Friday, August 5, 2011
Although I have a degree in journalism and 25 years’ experience as a paid reporter and editor, this blog is not “journalism”—it is merely a compilation of personal journals.
Here’s proof:
1) I wrote about the impending changes at the Soldiers Home without talking to anyone official—and I obviously took sides.
2) When someone official DID call me—not just to explain the changes but also to ask me to reconsider a comment in my July 23 entry, I deleted it immediately. I do still have journalism ethics, you know, and while the statement was a joke, I do not want to write irresponsibly. So in the spirit of journalism, I humbly offer this clarification: I assure you the food at the Soldiers Home is safe to eat.
So, the official call today was from "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos, deputy director of Veterans Affairs and former interim superintendent at the Soldiers Home; she was the one who initially gave the go-ahead for this website, so I consider her an ally and appreciate her insight. She wanted to explain the thinking behind the changes, and to clarify the procedure for carrying them out. Which she did, very nicely. Many of her points were covered in the News Tribune article I linked to in an earlier post: For financial and strategic reasons, the Soldiers Home no longer will provide housing for
light-nursing-care residents; the Roosevelt Barracks, where those residents live now, will be renovated into a facility for younger returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; and Betsy Ross Hall, the domiciliary unit, will become a Ronald McDonald kind of temporary home for those veterans’ families.
Ultimately, Alfie said, about 47 current Soldiers Home residents will be relocated, likely within the next three years or so.
Or not. The newest tidbit of information arose from the “town hall” meeting on Wednesday between residents and John Lee, VA director. About 60 people attended, Alfie said, and, “Everybody came in basically loaded for bear.” (This made me smile. These people are fighters.) After apologizing for “confusion and anxiety,” Alfie said, Lee told the residents, “The plan is not for any of you to lose your home.” Alfie said he guaranteed the residents: You will not be evicted.
Those 60 or so fighters said: “Put it in writing.”
And it appears that’s just what they’re doing. “John probably next week will send a letter to all residents,” Alfie said. “A signed letter basically saying no resident of the Soldiers Home will be evicted against their will.”
“If there’s a resident who absolutely will not want to leave,” Alfie told me, “We will find a way of them being able to remain.” That could mean modular, air-conditioned troop trailers, she said, or sending residents to the Retsil home “for a few weeks or months until things are put together to put them back.”
Alfie said she’d send me a copy of Lee's letter, along with the Power Point presentation from the meeting. I will post both as soon as I receive them (and figure out how to post them).
In the meantime, I have learned a lot. I no longer will call the changes “The Eviction.” I no longer will print snide comments I make to Gary that others could misconstrue (although I will keep making snide comments to Gary, because that’s just how we are). And I will do everything I can to help the residents through The Transition (See?! I'm a quick learner!), whether it’s easing their anxiety, raising their concerns to the deputy director of Veterans Affairs or helping them pack up their medals. Because that’s what you do when you’re on someone’s side.
Although I have a degree in journalism and 25 years’ experience as a paid reporter and editor, this blog is not “journalism”—it is merely a compilation of personal journals.
Here’s proof:
1) I wrote about the impending changes at the Soldiers Home without talking to anyone official—and I obviously took sides.
2) When someone official DID call me—not just to explain the changes but also to ask me to reconsider a comment in my July 23 entry, I deleted it immediately. I do still have journalism ethics, you know, and while the statement was a joke, I do not want to write irresponsibly. So in the spirit of journalism, I humbly offer this clarification: I assure you the food at the Soldiers Home is safe to eat.
So, the official call today was from "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos, deputy director of Veterans Affairs and former interim superintendent at the Soldiers Home; she was the one who initially gave the go-ahead for this website, so I consider her an ally and appreciate her insight. She wanted to explain the thinking behind the changes, and to clarify the procedure for carrying them out. Which she did, very nicely. Many of her points were covered in the News Tribune article I linked to in an earlier post: For financial and strategic reasons, the Soldiers Home no longer will provide housing for
light-nursing-care residents; the Roosevelt Barracks, where those residents live now, will be renovated into a facility for younger returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; and Betsy Ross Hall, the domiciliary unit, will become a Ronald McDonald kind of temporary home for those veterans’ families.
Ultimately, Alfie said, about 47 current Soldiers Home residents will be relocated, likely within the next three years or so.
Or not. The newest tidbit of information arose from the “town hall” meeting on Wednesday between residents and John Lee, VA director. About 60 people attended, Alfie said, and, “Everybody came in basically loaded for bear.” (This made me smile. These people are fighters.) After apologizing for “confusion and anxiety,” Alfie said, Lee told the residents, “The plan is not for any of you to lose your home.” Alfie said he guaranteed the residents: You will not be evicted.
Those 60 or so fighters said: “Put it in writing.”
And it appears that’s just what they’re doing. “John probably next week will send a letter to all residents,” Alfie said. “A signed letter basically saying no resident of the Soldiers Home will be evicted against their will.”
“If there’s a resident who absolutely will not want to leave,” Alfie told me, “We will find a way of them being able to remain.” That could mean modular, air-conditioned troop trailers, she said, or sending residents to the Retsil home “for a few weeks or months until things are put together to put them back.”
Alfie said she’d send me a copy of Lee's letter, along with the Power Point presentation from the meeting. I will post both as soon as I receive them (and figure out how to post them).
In the meantime, I have learned a lot. I no longer will call the changes “The Eviction.” I no longer will print snide comments I make to Gary that others could misconstrue (although I will keep making snide comments to Gary, because that’s just how we are). And I will do everything I can to help the residents through The Transition (See?! I'm a quick learner!), whether it’s easing their anxiety, raising their concerns to the deputy director of Veterans Affairs or helping them pack up their medals. Because that’s what you do when you’re on someone’s side.
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