Empty beds and waiting lists. Missouri's veterans homes suffer from staffing shortages

Low pay rates exacerbated by the pandemic have left the facilities around the state short-staffed to the point they have empty beds while still having waiting lists.
Todd Callahan, a 50-year-old disabled Navy veteran, loves living at the St. James Veterans home in St. James, about 100 miles southwest of St. Louis. He would recommend it to his fellow veterans who need care.

“(The staff) is friendly, they’re nice. I get good care here. Everything’s nice. It’s a good place to live,” Callahan said. “If there is an opening here, that would be good for (a veteran).”

But the St. James Veterans home is not taking new residents, even though half the beds are empty. That’s because of the 185 jobs at the home, 75 of them are vacant, and that means the dozens of veterans on the waiting list can’t live there.