VETERANS

Air Force Base is closing down, Devon Energy is moving to Houston and Chesapeake is closing up also,” he said. “The whole state would be in an uproar.”

“It theoretically could force Talihina into bankruptcy,” he said, citing the loss of revenue from water usage at the veterans facility and the potential loan foreclosure that might result.

Forcing residents to move would be damaging to their health, staff members contend.

Shane Faulkner, public information officer for the Oklahoma Department of Veteran Affairs, confirmed that a move is under consideration, but said there is no reason to panic because nothing is imminent.

“It’s not happening today, next year or even in the next two or three years,” he said. Whether it eventually happens at all is yet to be determined, he said.

The age, condition and remoteness of the 175-bed facility are among the reasons that a move is being considered, he said.

Finding doctors willing to move to the remote southeastern Oklahoma site has been a chore and the department has had to pay a hefty amount to get anyone to take the job, he said. The staffing pool is small and the center has to compete with a local Indian hospital for staff, he said. “Quite honestly, it’s kind of hard to compete with them.”

The Center was originally constructed in 1921 as the Eastern Oklahoma Tuberculosis Sanatorium and it wasn’t until 1975 that it became a veterans home.

Age has taken a toll on the facility, Shane Faulkner said.

“The money that we would have to pour into it to bring it up to our standards would be exorbitant,” he said.

If available federal grants are taken into consideration, “it would be just as inexpensive to shut down shop and build a new center almost,” he said.

Water quality also has been an issue, he said.

The department has not been happy with the quality of water that comes from the town of Talihina.

“The amount of filters we have to use there at the center has cost a lot of money,” he said.

The state Department of Environmental Quality has cited both the Talihina Public Works Authority and the Oklahoma Veterans Center repeatedly over the last couple of years for violating safe drinking water standards for having excessive amounts of total

The Talihina Veterans Center is in a battle for survival.

[PHOTO PROVIDED] trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids in their water.

Both substances are byproducts of the disinfection process. Some animal studies have indicated that drinking water where these substances are present above certain concentrations may be associated with an increased risk of some cancers.

Officials with the Talihina Public Works Authority recently entered into a consent order and state veterans officials recently signed a memorandum of agreement that set deadlines for taking corrective measures.

Shane Faulkner said the department has voiced its concern to Talihina officials for “quite some time now.”

“I don’t think there’s any kind of movement on their part to fix it,” he said. “We don’t feel like it’s that safe. I mean, the town of Talihina obviously doesn’t have a problem with it. We do.”

The mayor acknowledged water quality has been a problem, but said the problem is being fixed.

“We’ve spent $4 million to upgrade that and are in the process of finalizing this project,” he said. “So the water quality will be no more of our concern.”

The mayor said he believes all the concerns expressed by Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs officials involve issues that can be resolved.

Staffing concerns could be addressed by going to the vocational technology center campus in town and asking them to provide training for nurses or whatever other positions are needed, he said.

“One of their concerns is the older buildings,” the mayor said. “Well, we said, ‘you’ve got approximately 400 acres in Talihina. We don’t understand why it’s more feasible to abandon a site when you have 400 acres and go find somewhere else to build.’”

The mayor said he also was puzzled by statements that it was difficult to recruit doctors to the area.

Constructed in 1921

Corrective measures retired in Talihina. If doctors hated it so bad, they wouldn’t stay here after they retire.”

“It’s a gorgeous area,” he said. “If you look at the quality for the veterans out there — it’s peaceful, they can sit and look at the lake. They have views of the mountains. It’s probably one of the prettiest veterans centers in the whole state.

The mayor said he met recently with executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss what could be done to keep the center in Talihina.

If the center does eventually move, it would be required to relocate in southeastern Oklahoma, Shane Faulkner said. McAlester is one city that would be considered, because it is the largest city in the region and would have a reasonable-sized labor pool, but other cities like Poteau could also be considered, he said.

He said the push to consider relocating the center has come from Executive Director Myles Deering, a retired major general, and Deputy Director Doug Elliott, both of whom are concerned about the wellbeing of residents as well as managing expenses.

Staff members of the Talihina Veterans Center said they believe the health of residents is best protected by leaving the center in Talihina.

“Our special-needs residents have difficulty moving rooms, much less a facility,” staff members wrote. “When you take an Alzheimer/dementia resident out of a familiar place and into a strange environment, bad things happen. They are 70 percent more likely to fall, have a hip fracture, head injury, become combative and get

Health concerns sedated.”

Statistically, the likelihood of such residents dying increases within the first year of such dramatic change, the staff members noted. The 175-bed facility usually operates at near capacity and about 45 of its current residents have special needs, they said.

The wife of one 81-yearold Vietnam veteran resident, who requested anonymity, said a move to McAlester would mean she would have to drive more than 75 miles to see her husband rather than the 25 miles she currently drives.

She said she would make the drive, because “that’s what you do when you’ve been married 54 years,” but said it would require some personal financial sacrifices. Many staff members make less than $12 an hour and could not afford to commute to McAlester every day, since it is more than an hour’s drive each way, staff members said in their email.

“It will devastate families, many retirements will not be able to reach their full potential and some will be lost all together,” they wrote. “Many will lose health insurance and also have to seek state assistance if jobs are lost.”