27 November 2022: NJ Lawmakers Demand Reform of State-Operated Nursing Homes for Veterans

NJ lawmakers call for overhaul of state veterans homes in wake of report, COVID deaths

After being called out by a whistleblower for their inaction, New Jersey state lawmakers are suddenly acting with the kind of urgency that only public pressure driven by scandal-oriented news coverage can deliver. Here's an excerpt:

Operation of New Jersey’s state-run veterans homes, where more than 200 residents died during the COVID pandemic, should be removed from the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and made part of a new state department of veterans services, the chair of the state Senate Health Committee said this week.

“We made a promise we would care for [the veterans] at the highest level after they served our country,” said state Sen. Joe Vitale, chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “We’re not. We're failing them. Changing personnel here or there won’t make the difference.”

The state's lawmakers have a lot of making up to do for not taking even minimal actions earlier. Actions like probing what happened at New Jersey's nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. It's unfortunate NorthJersey.com decided to wait until after the midterm elections to escalate its coverage of the scandal affecting the role of state lawmakers in permitting the problems at New Jersey's nursing homes to go unaddressed for so long.