After a nearly two-month search, the Arkansas Veterans Home in Fayetteville will begin operating under new director Jay Green on Monday.
Green, who has administrative experience at three nursing homes in central Arkansas, will supervise the 102-bed facility, said Matt Snead, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
Snead said Green was selected unanimously by a task force that included the veterans home's family council and what he called "key stakeholders" such as members of the area's veterans community.
"We looked at the advantages and disadvantages for each of the two candidates, and it was very clear [the task force] favored Jay," he said.
Though he doesn't have a military background, Green said he hopes his longtime experience in nursing homes and his investment in his residents' lives will help maintain positive care results in the Fayetteville facility.
"I've been an administrator for several years now -- it's in the blood," he said. "I used to think it was silly when people said it was a calling, but I believe it now."
Green previously served as administrator for Stagecoach Nursing and Rehab in Benton, Greystone Nursing and Rehab in Cabot, and St. Andrew's Place in Conway.
Green will take over the facility that received a five-star rating this week from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the highest rating awarded.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted Thursday that only the top 10 percent of long-term care facilities in the state can achieve a five-star rating. And according to Snead, this is the first time a state-run veterans' home in Arkansas has achieved the rating.
"A five-star rating doesn't just happen overnight," he said. "It took a lot of different people working together to achieve that."
But before reaching a top rating, the veterans home had faced a series of failures and turnovers in leadership.
In 2011, the home missed out on $114,000 in Medicare reimbursements because its reports weren't filed on time. In 2013, neglect by the home's staff was found to be a factor in the death of one patient and injury of another.
A legislative committee earlier this year endorsed a $250,000 settlement between the state's veterans department and the family of World War II veteran William Dale Varner, who died at the Fayetteville home Jan. 15, 2013, while his nurse went to eat her lunch.
Since 2011, the home has seen three different directors. The latest, Kriss Schaffer, resigned April 19 at Snead's request. Schaffer cited problems "toeing the line" with state bureaucracy as a factor in his decision to step down.
After the nursing home's recent history, Green said the five-star rating and the leadership involved in achieving it are heartening.
And while Green is aware he's directing a business, he knows he's also in charge of creating a home for veterans.
"The first thing I'm going to do when I walk in that office on Monday is go right back out and walk into the room of a resident," he said. "Business is business, but I enjoy being with the people."
Information for this article was contributed by Doug Thompson of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and by Spencer Willems of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 06/18/2016