Veterans Affairs Facing Challenges During Pandemic

WAAY 31's Marie Waxal speaks with Bob Horton of Veterans Affairs on what it's doing to keep veterans safe during the virus outbreak and what's next.

>> najahe sherman: another group crunched on resources is the va.

There are no reported coronavirus cases at the floyd e tech veterans home in huntsville at this time.

However, there are outbreaks at veterans homes and other parts of the state.

Earlier today waay 31 anchor marie waxel asked what it is doing to keep veterans safe and what's next.

>> marie waxel: bob, thank you so much for joining us.

>> thank you for having me, marie.

>> marie waxel: absolutely.

So we want to talk about the new normal.

What does the new normal look like for alabama veterans home.

We understand you scaled a lot of stuff back already.

When we start to reeach what is the new normal going to look like for the homes and residents and their families?

>> well, first and foremost, the health and well being of our veterans and our employees is top priority always.

From the outbreak, the pandemic, we implemented precautionary measures following guidelines from the governor's covid-19 task force, cdc, and also the u.s. department of veterans affairs.

On march 12 we implemented a restrictive policy at our veterans home as precautionary measure to protect our employees and also our veterans.

At our state veterans cemetery?

Pan aspanish fort we discontinued military honors following the health care guidelines.

That is the current norm.

The future norm, we're going to continue taking guidance from the alabama department of public health, the governor's task force, cdc, as things open we will take a look at our current policies at our veterans homes.

Possibly opening up the homes for certain visits with limitations of course.

So we're continuing to follow the progress of our state's response to the crisis and we're going to be prepared to respond accordingly at that time.

>> marie waxel: thinking about having to put the bur burials wh military honors on hold or not letting them -- just not being able to do them for these veterans that have given so much for our country, i know it's hard for their families.

Is there a plan to do something for these veterans in lieu of those ceremonies?

>> yes.

At our veterans cemetery in spanish fort, as i mentioned, we are not conducting committal services or performing military honoring, how honors, however, we are recording requests from families who have a loved one interned during the crisis to hold military honors a future time.

We are making arrangements to do that, honor our veterans who have served their country and we're going to do everything that we can to respect them in a dignified manner.

>> marie waxel: awesome.

Wonderful news.

Good to hear.

I know the families appreciate hearing that as well.

You've got several homes across the state of alabama.

I know you guys have increased testing there at the homes.

You had a pretty big outbreak there at the home in alexander city.

Kind of walk us through that outbreak, how quickly it spread, and where you guys stand now.

>> mr. horton: well, from the very beginning our veterans homes were following cdc guidelines.

They were -- they had the personal protective equipment on hand.

Our first covid-19 case for an employee was reported march 30th at the bill nichols state veterans home in alexander city.

That employee had not worked for seven days when they reported to work they were showing symptoms of a cold or a flu, and they were tested later and determined that they were positive for the virus.

That employee did not return to work.

On april the 8th we had our first covid-19 case reported for a resident of the bill nichols state veterans home.

Since then we have had approximately 85 residents test positive, approximately 35 employees have tested positive.

However, over a period of time those who are testing positive are considering to recover from the virus.

And as of monday, out of those 86, 45 are considered still positive.

So as we progress through the crisis we do have a significant number of residents who are no longer considered positive and that applies to our employee es as well.

In the very beginning of the outbreak, an area in alabama where our home is located, in alexander city, saw a significant number of cases, in lee county, chambers county, and unfortunately the virus made its way into the home.

The home was following proper protocol from the very beginning.

We have seen challenges throughout the state of alabama and also nationally in our own -- skilled care facilities in regards to this virus.

And once that enters a place like a nursing home or a veterans home, it can be very difficult to contain.

But, we're working closely, again w the u.s. department of veterans affairs.

They sent an independent team to the home last week to conduct an independent review of the protocols and procedures being followed in home.

We had a positive report from the va.

We also had the alabama department of public health, had a representative come into the home, again, conducted an independent survey and that survey indicates that the employees, the 45e89 healthcare staff, are following proper protocols and procedures.

We're doing everything that we can to care for our veterans in our homes and working closely with the local health care professionals and also with the federal va, we're going to ensure that they're receiving the best health care possible.

>> najahe sherman: we are going to take another break and coming up we're going to discuss how