The reports, released Feb. 27, analyzed three deaths at the veterans home in January. They found that two men died after being given drugs to which they were allergic, and one diabetic man died after nurses monitoring his insulin level did not adhere to the home\'s established guidelines.

Although investigators uncovered neglect, medication errors and protocol breakdowns in each of the residents\' records, they did not pin blame for any of the three deaths on staff members, who remained nameless in the reports.

Still, the findings were troubling enough to prompt federal officials to threaten to pull the $7 million in funding provided to the facility, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced the Department of Health would begin monitoring day-to-day operations at the home.

The reports garnered headlines, but they did not surprise officials with AFSCME Council 5, who, along with the Minnesota Nurses Association, long ago began pushing for reforms at the veterans home, citing a two-year history of substandard inspection results.

"We\'ve made suggestions to help make things better," said Council 5 spokesperson Jennifer Lovaasen, whose organization represents LPNs, direct-care workers, janitors and support staff at the home. "We want to work with the administration to be a part of the solution. We\'ve said you need to include the union workers in addressing the citations."

A news brief in the most recent edition of "Minnesota Nursing Accent," the MNA\'s bimonthly publication, focused on problems at the Minneapolis Veterans Home even before release of the most recent Department of Health reports.

"The MNA believes that the poor quality of care is directly related to a nurse staffing crisis," the brief reads. "In 2005 over 27 nurses left the Minneapolis Vets Home in a period of three months. Deplorable working conditions, short-staffing and overuse of mandatory overtime are contributing factors to nurses leaving."

Turnover at the veterans home, according to Lovaasen, is about 32 percent of all employees annually. Many, she said, are driven away by unmanageable workloads and policies that allow supervisors to mandate back-to-back shifts.

"What happens is an LPN will work her eight-hour shift and within one hour\'s notice will be told, ‘You\'re going to work another 8 hours,\'" Lovaasen said. "Imagine working with folks with Alzheimer\'s disease and dementia for 16 hours straight."

The MNA says it has offered administrators empirical data proving the negative impacts on patient care that result when nurses work 16-hour shifts, but the policy remains in place nonetheless.

The high turnover rate at the veterans home also creates a constant state of employee training and preparation, as experienced nurses and caregivers leave and inexperienced workers settle into their place. That, too, can negatively affect patient care.

AFSCME has suggested several measures to address the problems revealed in the Department of Health reports. The measures include:
• Holding unit meetings between staff shifts to share the health status and concerns of veterans. "That\'s something that\'s typically done in state hospitals," Lovaasen said. "One shift of workers hands off information to the next shift regarding the health needs of the veterans."
• Hiring two instructors onto the training staff who speak English as a second language. Many of the newest workers at the veterans home speak different African languages, a situation Lovaasen said makes training and task assignment difficult.
• Working to improve staff morale by participating in the Healthy Workplaces Initiative. A workday in any medical-care facility, Lovaasen said, is "fast-paced, high-stress." Healthy Workplaces "ensures that workers and management treat each other respectfully. It\'s about identifying good behavior and bad behavior and training people in that."

At the end of the day, say both the Nurses and AFSCME, their members want to make sure residents of the Minneapolis Veterans Home receive the quality care they deserve. In fact, an AFSCME member, according to Lovaasen, coined the facility\'s motto: "We proudly serve those who served us."

"For our members who work there, it\'s about the veterans, not the bottom line," Lovaasen said. "We have a lady who\'s worked at the veterans home for 28 years, and many of the veterans that she cares for have outlived their families. So she\'s all they\'ve got left. She\'s befriended these folks.

"Now she\'s told by the administration that you don\'t have time to talk to the veterans. Feed them, bathe them, medicate them; but don\'t talk to them. The veterans will say, ‘What did I do to you? How come you\'re ignoring me?\'
"That makes it a really hard place to work, but that\'s essentially what\'s happening out there."

Reprinted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org