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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 28, 2021 11:06 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Francis X. Ryan |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Reforming our PA Veterans’ Homes |
| In the very near future, I will be introducing legislation to both reform and strengthen our PA Veterans’ Homes. As you may know, the past 18 months have been an unprecedented time for the citizens of our Commonwealth and for the residents of our six state veterans’ homes, their families, and loved ones. Our veterans’ homes should be a place where residents will receive the care and support necessary to live a safe active and healthy life. These six homes are located throughout the Commonwealth to accommodate veterans from every region. Levels of care provided to meet our veteran’s personal health care needs include medical, clinical, and nursing services, in addition to drug and nutritional therapy, rehabilitative services as well as dental and social services. The events of this past year relative to COVID-19 and the mitigating measures undertaken during that time have proven difficult and, as such, it culminated in a report entitled, “The COVID-19 Outbreak at the Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs Southeastern Veterans’ Center” (SEVC) issued on October 15, 2020 and revised December 29, 2020. In summarizing the unfolding events at the 292 resident capacity facility with more than 400 clinical and professional staff, page 3 of the report stated as follows: “No single factor accounts for the devastation COVID-19 wreaked on the residents of SEVC and their loved ones, and SEVC staff . . . At the core of SEVC’s failures were its misjudgments and lost opportunities in controlling and limiting the spread of the virus. These were aggravated by failures in leadership at a number of levels: an overly rigid chain of command within and above SEVC; an SEVC management culture concerned more with managing perception than getting things done; a woeful lack of accountability; poor communication both internally and with resident families; a history of poor morale among the staff at SEVC and failures in advance preparation.” As a result of this report and a subsequent joint public hearing held on June 17th of this year by the House and Senate Veteran’s Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committees, I am proposing legislation to substantially reform our Veterans’ Home operations, both at the local level as well as the state level. My legislation will establish the Statewide Veteran’s Home Advisory Board within the Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs whose main objective will be to provide oversight of the operations of our six veterans’ homes and be constituted with a very diverse group of individuals with varying backgrounds. I am also proposing to revamp the local advisory committees for each or our six homes in the same manner as the statewide board in order to help ensure that our veteran’s and their families as well as the staff at these homes receive the proper care and respect they deserve. Our veterans and their families and the staff of our state veteran home system endured so much and continue to do so. As we know, mistakes were made and shortcomings were exposed; however, we must remain diligent and ensure to the greatest extent possible that honor the residents and staff of our homes and do so with dignity. Please join me in sponsoring this important legislation to help those who care for our veterans and their families in these homes and to honor those who served us honorably. |
Introduced as HB1963