Vets Home probe may reveal the obvious

The flash and fire of the Sacramento hearing on conditions at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville is behind us now.

State lawmakers have authorized a five-month probe of conditions at the home, and the action is likely to slow as inspectors embark on a comprehensive look at a sprawling complex that is literally a city on a hill, with 1,100 veterans and nearly as many workers.

While the outcome of the probe is still months away, there are some matters that shouldn’t surprise lawmakers — who, after all, set the budget for the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

There is a nationwide shortage of qualified nurses. Facilities that do not offer the highest pay or best conditions — or are located in areas where the cost of living is high — are going to have trouble attracting and retaining the most qualified workers, including doctors. These conditions affect the Yountville Vets Home.

But the Vets Home has much going for it.

First of all, it employs many dedicated workers — some veterans themselves, many others the sons or daughters of veterans — who feel fortunate to do the hard work of supporting vets and their spouses in their sunset years. After all, the residents gave the best years of their lives, and in some cases gave their limbs, in defense of the United States.

Second, the home has long supported a voice for veterans through the Allied Council, some of whose members played a role in instigating the legislative probe. Listening to the residents is essential for the home’s success, and administrators have a strong track record in this area.

In recent years, Vets Home Administrator Marcella McCormack and others have made strides in adding to the critical features of the Vets Home, with new projects to provide better treatment for victims of Alzheimer’s disease and a separate effort to care for the veterans of the current and previous war in the Middle East, whose have in some respects experienced drastically different traumas and conditions than those faced by their older brothers and sisters in arms.

These changes in the face of stagnant state budgets show a vibrant force at work in Yountville.

Whether the current administration has succeeded on fronts will be laid bare by the exhaustive state probe.

If the record shows the Vets Home has failed its residents, then let the recriminations and reforms begin.

But no one should be surprised if the findings suggest there are not as many nurses or doctors as we would like; and it doesn’t take a special hearing for lawmakers to see that these conditions have persisted for years.

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