Wow. This is depressing. By this time I was hoping to be able to post some good news about these 2 places. I had high hopes. But once again the Michigan Legislature and their appointees have disappointed us. Oh we got them (the state congress) to get off their lazy butts and "Do something" about a situation that had become so bad, it was fast becoming a national embarrassment for the state. By that I mean the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans operational situation under the Cronyism administration of their puppet Sara Dunn.
This forced the state to re-think how it cares for its veterans. At the time, Michigan was 52 out of 52 regions. Yes, 52. Guam and Puerto Rico did better than Michigan and we were dead last.
Today we still are. The state decided to go with a new model, and choose the model that the State of Tennessee used, but with a twist. Tennessee homes are NON PROFIT. The Michigan homes are FOR PROFIT. That is correct. The State wants to make money from our Veterans. Now I don't know about you, but I call that NOT meeting its federal obligations to our Vets.
So what did the state do? It decided to move from having 1 big home and one small home in the Upper Peninsula, to having 5 smaller homes scattered throughout the state, near major cities so that each home could draw on the resources from those areas, and so residents could be closer to their families.
To do this, the old home at Grand Rapids would be eventually eliminated. A new home would be built. The old home held over 750 residents at one time, the new home about 125 or so.
They began by destroying part of an old growth forest on the property, eliminating the picnic and band stand area, and removing the oldest wing of the G.R. Home. The historical building in the shape of a V for Veterans, the Rankin building was removed and the new Tennessee idea home was built on that spot. And at the same time they slowly reduced the population at the remaining part of the old G.R. Home. Population there is now about 150 or so people. Yet I keep getting report that they have 400 staff working there to care for these 150 or so people! How many does it take?!
The Corona virus epidemic hit and the residents were placed in house arrest and the place was closed to the public and visitors including family member for a very long time. Many residents were forced into room restriction and not allowed to leave their rooms except on days when they had to take a shower or had doctors appointments outside the Vets home. And its been 2 years now under these conditions.
At the same time the construction of the new home began and the legislature had 2 different administrations operating at this location. The old administration running the old home and the new administration running the new home and the 2nd site being constructed over in Chesterfield Michigan.
The Chesterfield site was completed first and from what I am being told, is now being used by veterans. It passed inspections and is fully functional, however I do not have validated proof of that claim.
I do know that the Grand Rapids new home was completed, and it has FAILED inspection a number of times. Only 1/4th of it is usable at this time. So the States failures to complete this project is continuing. Oh they had the dedication and grand opening of the new G.R. home in September of 2021. That was 5 months ago!
But that grand opening is like having a grand opening for your new bathroom compared to the whole house. And this one cost Michigan taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars.
The Grand Rapids location is still in simi lockdown. The new building is still being fixed. And Michigan is still in last place for taking care of its Veterans.
The only thing that has changed is the names and the people and the ever increasing costs and tax burden on the people of Michigan due to poor performance by our public employees.
I was hoping to be able to give a better report on things. I was hoping I could post about the mass improvements and how much better it was for veterans. Sadly, I cannot.
But even now, history of the past is fading from the minds of the general public. Out of sight, out of mind, no media coverage on the continuing problems at this location will cause people to forget what has happened here in the last 10 years. The only ones who will know will be those of us that were involved with it, that were affected by it, and those memories will haunt some of us for the rest of our lives.
Our veterans deserve better.
