Operational challenges, financial deficit force closure of Talihina Veterans Home

TALIHINA — Well, the other shoe finally fell, just sooner than most expected.

Today, Oklahoma veterans and their families are looking for a place to live, at least for the next 16 months or so.

It was just a matter of time before the Talihina Veterans Home’s doors would be shuttered, but many believed the pine tree-shrouded facility just across the LeFlore County line in Latimer County would continue to house Oklahoma veterans until the Sallisaw Veterans Center could be completed.

But the Oklahoma Veterans Commission last week at a special meeting voted unanimously to close the Talihina center, citing operational challenges and financial strain that had gotten to the point of negatively impacting the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs.

“The operational challenges in Talihina are to a point of greatly impacting the rest of the agency,” Deputy Director Shawn Kirkland said, justifying the decision. “While a difficult one, the decision is the fiscally responsible thing to do for the ODVA.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Bloomfield, communications director for the ODVA, said the vote to close the home was in response to a report that the facility is running at a huge deficit. Bloomfield said the agency is losing approximately half a million dollars monthly at the Talihina facility due to low occupancy and high contract employee costs.

While closing the home by Oct. 1 will quell the monthly deficit, cost of closing the facility carries a hefty price tag itself. About $3.9 million is expected to be spent in closing the center. Had the home remained open for another year until the Sallisaw Veterans Center begins accepting residents, it would have cost ODVA $5.4 million. Much of the $3.9 million closing cost will be for employee severance pay and other expenses related to workforce reduction. Talihina employees will be offered jobs at other veterans homes or within the agency.

Occupancy dwindles

The ODVA saw occupancy rates fall systemwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the Talihina Veterans Home, which has a resident capacity for 175 veterans, has only 36 residents — a 21% occupancy rate — and more than 120 employees — 84 state employees and 38 contracted employees who provide nursing and medical care at the center.

In reporting by NonDoc. com, a nonprofit independent journalism pursuit operated by the Sustainable Journalism Foundation, the Talihina facility had 120 residents on June 30, 2017. But since the announcement in 2018 that the veterans home would eventually close, the number of residents declined. The number of residents was 66 by 2021.

In addition, the number of residents being discharged has outpaced admissions for the past three years, Kirkland said. There were 20 admissions and 30 discharges in the 2021 fiscal year, 24 admissions and 32 discharges in the 2022 fiscal year and 12 admissions and 23 discharges in the 2023 fiscal year.

The current, “modern” veterans facility was opened on July 1, 1975, according to signage that greets visitors to the veterans home off state Highway 63A.

Kirkland also said in addition to declining occupancy, the Talihina home has growing maintenance issues. It has old sewer and water lines, and an old heating and air conditioning system, which might require expensive repairs if the center were to remain open another 18 months, NonDoc reported.

The century-old veterans home, which was originally built in 1921 as a tuberculosis sanatorium with many of the original buildings still standing, but abandoned, is targeted for closure by Oct. 1. The current, “modern” veterans facility was opened on July 1, 1975, according to signage that greets visitors to the veterans home off state Highway 63A.

Kirkland told commissioners ODVA would be forced to ask the Legislature for additional funding next year if the Talihina home were to remain operational until the Sallisaw facility is complete — something commissioners were reluctant to do after lawmakers in May granted the ODVA’s last-minute request for an $11.6 million appropriation increase to cover anticipated operating losses.

Lawmakers also approved about $22 million of one-time funding for the Sallisaw construction project, which has been delayed more than a year by complications with an architect and subsequent cost overruns. In 2018, the agency and its governing commission initially decided to close the Talihina Veterans Home only after the new Sallisaw center was completed.

Opening delayed

But the 230,000-square-foot long-term care home being built on U.S. 59 south of I-40 has experienced construction delays that have pushed the completion date back to October 2024. An inspection and other requirements by the federal Veterans Administration could delay the opening until January 2025, NonDoc has reported.

“We are obviously balancing the need to be stewards of the taxpayer dollars and also fulfill our sacred duty of taking care of veterans and the employees who take care of veterans,” Oklahoma Veterans Commission Chairman Robert Allen said.

ODVA interim director Greg Slavonic, a former undersecretary of and rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, said he expects Thursday’s decision to close the Talihina center will upset some.

“The reality, at the end of the day, is not everyone is going to be happy,” Slavonic said. “It’s about taking care of our veterans. It’s about taking care of our employees.”

Aerial view of Talihina Veterans Home

State Rep. Jim Grego (R-Wilburton) blasted the Oklahoma Veterans Commission’s decision.

“This means 36 families have just 90 days to find a place to care for their loved one,” he said. “This is a disruption and a disgrace to these veterans who faithfully sacrificed and served our nation and their families who want to keep their loved ones nearby.”

Grego said he has been working to keep the Talihina Veterans Home open since he was first elected to legislative office in 2018. He said this latest news feels like the rug has been pulled out from under him and the constituents he serves.

“It’s beyond frustrating,” he said.

But the dismal financial shape of the Talihina facility was more than the ODVA could abide.

“This was an urgent situation, because losing half a million dollars a month is problematic,” Slavonic said. ODVA administrators were dispatched to Talihina late last week to talk with employees and residents about the facility’s imminent closing.

“This is not something that is going to happen overnight,” said Jennifer Bloomfield, communications director for ODVA. “We will be making sure that our residents and their families, as well as staff, are fully informed and assisted throughout the entirety. Ideally, we would hope to see all of them elect to transfer to one of our other homes as we await the completion of Sallisaw.”

Options available

ODVA has plenty of rooms for Talihina residents at its six other locations, Slavonic said. Overall, ODVA’s veterans homes have a 60% occupancy rate, down from 90% before the pandemic, he said.

Other veterans homes are located in Ardmore, Claremore, Clinton, Lawton, Norman and Sulphur. Claremore and Sulphur are the closest homes to Talihina.

Bloomfield said most veterans qualify to stay at one of the state’s veterans homes. “As long as you are an honorably discharged veteran, you qualify for residency,” and veterans with 75% disability or greater stay at no charge, she said.

The agency noted that all current residents and staff of the Talihina Home will hold priority status for transfer to the Sallisaw Home upon its completion.

“Our first priority is of course the residents and staff who are currently at the Talihina Home,” Slavonic said. “There will be many conversations with them in the days to come as we work to provide the best possible outcome for all involved.”

The 230,000-square-foot long-term care home being built in Sallisaw on U.S. 59 south of I-40 has experienced construction delays that have pushed the projected completion date back to October 2024. An inspection and other requirements by the federal Veterans Administration could delay the opening until January 2025.

Sallisaw history

Construction at the 90-acre site in Sallisaw began in December 2020, which was the first tangible evidence of progress after two years of planning, coordination, permitting and approval. After an eight-month delay in 2022, the 175-bed center has begun taking shape in recent days, with exterior construction nearing completion.

What was initially a $77 million project has grown by more than $20 million with cost overruns, expenses arising from the shutdown stemming from a dispute with the original architect and the discovery of code violations.

The Sallisaw center was ballyhooed as “a state-of-the-art facility,” when then-executive director Joel Kintsel spoke at an October 2021 chamber luncheon. “It’s a home-like environment, and will be the premier facility of its kind in the U.S.”

When ODVA decided to move its eastern Oklahoma veterans home from Talihina in 2018, Sallisaw beat out finalists Poteau and Muskogee for the new eastern Oklahoma veterans center location. At the beginning of the selection process, there were six communities, which also included McAlester, Hugo and Holdenville. Sallisaw was chosen as the site on Oct. 26, 2018.