Supporters of a proposed veterans home in Montevideo are willing to put their money where their mouths are, having pledged to raise $2 million locally toward the cost of the estimated $30 million facility. But it might not be enough; at least not in the short term.
The main problem appears to be getting the state to commit to paying the expected $4 million annual operating cost of the 90-bed facility after it is built.
Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Dist. 20, himself an Air Force veteran, told a group of more than 60 veterans and community leaders gathered Thursday last week at a town meeting at the American Legion that he and other local legislators “were a little disappointed” when the governor did not include the project in this year’s bonding bill.
He said he will continue to support the project and urged those present to be in contact with their legislators, if they were asked to do so.
Kubly told the group that the main concern expressed by Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Dist. 61, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division, during discussions about the project was the on-going operating costs. The costs have been estimated at approximately $4 million per year.
“That is going to be the barrier we face, I think,” said Kubly.
State Rep. Lyle Koenen, whose District 20B includes Montevideo, agreed with Kubly that the on-going cost of running a veterans home is the sticking point.
“The priority is to keep the existing veterans homes running,” he said. “We need to make the capital improvements planned for them first.”
The federal government will pick up 65 percent of the overall construction cost and the state will pick up most of the remaining 35 percent, or $8 million. Pam Burrows, senior director of veterans health care for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, noted that no project will receive a Priority One listing until it has a commitment for the one-third local funding.
Kubly said the local funding commitment by Montevideo “is going to hold you in good stead when it comes to funding these projects.”
Montevideo also has a design drawn up that meets state and federal guidelines. And, as city councilman Marv Garbe told the group at the Legion, “We’re bringing money to the table. The other community (Willmar) isn’t.”
Willmar has put forward a proposal for a veterans home that will specialize in traumatic brain injuries. The Montevideo home would offer daycare, domiciliary and skilled nursing care.
These are the only three categories the Veterans Administration will pay for, according to Burrows. That is not to say that care for veterans afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia will not be necessary in all veterans homes.
Existing veterans homes in Fergus Falls, Silver Bay, Minneapolis and Luverne are making changes to provide these services.
Burrows explained that lessons learned at the homes in Fergus Falls, Silver Bay and Luverne had been incorporated in the latest study “to help us be successful in caring for veterans.”
The result was a list of 17 communities, “any one of which would be acceptable,” she said. The new pod design being promoted by the VA will allow for such care.
All 17 communities were ranked by their proximity to a VA hospital. Having a VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic such as Montevideo has is a positive, but is not determinative, according to Burrows.
The Montevideo project is currently ranked fourth out of the 17 communities. Little Falls, Brainerd and Crosby are listed before Montevideo, but none of the three has a proposal put together yet.
Dennis Anderson, Chippewa County veterans service officer, told those assembled at the Legion that there are currently 450,000 to 460,000 veterans in Minnesota and that more are coming who will need the type of care provided by the proposed home. Vietnam veterans now outnumber World War II and Korean War veterans, according to Anderson.
“How can we not make room for these veterans, whether it’s here or somewhere else?” he asked. “I think there’s some important things we have to talk about here in Minnesota.”
