Michigan Wasting taxpayer money on an UNQUALIFIED Service Represenative at the Vets Home.

Recently it was posted to this forum, that a Full time service officer was hired by the state, to help the veterans at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, with their VA claims.

At a recent Town hall meeting held at the Neal Fonger VFW post, this same individual admitted he was not fully qualified to be a service officer.  Yet this man works full time doing who knows what, and is getting paid to do nothing, more or less.  And they think the VA has problems? This is defrauding the taxpayers, if you ask me.

Rich Strob, a disabled veteran and member of the DAV (Disabled American Veterans)  who is a qualified service officer, was acting part time as the homes service officer. He was paid 50 bucks or so for fuel expenses for driving to the home. The home decided since they already had a service representative, they didn't need 2, so they took the Office chair out of the Service office, leaving a standard chair. So you can imagine a 1 legged man, trying to move a standard chair around an office?


Well, in truth they don't even have 1 service officer. Rich is a volunteer. And a registered Service officer with the DAV.  And the other guy isn't even qualified yet..  (but may be now, finally).

Great way to help our veterans, eh? And what a way to waste taxpayer money.. Most places hire guys AFTER they become qualified.. Isn't that fraud too?

Only at the Michigan Veterans home in Grand rapids, do they hire Top administrators and service representatives that are not even qualified for the jobs they hold.

Updated 5 June 2014

Is the Veterans home Defrauding the Veterans and the State?

Follow the money. A closer look at the funding of the dorm unit at GRH4V.

This is a floor plan of Rankin 3. It shows approximately 70 beds available. Rankin2, also part of this unit, has about the same number of guys. So lets say for this article it is the same. 70 that means 140 beds available for "homeless" or ambulatory veterans. 

Now we know from talking to the guys, that they are never told when they arrive, what their COS (Cost of Care) will be. And we also know that the average is about 2100 per month and some pay a lot more than that. We are going to use 2100 as our standard for this posting.

Now 3 things come to mind. At 140 maximum capacity, charging 2100 a month the home gets about 294,000 a month, or 3,528,000 a year. Now we know there are not 140 guys in the unit at this time. More like about 60. So that means its 126,000 per month or 1,512,000 per year for both floors. That is a lot of money to cover the cost of 72 sq feet of privacy and about another 350 Sq feet of shared living space for each man. Especially in light of the fact that a modest 1 bedroom 600 sq foot apartment in this area will run you about 550 a month, or 800 with all utilities included.

Seem to me the it would be cheaper for the veterans to be on the outside.  But wait, isn't that why they are here? Because they are financially broke and have no income? Even so why are they being charged more to be here, where they have less privacy and less private space to live in, than the outside? Seems to me it should be just the opposite, it should be CHEAPER, lest costly to live at the veterans home.

I know for a fact, that of the 60, 40 are present still who were being charged for full time nursing staff. That is they had a nurse on duty 24/7, running 3 shifts. Today they are down to 2 nurses, with one out on medical leave, and the other only there part time. Yet these men are still being charged the full 2100 a month to be at the home.

Isn't that fraud? Charging the state (or the men) for services not being rendered? And isn't that fraud against the men who have incomes, that are paying all but 100 dollars per month towards their cost of care?

This does not include the nursing unit on the first floor. Rankin 1, is a fully staffed nursing unit. Although the rooms are of similar size, I do not believe they put 4 guys to a room. I am going to look into that next time I go over there.

Nursing unit charges depends on the individual needs. Even so, some of those guys are paying outrageous fees to be at the home. I am told the highest cost is over 3700 a month. 

The fact is, is that the Cost of Care being charged to veterans needs to be looked at closely.