The privatization experiment should be ended. We now know that privatization requires extra vigilance and oversight, for it to work properly and Michigan did not provide that oversight at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.
The fiasco at this location was due to economics and again, poor oversight of the Michigan government. Gov'r Rick Snyder inherited a broken economy, with low revenue streams and lots of welfare bills. And a dismal veterans care system. We were in last place.
His solution was to create Michigans own version of the VA. MVAA or Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency was created to get Michigan qualified to obtain Federal money which would be used for caring for the vets.
Then the MVAA, state congress, or who ever, decided to skip the rules, ignore the regulations and when the Administrator at the home retired or was ousted (depending on your point of view), Sara Dunn was pulled out of the kitchens and made top administrator. Kinda stupid, but that's what they did. It was her administration that is the focus of that really bad VA audit, and the group that advocates wanted to see Atty General Bill Scheutte go after, (which he did not)..
Now Gov' Snyder had a juggling act, with the states budget.. The Granholm administration left it in a total mess.
Part of Snyders idea was to run the home as a for profit business. and you cannot do that. It has been a failure.. And the seeds of that failure have been planted into the new authority for the new vets home model. Not a good idea.. This combined with lack of accountability, is what lead to the problems at the vets home. Accountability that is STILL MISSING as the AG office clearly refuses to impose it.
Recently Atty General Bill Scheutte announced criminal charges on some low level employees. Not one higher up administration person has been charged, even when evidence of their wrong doing was given to the AG office which now claims they don't have.
Higher administration officials let things happen at the home and some of them did the atrocities.
Again this page will name names, call for charges, demand justice for our veterans.
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