Vets nursing home: Progress?
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Earlier this year there was a plea for the state to fund a veterans nursing home. The Legislature, to its credit, has allocated money to build a nursing home, contingent upon matching funds from the federal government. The federal government will one day pay its share.
Unfortunately, it has placed the nursing home -- scheduled to be built in Ogden -- so far down on a priority list that it's unlikely the cost estimates will be the same when it is finally built.
This predicament led to the request for the state to pay the entire cost, and wait for a reimbursement from the feds. Legislators had more than enough money to build the nursing home. There is a long waiting list of ailing vets needing the services. But, ultimately, they turned their backs to the vets' request.
Actions such as this can lead to cynicism or a desire to throw up your hands in despair. (These feelings are multiplied when you more closely examine some of the expenditures legislators deem more important than helping an ailing veteran.)
However, Utah's vets have tangled with tougher foes than the white-shirt-and-tie brigade on Capitol Hill. They haven't lost their optimism, and they are not giving up the fight. They are talking to legislators, asking their opinions on how they can better approach lawmakers next year. The Ogden chapter of Disabled American Veterans had a town hall meeting recently with nine Top of Utah legislators.
We applaud the vets for keeping up efforts to get the nursing home and for asking legislators to brainstorm ideas.
One argument legislators voiced is a fear the state will not be reimbursed. "I don't think you have a snowball's chance of getting this one out of the Legislature without the federal government writing you an I.O.U.," state Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, said at the town hall meeting, which was reported by the Standard's JaNae Francis.
Attendees reminded legislators that if they wait too long for federal funding, the price tag for a nursing home may get too high to fund.
Other suggestions from legislators include appealing more directly to legislative leaders prior to next year's session, pinpointing exactly how much money is needed each year for the nursing home, and seeking funds from alternative sources. One group, the Rose Red Foundation, is offering to help vets obtain private-sector money.
Frankly, we think the vets and others were very clear and eloquent in their plea for the funds this past legislative session. We think legislators should have granted the money then.
But we're glad there's a dialogue going, and we hope it results in a home where some of our bravest Americans can spend their last years in dignity.
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