Veterans Worry Over Fate of Home

Willis Wolfe is tired of uprooting his life.

During a 30-year Navy career, the WW II and Korean War veteran lived in eight states and served aboard five vessels, moving every few years during active duty. In 1968, Wolfe and his wife settled in Oxnard.

Wolfe and other local veterans are concerned that political maneuvering in Sacramento will scuttle plans to build a 400-bed state veterans home in Ventura County, which could force them to live out their last days in Los Angeles, with more smog, congestion and crime.

Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) said his staff is gathering research to determine the ideal location for the next state veterans home. Though he declined to be specific, Wesson said: “At this point, all indications would suggest that Los Angeles would probably be the best.”

He pointed out that a veterans home in West Los Angeles would be located on the 388-acre campus of the Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, which is affiliated with UCLA’s School of Medicine. It would also be close to stores, churches and public transportation.

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and Assemblyman George Runner Jr. (R-Lancaster) said they would fight any effort to change California law or to revise appropriation of the $50 million in bonds that voters approved last year to build veterans homes in Lancaster and Saticoy. According to a state law approved in 1997, those two homes must be built next.

“That order of construction was determined through extensive negotiations several years ago and based upon the documented needs of veterans across the state,” McClintock said.

Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said her main concern is that Ventura County retains its place on the state’s priority list, behind whichever home is built next. The 22-acre site in Ventura County is located at Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue.

“We want to see it move forward,” Jackson said. “If it means that somehow or another Los Angeles replaces Lancaster as a more viable and appropriate location, that’s OK with us. We clearly have a need.”

Eugene Peterson, a 64-year-old Korean War veteran, knows that need. He has emphysema, and every month or two he must travel by bus 2 1/2 hours to the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles for treatment. The Ojai resident would like to move into a veterans home, where he said he could receive the constant care he needs.

He doesn’t want to move to the home in Barstow, where desert temperatures often exceed 100 degrees, and the smog of Los Angeles would only aggravate his lung condition.

“I’m well situated up here,” said Peterson. “Why should I have to move to get proper medical care that was promised to me for the time I put in for my country?”

And 77-year-old Wolfe, who is in good health, said with four of his six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren living in the area, he wouldn’t want to move either.

“We’re settled-in here,” he said. “It’s a rural area. It’s quiet, and pretty well located to a freeway for people who want to come and visit.”

The saga surrounding the state veterans homes began four years ago, when the Legislature passed a bill specifying the locations of the next four facilities--Barstow, Chula Vista, Lancaster and the Saticoy area of Ventura County. The law states only one home can be built at a time, and construction on the next home may not begin until the previous home is open and operational.

Each of the $33-million facilities would have 400 beds, with the state picking up 35% of the construction costs and the federal government financing the rest.

In 1996, the home in Barstow opened, followed by the one in Chula Vista in 2000.

Voters last year approved Proposition 16--a $50-million bond to cover construction of the Lancaster and Saticoy homes and a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Yountville veterans home in Northern California.

But this summer, Gov. Gray Davis vetoed the state’s $12-million share of financing for construction of the Lancaster home, saying it would be too far from a sufficient pool of nurses or a VA medical center.

Because of its remote desert location, the Barstow facility had difficulty retaining nurses. Following problems with poor record keeping and care of its residents caused by high turnover and other staffing issues, the facility lost its Medicare and Medi-Cal certification in 2000.

Officials with the California Department of Veterans Affairs are working to restore the facility’s full certification. The nursing shortage was resolved with a $1,000-per-month bonus paid to nurses who work there.