Veterans nursing home in need of seven nurses

Beth Slovic

Thursday, June 24, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

Sixty beds at the Nevada Veterans Nursing Home in Boulder City will remain empty until administrators at the facility can hire seven additional registered nurses, nearly half of the available slots for registered nurses at the home, which now has 120 full beds.

Meanwhile, 141 Nevadans languish on the facility's waiting list.

The critical shortage of registered nurses is not limited to the veterans nursing home. Hospitals and long-term care facilities across the country also face nursing shortages, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

However, additional factors compound the problems confronting sick and aging veterans who want to live in veterans homes.

The nursing home in Boulder City is the only state-run facility serving Nevada's veterans and certain family members of veterans.

About 175,000 veterans live within 75 miles of Las Vegas, according to Gary Bermeosolo, the administrator of the veterans nursing home. An additional 65,000 veterans live in other areas of the state, he said.

"The services here are not what they should be for that kind of population," Bermeosolo said. "I really feel an obligation to the 141 people on the waiting list, but if I can't provide quality care, I'm not going to open those beds."

The state increased funding for the Boulder City home June 16, topping off the budget at more than $12 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, according to Paul Russell, a budget analyst in the Nevada department of administration.

These funds provide enough money to pay for a full staff of 181 employees, Bermeosolo said. With all three wings open, the home could accommodate 180 residents.

But an aggressive recruiting campaign has so far yielded few applicants, Bermeosolo added. The starting salary for registered nurses at the facility is more than $54,800, Bermeosolo said.

The average hourly wage for registered nurses in Nevada is about $55,765 a year, according to a 2003 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, it's about $51,230 a year, according to the bureau.

"We have to sell the virtues of working at an outstanding facility along with the virture of working with veterans," Chuck Fulkerson, the executive director for the Nevada Office of Veteran Services, said.

Las Vegans on the facility's waiting list hope administrators can soon solve their nursing shortage. Though the additional 60 beds were originally planned to open July 1, administrators have pushed back the date to Aug. 1.

Norman McCready, 87, who served with the 82nd Airborne in World War II, is one veteran on the home's waiting list. His daughter, Carol Kerner, placed his name on the list in January. For the last nine weeks the home has admitted no new patients, Kerner said.

While McCready waits for a space at the facility, he lives at Silver Ridge Healthcare Center, a nursing home on Torrey Pines Drive. He suffered a stroke in 1996 and moved to an assisted living center in 2000. He entered Silver Ridge late last year, his daughter said.

"At the rate he is paying now, he will run out of funds in about two years," Kerner said. "At the veterans home-- his funds will last for about five years."

McCready pays for care at Silver Ridge with $1,900 a month from Social Security and the Defense Department and with his own savings. Silver Ridge charges McCready about $4,800 a month, while the veterans home would charge slightly more than $3,000 a month.

Andrew Kramer's wife, Dorthea Kramer, is also on the waiting list. A former Marine who served in the Korean War, Andrew Kramer hopes his wife will get a bed at the facility soon.

"It's all set to open, everything is there. They just can't get nurses," Kramer said.