15 years, millions of dollars spent, are our veterans better cared for than before?

This is an end of an era and the beginning of a new one after millions of dollars were spent, with millions still unaccounted for and Michigan is still near the bottom of the list for taking care of its veterans compared to 49 other states and 2 federal zones. 

What did this accomplish, and was it a success or a failure? I guess that depends on your point of view as to what the goal was. 

If the goal was to get better treatment for the limited number of veterans the state cares for, then in some ways the answer might be yes, but that can be argued that the answer is clearly no.  While the state did chose a new model to use, it only adopted part of that model. The state is still trying to run its veterans homes as a for profit business instead of a non profit business and that can create a lot of problems for the veterans themselves. Using contract labor instead of full time state workers is that problem. 

This means caregivers at a given location can change every day, and that is not good for some of the veterans who need consistency in their care. They need to feel safe and comfortable with their caregivers. And after working with their charges, caregivers learn what each veterans needs are and thus can provide better long term care. You cannot get that result when new people are being rotated in every other day or every other week. 

If the goal of changing the model of how Michigan takes care of its veterans was to provide proper care for existing veterans and more veterans, then answer is clearly no. It is a failure. 

600,060,000 or so thousand veterans live in Michigan. WWII and Korean war vets, Vietnam vets, Cold war Vets, peacetime vets, Desert shield, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan veterans  are passing on to the next reality every day, so the number constantly fluctuates. Many are taking their own lives rather than live with their problems that no one is helping them with. 

And still today, the state cannot or does not provide any care for more than 1,000 of them.  

In 2010 when Frank Sanarski had to leave his post of administrator of the home due to health reasons, the politicians took over and really messed things up. Instead of getting a qualified administrator to take his place, they promoted an unqualified person to the position, which was supposed to be temporarily until they could find a properly qualified person to do the job.  They promoted the head of kitchens, Sara D to the position. 

A search was made for qualified people, and several were found but the politicians in Lansing (the capital), played games, and violated Michigan's laws, and kept her in the position longer than she was allowed to be there. Then in 2012, she got her certification and the job became permanent over objections of many representatives in Lansing.  And things got very very bad at the home under her administration. This was in part due to the fact that even with her certification, she was not the best person for the job.  And the other part was the politicians in Lansing trying to micromanage everything at the home. Some of those people were out right political monsters that played dirty, and our veterans suffered because of it. 

It started under Democrat governor Jenny Granholm. 2009 Dec Governor Granholm signs into law, no smoking in state owned buildings. At the time Vets had special smoking rooms to use. They were supposed to get an exemption to the law but Granholm refused to sign it. The result was veterans who smoked, including those disabled and in wheelchairs had to go outside in the middle of winter with no place to go to get out of the weather.  This caused many deaths at the home, among other problems. This cruel situation was addressed 2 years later in a haphazard way that was better than nothing. 

Under the administration of Sara D, residents became afraid to speak up, as they noticed that those who did, found themselves kicked out of the home. Many of them had nowhere else to go, and ended up on the streets where they died. We lost quite a few to that. The residents were living in fear.  So in 2010, 3 guys who had lived in the Domiciliary unit, started a blog page about what was happening at the home so people could learn what was going on. They started reporting on things the administration did not want people to know. This blog, is the one they started and have run all this time.

2012 Feb, A Michigan State Job posting for administrator level 18 (the job Sara has held for over 18 months, a full year longer than allowed by Michigan law), is posted all over the home in several locations.

2012 March legislature introduces bill for Ombudsman for the veterans. It takes them another year or more to get it signed into law, and even then veterans are still hesitant to speak with the ombudsman out of fear of reprisals from the administration. 

In March 2013 a new Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency is created with the goal of qualifying Michigan for federal tax money to help them with the states Veterans. at that time, Michigan was dead last, 52 out of 52 Federal sections, which include 50 states and Guam and Puerto Rico. It did manage to do achieve its goal to some extent, but due to interference and lack of cooperation by legislators, the agency was not able to fulfill its mission properly and completely. 

In 2013 May, at a  Board of managers meeting,  Former Congressman and then MVAA representative Jim Dunn is reported as saying "If they do not like it, they can leave", in response to a group of residents calling themselves"Veterans for Justice" concerns over the treatment of Veterans at the home.

This bad attitude of “You don’t have to be here” and “you don’t like it, leave” was very, very, common among administrators and Pubic Employees in MVAA towards veterans. The problem was most vets had nowhere else to go. And GRH4V had a habit of tossing vets to the street where they died.  This is why some residents decided to form a group and dare speak up for those who could not. The founder of the group Jerry L., was later kicked out of the home for preventing a resident from killing another resident. Jerry L. was also one of the residents who went to Lansing to testify to the state congress committee about the conditions at the home. 

In May 2013, the Federal government also started investigating what was going on at the home. 

Going to skip forward 3 years.

In 2016, Residents and former residents went to lansing to testify to the state legislature. Then the government did something it has done only once before in our states history - they held a session outside of the capital. They held 1 session at each of the two veterans homes that Michigan runs. The Grand Rapids home for Veterans and the John Jacobetti home in Marquette. This only the 2nd time in our state history this happened. 

Many changes came from this. Some good, some not so good. 

Michigan decided to follow the Model of Tennessee, and found that having 1 big location for most of michigan with a 2nd home in the upper peninsula, just depended too heavily on local resources for the Grand Rapids home. This also meant that the home had to compete with the 3 big local hospitals for qualified workers. And this resulted in qualified worker shortages. 

This model also meant that people whose families lived on the other side of the state had to drive for hours to visit their veterans. 

So, the Tennessee model had 5 smaller homes located in various parts of the state, each one drawing on local resources, and not overwhelming their locations. And Michigan thought that was a good idea - and it is. Each of the Homes were divided up into 4 "pods" or "neighborhoods" type units with 25 or so residents in each one, all connected to a central building. Each Pod had its own eating area, its own common room (like a living room in a house) and the main center building was the visitor center and held the staff offices and such.  Great idea! 

Now where to put them.. A new home for the Grand Rapids area.. One near Detroit.. So they built one in Chesterfield, just west of Detroit 

Now there is talk of adding a 2nd one just north of detroit. This one, in my humble opinion is not needed as the Federal VA already runs a veterans home in downtown Detroit.

They were talking about putting one up in the thumb area, in the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City area, and one somewhere by Cadillac to cover the upper west side of the lower peninsula including Traverse City.  

And of course the one in Marquette would be rebuilt and upgraded to modern standards.

So they began on the Grand Rapids one first. But where to put it. Instead of taking down the existing builds and putting the new one where they are now, they took down the Rankin building and half the support area. They wiped out the picnic area and the old growth forest there. They had to leave the old Train Station in place because its an historical building. And they put the home between the old VA clinic, wrapping it around the train station, and down along the access road between Lamberton Creek and where the old Rankin building once stood.  And when it was finished, it failed inspection. Another year goes by and they finally get it done and residents are moving into it from the older buildings, but there are still problems with it.  

During the construction, they reduced the Grand Rapids home for Veterans population from about 750 down to about 150. And they slowly eliminated the domiciliary unit.

There is also another major difference between the Michigan and Tennessee homes. The Tennessee homes are ran as non profit entities. Veterans do not go without, and the homes are staffed by volunteers, with minimal paid state employees to run them. 

Michigan will run its homes as a for profit business. Administrative and grounds and maintenance personnel will be state employees, while many in the nursing and caregiving staff will be contract employees. 

This means they will charge exorbitant fees for a veteran to live there. This is not taking care of our veterans. 

So what has this all accomplished? Yes the 1,000 or so veterans the state once took care of, are now spread out across the state. We have 3 homes now actively housing veterans. 3 out of 5.  Two more are yet to be built. Will they do this? And at what cost? 

Are our veterans now better off than they were in 2009 when this whole nightmare started? I think the answer is clearly no!  While they have a new building to move into and now 3 locations to choose from, the fact remains the Administration of these homes is still way under performing.  The board of managers that ran the GR for Vets home has been or will be disbanded. A new bureaucracy will replace it, that will run the new Veterans homes with a new name. Michigan Veterans Homes.  All of them were and are being ran as a for profit business.  And under the new system the state will still be limited to less than 700 people in 5 homes, with a population of about 125 at each location, which is less than the number of people at the GR home, and does not count those at the Marquette facility. So after spending all that money, Michigan will still be caring for fewer vets, than before.  And there have been at least 3 different administrators at the GR home since Frank Sanarski left in 2010. This is not a good sign of things to come in the future.

And the new home is still highly restrictive to veterans and visitors. Some people have called it a "fancy warehouse for veterans to go to, to die".  WOW!, Even I have trouble agreeing with that one, as it seems a bit too extreme. But I do wonder if the quality of life will be better for the veterans at the new building. 

I stopped by there the other day and talked to a few residents who were outside the main entrance. According to them, there are still issues at the new home. Something to do with the shower drains being installed too high, and the water not being able to drain properly. One said the drinking water smells and tastes like something ran thru a toilet so the residents living there will not drink it.

The new home was built without sufficient staff space.  So now when they have to have a meeting, the staff has to take over the visitors area, which doubles as a day area where bingos are held, and thus residents and guests are unable to use the area at those times. 

Also, all that construction around the old train station seems to have disturbed the ground around its foundation and they found the walls in the basement of it are starting to cave in. Apparently the cost to restore it far exceeds its historic value and it may end up being demolished despite its being historic, and after all the effort not to do so when they built the new place. Now this is ironic as many said they never should have built in that location in the first place, and instead should have taken down the entire existing buildings and put the new one were the current one is. 

Also, there are 4 employees for every resident at the home now. Drive over there. Very little room for visitor parking. 

After 15 years, millions of dollars spent, and thousands of hours of talking heads spewing about what to do, how to do it, and where to do it, I think the outcome is very clear. Michigan is not capable of taking proper care of its veterans. 

So after all this the final question needs to be asked. Will Michigan remain at the bottom of the list for taking care of its veterans? If the last 15 years is any example, then I do believe  the answer is yes.  

Shame on us.