Council begins looking at long-range plans for state's vets homes

A new governor-appointed advisory council met for the first time Tuesday to help chart the future of the state-owned system of five veterans homes.

Among its targets: Keep the long-troubled Minneapolis Veterans Home out of regulatory hot water, decide how to expand the bricks-and-mortar care centers to help frail veterans remain in their own homes and advise the Legislature on whether it is making a mistake in seeking to open a new veterans home in Willmar.

In November, after three years of intense state scrutiny and more than $800,000 paid to state-ordered consultants at the Minneapolis home, Gov. Tim Pawlenty dissolved the governing board and transferred the homes to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In April, he named nine members to an advisory council, which he said would help to develop a long-range strategic plan for the veterans homes -- a process the department already has begun.

"We're still in the heavy-lifting phase of getting the Minneapolis home into regulatory compliance and keeping it there," Veterans Affairs Commissioner Clark Dyrud told the advisory council Tuesday.

From 2005 to 2007, the Minneapolis home was cited for 66 violations and fined $42,300 when some problems were not corrected promptly. The most recent inspection, in March, found 16 violations, well above the state average for nursing homes. On Tuesday, state inspectors were back to make sure the problems have been corrected. A state consultant monitoring the home said conditions are improving.

Council of experts

The Minneapolis Veterans Home is the state's largest, with 291 residents in its nursing home and 50 in its board and care facility for somewhat less frail veterans.

A major task facing the Minneapolis home will be tearing down and replacing Building 9, which had housed 61 residents until it was condemned last year. Those residents were moved to the fourth floor of the nursing home.

This spring the Legislature approved $1 million to remove the building and $9 million to match the federal 65-percent share of the replacement cost.

"We're not sure yet whether we'll have domiciliary beds" in the new building, said Gil Acevedo, veterans affairs deputy commissioner who heads the five veterans homes.

Long-range plan

The plan also will examine whether to expand services in the system -- now confined to residents of the homes -- by adding assisted living, adult day care, home health care and other help for frail veterans.

It also will study where aging veterans now live to determine the best places for any new veterans homes. Some groups such as the American Legion have questioned a legislative push to build in Willmar.

Tuesday's meeting was largely an overview of the Veterans Affairs Department and the veterans homes. At the next meeting, probably in late September, "I'll be directly asking the council for your advice and expertise" on the first steps toward a strategic plan for the homes, Acevedo said.

For this year, advising the department on long-range planning already underway "probably makes most sense because that process can't wait for us to get fully oriented," said Roberts, the advisory council chairwoman.

"But in future years, I expect we'll be much more involved in the process, which was really our mandate" from Pawlenty and the Legislature, she said.