In the first letter, Steil relayed concerns about staffing to manage COVID-19 risks. The names of those registering complaints with the congressman were redacted. State veterans affairs officials, however, released copies of five letters received from Steil or his staff dating back to November 2020. Steil spokeswoman Grace White said the congressman would not provide copies of any such correspondence, citing privacy rights for those making complaints. “In the cases that my office received consent from the veteran’s family, my office reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.” “In the last several years, numerous relatives and friends who have loved ones at the state-run Union Grove Veterans Home have reached out to me with concerns about staffing levels and quality of care at the facility,” he wrote. But he said he also had taken action to alert the state to complaints about the sort of issues raised later in the Milwaukee newspaper. The congressman has separately expressed concerns about how the Wisconsin Veterans Home was handling COVID-19 pandemic safety protocols at least 10 residents died after contracting COVID in the home. He said he alerted the state veterans affairs office in instances when he had consent from the person making the complaint. The 1st Congressional District includes all of Racine and Kenosha counties, and stretches west to Steil’s home in Janesville.Īsked by The Journal Times to elaborate, Steil said in an email last week that many relatives and friends of veterans living in the facility had approached the congressman with concerns about “staffing levels and quality of care at the facility.” Steil, who was elected in 2018 in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, told the newspaper he, too, had been receiving reports of problems at the home for years. The Milwaukee newspaper’s investigation was based largely on reports from residents inside the veterans home, as well as past residents and family members of veterans. It was not immediately clear what role the federal government could play in responding to conditions inside the facility.Ĭolleen Flaherty, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, said officials at the state agency had no immediate comment on Steil’s request for a federal review. The veterans home named for Union Grove is located at 21425 Spring Street in the Town of Dover, just west of the Village of Union Grove.
Scott Walker and have continued since Democratic Gov. The violations inside the state-run home date back to the administration of Republican Gov. The newspaper cited 62 operating violations found in the Union Grove home in the past five years, and said that ranks among the five worst offenders out of 117 federally certified veteran facilities in the nation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last week that staff at the Racine County veterans home has been accused of physical abuse, medication errors, unsanitary conditions, poor quality food and other forms of maltreatment toward veterans. Our veterans deserve the highest quality of care, and this level of mistreatment cannot be tolerated.” Urging “all appropriate action” from the federal authorities, Steil wrote: “This kind of treatment of our veterans is unacceptable. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The congressman, whose district includes the Town of Dover facility, released a letter he wrote to the U.S. Steil, a Republican from Janesville, announced Wednesday he is asking federal authorities to review allegations of abuse and neglect of veterans living at the Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove. Bryan Steil is seeking federal action on reports of mistreatment of veterans at a state-run facility, following several efforts by constituents to call attention to the issue going back at least several months.
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