A final piece in a jigsaw puzzle connects everything together, and that seems to be the case with changes coming to the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home.
After a tumultuous few years, including high death tolls in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home has stabilized — Sen. Jack Bailey (R-St. Mary’s, Calvert) said the facility went from a 1 rating, which he said was “terrible,” to a 3 in about a year — and reinforcements to help are on their way.
“I’m extremely pleased with the progress that has been moving forward,” he said, “and the freedom that each one of us share and experience every day as a direct result of the sacrifice that our veterans made for us.”
On May 8, St. Mary’s school board member Cathy Allen and former school board member Rita Weaver were recognized by Bailey and Maryland Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tony Woods for their efforts to forge partnerships with different entities to help assist the veterans home.
“I’m very pleased,” said Allen, who is also a retired care provider and a member of the College of Southern Maryland board of trustees. “Being able to be even a very small part of making sure that there will be skilled medical professionals who meet these people, know what it’s like to care for them and some of whom who may go on to practice in that setting for many years to come [makes me happy].”
“I think it really benefits everyone. It benefits the veterans. It benefits the students whether they’re doing the apprenticeship program or whether they’re volunteering,” Weaver said. “They gain relationships with these veterans and they get to hear their stories and they get on-the-job training.”
At Bailey’s request, Allen has helped resume clinical rotations for the veterans home from the College of Southern Maryland certified nursing assistants, certified medical assistants, practical nursing students and RN nursing students.
The Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs announced in March 2023 that the department would terminate its contract with Health Management Resources Maryland to run the facility. The decision came after the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home received a one-star quality rating and an abuse warning from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
A follow-up health inspection from the Maryland Department of Health Office of Healthcare Quality also confirmed that the center was not in quality compliance.
In late 2022, it was reported that the veterans home was only 63% occupied due to staff shortages, which included registered nurses, maintenance and food preparatory workers.
In the last six years there have been just two clinical rotation semesters, one each in 2021 and 2022, after they fell victim the last few to issues regarding staffing and quality of care.
“He asked if CSM could reestablish the program because Charlotte Hall was struggling to get nurses and other staff members through rotations,” Allen said. “All I did was ask the right questions, then followed up. It was more of a question of calling it to the attention of the appropriate people at CSM.”
According to CSM, since April the college has had placements for its medicine aide students, and this week clinicals began for 13 practical nursing students in pursuit of their licensed practical nurse certification.
They will be working alongside veterans home staff two days a week for six weeks to help prepare them for sitting for their LPN licensure, and the college is also discussing placements for first semester nursing students this fall as part of expanding the partnership that will benefit CSM’s nursing and workforce development students.
“We are so excited to build this partnership with Charlotte Hall Veterans Home,” CSM President Yolanda Wilson said in an email. “Not only have our health care students described this as an honor to be able to support Charlotte Hall’s veteran residents, but we also appreciate how this partnership can provide a pipeline to meet the healthcare shortage through our programs.”
Weaver has been instrumental in acquiring future culinary students from the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center to intern, and has spoken to St. Mary’s Ryken High School as well as The King’s Christian Academy about their students volunteering.
“I wanted to start out with something they were in need of, and that was food service,” said Weaver, who is the liaison with the St. Mary’s public school system and Charlotte Hall Veterans Home for their apprenticeship and volunteers.
Bailey has also worked with MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, CalvertHealth Medical Center, and the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center and will provide 20 scholarships per hospital to CSM students going into the medical field.
“We have so many talented people to get a good job and take care of our veterans,” he said.
Allen said she recently observed staff members from the Pruitt Health head office at the facility looking at various processes and making sure everything was running smoothly.
“I found that especially heartening to know that they didn’t just hire people and put them there and forgot about them,” she said.
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