When a candidate for statewide oft ce has a barely recognizable name and little in the way of a substantial campaign, it can lead to some fairly desperate measures, even half a year before any election happens.
Desperate, as in trying to stir up veterans by accentuating well-reported earlier shortcomings in the management of the Fayetteville Veterans Homeextrapolating a suggestion the facility should be closed and moved.
That’s what Curtis Coleman felt compelled to pursue in a recent Northwest Arkansas appearance before a veterans group. Inthe process he reflected a lack of knowledge or appreciation for the hard work that went into opening the Fayetteville Veterans Home in the former Washington Regional Medical Center facility at North Street and College Avenue. It’s the next-door neighbor to the Veterans Aff airs Medical Center, the nerve center of Northwest Arkansas health care for veterans.
Opened in 2006, the veterans home has fallen short of high expectations for patient care. At its dedication, leaders pledged it would be a shining example of a veterans home, but its care has demanded scrutiny and investigation from regulatory agencies who have presented damning evidence of poor leadership and staff decisionmaking.
If we lived in Mr. Coleman’s Utopian world, a better facility could no doubt be envisioned.
But building a nursing home in a former medical center in a county-owned building was a path toward offering services previously unavailable in a setting geared specifically for veterans. Coleman has mixed up the building with the quality of services provided there.
Our hope is relatively recent changes in management have set a new course for this institution. Unlike Coleman, we see value in its location and recognize that building as one of great potential. State oftcials say they recognize the facility should be further renovated and are working to that end.
Aged veterans deserve professional care in a quality environment. We believe the Fayetteville Veterans Home is a place they can get both.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/03/2013