R.I. Veterans Home: A Beautiful Facility….if only one could get in
The building at 480 Metacom Ave. in Bristol is a fitting tribute to those who sacrificed their all for their country. The causeway is impressive. At the end of the drive leading in are giant poles from which various flags representing the United States, the State of Rhode Island, veterans’ groups, etc. ripple in the breeze.
And there’s almost always a breeze in this location, for the Rhode Island’s Veterans Home is in close proximity to the ocean.
Upon entering the home, one is struck by the sheer openness of the foyer, leading to a sitting area whose focus is a giant stone fireplace with a mid-flight eagle sculpture perched atop. Adjoining this open area is The Galley where various dance and musical shows delight residents. At other times, this room hosts Bingo, animal petting where the bunnies are brought in, family celebrations of residents’ birthdays, etc.
Nearby, are the long, wide corridors, flanked by windows on each side, leading to the six “cottages” (wings) comprising 16 rooms each, with en suite bathrooms. These are appropriately named the military NATO phonetic alphabet, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot. Gleaming floors attest to the cleaners’ assiduous efforts. The air is fresh and clean with no institutional smell confounding many senior residential facilities.
Rhode Island Veterans’ Home is a state-of-the-art building, completed in 2017, comprising 208 beds.
Of all the units, Echo I and II and Foxtrot I and II are reserved for the cognitively-impaired, hence they are locked wards. My husband is in Echo I due to his being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Almost all of the residents on these units are in wheelchairs; most are incontinent; all need continual care.
The status quo? While Echo I and II are full, Foxtrot I and II (32 beds) house no residents. Scuttlebutt has it that during the time of Covid, these wings were totally occupied but since then, the only occupants are two life-sized, training dummies on which nursing staff practice. The corridors are silent and ghost-like; the rooms are eerily empty.
In addition, Alpha cottage is half-occupied, meaning there are 16 vacancies. Finally, there are ten rooms on the 2nd floor reserved for fully mobile, cognitively aware residents, but these are vacant as well, bringing the grand total, adding up two Foxtrot wings, half of Alpha and the 10 rooms on the 2nd floor, to somewhere around 58 of 208 beds vacant.
In other words, the Rhode Island Veterans Home operates at 3/4ths capacity while the wait time for any veteran to get in is over one year. (The list is over 100 applicants.) Said another way: The population and income is one quarter down, while expenses for operating are the same as if it were fully operational.
According to administration, shortage of staff is the problem.
And why is staffing such a problem? Many suggest it’s the pay. Currently, agencies and competing senior residential facilities offer much higher hourly rate than the Veterans Home’s current $20.00 per hour, for nursing care–a totally inadequate amount when realizing a Burger King employee gets $17.00 an hour for filling fast food orders. Many nursing care workers across state lines, in Massachusetts, are paid $30.00 per hour.
And, as one who was Caregiver to my husband diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for 13 of the 16 years he’s had this disease, I believe pay for nurses who work with the cognitively impaired should get even higher pay due to the nature of their work: residents require constant watchfulness; nurses and aides often need expend physical effort in the course of the day; they personally feed patients; they deal with incontinence in their residents.
Last January, 2025, after prompting from advocates, the Veterans Home hosted a Job Fair to expose potential employees to the benefits of working there (a beautiful facility, an engaging workforce who seem to enjoy their jobs, an upbeat environment offering outside activities coming in). It was reported that over 100 potential employees applied for jobs and approximately 25 were hired, after being vetted. Since the protocol for running such was already established, and because this event was a huge success, we advocates wondered why more Job Fairs weren’t held within the year.
Why the wait time is unacceptable…
My husband, Paul Wesley Gates, and I are fortunate. I placed him on a wait list at the home well in advance because I knew the day would come when I could no longer do caregiving by myself. I am extremely grateful for our being two of the fortunate ones who are part of the Veteran Home Families.
At present, veterans pay 80% of their monthly income as their maintenance fee. (The spouse’s income is not considered). In many cases, that amounts to $2000- $4,000 a month. If a veteran is on the wait list but needs immediate residence, he must go to a Memory Care facility charging $10,000-$14,000 a month —a huge difference.
Families rightly fear being wiped out, financially, due to this. They haven’t the luxury of time.
In conclusion, the Rhode Island Veterans Home is a jewel in the vast array of senior residential facilities for its beautiful environment, its engaging, professional staff, the multiplicity of activities it offers its resident.
But the current status quo begs the question “Why can’t the Veterans’ Home get (and keep) staff?” And what can be done to cure that vacancy problem, to afford veterans the benefits for which they qualify?
That current reality should concern taxpayers.
And that reality should definitely concern Veterans groups.
Update to My Column on RI Veterans Home
On March 12, 2026, my column ran in the Prime Time section of Warwick Beacon, Cranston Herald, Johnston Sun Rise and Coventry Reminder, bringing to light the unacceptable status at the RI Veterans Home, in Bristol, whereby two entire wings (32 beds), plus 25 more rooms, remain vacant, allegedly due to the inability of administration to hire suitable staff (CNA’s etc.) This alarming situation has continued for years.
My sympathies extended to families that could not get their loved ones housed there—despite so many vacancies, for if cognitively-challenged vets can’t go into the Vets Home, and need to be housed elsewhere, they face an impossibly high monthly maintenance fee of $12,000-$14,000.
New Announcements:
At the March 18 Family Council Meeting, Vets Home Administration announced that they will accept 20 new residents and supportive staff designated for those vacant Foxtrot cottages (wings).
On April 2, 2026, it’s reported in the Bristol Phoenix that Sen. Linda Ujifusa (Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) and Rep. Susan Donovan (Dist. 69, Portsmouth, Bristol) have introduced legislation to address staffing shortages at the Vets Home to ensure the facility can safely operate at or near full capacity.
Colleen Kelly Mellor writes the Prime Time monthly column “View from 80+” . She will soon become a volunteer Veteran Lobbyist. Reach her at colleenkellymellor@gmail.com. Her journalist work and her books are available at colleenkellymellor.com
