Vets nursing home rejected again

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

For the second time in a month, a candidate for administrator of the state's first veterans nursing home declined the job after visiting the Boulder City facility, Chuck Fulkerson, state director of the Office of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday.

Geri Farris, a long-term health care administrator from Sante Fe, N.M., declined the position at the state Veterans Nursing Home last week after initially accepting it, Fulkerson said.

"Everyone has been nothing but professional with me," said Farris. "My decision to decline the position had nothing to do with the organization and I wish them well."

Farris, who said a change in her husband's employment forced her decision, was the second candidate to decline the $77,000-a-year job after being picked from a pool of eight candidates. Jeff Piper, a veterans nursing home administrator in Pocatello, Idaho, also declined the job. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The two snubs by job applicants come in the wake of two resignations by directors last fall, further hurting the morale of employees and leading at least one state Veterans Service Commissioner to criticize Fulkerson's management of the nursing home.

"Chuck Fulkerson should have a plaque on his desk that says, 'The buck stops here.' The buck's got to stop somewhere," said commissioner Brad Benson, a veteran of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.

"Here we've got a beautiful veterans nursing home. We fought a long time for it. And this here is the 14th of January 2003 and we've still got problems," said Benson, a Boulder City resident. "It's time maybe we changed directions and go a different way."

Morale of the 75 staff members has also suffered since former director Jon Sias resigned under pressure from Fulkerson, said Bob Garlow, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 36 in Boulder City. Raymond Heath, an interim director, resigned within a month of Sias.

"Morale up there is absolutely terrible," Garlow said. "Every time they're just getting set up -- and they're doing a fantastic job -- somebody pulls the rug out from under them again.

"That hurts the residents. They can sense this stuff, too. The focus needs to be supporting the veterans."

Fulkerson acknowledged that during the four months of the national search, care has suffered at the home.

The home's director of nursing, Lynn Stange, who served on the search committee for a new administrator, also resigned during that time.

Fulkerson said he will continue to work as executive director "as long as I am allowed to."

"I'm very sad. I was deeply surprised when each (decline of the job offer) occurred," he said. "It has delayed services to the veterans and proper utilization of the home."

Former state Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, the chairman of the state Veterans Service Commission, said he was not aware of any wrongdoing or neglect on Fulkerson's part.

The state is opening a veterans nursing home for the first time, Jacobsen said, and some difficulties are to be expected.

"We may not like it, but maybe that's the way it is," he said. "I've been pleased so far with what has transpired."

Gary Bermeosolo, a retired director of Idaho's state office of veterans affairs, is the latest candidate to emerge as a finalist for the job directing the 180-bed facility in Boulder City.

Tom Feeback, the interim director who was passed over for the job despite 20 years running long-term care facilities, has agreed to stay on for another 30 days while negotiations continue with Bermeosolo.