Veterans first, politics last: Lawyers slam proposed organizational changes after deadly COVID outbreak at Holyoke Soldiers Home

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Lawyers for Soldiers Home in Holyoke rejected aspects of the Legislative Assembly reform bills in a virtual Statehouse hearing on Wednesday.

Recent bills proposed by the House and Senate recommend, among other things, removing the local board of directors and forming a statewide advisory committee to oversee the two soldiers’ houses in Holyoke and Chelsea.

The bills also attempt to clean up the chain of command by elevating the secretary of the Department of Veterans Services to a cabinet-level position, theoretically increasing secretaries’ access to the corner office.

Nearly 80 residents of the Holyoke Soldiers Home died from COVID-19 last year, sparking an outcry from supporters at the home, government officials and the public.

The death toll has led to the ouster of most senior officials from the facility, a state emergency response, criminal negligence charges against former Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director Dr David Clinton, a legislative oversight committee and the new legislation. The tragedy also spurred plans to build a new $ 400 million home for veterans in Holyoke by 2026.

Wednesday’s hearing before the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs and Federal Affairs was the first public hearing since a special legislative oversight committee concluded its investigation into the outbreak.

Among those who testified were former Holyoke Soldiers Home superintendent Paul Barabani, his former deputy John Paradis and Cheryl Turgeon, whose father died on January 1 after contracting the virus during the crisis.

Paradis told lawmakers their proposal to keep soldiers’ homes under the responsibility of the Department of Veterans Services was wrong. He said the soldiers’ homes should fall under the Ministry of Public Health, a sentiment shared by the two local witnesses to follow.

It is our conclusion that, while both homes had been under DPH supervision prior to the pandemic and had been part of the DPH system and that care environment in the years leading up to the pandemic, that both homes of former fighters would have been much better prepared for the pandemic and that the level of catastrophic loss of life would have been avoided, Paradis added.

At the heart of discussions after the outbreak was whether the chain of command from the establishment to the governor’s office, starting with the superintendent and the board of directors, with the secretary of Veterans Services and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in the middle, was too convoluted. . Paradis said removing the board was not the solution.

Barabani made similar comments. When pressed by committee chair Senator John Velis, a Democrat from Westfield, he said the legislator’s proposal to raise the chief of veterans services to a higher post was a potential waste of taxpayer money.

If we have a governor who is veteran sensitive and meets the needs of veterans, we don’t need another cabinet-level secretary, Barabani said. I don’t think it would improve the quality of life for veterans, and I see it is a very costly prospect for taxpayers with little to no real return except to be symbolically to the right of the governor.

Turgeon’s father was a Korean War veteran who had lived at the Holyoke site for four years. Not for the first time in a legislative forum, Turgeon described the heartbreak she endured when the public were barred from returning to soldiers for months during the outbreak. She pointed out that when she repeatedly called an emergency hotline at home, she couldn’t find anyone on the other end of the phone. And received no prompt reminders.

It took six weeks and two days to get a recall, Turgeon said.

Her father was among those hospitalized at Holyoke Medical Center amid the outbreak. He then fell seriously ill and died on January 1. Her cause of death was listed following complications from COVID-19, Turgeon said.

It was really hard to let him go because I knew he wanted to stay. I believe he would have lived to be 100, said Turgeon.

She also denounced the legislatures’ proposal to replace the board of directors with a committee of state-appointed governors.

Veterans first. Politics tough, she says.

There will be additional hearings on reform bills before they are passed in plenary and in the Senate.

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