Late last month, as Gov. Charlie Baker was visiting Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield for the groundbreaking of an infrastructure project, Laurie Mandeville Beaudette was planning a get-together with close friends and family members.“Here’s.
Late last month, as Gov. Charlie Baker was visiting Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield for the groundbreaking of an infrastructure project, Laurie Mandeville Beaudette was planning a get-together with close friends and family members.“Here’s.
East vs. West? ‘Regional equity’ emerges as flashpoint in debate over funding for Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
Updated Mar 16, 2021;
Local lawmakers and veterans advocates are smarting over concerns their counterparts in Eastern Massachusetts are raising over regional equity amid a debate over a new, $400 million Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
During a lengthy hearing Tuesday before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administration and Regulatory Oversight, some argued the price tag was too high to spend on one project in Western Massachusetts while more veterans live in other parts of the state namely Bristol, Plymouth and Barnstable counties.
Detractors cited previous academic studies tracking declining numbers of veterans, and recommendations to move away from institutional care that were never acted upon. Senate Committee co-Chairman Marc Pacheco and other lawmakers also wondered about regional equity since the state’s two soldiers’ homes are located in Chelsea and Hol
5 takeaways from legislative hearings on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID outbreak: How much more do we know now?
Updated Feb 28, 2021;
Posted Feb 28, 2021
State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell chairs an October 2020 legislative hearing on the COVID-19 outbreak at the Soldiers Home in Holyoke, held at Holyoke Community College. (Don Treeger / The Republican file)
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Nearly a year after the beginning of the deadly pandemic that has changed the face of life as we knew it, the state Legislature’s Special Oversight Committee has held six hearings since October to examine the outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The state-run, long-term care facility for veterans went from a sought after placement for end-of-life care to a touchstone of the horrors the virus can bring when unchecked.
. (Tribune News Service) Cheryl Turgeon just wants the families of the Holyoke Soldiers Home veterans to have their voices heard. Turgeon whose father, Dennis Thresher, a Korean War veteran, was a resident at the home has spent months calling for change and transparency at the facility that s seen nearly 80 residents die from COVID-19. Her father, who experienced COVID-like symptoms when the virus first swept through the facility last spring, died Saturday. He was 90. These veterans spirits will live on in the families, Turgeon told the Herald, adding that her father s passing has steeled her resolved to make it my mission to bring better care and oversight to the ones who deserve it the most.