Leaders dismissed at veterans’ home

Caregivers at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Hastings say a long-standing culture of workplace harassment, retaliation and bullying has led to an exodus of workers and hazards for both residents and staff. Current and former workers say unsafe conditions are ignored, medical decisions are made by unqualified people and staffing levels are dangerously low, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Pioneer Press.

The problems endanger some of Minnesota’s most vulnerable veterans who turn to these state-run homes, called domiciliaries, as a last hope. The Pioneer Press reviewed allegations from more than a dozen caregivers at the Hastings veterans home that described an ongoing pattern of ignoring safety concerns and consequences for those who spoke up.

Two top officials in the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs lost their jobs just before a Minnesota Senate committee held a hearing about allegations of the toxic workplace environment at the Hastings Veterans Home. The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs answered questions about the Hastings home after Doug Hughes, the department's deputy commissioner, and Mike Anderson, administrator of the Hastings facility — were relieved of their duties.

“I am aware of ongoing issues that have been raised at the Hastings Veterans Home,” Larry Herke, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, wrote in a staff-wide email sent in March. Herke said the home will move forward with new leadership.

Senate State and Local Government and Veterans

Grant program’s focus is opioids

As opioids continue to devastate people and families across Minnesota, a new set of state grants focuses on communities bearing the greatest burdens of the crisis.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is awarding $5.7 million to 12 grantees to expand services available to support people suffering from opioid use disorder and make it easier to get help. Organizations funded are around the state, and will serve an array of Minnesotans.

More and more Minnesotans are losing their lives to opioid use disorder. The number of opioid-involved deaths in Minnesota reached 924 in 2021, up from 343 in 2018. American Indians and Black Minnesotans are experiencing the opioid epidemic more severely. American Indians are seven times more likely to die from a drug overdose than white Minnesotans, while Black Minnesotans are twice as likely to die from a drug overdose.

“Minnesota cannot and will not accept this continued pain and heartbreak for families and communities,” said DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead. “With this funding, our partners can save lives now and in the years to come through a range of programs that are personcentered, trauma-informed and culturally responsive.”

The new grants will support culturally specific practices, including primary prevention and overdose prevention, workforce development and training, and expansion and enhancement of the continuum of care.

Gov. Tim Walz’s budget proposal to the 2023 Legislature includes a package of measures addressing the opioid epidemic. His recommendations, totaling $21.5 million over four years, include stronger representation of disproportionately impacted communities on the state Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council, ongoing funding for traditional healing and overdose prevention grants, and more education for opioid treatment professionals.

The current awards are the second set of grants recommended by the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council, after an earlier round totaling approximately $5 million in 2022.

“I’m proud of the work we have been focused on over the past three years.

Providing over $10 million to tackle many different objectives across the state is what we have worked for,” said Rep. Dave Baker (R-Willmar), the council’s chair. “Our needs are endless, but we must deploy resources and help support families facing this deadly crisis.”

In the coming months, the Opioid Epidemic Response Advisory Council will announce additional funding

Committee Chair Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul), said her panel first started hearing in January about waiting lists for veterans to get into homes during a field hearing at the Minneapolis facility. Then she said information started to trickle in about issues in Hastings. Numerous whistleblowers brought forward many problems. The veterans home in Hastings is not a nursing home. The 145-bed facility's domiciliary program provides an independent living environment for veterans from recommendations and begin soliciting proposals for new funding.

(Source: Minnesota DHS)

Training to understand disabilities

An interaction between an Olmsted County detention deputy and a detainee was not going well. But this wasn't a case of someone bucking authority in the jail. Instead, the inmate was autistic. The behaviors the detainee exhibited, which could easily be misunderstood as defiance, were actually just miscommunication.

Olmsted County Sheriff's Capt. Macey Tesmer has a disabled cousin and realized what was happening. “There's no way that she would be able to answer those questions, and then she would get frustrated and more nervous and more anxious and then less willing to communicate.”

Since 2019, Olmsted County has focused on training jail and law enforcement staff to be mindful of disabilities. Finding appropriate training materials and courses has not been easy.

“Our biggest challenge has been how do we take bits and pieces of what we can get, that's available to us, and apply that to what we do,” Tesmer said. Questions and issues such as strip searches must be handled carefully. A manual with pictures helps explains to detainees what is happening and why. Social workers and devices including fidget spinners and weighted blankest are also available.

“It's scary to go to jail for anybody, but then you add somebody who doesn't really understand what's happening, and that makes it even scarier,” Tesmer said.

“So we want to try and be able to get them through the process with as little interruption for them as possible.”

The program is working, according to Tesmer, with the team focusing on individual needs and what might help the process along.

The training has helped Olmsted County personnel help other law enforcement agencies, outside of jail.

(Source: Rochester Post Bulletin)

Parents sue over suicide

Parents of a former Rosemount High School graduate who died by suicide are taking legal action against the Florida university their daughter attended and her cross-country coach at the time. In a lawsuit, they say the coach bullied her about her weight and learning disabilities.

The case was filed by Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner in Florida state court in February and then moved to U.S. District Court in Florida in March. Julia Pernsteiner died in her Jacksonville University dorm room on Nov. 8, 2021 at age 23.

The lawsuit alleges that Pernsteiner's all military branches who need assistance with mental health, chemical dependency issues and financial or social well-being.

The complaints allege the home's environment took what naturally was a difficult time — the COVID-19 pandemic that brought lockdowns and mental health struggles — and made it significantly worse.

More than 20 of the facility's fewer than 100 employees have left in the past year and a half, one former supervisor said, pointing out the facility has been operating without a nurse practitioner since the previous one left.

“It was a matter of putting a lot of work on people that shouldn't be doing it, and transferring work to other people who shouldn't be doing it, and then throwing people under the bus when they did something wrong — when it wasn't something they should have been doing in the first place,” said Tori Pearce, an Air Force veteran who was director of nursing at the Hastings facility until she left in September 2021. “I want to feel these homes are ready for what special-needs veterans will need in the future.”

State veterans groups have expressed outrage that this work environment could have led to subpar care for some of the state's most vulnerable veterans. Trent Dilks, the legislative director for Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota who served two tours in Iraq, said the most pressing concerns at the Hastings home involved nonmedical administrators overruling medical professionals in caring for veterans.

(Source: Pioneer Press, Star Tribune) constitutional rights were violated under both Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Calls from the Pioneer Press to attorneys for the former coach Ronald E. Grigg Jr., 52, and Jacksonville University for comment on the lawsuit were not returned. Jacksonville University sent this statement: “The students, faculty, and staff of Jacksonville University continue to mourn Julia's tragic death and we sympathize with the Pernsteiner family for their loss. Per University policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.”

According to the civil complaint, Grigg, who coached the university's cross-country team from 1998 until his resignation in July, targeted Pernsteiner with “malicious, humiliating and demeaning” comments, text messages and emails.

“As a coach, defendant Grigg was oppressive, threatening, bullying, condescending and demeaning to many of the young women on the team,” said the complaint. “He created a toxic atmosphere of humiliation and intimidation by belittling, disparaging and ridiculing runners who did not meet his standards.”

Pernsteiner and other members of the cross-country team reached out to the JU athletic director, trainers and administrators to report Grigg's conduct, but no action was taken against the coach, according to the complaint.

In addition to failing to supervise Grigg, the lawsuit also states that JU failed to provide the necessary academic and athletic resources to Pernsteiner.

Pernsteiner used an Individualized Education Plan from a young age to help with her ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities, which JU allegedly agreed to comply with in addition to other disability and mental health resources. However, JU failed to provide accommodations, including a scribe, reader, professors' notes and assistive technology, the complaint said.

Grigg dismissed Pernsteiner from the cross-country team in September 2021 and after leaving the team, Pernsteiner sent an email to the JU athletic director seeking advice because she was concerned about staying in school without resources from the athletic department. But her pleas went unanswered and she struggled with depression.

In a statement through their attorney, Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner said, “For Julia, running was a big part of her life and being part of the team was the biggest, most important, thing to her … Julia used running as a key outlet to help her manager her disabilities.”

The Pernsteiners are seeking monetary damages and a judge's determination that JU discriminated against their daughter.

(Source: Pioneer Press)