Protesters $eek mercy for Pa. veteran homes

The political stalemate over the state budget could be resolved by next week. Or not.

In the meantime, veterans advocates are hoping that lawmakers won't end up giving short shrift to more than a thousand ill and aging vets who rely on the state for care.

Vets and members of Healthcare Pennsylvania, which is part of the Service Employees International Union, rallied around their cause yesterday at six state-run extended-care homes for veterans, including the Delaware Valley Veterans Home in Northeast Philadelphia.

SEIU officials said the most recent version of the state budget included massive cuts to the state facilities that would result in hundreds of lost beds and the closure of at least one veterans home.

"The cuts are sweeping. They would be devastating," said Kim Patterson, SEIU's secretary treasurer. She said the budget would cut $7.6 million from veterans homes and cause the state to lose $5.9 million in matching federal funds.

The cuts were proposed in Senate Bill 850, which passed earlier this year, she said.

Under that proposal, 400 beds would be eliminated from the veterans facilities, and about 140 jobs would be eliminated from the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA).

"I don't think the public's aware of what's in this budget," said Hal Donahue, a retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel who spoke at a veterans home in Scranton yesterday. "It's not just the vets. The National Guard would lose funding, too."

But the budget might not spell trouble for the 1,600 veterans who live at the state-run facilities.

Kevin Cramsey, a DMVA spokesman, said Gov. Rendell and other officials hope the budget will ultimately end up resembling a proposal by the House of Representatives that didn't call for dramatic cuts.

"The numbers are ever-changing," Cramsey said, adding that some of the figures cited by SEIU were "a little overstated."

"We share in a lot of their concerns. We want to keep everybody we've got and keep the operations flowing," he added.

Cramsey said the six state-run facilities stopped admitting residents on July 7 because of the budget impasse.

Despite payless workdays caused by the budget impasse, nurses and other caregivers continue to show up every day at at the Delaware Valley Veterans Home, on Southampton Road near Roosevelt Boulevard, said Kathleen Burden, a nurse there.

She said that 171 veterans live at the center and that most need help eating, bathing and getting dressed every day.

"Everyone cares about these veterans. That's the bottom line." *