A bit outdated, but still very informative, is a history of the Home in Grand Rapids. A paper written for the state congress back in 1997, contains a lot of usefull information about the history of the home. Part of that is being reprinted here. After reading it, one understands that many changes have taken place since the beginning of the Michigan home for veterans, and the last few years have been responsible for writing some of the darkest pages of the homes history.
For many Michiganians, the fact that the
State operates two nursing homes for veterans is a well kept secret. One
wouldn't necessarily notice the two homes, as the Grand Rapids Home for
Veterans is tucked away in a park-like environment on the Grand River in
the north of Grand Rapids, and the D. J. Jacobetti Home is situated on
the shore of Lake Superior in the City of Marquette. Still others, in an
era of government downsizing, might wonder why the State is in the business
of running a nursing home. The answer to that question dates back to the
Civil War, when during the war's aftermath the State chose to honor a debt
to wartime veterans who were in need by establishing a State home for veterans
in Grand Rapids. Nearly a hundred years later, a second home in Marquette
was established by the State.
The purpose of this paper is to provide
a description of the origin and history of the commitment by the State
to wartime veterans in need of nursing care, the role of the Federal government
in providing care assistance, and the State Homes' objectives, services,
facilities, admissions, population, and funding. This report will concentrate
primarily on the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, as it is the State's first
and largest veterans home, nearly triple the size of the D. J. Jacobetti
Home. It should be noted that the goals and services of each Home are the
same, and differ only in size and in certain methods of service delivery
that are the result of the economy of scale enjoyed by the Grand Rapids
Home. Both offer domiciliary, skilled, and special needs care and a wide
variety of social and therapeutic activities. The Grand Rapids Home primarily
attracts veterans across the Lower Peninsula as members, while the D. J.
Jacobetti Home draws 90% of its membership from veterans from the Upper
Peninsula.
Michigan's Grand Rapids Home for Veterans
had its beginnings in the years following the Civil War as a reaction to
the devastating impact that conflict had on the State's population. On
a national level, it is estimated that 400,000 to 500,000 soldiers were
disabled from that war, from either wounds or disease. In the 20 years
following the war, veterans groups voiced concern about the numbers of
soldiers in ill health or poverty-stricken. The Federal government responded
by establishing a national soldiers home in Washington, D.C., which was
funded by a 12.5-cent monthly deduction from the pay of all enlisted U.S.
military personnel. Other national homes were created during this period
in Maine, Virginia, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The objectives of these homes
were to provide housing and medical and nursing care to indigent ex-soldiers
and to help them lead orderly lives.
The homes that were developed, called National
Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, were quickly
filled and a rising population of middle-aged veterans who applied for
entry in these homes outstripped capacities. In the State of Michigan,
which provided 93,000 troops to the Union Army during the Civil War, the
public became concerned over the increasing numbers of State veterans who
were poverty-stricken and living in poorhouses. In 1884, the Michigan Grand
Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union Army veterans organization, began a
lobbying effort to locate a national soldiers home in the State. Bills
in both houses of Congress were introduced to provide authorization for
the building of a branch of the National Home in Michigan. This effort
was ultimately unsuccessful, due in part to an argument that a Michigan
National Home location would be an inefficient siting due to the State's
proximity to existing National branches at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Dayton,
Ohio.
Undaunted by their lack of success at the
Federal level, the GAR and other supporters of a Michigan Home turned to
the Michigan Legislature for support in 1885. Responding to the fact that
460 veterans had been in poorhouses the previous winter and a hundred others
were taken care of at GAR posts, the Michigan Legislature passed legislation
creating a Michigan Soldiers Home. On June 5, 1885, Governor Russell A.
Alger signed into law Public Act 152 of 1885 which established a home for
disabled soldiers, sailors and marines in the State and created a six-member
board of managers.
HISTORY
Within months of the bill's enactment,
a Board of Managers was appointed and a site was selected for the Home,
a 132-acre farm property along the Grand River in Grand Rapids. A building
contract for the construction of the Home was awarded to the winning bidder
of $99,667.57, and ground was broken in March 1886. The completed original
building opened its doors on January 1, 1887. It was a three-story brick
structure designed to house 450 veterans with a total floor space of 24,000
feet.
It wasn't long before additional facilities
were deemed necessary for the Home. In 1889, a 94-person capacity dormitory,
a morgue, and a root house were added. Other improvements, including an
electric light system and a flush toilet system were added during this
time period. A posthumous fund, funded by money received from the estate
of a veteran who died at the Home without heirs, was used to fund a cemetery,
monument, and a fountain in front of the building. By 1890, the average
daily population of the Home was 564 and the annual State appropriation
for the Home was $82,500. The average cost per capita at the Home was $161.25,
of which $100 was paid for by the Federal government.
In 1893, the Michigan Legislature acted
to provide for the admission of wives, widows, and mothers of veterans.
An appropriation of $15,000 was established to construct a women's dormitory
at the Home. A 30-room dormitory for women was dedicated and opened on
January 3, 1894. Under the rules of admission, a woman was required to
demonstrate that she was unable to earn a living, had no support from relatives,
and was of good moral character.
As the 1900s approached, the Grand Rapids
Home witnessed increased admissions and subsequent expansion of facilities
and higher operating budgets. Annual State appropriations had passed the
$100,000 mark and rose to $134,000 in 1904, when the Home had 1,035 admissions,
double its initial admissions. Operational costs for the Home rose, in
part due to the rising average age of members. For years many able members
were used for work details around the facility, but with more and more
members unable to perform on work details due to medical problems, a rise
in the need for civilian employees resulted, with a corresponding need
for employee housing. The appropriated amount for 1906 included $190,000
for special projects, bringing the total State appropriation for that year
to $360,500. The appropriation amount for the Grand Rapids Home was the
highest appropriation to any State institution with the exception of the
two State universities. One item on the list of special projects was $75,000
for a new hospital. The facility was completed in 1909, providing 250 beds
for men and 50 for women. The old hospital building built in 1889 was converted
to a dormitory.
The use of members' military pension funds
by the Home became an issue in the early 1900s. In 1907, Congress passed
a military pension bill that for the first time applied to all veterans
who met age and length of service requirements, not just those who were
physically disabled, as had been the case prior to this bill. In 1912,
$30 per month was established as the top pension rate. The Grand Rapids
Home had a rule that allowed members to keep $5 a month from their pensions
and required the rest to be turned over to the Home. Under the rules, a
veteran who received more than $12 per month would not be eligible for
admission to the Home except by the recommendation of the Commandant. Those
veterans with a pension exceeding $12 per month who were admitted would
have to turn over all but the $12 to the Home. Negative public and political
reaction to the use of pension funds by the Home resulted in attempts to
prohibit the Home from using pensions or charging anyone for care. The
dispute culminated in 1920 with the implementation of a new State law that
allowed the Home's Board of Managers to levy a charge of $20 a month on
those members who had monthly incomes of $50 or more. At the same time,
the Federal government raised its annual allotment from $100 to $120 per
capita per year, or half the cost of an individual's care, whichever amount
was smaller.
The 1920s saw a declining average membership
at the Home which would continue until the end of World War II. This occurred
despite the economic hardships of the depression and the aging of World
War I veterans. The decline in population at the Home can be traced in
large part to the establishment of the Federal Veterans Administration
(VA) in 1930. The creation of the administration combined various programs
for veterans and provided more assistance to veterans as well as funding
for additional VA hospitals and additional services for the veterans at
these facilities. These changes made it easier and more attractive for
a veteran to partake of Federal benefits. This gave the veteran more options
than simply going into retirement at a State Veterans Home.
The depression of the 1930s had its impact
on the Grand Rapids Home. Few capital improvements were made and staff
had to be reduced. The Home reinstated its work detail program to help
minimize the effect of cuts in personnel. It was during this time that
members of the Home began the manufacturing of paper poppies that were
sold by American Legion members to generate funds for veterans programs.
Further hampering funding for the Home was that the Federal government,
despite numerous increases in veterans benefits, had failed for many years
to increase the stipend to State Veterans Homes. In 1937, the payment to
the Home was only $120 per veteran per year. In 1939, Congress did act
to increase the stipend to $365.
During World War II, Home membership was
at its lowest level in history, 223, one-third of whom were women. In addition,
the last Civil War veteran who still resided at the Home, Martin J. Warner,
died in March 1945. By the end of World War II, the population would rise
considerably. The average age of a World War I veteran was now nearing
60. Most Spanish-American War veterans were disabled because of age. The
Home's population increased to 500 in 1946 and to 1,000 in 1949; 75% of
whom were World War I veterans. Another reason for the population increase
was the existence of long waiting lists at Veterans Administration hospitals
in the aftermath of World War II for disabled Michigan veterans.
Despite the increase in Federal support
to $500 per veteran per year, the Home tried to cut back its costs as best
it could to deal with the rising number of admissions. The facility at
various times had stopped admitting women to keep the Home's population
at a manageable level. Throughout the 1950s, the population would be maintained
at an average of close to 1,000 members.
In anticipation of future expansion of
member population due to World War II, a postwar building boom for the
Home took place. Two domiciliary units were constructed; one was completed
in 1946 at a cost of $460,000 (the R.V. Gay Building), and the other in
1948 for $715,000 (the J. Gordon Rankin Building). A new power plant was
completed in 1956 at a cost of approximately $1.0 million.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a question
as to the Home's focus arose. Throughout its history, the Grand Rapids
Home's prime purpose was to provide domiciliary care to veterans. An emphasis
began to be placed on the Home's hospital operations. Many improvements
to the hospital's facilities and increases in services were made. In 1953,
the hospital became fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation
of Hospitals. The Board of Managers at the time had expressed interest
in the possibility of constructing a new 500-bed hospital, but it would
never come to pass.
For the year 1956, there were 980 male
veteran members at the Home, consisting of one veteran from the Mexican
War, 49 veterans from the Spanish-American War, 797 from World War I, and
133 from World War II. There were 53 women at the Home, consisting of seven
Civil War widows, one Indian Wars widow, 19 Spanish American War widows,
wives, nurses, and five World War II mothers. The budget for that year
was $1.2 million, which included $1.1 million for operating expenses including
$700,000 for 183 Civil Service employees and two unclassified employees.
The revenue source for the Home's budget consisted of approximately $450,000
in General Fund money, $375,000 from the Federal government in per diem
payments, $180,000 from an assessment against members' government pensions
of no less than 25% and no more than 60% plus the retention of 50% of all
other income up to but not exceeding the per diem individual maintenance
cost (which was $3.15 at the time), and $117,000 in grant funds from the
Michigan Veterans Trust Fund.
As the 1960s approached, supporters of
the Home began to examine the changing needs of veterans who would be entering
the Home. It was determined that the State faced a shortage of housing
appropriate for those who required nursing or medical care. A report in
1956 pointed out that while Michigan ranked seventh in the number of persons
it sent to the armed forces for World War II, it ranked only 42nd in available
health care facilities for veterans. In addition, a national survey competed
by the VA confirmed a trend that had been witnessed in Michigan: that there
was a shift away from domiciliary needs and an increase in need for nursing
care for long-term illnesses and disabilities. With increased societal
benefits for retired veterans, more aging veterans were able to maintain
themselves independently without having to seek domiciliary care at a veterans
home. At the same time, an increasing percentage of those who applied for
admission to veterans homes required a wide range of nursing care that
was not available in accommodations designed for domiciliary care.
The Grand Rapids facility responded to
this need for increased nursing care by remodeling the Rankin Building
into a 217-bed facility for long-term care of those who suffered from chronic
disease or disability. The new unit was opened in 1963. By the mid 1960s,
a decision had to be made about the Home's hospital. Studies had shown
that the hospital was outmoded and would require extensive renovation or
replacement to bring it into compliance with the minimum standards of a
modern hospital. Faced with the potential cost of building and maintaining
a sophisticated hospital, it became apparent that the needs of the Grand
Rapids Home could not justify the cost of running a full-service hospital.
This decision allowed the Home to devote its resources to nursing and domiciliary
care. Doctors were already coming in from outside the Home to treat its
members, and increasingly, members were being sent to community hospitals
for treatment as well.
In 1970, the Grand Rapids Veterans Facility
was placed under the responsibility of the State Department of Public Health.
The Department was responsible for setting standards of care for nursing
facilities. The Department defined three primary levels of nursing care:
domiciliary (supervised residential care), basic (care of patients who
require medication and minimal assistance), and skilled (care of those
who need more assistance and constant nursing). As acute care services
declined with the phase-out of hospital operations, the facility reduced
the number of staff physicians from five to three, a number that the Department
had judged appropriate for what was to become exclusively a nursing care
institution. The Home then added nursing personnel to meet the Department's
minimum standards. The Home increased therapeutic services by expanding
existing occupational and physical therapy services and adding speech,
hearing, psychiatric, and inhalation therapy services. A social worker
was hired to the staff and an education program was set up with the Grand
Rapids Board of Education. In addition, a new alcoholism treatment program
was added.
With the Home's focus now clearly turned
to nursing care, the facility sought to embark upon a building program
to remove outdated buildings and construct new ones that would meet modern
standards of nursing care. In a fortunate development, the Federal government
in the 1960s had developed a funding program that would provide matching
funds to those states that would upgrade their state veterans home. The
State took advantage of this program and a budget of $8.2 million was included
in 1972 for the purposes of tearing down the old main building, the hospital
and the old nurses' dormitory, as well as constructing a new nursing care
building and renovating the existing Rankin and Gay Buildings. The project
was completed in 1975, and the result was that 343 beds for skilled care
nursing were provided for in the new structure (named the McLeish Building).
In the Rankin Building 194 basic care beds were established, and 230 domiciliary
beds were available in the Gay Building. The McLeish Building, connected
by a walkway to the other buildings, also would house administrative offices
and other services. A new chapel also was constructed from donated funds.
In 1977, the Michigan Legislature acted
to specify further the nature of the membership of the Home's supervisory
body, the Board of Managers, and bring it to its current configuration.
Until Public Act 48 of 1977, the Board of Managers was to be made up of
seven members appointed by the Governor, of whom only one was required
to be a veteran (of the Spanish-American War). The new Act required that
two board members be representatives of the American Legion, two from the
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), one from Disabled American Veterans, one
from American Veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam (AMVETS), and
one war-time veteran who was not a representative of the aforementioned
veterans organizations.
As the Home entered the 1980s, yearly population
averages ranged over 700 members. The largest group of veterans, those
from World War II, made up 70% of the Home's membership. Vietnam war veterans
began to appear at the facility but only in small numbers which equaled
about 3% of the total. As defined by type of care received, the facility
was providing domiciliary care to 20% of its membership and basic nursing
care to 40%, as well as skilled nursing care to another 40%.
The early 1980s brought about the creation
of an Upper Peninsula annex to the Grand Rapids Home. The Board of Managers
had embarked on a feasibility study in 1976 for an Upper Peninsula facility
and ultimately chose the City of Marquette as the site for such a facility.
The facility was opened in 1981 utilizing the facilities of the former
St. Mary's Hospital and was named for an Upper Peninsula State Representative
who was involved in the efforts to establish the facility, D. J. Jacobetti.
The hilltop location of the facility provides a view of Lake Superior.
By the mid-1980s, the new Home's membership totals would reach 100; later,
its population would rise to over 200 members.
The increasing demand for nursing care
at the Grand Rapids Home continued: In 1979 only a handful of veterans
were on a waiting list for nursing care; by the mid-1980s the list would
grow to 80 or more. To provide for this need, and to accommodate a growing
number of patients suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, more space suitable
for caring for these cases had to be found. The Mann Building, constructed
in 1946 as a domiciliary unit, was considered as an option for this purpose.
However, since the building would have to be completely gutted and rebuilt
in order to meet nursing care standards, the State decided that replacing
the entire building was more feasible. Therefore, a new $14 million-plus
Mann Building was completed in 1987 at the Grand Rapids Facility. The building,
with 120,000 square feet, provides 40,000 more square feet than the building
it replaced. Though the increased space did not add to the overall capacity
of the Home, every bed in the Mann Building now meets nursing care standards,
and units are now present to care specifically for Alzheimer patients.
In 1986, the D. J. Jacobetti Home opened one of Michigan's first nursing
units established for veterans suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. In 1992,
the Jacobetti Home opened a new 50-bed wing.
The early 1990s signaled changes in the
State administrative control over the State's veterans homes. Executive
Orders 1991-7 and 1992-1 transferred both Michigan Veterans Homes from
the Department of Public Health to the Michigan Department of Military
Affairs (DMA). This action placed the Homes under the responsibility of
the DMA's Division of Veterans Affairs, which now includes the Michigan
Veterans Trust Fund, the Veterans Tuition Program, and other veterans services.
For 1997, the Grand Rapids Veterans Home has a total care capacity of 757,
making it the largest nursing care facility in the State, and a total budget
of $32.8 million, while the D. J. Jacobetti Veterans Home in Marquette
has a total membership capacity of 241, and an annual budget of $11.2 million.
Full article found at The history of the Michigan Veterans Homes.
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