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New Mexico State Veterans Home is ready for coming upgrade

The Santa Fe New Mexican - 6/13/2022

Jun. 13—TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES — Jim Nielsen can't wait for his new home.

But he will. He has no choice.

The 78-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, confined to a wheelchair in the New Mexico State Veterans Home, looks forward to enjoying a more independent living style in a new facility that could be completed by late next year.

It's been a long time coming — and that, say military vets and officials scarred by the deaths of 37 residents during the COVID-19 crisis, is a tragedy.

The new veterans home, which will be just a few hundred feet from the current site, will be made up of six brand-new buildings, each with 12 private rooms with individual bathrooms, as well as a common kitchen and communal room area. A colorful outdoor visiting area for family members and friends to enjoy as they sit with the residents also is planned, along with a bocce ball court and putting green.

The current veterans facility, housed in a Depression-era building designed to serve as a children's hospital, is just not sufficient anymore, said Kathy Kunkel, the former secretary of the state Department of Health who now serves as director of special projects for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The veterans home — which offers care to honorably discharged veterans and a limited number of spouses, Gold Star parents and other nonveterans — has not been sufficient for years, some say. It's not always well maintained or ventilated. It once housed four vets to a room and clearly is ready for retirement itself.

"Who would want to come here, frankly?" Kunkel said as she walked through the facility one recent weekday morning.

But finally, Nielsen's wish — shared by many — soon will come true. Thanks to $40 million in legislative funding and $20 million in bond funds, the state is planning to break ground by the end of the summer on the new facility. Within the funds is money to upgrade kitchen units and a swimming pool in an annex building, which went up in 2017 and never had a working pool because of a failed water pumping system.

News of the project gives veterans in the home hope, said Nielsen, who has lived at the home for two years and can speak of the plumbing, electrical and ventilation problems he's experienced.

"It still works for us," Nielsen said of the old building, "but a lot of things could be better."

The thought of treading water until a new facility comes on line is still preferable to memories of the past.

Though he praises the staff of the veterans home, Nielsen can only shake his head with sadness as he recalls the many friends who are dead now — victims of COVID-19.

With little or no way to isolate those residents because of the shared rooms, the virus killed more than three-dozen vets, a loss Kunkel described as "tragic." In a followup email, she wrote: "The layout of the old hospital contributed to the rapid spread of COVID that cost 37 lives. The infrastructure of the building is difficult and expensive to maintain."

Jim Nielsen was luckier than most. He fell ill with COVID-19 but survived.

The veterans home was one of seven residential health care facilities spotlighted in a scathing legislative report in September 2021 that described a variety of issues. It pointed out the veterans home was in such bad shape its residents' health and lives were at risk.

But problems existed at the state-run home long before 2020. Data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showed the home received 60 citations for health and safety deficiencies between 2015 and 2020, which led to more than $180 million in penalties.

The home's previous administrator, Juliet Sullivan, was placed on administrative leave in December 2020 following an investigation into whether the facility was following COVID-19 safety practices.

In November 2021, Angela York was appointed head administrator. The facility is now under the oversight of the Department of Health.

For decades, the place was known as Carrie Tingley Hospital — named after the wife of 1930s Gov. Clyde Tingley. That hospital, which still offers special medical care for children, was moved to Albuquerque in the early 1980s, and the state Department of Veteran Services opened the original Truth or Consequences facility for veterans shortly after.

Still, the echoes of the past are all around: Photos of children and staff members in the old hospital line the walls of the veterans home's main building to draw attention to its background.

Elsewhere, there are obvious, visual reminders that the building belongs to another time period. The wooden floors, bathrooms and showers would be a perfect fit for a film set in the days of World War II.

Even if the exterior of the structure looks fit, its interior remains "a mess," said Steve Cox, risk management and safety director at the home.

"This could never meet modern building code regulations anymore," he said, pointing to a sink that over the years had slowly pitched into the wall behind it.

Rep. Harry Garcia, D-Grants, said he toured the home late last year and likened it to an old military barracks.

"The thing is nearly 100 years ago," said Garcia, a U.S. Marine veteran. "I took a tour of it, and I wasn't impressed by a lot of things I saw. Bathrooms not working right, plumbing problems. When I was there veterans were not very happy with the living conditions, but all were very excited about getting a new place.

"It was more depressing than anything else. ... I wouldn't want to be there. I wouldn't want my mom or dad put there. It's not a good place to be in."

Garcia said he believes it was the many deaths from COVID-19 that finally pushed lawmakers and state officials to do something. He said the state should have built a new facility for veterans years ago but is thankful legislators and Lujan Grisham came together to commit up to $60 million for the project.

Kunkel said the project for a new home should be completed about a year after it commences. She called the $52 million construction budget "generous" and said any leftover funds could be applied to the building of another veterans home in the northern part of the state — perhaps in Mora County.

Though the state has applied for a federal VA State Veterans Home Construction Grant Program allocation, which would cover much of the construction costs, New Mexico does not need that money to go forth with the project, she said.

She said the one challenge that may slow the Truth or Consequences project is supply chain issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Once the new houses are built, there will be 72 private rooms. There are already 59 private rooms in the annex building, which will make for a total of 131 beds for residents, Kunkel said. That's a slight drop from the current 135-bed capacity, but right now there are fewer than 70 veterans in that building.

Kunkel said if all goes well, the new home with be one the state will point to with pride.

Looking at the current facility, she said: "It's not a home. To put veterans in a children's hospital room and say, 'Thank you for your service;' I don't know."

For Nielsen, the prospect of a new facility means a return to a sense of normalcy he enjoyed for years.

"It will be closer to the home life I left behind," he said.

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