Legislators move forward on veterans’ home

By Seth Klamann
Casper Star-Tribune
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
CASPER — Lawmakers moved forward Tuesday on a push to build a skilled nursing home for Wyoming veterans, but where exactly that facility would be built remains unclear. 
The future location has been effectively narrowed to three towns: Casper, Buffalo and Sheridan. According to a state assessment, Casper fits the bill best, and a number of people — including City Manager Carter Napier and two Casper lawmakers — testified to the Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee that the Oil City should be the choice for the 36-bed facility. 
If built in Casper, the facility would cost $21.88 million in 2021, according to a Military Department report. In Sheridan, it would cost $21.69 million, and in Buffalo, $19.92 million. The state match for those costs is highest in Casper, at $7.7 million. It’s slightly lower in Sheridan ($7.6 million) and a good chunk less expensive in Buffalo (a $7 million state match). 
Rep. Bunky Loucks, a Casper Republican, put forward a motion to recommend Casper be the home for the facility. He argued that the city had the best chance to fully staff the facility with health care workers and that it was most accessible to veterans and their families.
Plus, fellow Casper Republican Sen. Jim Anderson said, the state Military Department needed a location so they could move forward on working with the federal Veterans Administration. 
But the two Casper lawmakers failed to convince their colleagues. Sen. Curt Meier said he wanted to study the issue more, and Rep. Stan Blake said that though he thought Casper was a good fit, he wanted the committee to be careful. 
So Loucks’ attempt failed, with just the two Casper legislators voting in favor of it. The committee will consider a location at its December meeting. The recommendation will be just that; it will almost certainly be heavily debated in both the House and Senate during the 2019 session. 
The location of Tuesday’s meeting at the Oil and Gas Commission was fortuitous for those who want the facility built in Casper. Local Sen. Bill Landen and Reps. Joe MacGuire, Pat Sweeney, Steve Harshman, Jerry Obermueller and Chuck Gray all attended parts of the meeting. MacGuire and Sweeney both testified in favor of building the facility here. 
But they weren’t alone in lobbying the committee. A contingent from a facility in Buffalo urged the committee to select somewhere other than the Johnson County town; they warned that they wouldn’t be able to compete with the veterans home if it received a higher federal reimbursement. 
Ron Nading Jr., a retired Navy chief petty officer, lives in Casper and advocated for building the facility here. He said the town has a large veteran community and the largest medical system — Wyoming Medical Center — in the state. He spoke emotionally about losing “my friends, my buddies, my teammates” and taking care of their children. 
“It’s not about me, as much as it’s about this community and the veterans that it serves,” Nading, who served as a combat medic and an underwater demolition diver, told lawmakers. “Casper, in my opinion, is the best location for this facility.” 
In its report, the Health Department listed a number of strengths and weaknesses for Casper, Buffalo and Sheridan. Casper would serve the largest number of veterans because of its central location, had a large existing certified nursing assistant workforce and had access to medical specialists, among other pros. But it had no nearby VA facility, and its pools of CNA graduates “have below-average pass rates.” 
Buffalo, meanwhile, had good access to VA care, had a good location (Buffalo’s mayor would later note that Casper’s facility would look out onto a cemetery), and could continue care for veterans who currently live in the Veterans Home there. But it had a small pool of CNAs and a higher cost of living. 
Sheridan checked similar boxes: There’s a VA hospital in town and there’s potential to work with a facility there. But it has a high cost of living and has a “below-average number of veterans served due to location in the far north of the State,” according to the report. 
A contingent from Buffalo, including Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny and Buffalo Mayor Michael Johnson, testified in favor of moving the facility to their town. 
Novotny asked the committee to name an industry in Wyoming that didn’t struggle for workforce; he said the local college could help “scale up” programs, and that it would be cheaper to build in Buffalo than in Casper. 
According to the Military Department’s presentation, the facility would include three buildings, each with 12 beds. There are roughly 300 veterans in the state who would need the care, a number that will remain steady in the coming years, according to the Health Department. The plan would start small, with just the 36 beds but would eventually expand. 
If built in Casper, the facility would be set on the corner of 12th and South Conwell streets. The land has been donated to the state from the city.