EDITORIAL: Another shameful VA failure

When Sen. Richard Codey paid a surprise visit last week to a Dover boarding house for older veterans with physical and mental-health issues, he wasn’t just concerned about reports he had received about poor living conditions. He was deeply frustrated, having visited the same facility for the same reason two years ago, only to find out that little if any progress had been made since then.

So Codey made sure that this time around he’d draw as much attention as possible to the problem. With media representatives and cameras in tow, Codey conducted his own informal inspection of the Hillside Manor Community Residential Care Home on Orchard Street, over the objections of the landlord.

He didn’t like what he saw. “Disgraceful beyond belief” was how Codey described the scene, with residents wearing long pants and long sleeves while enduring 100-degree temperatures without air conditioning. Construction materials were also scattered about the facility.

“Two years, they did nothing on this issue,” Codey said. “There shouldn’t be a need for me to go back up there. I’m going to go wherever I want to go fight for people with mental illness.”
Most disgraceful of all, perhaps, is that there was nothing wrong with conditions at the home in the eyes of those responsible for overseeing the facility — the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Bureau of Rooming and Boarding Houses, and New Jersey’s Department of Veterans Affairs. Past inspections have come back clean, and a fresh inspection in response to the Daily Record’s initial story on Codey’s visit also turned up no violations.

A VA statement after last week’s inspection had all the earmarks of a whitewash, explaining that residents were comfortable and expressed no desire to move, and that “there have been no issues placing veterans at the site.”

Codey’s reaction? “Obviously they must have sent Ray Charles.”

Was this all a bit of grandstanding on Codey’s part? Certainly, but it did work. Not only did the first story bring VA inspectors to the site, but other lawmakers scrambled to offer their own assistance, including Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, each of whom represent Dover in their respective districts. A local Policemen’s Benevolent Association chapter pledged to provide air-conditioning units. Dover Mayor James Dodd, meanwhile was quick to deflect any municipal responsibility, explaining that the town does not regularly inspect the site.

It seems almost certain that living conditions will improve in the short term at Hillside Manor, thanks to the publicity. But what of other similar facilities across the state? If the enforcement process is so lax — or the expected living standards so low — that conditions at Hillside Manor could be deemed acceptable even in 100-degree temperatures, how badly are residents elsewhere suffering? The public knows about this one because Codey blew the whistle. But state and VA officials have to do a far better job all across New Jersey assuring that such shameful conditions aren’t repeated, in Hillside Manor or anywhere else.