JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The chairman of the Missouri Veterans Commission has resigned after releasing an investigative report that criticized the commission for not reacting more quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can read the report by clicking here.
More than 140 COVID-19 deaths have been reported at the state’s seven veteran nursing homes. The head of the commission, Tim Noonan, told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Thursday he was resigning because of comments from Gov. Mike Parson this week.
A summary of the report on veterans’ deaths was released in December, but Noonan had resisted releasing the entire report until Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt directed him to do so.
Below is a press release from the MVC when the report was released…
JEFFERSON CITY – On the behalf of the commission of the Missouri Veterans Commission, chairman Timothy Noonan today released the full 415-page independent, external investigation report into the Missouri Veterans Commission’s response to COVID-19. The investigation, ordered by Governor Mike Parson and conducted by Armstrong Teasdale, examined the COVID-19 response in all seven Veterans Homes and by MVC headquarters.
“COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to every long-term care facility in the nation and the external investigation report provides a valuable, unvarnished, independent review of the Missouri Veterans Commission’s response to the pandemic,” chairman Noonan said. “Up and down the chain of command, we have a duty to the Veterans, their families and the frontline employees of the MVC who we serve to take responsibility, stand accountable and improve every day. That process is already underway both through the implementation of corrective actions and other improvements MVC staff had already initiated internally since the outbreak of the pandemic. MVC will conduct its own after action review to drive further improvement to make the services we provide the finest in the nation for Veterans.”
Noonan thanked the Veterans Homes’ hundreds of staffers and headquarters’ personnel for their many sacrifices and dedicated service over the last 10 months. He said MVC will continue to listen to the frontline caregivers who provide critical life-sustaining care to Veterans on a daily basis.
MVC has already implemented many of the recommendations in the report, including daily testing of Veterans and homes’ staff, expanded use of COVID-19 data analytics and launching an Essential Caregiver Program that enables Veterans to have direct contact in the homes with a designated family member to help ensure the Veteran’s health and wellbeing while COVID-19 restrictions are in place.
