THE DEVASTATING toll COVID-19 took on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home made headlines, and was even discussed at a congressional hearing. But attempts at reforming the home are coming down to a far less sensational debate that is largely about administrative bureaucracy: how to best structure the home’s governance to ensure leaders of the home are […]
Chelsea Soldiers’ Home
Posted inHealth Care
Bill scraps boards of trustees at soldiers’ homes
A LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE charged with recommending reforms to the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home after a devastating COVID-19 outbreak released a 12-page bill on Thursday that would revamp the leadership and organizational structure of both the state’s veterans’ homes. The key change would eliminate the current boards of trustees at the Chelsea and Holyoke soldiers’ homes, replacing them with a statewide […]
Posted inHealth Care
Critics say Holyoke Soldiers’ Home chronically underfunded
THE OUTCOME OF COVID-19 at the state-run Holyoke and Chelsea soldiers’ homes could not have been more different. The Holyoke home was the site of a massive outbreak in which 76 veterans died, and it became a national example of how not to handle a pandemic. Attorney General Maura Healey announced criminal charges Friday against the former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home superintendent […]