We can do better by our veterans

Editorial by Sen. Frank Simpson

Since 2011, I’ve questioned the way we care for our aging veterans.  After visiting the Watkins-Logan Texas Veterans Home in Tyler, Texas, I’m even more convinced that in many ways we are doing our elderly veterans a disservice in the way we care for them.   I think we can do better.

Our current process of an institutional setting is cold and impersonal and doesn’t meet the needs of all our veterans.  My visit to the Watkins-Logan Veterans Home showed me a new concept of caring for our aging veterans.  What I visited wasn’t a typical veterans’ center but a neighborhood.  Each home even had its own mailbox.

Watkins-Logan is the small home concept, which provides group homes with ten veterans per home.  Each home is family-style designed to meet the needs of the veterans who live there.  Homes for those with limited mobility.  Homes for those struggling with Alzheimer’s.  A private room with private bath for every veteran.  Each home is centered around a living room, dining room and kitchen.  There is a den where veterans can read, paint or use a computer, or spend time with grandchildren.  Some veterans even furnish their room with their own furniture and all their mementos.  From everything I saw, it is the veteran’s home.

I spoke with veterans who had moved to Watkins-Logan from an institutional setting.  They admitted at first, they were skeptical but after arriving at Watkins-Logan their skepticism quickly disappeared.  Something amazing happened to these veterans.  Their health improved; aches and pains diminished.  Their psychological health improved.  There were fewer cases of depression and there was a significant decrease in the need for psychotropic medications.

I spoke with two WWII veterans, both had landed at Normandy on D-Day, they told me how their lives had changed upon coming to Watkins-Logan.  I suspect it has also added some quality years to their lives.

Posted at the kitchen was the 24-hour breakfast schedule.  Yes, if they like, the veteran can order breakfast at any time throughout the day.  I spoke with a veteran who was just being served his breakfast at 10:00 AM.  He was happy that he could order his breakfast around his own schedule.  If a veteran doesn’t like what’s on the menu for lunch, they order an alternate option.   

Resident care in the small home concept is more personalized. The caregivers in each home are fully involved in the daily lives of the veteran. They provide complete and personal care for the residents - everything from providing medications, to directing activities and even sharing meals.

Research has shown that the institution concept forces veterans into a structured schedule that suits the institution, not the veteran.  The institution makes the veteran dependent on a healthcare provider for all assistance. The small home concept takes seriously the research regarding learned helplessness, or induced disability in the institutional setting.  In the institutional setting the veterans perceive little control over their lives and environments. This leads to progressive loss of function and depression. In contrast, independence is linked to positive psychological and physical well-being. The Small Home concept reverses the loss of control and emphasizes independence and participation in the daily activities of life.

We have made progress in our veterans’ centers over the past few years but we still have a lot of work to do.  Things are still happening in our centers that shouldn’t be happening.  Budget cuts may be a contributing factor but part of the problem is the institutional setting.  The institutional setting helps shield employees from accountability; and all too often, administration isn’t being held accountable for the treatment of our heroes.  This is a systemic problem with the institutional setting and I’m not sure it can ever be fixed.   

I have a long-term vision for our state veterans’ homes.  How we currently care for our veterans doesn’t fit into that vision.  We have a chance to start a new chapter in how we care for our aging veterans.   A choice that offers our veterans independence and dignity.  A choice that offers our veterans increased physical and psychological wellbeing.  A choice that focuses on their living and enhances the final years of their life.

Sen. Frank Simpson
Chairman, Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee