A reprieve for Veterans Affairs nursing home in Livermore? A reprieve for Veterans Affairs nursing home in Livermore? (May 27, 2005)

Residents say home is where their hearts are
Carol Bogart

"Goodnight, Irene, goodnight Irene ... ." Strains of the most popular song in America at the close of World War II drift across the peaceful grounds adjacent to the Veteran's Affairs nursing home in Livermore. On a rooftop terrace, disabled and aged veterans have joined in as weekly volunteers lead them in song.

Many are in wheelchairs and are missing at least one limb. Some, also in wheelchairs, have skipped the popular songfest to line up downstairs earlier this month, waiting their turn to beseech a VA-convened panel to, as one said, "Just leave this place alone."

At issue is whether to renovate the existing nursing home, build a new facility on the Livermore property, or move the veterans to a new location altogether.

Some decisions have already been made that are unpopular with those who like the Livermore location. For example, the fifth floor of the main hospital - referred to by the VA as "building 62" - will definitely close. Primary and specialty outpatient services and mental health care will move to Palo Alto.

The VA is trying to decide, it said, how to best serve area veterans through 2022 and beyond. Fresno VA director and panel moderator Alan Perry told those assembled that - in Alameda County - Oakland, Hayward and Fremont have the largest concentration of veterans. He said a significant percentage of those currently using the Livermore facility come across the Altamont Pass from the Central Valley.

If a new nursing home replaces the current facility, it could be located anywhere within the "Livermore area" - broadly defined by the VA as any of 10 counties in which a veteran who uses the VA's Livermore Division lives.

The panel listened as a representative from Pleasanton's ValleyCare Medical System promoted building a new nursing home on property ValleyCare owns in Livermore. The hospital also hopes to get the VA's nod to provide a new 75,000 square foot "multi-specialty" clinic planned for somewhere in the East Bay. Hayward also is in the running.

The current nursing home sits on a hill behind the VA Hospital on Arroyo Road, across from Wente Vineyards.

Many stakeholders - those with a "stake" in the outcome - who'd signed up for five minutes at the microphone are residents of the current facility. Each offered impassioned arguments for keeping the home right where it is.

Rose Wilson, a World War II flight nurse, told the panel it would be easier for her son in Modesto if the facility moved there, but, like many, she likes the pastoral setting of the present location. Her roommate, also a former nurse, is blind. Wilson related how she "explains it to Josephine" when wild turkey and deer pass by their window.

Sgt. George Martin, a wheelchair-bound veteran of the Korean war, choked up as he told the panel the Livermore facility is his home. Stifling a sob Martin said, "Some of us have physical disabilities. And some of us have mental disabilities."

Perry assured him, "It's OK to cry," but reiterated that, "No veteran will be left homeless." None in the Livermore facility will have to move, he said, until new construction, if any, is complete. At the earliest, that won't happen until 2012. Perry said he "doesn't rule out" that the panel may recommend renovating the existing structure.

That's the answer the majority of those who call it home seem to favor. They worry that trusted staff may look for other jobs if faced with longer commutes on busy freeways. And, like many, Vietnam veteran Richard Stevens insisted, "You can't find a better place than this one."

Stevens told of how he goes out late in the evening to feed the turkeys. "I've even been able to feed some of the deer out of my hand," he said.

The setting offers a unique atmosphere to heal not only the body, but the soul, others added.

Veteran Danny Rhines challenged the panel to step outside and absorb the quiet surroundings. He implored its members, "We did what was asked of us for our country, now we ask of you, leave this facility alone. Please."

Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, opposes closing the Livermore hospital, as does Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo.

The next stakeholders meeting is scheduled for July, to again be held in what is usually the nursing home's dining room.

Some attending the first meeting heard the occasional gobble of wild turkeys as resident veterans concluded a wistful song: "Goodnight, Irene, goodnight, Irene. I'll see you in my dreams."

FAST FACTS: FAST FACTS: (May 27, 2005)

The VA nursing home in Livermore

*The decision to realign VA resources came after a report in 1999 by the General Accounting Office. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress. Its report stated that, across the country, the VA was then spending $1-million a day on vacant or underused space. *Veterans are trending away from the Bay Area in favor of the lower cost of living in Central Valley communities like Stockton and Modesto. *The VA nursing home in Livermore was built in 1982 and renovated in 2000. It has 120 beds. *Of 12,000 veterans cared for last year at the Livermore site, 550 were nursing home patients. * Before a final location for a possible replacement nursing home is decided, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs will identify veteran population centers by zip code, assess access to mass transit and major interstates, and evaluate the availability of property for construction versus suitable existing clinic space. *The Secretary of Veterans Affairs will make a decision on the nursing home issue sometime in early 2006. *If a new facility is built, it will be completed no earlier than 2012. *Presently, the VA nursing homes closest to Pleasanton, other than Livermore, are in Martinez (40 miles) and San Francisco (55 miles)
The hospital:

*The VA Medical Center in Livermore began operations in 1924 as a tuberculosis hospital. Only two of the original buildings remain. *The main hospital, built in 1949, was seismically retrofitted in 1992. The VA rates the present-day structures as having a low "replacement versus correction" score. *The 300,000 veterans now living in the 10 county "catchment area" served by the Palo Alto Health Care System, which includes Alameda County, are projected to drop to 173,000 by 2023 as WWII veterans pass away or migrate to more affordable locations, such as the Sun Belt. Meantime, however, one military analyst predicts that an unknown number of armed forces personnel currently based on the East Coast will be reassigned to bases in California. *The VA defines the 112-acre Livermore site as being located in a "fast growing, high-income rural setting." Eighty acres are considered "useable." Possible "re-uses" for the site are being studied. Wente Vineyards, rumored to be interested in the site, has not approached the VA, according to spokesperson Kerri Childress. Childress said any viable re-use alternatives will focus on complementing the site's existing health care mission. *"Re-use" funds generated through leases of abandoned VA properties will be funneled back into services for veterans.
Done deals:

*Mental health services as well as outpatient primary and specialty care now provided on the fifth floor at the VA hospital in Livermore will move to Palo Alto. *A 75,000 square foot "multi-specialty" clinic will be established in the East Bay. ValleyCare Medical System could be selected as the provider.

Source: Veterans Affairs

Tell the VA what you think about shuttering the present VA nursing home in Livermore. Tell the VA what you think about shuttering the present VA nursing home in Livermore. (May 27, 2005)Mail statements to Livermore Site Study, VA CARES studies, P.O. Box 1427, Washington Grove, MD 20880-1427, or on-line at www.va.gov/cares. CARES stands for Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services. The VA says written statements will be given the same weight as those made orally at public stakeholder meetings. All statements will be included in the Federal Register and published 15 days before the next meeting, the date of which has not yet been announced.
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