FAYETTEVILLE -- Kriss Schaffer, director of the Arkansas Veterans Home at Fayetteville, resigned Tuesday afternoon.
Schaffer said Matt Snead, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, asked for his resignation in a meeting earlier Tuesday.
"I had trouble toeing the line with state bureaucracy," Schaffer said.
Schaffer didn't elaborate on what procedures he objected to but added, "I have trouble watching my mouth."
Schaffer took over the veterans home in January 2014 after a string of failures at the 102-bed facility. In 2013, neglect was found to be a factor in the death of one patient and in the injury of another.
A declining number of residents also put the Fayetteville home's viability in doubt. Occupancy was down to 62 patients when Schaffer took over. The home also missed $114,000 in Medicare reimbursements in 2011 because it didn't file reports in a timely manner.
"Our Fayetteville veterans home is in a much better place than it was in the past, but that's not all because of Kriss Schaffer," said Sarah Jones, a spokesman for the state department. "There are a lot of wonderful people working at the home."
The department will form a task force that will include members of the veterans community, including the Fayetteville Veterans Home Family Council, in its search for a replacement, Jones said.
Schaffer had 32 years of experience in long-term care when he took over the Fayetteville home. He made plans to retire after running one of the most highly regarded nursing homes in Arkansas, Greenhurst Nursing Center in Charleston.
He decided to put off retirement shortly after Gov. Mike Beebe appointed a director of the veterans department and gave notice that problems would be fixed in Fayetteville and in another state-run veterans home in Little Rock or both homes would be closed.
Schaffer was the state-run home's third director in 15 months when he took over. His immediate predecessor was dismissed in November after a patient wandered out of the home into the adjoining University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences building.
The report from the July 2015 inspection of the Fayetteville veterans home shows a better-than-average standard of care. A federal Medicare website, Nursing Home Compare, rated the facility at four out of five stars.
However, a Jan. 22 report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said the home was below standards on patient assessments, quality of care, fire safety and other areas.
State Desk on 04/22/2016