Veterans home recognized for quality care
I am responding to a column (by John L. Smith) about the Nevada State Veterans Home which appeared in the Boulder City Review on Jan. 14. While litigation is pending, I am unable to talk about that. I am able to address the other issues raised in the column.
The veterans home is more than sufficiently funded with a reserve of $2 million to continually maintain and improve the home’s infrastructure and resident comforts on an ongoing basis.
The veterans home is the only Nevada home inspected annually by two federal regulatory agencies. This past November, the veterans home received a five-star rating in overall and quality measures: the highest rating given by the official federal agency, Nursing Home Compare, which assesses quality care information on 15,000 nationwide Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes across America. The above-average staffing rating is earned by having an above average staff-to-patient ratio, which further ensures ongoing quality of care of veterans, spouses and Gold Star parents.
This five-star rating was the latest of numerous quality awards, including one presented by HealthInsight to the home in the past three years. The Nevada State Veterans Home is one of only four skilled nursing homes of the 54 statewide that received this quality award from HealthInsight in August of last year during the Nevada Health Care Association Convention.
Glaring inaccuracies in the column are important to correct here. For one, the veterans home, built in 2002, has no record of having been “investigated by the attorney general’s office” as alleged for “deficiencies and regulatory failures.”
Further, Nevada has an estimated 228,000 to 300,000 veterans, not 350,000 as stated in the column. This special population, nationwide and here, is not growing, but rather aging. This is the reason the state is experiencing increased demand for beds for veterans. And every day, I thank Gov. (Brian) Sandoval and the Legislature for their leadership in allocating a matching grant of $14 million to help fund the building of a second veterans home in Reno.
In closing, every one of our trained staff professionals is committed to providing the finest care every day to all of our residents — veterans, spouses, and Gold Star parents.
Linda Gelinger,
Administrator, Nevada State Veterans Home
Editor’s note: A spokesperson from the Nevada attorney general’s office confirmed that the Nevada State Veterans Home was the subject of an investigation that concluded in 2013.
Wind generators don’t belong in residential neighborhoods
It was interesting to see that the City Council chose to allow a wind generator in a residential neighborhood despite the objection of a neighbor.
In the early ’80s I researched putting up a wind generator next to my house and had some support for it from the Planning Commission and building department. My neighbors had no problem with it.
After doing a lot of research, it was determined, with the help of the Desert Research Institute, that there was not enough wind in Boulder City to make a wind generator practical. This was based on many, many years of historical wind data that DRI had kept. Successful backyard wind generation requires an average wind speed of 9 mph.
It might seem like Boulder City is a windy place, but the average is less than 9 mph. A check of the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Resource Map shows that Boulder City does not even place in the “fair” category for wind generation.
If we had an average wind speed of 9 mph, a wind generator would produce about 200 kilowatt hours per year. The average household uses about 10,000 kwh per year. If someone really wanted to produce renewable power in a residential setting in this area they should invest in solar.
I have to look at an ugly, green, pinwheel wind generator every day. At least it is in the industrial area, where it belongs, and not in my residential neighborhood.
Steve Cottrell
Simple wishes will make community better
Here are my wishes for 2016:
1. All high school students must take two years of a foreign language to graduate.
2. The road between the fitness center and Starbucks be an entrance only. No exit. It causes lots of problems.
3. All fire and police (personnel) be required to donate four hours each month to a community event or a nonprofit — not as comp time and not paid. This is community service and lets you get to know your citizens better.
4. All council members attend at least one community event every six months.
5. All 20- to 40-year-olds in town volunteer or donate time to a community group, event or nonprofit. Five hours a month.
6. Every citizen in town, get to know their neighbors on both sides of them and across the street. It will make your neighborhood safer.
7. More people putting their shopping carts in the racks.
8. People driving slower and safer. (It will) save a life, save fuel and no stress.
9. All businesses join the Chamber of Commerce.
10. All citizens donate at least $20 a year to a great community group.
11. A things-to-do calendar in the Boulder City Magazine and Boulder City Review. A monthly calendar will keep all citizens up to date.
12. Send a “Have a Nice Day” card to someone for no reason.
13. Everyone saying please and thank you and less swearing.
14. Say thank you to our community safety personnel.
15. Tell someone every day something nice.
16. Be kind, respectful and considerate of all.
These tips will make our community even greater and a better place to live, plus it will help relieve stress and make you happier.
Christy Springgate-Hill
Will hotel suffer same fate as diner?
Now that the Boulder Inn & Suites is no longer in business, how long will it be until they paint the entire building purple and board up all of the windows?
Michael Mabry
Hospital provides many services, including surgery
I don’t know about you, but every time I come over Railroad Pass I thank my blessings for our small town and its friendly people. We are exceptionally fortunate to have a hospital in a town our size, but did you know that hospital also boasts of a fine surgery facility?
My wife and I have both had procedures (in my case, including abdominal surgery) done there with great results, ease of access, a friendly and very experienced staff and medical care with an emphasis on “care.” If you need something done, do like they say on TV when they are promoting all these new miracle drugs: “Be sure to ask your doctor” if it can be done here at Boulder City Hospital.
If you can’t go there for whatever reason, be aware that you can take in your lab order from any physician and have your blood drawn at Boulder City Hospital and they will process it through to your doctor here or down in Henderson or Las Vegas just the same as if you had gone to one of those big labs down the hill.
Michael D. Durick
One thought is more than enough
Tina Ransom’s “Thought for the day” quips are totally stupid and irritating as well as a waste of print space. Why can she not do only one thought for the week instead? Her daily thoughts are not winners to me, my spouse (who no longer reads her column) or any of my neighbors in Gingerwood Mobile Park.
Cool her heels on her “Thought for the day” and change to “Thought for the week” instead. One lousy thought is enough.
Carol Denil
Additional investigation needed
The former supervisor of the animal shelter is under investigation for allegedly killing animals improperly. The chief of police administration, whose actions were being reviewed during the investigation, unexpectedly resigned. The mayor says that he is “… personally not going to get personal knowledge …” of the situations. Learning what happened might help us develop policies and procedures to minimize similar problems in the future.
Businesses are being boarded up. Squatters are occupying vacant residences. Funds are insufficient to fully staff the code enforcement section, but they were adequate to hire a city spokesman. Although construction of Interstate 11 has been going on for weeks there haven’t been any maps and articles about its progress and status.
And the topic of your most recent editorial? Powerball mania.
When you did write about the chief of police administration’s resignation you placed your name on the byline as lead reporter when it was really a cut and paste of articles previously written by Bethany Barnes and published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. When are you going to conduct some meaningful, original investigative reporting into larger issues within Boulder City that might be of interest to your readers?
Tom O’Farrell