Senator Ringhand: Immediate Action Needed at the King Home for Veterans

Veterans at the King Home for Veterans do not have the luxury of waiting for the outcome of a state audit of King and the internal practices at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, according to State Senator Janis Ringhand (D-Evansville).

“Veterans at King do not have the luxury of waiting nine months for the outcome of an audit. Senator Ringhand said. “Immediate action is needed to address the conditions they are facing at King.”

A recent expose on the conditions at the Veterans Home in King revealed concerns with medication dispensing, unaddressed staffing shortages resulting in poor care, lack of a control program for certain infections, out dated equipment, incidents of neglect and an atmosphere of fear, intimidation and retribution at King.

“Yesterday I joined a number of my colleagues and called for the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate these abuses,” Ringhand added.

Severe staffing shortages have led to situations where veterans have been left sitting in their own waste while they wait for assistance as a result of chronic understaffing at the facility.

“The audit should have been approved when Senator Lassa called for it nearly a year ago,” Ringhand said. “That said, we need to immediately address that problems are occurring on a daily basis at King.”

Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) first proposed an audit of the Veterans Home at King last October. The Joint Audit Committee, under control of the Republican majority, did not approve Senator Lassa’s request at that time.

“This is a failure of leadership at the highest level of state government,” Ringhand said.

Ringhand added that the audit should not be limited to funding raids and staffing shortages at King, but should also include an in-depth look at the atmosphere of fear, intimidation and retribution that seems to be pervasive at King and throughout the Wisconsin Department of Veterans affairs.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.