Problems at the Lucinda Millin Home for the Aged were brought out Friday at a Youth and Human Services Committee hearing heard by Chairwoman Judy Gomez and one committee member, Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole.
Sedonie Halbert, Human Services commissioner, gave an overview and update on the department, noting that renovation of the Queen Louise Home on St. Croix, nearly destroyed in Hurricane Marilyn, should be completed in November.
The Lucinda Millin Home on St. Thomas is another story, she said. Halbert said, "Millin has blossomed into an assisted living and custodial care facility from a home for the elderly, for which it was first intended." She said the home thus requires different staffing and funding.
Edith Bryant Quetel, public information officer for the home's tenant council, said, "I am saddened and distraught. I sold my home six years ago with a vision and a dream of Lucinda Millin." But she said that living at the home is not what she dreamed of.
Problems at the home, she said, are "bounced like a ball between two agencies." The home is managed by the V.I. Housing Authority with support from Human Services, which handles meals, laundry, recreation and socialization.
Quetel held up a copy of Halbert's prepared speech, and said. "I wouldn't comment on this in public, but I will talk with the commissioner." Quetel said Halbert must be doing a good job as she had survived the rollover from the Schneider administration, but she said the home needs "accountability."
Gladys Venzen, secretary treasurer for the home's tenant council, criticized the food at the home, which is supplied by a private caterer.
"They don't take into consideration that some people are diabetic, or some don't have teeth," she said. She added that not only is nutrition and quality lacking in the meals, but "they don't taste good."
"I know," she said, "I'm a cook." She said the kitchen also lacked utensils and food.
Halbert said home residents are supposed to fill out a meal slip with a doctor's authorization for special meals. The speakers also brought up concerns about laundry facilities and transportatioin; Halbert said transportation fell under the auspices of the VIHA.
Cole asked Halbert, "Where's the line between the two agencies, DHS and VIHA?" He suggested a committee be formed to sort out the situation.
Halbert also referred to the plan for the reopening of the Lucinda Millin kitchen and the Whim Gardens home kitchen on St. Croix. The estimated annual cost would be $347,500, which DHS doesn't have, she said.
Halbert said her agency serves 1,100 seniors in varying programs, including 11 senior citizen centers. In addition, they serve the territory's five homes for the elderly. The annual cost of care for each senior is $38,000. Paying residents contribute less than half the cost for their care, so the local government bears the major cost.
The gallery, dotted with little more than a dozen older people, got Quetel's attention. "I'd expected to see the place full of seniors," she said.
