CLARKSBURG — There are 166 names on the waiting list of veterans trying to get into the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility in Clarksburg, says Dr. Kevin Crickard, administrator.
“We’re always going to have more people wanting in than we’ll have room for,” said Del. Richard Iaquinta, D-Harrison, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Gary Yun of the National Association of State Veterans Homes said by email that he’s heard it’s common at many state homes for more than 100 veterans to be awaiting beds.
“Unfortunately, we do not track information on individual homes,” according to Yun.
The veterans nursing facility in Clarksburg is state-run, while the neighboring Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center is run by the federal government.
The latter, too, is handling all “they can possibly handle,” according to Iaquinta.
Martha Elladeane Hines, who lives in Grafton, has an 88-year-old brother in Nevada who is an Air Force veteran.
Of the waiting list at the Clarksburg nursing facility, Hines said, “I feel sorry for people who have been in the service and need help and don’t get it.”
The state has “not paid for the nursing homes that we have,” Iaquinta said.
“The idea we’re kind of tossing around is to build another state veterans nursing home in Southern West Virginia,” said Mike Lyons, operations manager for the state’s Department of Veterans Assistance.
As far as when the new facility could be built, Lyons said last week that the Legislature is “just looking through it right now.”
It’s not just the Clarksburg veterans nursing facility that has an overcrowding problem, according to Lyons.
The facility in Clarksburg “was built due to need too — just a few years ago,” he said.
In the meantime, a lot of veterans are eligible for pension or compensation benefits, according to Lyons.
“Anyone who comes to us in life or death or dire need, we can expedite it,” Lyons said.
If they’re really sick, their name can be moved up the waiting list, Lyons said.
West Virginia has a considerable number of veterans: There are about 170,000 to 180,000 in West Virginia, according to Billy Wayne Bailey, deputy secretary of the state Department of Veterans Assistance.
About 10,000 West Virginians are now on active duty in one of the armed forces, Bailey said.
As for West Virginia’s veteran population, “We are higher than any state in the nation per capita, percentage wise,” Bailey said.
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