California Veterans Home with 800 has no COVID-19 cases because of early actions taken

Veterans Home of California with almost 800 aging residents, has had no COVID-19 cases

KTVU FOX 2
By Debora Villalon
May 7, 2020

YOUNTVILLE, Calif. - Across the country, nursing homes and Veterans Affairs facilities are being overwhelmed by COVID-19.

California’s oldest and largest veteran’s home is COVID-19 free

A veteran's home in Yountville has nearly 800 aging residents, but zero cases of COVID-19. KTVU's Debora Villalon reports stringent steps are being taken at the nursing home and it seems to be paying off.

In the Bay Area, one institution stands out.

The Veterans Home of California in Yountville, with almost 800 aging residents, has had no cases.
"Fingers crossed we keep it that way," said Director Lisa Peake, while acknowledging an aggressive response.

"We got on it early, it's nothing to mess around with," said Peak. "Our campus and CalVet were probably a week to two weeks ahead of everyone else."

Access to the sprawling Napa Valley campus tightened in early March.

Staff wearing PPE screened arrivals then, and the precautions have only become more stringent since.
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Man Donated 10 Acres For Montana Veterans Home

Emotional testimony: Supporters push for money to pay for veterans home in Butte
The Missoulian
Renata Birkenbuel
January 27, 2017

The facility would be built on a 10-acre parcel of land near Continental Drive and the Interstate 90 interchange in Butte. Don Harrington donated the land. The other veterans homes in the state are in Columbia Falls, nearly a four-hour drive away, and Glendive, which is six hours away.

The Butte delegation and others on Friday pushed for the Legislature to approve a loan to build a long-awaited veterans home in southwest Montana that would serve the state’s many veterans.

Proponents overwhelmingly urged a subcommittee to help fund the projected $16.8-million project in bonds. The state has $5 million to commit to the nonpartisan project, but the federal government has not provided additional money as hoped because Montana is not on a high-priority list compared to other states.

“We have $5 million in the bank, but we need $10 million (of bonded money),” said Sen. Jon Sesso, D-Butte. “But we are losing more in construction inflation waiting to build the home. This is a simple formula.”

Sesso, Senate Minority Leader and one of the long-range planning committee members hearing testimony on House Bill 14, said Montana has been on the federal list since 2012.
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"Deficiencies" Prevent Veteran in Cardiac Arrest From Emergency Care

Veterans Affairs Weighs In On Patient Death
Central PA.com
Ashley Doerzbacher
12/08/2014

HOLLIDAYSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY - A report out indicates that man stopped breathing after going into cardiac arrest at the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home.

That report states the home did not send that patient to the emergency room after he complained of severe pains.

Both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health conducted investigations.

They found two deficiencies at the facility, but they don't feel they played any role in that man's death.

According to a report from the department of health, about 8:30 PM on August 29, a man complained of excruciating abdominal pain to a nurse at the home, and requested to go to the emergency room.

At that time, a physician increased his pain medication. About five hours later, just before one o'clock in the morning on August 30, that man went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing.
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Pennsylvania Veteran's Homes Empty Beds with Waiting List?

Senate Committee questions halt in Veterans’ Home Admission
Posted in News on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 11:00 am by Web content assistant editor David Rauch

Harrisburg– In the wake of reports that Pennsylvania has stopped admitting veterans to the six homes across the state, the Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee will hold a public hearing to get to the bottom of the problem.


“This is a very unsettling situation for veterans and their families – ailing veterans are not being admitted, workers are not getting paid, and rumors abound of layoffs and closings. I truly hope that the Rendell Administration has not stooped to making veterans who need care pawns in this budget dispute, but we need to find the facts,” according to Lisa Baker, the committee chair.
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Senate Committee questions halt in Veterans Home Admission

Tell Arnold Veterans Home In Yountville needs his attention

State vets home in bad shape, audit shows
Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Friday, April 25, 2008

(04-25) 04:00 PDT Sacramento --

- The state veterans home in Yountville, the nation's oldest veterans home, suffers from chronic staff shortages and a lack of proper oversight for timely maintenance of medical equipment, according to a report released Thursday by the state auditor.

The report was ordered by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in August after state Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, requested an investigation. The senator said her office had received about 100 pages of letters complaining about the level of care at the 124-year-old state facility that includes a hospital and houses about 1,100 residents.

Complaints ranged from dirty floors and under-inflated wheelchair tires to an allegation by one resident that he had to lie in bed two hours waiting for a nurse to come clean him up.

The 67-page report concluded the home has had difficulty filling health care positions in recent years and some nurses have had to work substantial amounts of overtime to meet the residents' needs.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/25/BAE510BBAS.DTL

Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients

Report: Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients
By TURNER HUTCHENS
trhutchens@dnj.com
— Turner Hutchens, 615-278-5161


A lack of care at the Tennessee State Veterans Home in Murfreesboro has led to the early death and needless suffering of veterans in the facility's care, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Justice.

The report, issued Feb. 8 to Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, describes "unconscionably poor health care" at the state's veterans nursing homes in Murfreesboro and Humboldt in West Tennessee.



However, state officials have said the problems have been remedied at both facilities since the data for the report was collected last year.

The report describes a disturbing list of problems, citing specific instances with patients not receiving food and water, a lack of proper pain medication, psychotropic drugs given to patients for the convenience of staff, a lack of care for chronic conditions failure to address dangers of falls and failure to aid patients in rehabilitation.

"At both TSVHs (Tennessee State Veterans Homes), residents have been, and continue to be, the victims of egregious neglect from the nursing homes' failure to provide for the most basic of human needs — food and water," the report states. "As a result, residents have suffered and, sometimes, have died needless and untimely deaths."

One case found to have maggots in a patient's open pressure sore. In another, a patient whose pain was so severe he threatened suicide was given Tylenol and there was no follow up to his mental state. In yet another, a man in need of hospice care did not received it for five days while dying.

"We found that many residents spend their last days and hours often suffering needless pain," the report stated.
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