State plans for VA nursing home in Sp. Fork

SPANISH FORK (Deseret News) — As a Veterans Affairs outreach worker, Thad Jensen travels to state Department of Workforce Services offices in five Utah communities twice a month to work with other veterans.

The retired Army master sergeant answers their questions and signs them up for veterans benefits.

So when the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs announced it plans to build a 100-bed nursing home for aging, ill or disabled soldiers, Jensen was keenly aware of how many it would serve — 42,000 of the more than 160,000 in the state. Of those, 26,000 are older than 65 and likely would require nursing home care, VA research shows. Most served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

The Spanish Fork home would serve veterans in Utah, Salt Lake, Juab, Carbon and Emery counties. Utah has just two other state veterans' nursing homes, one that is just opening in Ogden and another in Salt Lake City that opened in 1998.

The waiting list to get into a VA nursing home is so long that many veterans don't put their name on the list, said Dennis McFall, deputy director of Utah Veterans Affairs. "Usually their need is immediate, and a year or longer wait is not acceptable."

Just one federal VA hospital and four clinics are located in the state.

"Utah has taken a back seat to other states," Jensen said.

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