HOLYOKE — State lawmakers are embarking on their investigation into the coronavirus outbreak at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, which led to the deaths of 76 veterans earlier this year.
A special joint oversight committee of the state Legislature is set to hold its first hearings on the outbreak on Oct. 20 at 11 a.m., when families are invited to testify at Holyoke Community College. The inquiry follows earlier probes by an independent investigator hired by the governor and the state’s attorney general. The latter investigation resulted in criminal charges being brought against two of the facility’s former leaders in September.
One of the legislative committee members is state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, who said in a phone interview Monday that he sees the committee’s work as different from other investigations, in that it will be very focused on what comes next for the Soldiers’ Home.
“What distinguishes us in the Legislature from all of the other ones is really our ability to do something about it with respect to budget, with respect to legislation,” he said.
Earlier this month, families were allowed to visit loved ones indoors for the first time since the outbreak began in March. At the time, visitors had been barred from the facility in preparation for a possible outbreak. However, the novel coronavirus nevertheless found its way into the facility, resulting in one of the country’s deadliest single outbreaks at a long-term care facility.
In June, former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein released a state-commissioned investigation into the outbreak that found that the home’s leadership made “substantial errors” that likely contributed to the death toll at the facility. Then, last month, Attorney General Maura Healey announced that a grand jury had indicted former superintendent Bennett Walsh and former medical director David Clinton on criminal neglect charges.
The state has made changes to the home’s leadership and protocols in the wake of the outbreak, including committing to a substantial capital project amid calls from advocates to build an improved facility on the site. The legislative hearings scheduled for this month will aid state lawmakers in deciding what other fixes should be made.
State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, another of the oversight committee members, said the committee should take a hard look at how to strengthen oversight of the Soldiers’ Home, from the state’s role to the responsibility the home’s trustees have.
Currently, Vega said, the Department of Veterans Services oversees the Holyoke home, but the Department of Public Health oversees the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea.
“There’s insurance reasons for that, but I don’t think that’s the way it should be,” he said. “What sort of oversight responsibility do the trustees have?”
Vega also said that lawmakers should dig into essential issues including staffing and underfunding at the home. But more than anything, he said, lawmakers have an important role in listening to public testimony.
“Given such a tragedy like this, people have a story to share and that’s part of the healing process,” Vega said. “I think that’s required us, as state representatives and state officials, to hear from people.”
The Oct. 20 hearing will take place in person, though Velis said the committee will follow best practices set forth by public health officials. When asked for specifics of the set-up at Holyoke Community College, he said some lawmakers are going to the college Wednesday to walk through and discuss what safety measures will be in place.
“That is absolutely paramount,” Velis said. “We’re conducting hearings about what happened at a facility that was absolutely ravaged by COVID-19.”
In addition to the Oct. 20 hearing, the committee will hold another in-person hearing on Oct. 27 to hear from staff members, Velis said. And for those unable or unwilling to attend those two in-person hearings, a virtual hearing will also take place on Oct. 22.
“We need to get this right,” Velis said, “for the veterans who lost their lives, their families, the staff.”
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.