Palmer selected as state Veterans Home site

PALMER -- After more than 30 years of searching, Alaska veterans may be finally getting their wish -- for a veterans home in Alaska.

Gov. Frank Murkowski, Thursday, introduced legislation to designate the Palmer Pioneers' Home as a state veterans home and address the legal language to establish an Alaska veterans home. House Bill 440 and Senate Bill 301 were introduced concurrently, and both are awaiting hearings in their first committee assignment in each body.

About 20 percent of Alaska residents currently in Pioneers' Homes across the state are veterans, according to Virginia Smiley, administrative services manager in the Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes. Alaska is the one of only two states in the nation without a state veterans home, and has a high percentage of veterans -- about 71,500 in the state, according to state veterans coordinator Charlie Huggins. Smiley said the Palmer Pioneers' Home was chosen as the best site for the veterans home for several reasons.

A study of the cost of bringing various Pioneers' Homes into compliance with U.S. Veterans Administration standards showed the Palmer location to be the most cost-effective. Additionally, the facility is centrally located in the state, and has relatively close access to the VA clinic in Anchorage or the joint-use hospital on Elmendorf Air Force Base. The Palmer site, she said, received excellent reviews from VA representatives who toured the facility last summer.

"They not only gave us their blessing on the program, they actually said the way we take care of the folks in the Pioneer Home system should set the standard for the veterans' system," Smiley said. "We were very, very proud of that. Palmer always shines."

Palmer's favorable review doesn't mean the facility will be immediately converted to the 75-percent veteran, 25-percent non-veteran ratio allowed through the state statute, Smiley said. A team of building assessors is currently reviewing the site and will have suggestions for bringing up to the standards required by the VA.

She explained that most state veteran facilities are built specifically to comply with VA regulations, which require that everything within the facility have a 20-year lifetime. If a boiler, she said, has an estimated lifespan of five additional years, it will have to be replaced with a boiler with a 20-year rating.

"They'll get lots of things done -- many things fixed, built and upgraded that may not have been on the maintenance schedule yet," Smiley said.

Smiley said the building assessment should be available to the state by April 15, and the renovations will be completed with both state and federal funding. The VA has committed to contribute 65 percent, and Smiley said the Legislature must appropriate the remaining 35 percent.

The conversion won't mean more beds for aging Alaskans, and it could mean some of the 933 Alaska residents on the Palmer Pioneers' Homes' inactive waiting list will be asked to spend time at another Pioneers Home while waiting for one of the 20 non-veteran beds that will remain available at the Alaska Veterans Home.

Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel Gilbertson said no one currently at the home will be asked to move, nor will Alaska veterans in other Pioneers' Homes be required to move when the facility opens up in 2006.

"During a transition period, veterans who are in other Pioneer Homes may request a transfer to the Palmer home," Gilbertson said. "When a bed is available with the level of service they require, the veteran's request for transfer will be accommodated."

After the renovations are complete, the state will receive $26.95 per day from the VA for each veteran. The home is expected to serve between 62 and 82 veterans. About 100 veterans are living in Pioneer Homes across the state, and 18 are currently living at the Palmer Pioneers' Home, according to Huggins. The federal spending bill recently passed by Congress includes an amendment to provide Alaska with about $1.5 million each year to cover the cost of caring for those veterans, an amendment added by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski after discussions with VA Secretary Anthony Principi, who visited the state twice last year on related issues. The provision would provide for up to $55 a day for each of the veterans living in state Pioneer Homes.

Huggins said the move to designate one of the Pioneers Homes as a veterans home is overwhelmingly supported by area veteran groups. The 13-member Veterans Advisory Council, Wednesday, unanimously approved the Palmer conversion at a meeting in Juneau. Huggins said, in talking to Alaska veterans, a state veterans home is and has been high on their list of priorities.

"This is a winner for vets, and a winner for Alaskans," Huggins said.