It is exceptionally welcome news, as we approach the annual observance of Memorial Day, that the Fayetteville Veterans Home will be allowed again to accept clients whose services are covered in whole or in part by Medicaid or Medicare.
Those federal health programs are crucial for many veterans seeking a special place where their ailments or advancing age can be effectively treated or mitigated by trained professionals.
The 108-bed skilled care facility opened its doors in 2006 in part of the old Washington Regional Medical Center at North Street and College Avenue in Fayetteville.
The idea behind its very creation was to expand the state’s offerings for the aging population of veterans out of respect for their service to the nation. The facility, operated under the direction of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, is recognized by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a qualified state veterans home.
While the idea behind it is admirable, the care delivered to the residents depends on a day-to-day commitment to high-quality care. The future of Medicaid and Medicare coverage for the Fayetteville Veterans Home became doubtful amid questions about the level of care delivered by the staff there.
The primary cases that cast doubt on the home’s future involved neglect, to the point investigators for the state Office of Long-Term Care declared the patients were in “immediate jeopardy” last February after a patient died. Federal health officials agreed, informing the state it might lose certification for the Fayetteville home unless problems were fixed.
Add to that a discovery a patient’s arm was broken back in December, when four employees filed false statements about what happened. Three were fired over the situation and the fourth had already been ousted for other reasons.
The back-to-back revelations cast a shadow over the state’s ability to provide care for the veterans the Fayetteville home was built to serve.
The recent finding that Medicaid and Medicare will continue the home’s qualification to receive payments is a step in the right direction. Cissy Rucker, appointed last year as director of the state Veterans Department to get its problems resolved, says the culture at the Fayetteville home is changing.
“Everyone at the Fayetteville home, staff and administrators, has been working to implement plans of corrective action and increase training,” Rucker said.
An advocate for nursing home residents wants to believe it.
“Actions speak louder than words. Time will tell,” Martha Deaver, president of the Arkansas Advocates for Nursing Home Residents told our reporter. “I can only pray they are going to start following the federal regulations they are required to follow so abuse and neglect of these veterans will finally come to an end and so will the cover-up.”
Amen, and Amen.
Arkansas’ veterans homes - one for central Arkansas is in the planning stages - need to be places of the utmost respect and care for men and women who served our country. Great damage has been done by apathy and neglect, leading some to question whether the state has the capacity to fulfill its commitment to veterans.
On Monday, the nation will remember those who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Hopefully, the state’s veterans home can become a daily tribute to those who lived through their service and deserve quality care.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 05/23/2013