiring in 2010. After moving to the veterans’ home in Boulder City, he served two terms as president of residents at the nursing home and enjoyed playing chess and talking politics.
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70 Year Old Veteran Died From Choking on Trash Bag

Sapulpa veteran died with 2-foot trash bag in his throat at state care home, new autopsy report says

Sapulpa man died from choking on a trash bag while in the care of state veterans center in Talihina, report shows

• By Andrea Eger Tulsa World

A new report from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office confirms that a Sapulpa man died from choking on a trash bag while in the care of a state nursing home for veterans.

Leonard Smith, 70, was an advanced-dementia patient living in a locked-down special-needs unit at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina when he choked to death Jan. 31 after being given food, fluids and medication. After he died, a medical provider found that he had a plastic bag lodged deep in his throat.

In its final report on the death, the medical examiner determined Smith’s probable cause of death was asphyxia due to choking on a foreign body and the manner of his death was accidental.

The ME’s report revealed that included with items sent with Smith’s body to be examined was what was found in his throat: “a twisted clear trash bag covered in pink vomitus. The trash bag is intact and measures 24 (inches) in length and 1 (inch) in width when twisted. When the trash bag is untwisted, it measures 5 (inches) in width.”

Christine Cornwell, a Tulsa County resident and Smith’s niece, whom he had entrusted with his power of attorney, said the ME’s report may close a chapter in Smith’s death but not her and other relatives’ anguish over the circumstances.

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Veteran gets foster home instead of nursing home

Why didn't anyone think of this before? This is such a great idea when you consider there are people in this country taking in homeless dogs. The dogs are cared for until someone adopts them by their foster families. When we were looking for a dog, Save-a-life gave us the option of being a foster family or adopting. We fell in love with our dog, so right away, we adopted him. We were ready to do whatever it took to give him a good home. Veterans in this country have not been so lucky.

Many veterans have no family to help take care of them or even visit them in a nursing home. Doing something like this is an outstanding idea! There was something like this after WWII. My husband's uncle was on a ship that was sunk. He was in the ocean for a few days. When he came home he was sent to live on a farm with a couple dedicated to taking care of veterans. They lived there, were cared about and given something to do with their days. While it gave him a better quality of life even with what was called "Shell-shock" it can only work better now because there is a lot more knowledge of what needs to be done.

Local Veteran is First to Receive One-of-a-Kind Care
Local Veteran is First to Receive One-of-a-Kind Care
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21 2011 18:22 KYLE WARNKE
Kenneth Gaddis is a Korean War veteran who recently found himself a new home, thanks to the help of the V.A. Medical Center of Dublin.
The V.A. Center started a program to put veterans into a foster home instead of a nursing home. The focus is to give veterans one-on-one care in a person's house, rather than being just another patient in a nursing home.
Kenneth Gaddis is the first middle Georgian to take advantage of this program.
Gaddis' foster 'family', is Lisa Akins. She helps by helping Gaddis make his bed, cook his food, and take him to the store.
But Kenneth says he likes helping Lisa around the house, doing things just like he did when he was younger.
"Yeah, I like to help her if I can," Gaddis says. "Do things that I used to...help bring in the groceries, something like that."
But the V.A. Center needs more help from families for more veterans. According to a V.A. Center spokesman, veterans who are in the foster care program see better health results, because they typically get more attention and exercise.
And Lisa says Kenneth is not a patient, he's a part of the family.
"We just hang out as a family," she says. "He goes out with the family and hangs out with us. Like he's a part of the family."
If you are interested in becoming a foster family for a local veteran, or would like more information about the program, you can click here

Pennsylvania veterans homes seizing patients' savings

When my Dad passed away my Mom was taken care of simply because my Dad had 100% service connected disability claim with the VA. When my Father-in-law passed away, there wasn't anything for my Mother-in-law or even help to bury him. The man was a WWII veteran with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. The difference was, he never filed a claim for anything. He was one of the countless veterans too proud to ask for anything and under the impression it was a hand out instead of something they earned.

This is a story about WWII veteran who didn't fall thru the cracks. She was pushed into the abyss.

Pennsylvania veterans homes seizing patients' savings

By Walter F. Roche Jr.
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, August 9, 2010


It seemed reasonable.

When Rosella Stitzell checked into the state-run Southwestern Veterans Center in 2002, the World War II veteran was told 80 percent of her monthly pension would pay for her stay. Twenty percent would go into a personal savings account maintained by the home in Lincoln-Lemington.

Over the next seven years, the savings account grew, eventually topping $20,000.

But when Stitzell, 97, checked out late last year, she and her three children got a surprise. Not only did the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs refuse to let her have the $20,000, the family learned she owed more than $200,000 for her stay.

The Stitzells had run headlong into a little-known knot of state bureaucracy, a knot that grabbed up the savings of dozens of deceased veterans, including homes and a coin collection.

What's more, some relatives must go to court to fight the state for money to bury their kin.

A review of court records across the state and interviews with family members show many were unaware they would be billed for thousands of dollars after their loved ones died.
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Pennsylvania veterans homes seizing patients savings

Report: Staff at veterans nursing home feels terrorized by administrator

Report: Staff at veterans nursing home feels terrorized by administrator
ANTHONY COLAROSSI

Sentinel staff report

2:57 p.m. EDT, August 28, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH - A State Department of Children and Families Inspector General's Investigation found that many staffers at a Daytona Beach Veteran's Nursing Home found the workplace environment to be problematic.

The probe found that 35 of 57 staff members had particular concerns about the administrator at the Emory L. Bennett Memorial State Veteran's Nursing Home. The administrator, Belkis Pineyro-Wiggins, was described by those 35 employees as "terrorizing" or "belittling" and "degrading" or "threatening," according to the 13-page Management Review completed earlier this month.

Pineyro-Wiggins could not be immediately reached for comment this afternoon.

In a comments section at the end of the report, the Inspector General's Office recommended that the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs review specific portions ot the document and determine appropriate actions.
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Staff at veterans nursing home feels terrorized by administrator

Indianapolis Welcomes Home Vietnam Vets

City gives Vietnam vets overdue welcome home

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 19, 2008 11:46:05 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS — Hundreds of Vietnam War veterans and their family members filled the Indiana War Memorial auditorium Saturday for a long-overdue homecoming celebration.

A banner stating “The city of Indianapolis Welcomes Home Vietnam Veterans” was displayed outside the memorial, as the city held its first welcome-home celebration for the veterans. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, a Marine veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, greeted guests before and after the ceremony.

“I thought it was important for the city to do it, so at least one municipality is saying, ‘Thanks for what you did,’” said Ballard, who spoke at the ceremony along with Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard.

Another Vietnam veteran, Olgen Williams, said it took years before he stopped feeling ashamed of his military service.

“For a long time we just didn’t talk about it,” said Williams, Indianapolis’ deputy mayor for neighborhoods. “I don’t think people understand how important saying ‘welcome home’ is. And maybe they will never understand, but it means everything to us.”

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_vietnamhomecoming_051908/

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15:13

This is what they were all willing to do. It didn't matter if they were drafted or enlisted. They were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their friends, their adopted brothers in arms. How could there be any shame in that? How could there be any shame in them?

Did they decide to go into Vietnam? Did they give the orders to mobilize men and women by the thousands, order the equipment, make the plans? No. They did none of the above. They all risked their lives in service to this nation, what this nation demanded of them, asked of them and in some cases, forced them to do. Where is the guilt in them? Were there some criminal acts? Absolutely, just as there are some now, but they are not all guilty because of the actions of a few.

It is time that they came home all the way. They need your help to do it. It takes more than just a few words. It takes action. Today as the focus is on the Afghanistan and Iraq wounded, the older veterans are being pushed back to make room for them. It's time this nation took care of all of our veterans equally. Call congress and thank them for being a part of this. If they voted against funding the VA and the GI Bill, ask them why they do not support the troops when they become veterans.

I had a very busy day Saturday. Part of it was spending time at the VA nursing home in Orlando. When we get a chance, a group of us go to the nursing home to play bingo with the patients. They are a great group of guys. They love the snacks and the gifts for hitting Bingo. One of my friends has been supplying the gifts and the snacks out of her own pocket. Her name is Diane Ringlund. We were part of Rolling Thunder before the chapter fell apart, but Diane, loves to do it so much, she doesn't want to give it up. One more thing she does, she supplies baskets for the homeless veterans with little personal things they need, again out of her own pocket. When it comes to our veterans, she never stops thinking about them. Diane is one of the unsung heroes doing whatever she can to let them know they are cared about. They can give her nothing in return but in her mind, they already gave her all they could. Now she wants to give back. I am so proud to call her my friend.

She has a daughter, also helping and doing what she can. Apryl also has a young son of 7. We went to get a bite to eat before we went to the nursing home. He was all excited to go and see the "Army guys" because to him, they are all Army guys. At the nursing home, he was giving out the prizes and Diane mentioned how they are all his heroes and "his Army guys" which didn't go over too big with the Marines but he said they were all his heroes.

When we were there, one volunteer came up to me and said he never knew there were female Chaplains. I had on my IFOC Chaplain shirt for a meeting I had to go to after the nursing home. One of the patients noticed it as well and began to talk to me of how he went to all kinds of different churches. I told him as a Chaplain, my church is all I come into contact with. While we were talking I discovered he was searching for something he didn't find. I saw him in the wheel chair and knew that was not his problem. The problem is, he was a wounded veteran in his body but also in his soul. He was searching for the love he once knew from God. I told him the story of the Roman centurion ( I know I tell it too often and my readers know it well, so no, I'm not going to repeat it now) his eyes filled up. He said he didn't know that. I then told him how Christ said there was no greater love than the willingness to lay down your life for your friends. He said he didn't know that either and then softly said, "bless you" but I already felt blessed just being there speaking with this wounded veteran.

If you live in Central Florida and see Diane Ringlund, know that you are looking at a woman who has dedicated her free time with her heart and thank her for serving those who served. This is a picture of her speaking at a Memorial Day service a couple of years ago.





Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

International Fellowship of Chaplains

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington