as new jerseyans salute those who've kept America safe many are wondering when the state will return the favor it's been months since a scathing justice department report uncovered failures at government run veterans homes the governor and lawmakers pledged to overhaul the system but families of veterans say reforms have been slow to take place and they want more immediate action senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports I find that there the veterans have been forgotten Kim clober is an Air Force nurse who recently retired after 25 years of service at a Veterans Day event in idel she talked about crucial healthc care reforms desperately needed by military vets especially those in hospitals and retirement homes somebody that can be the intermediary person to speak for you know especially if they are older veterans unable to you know verbalize their concerns and you know go out there and you know get them to the health care that they need what we found during the pandemic and I found other times as you know people didn't know who to call they weren't getting information families were calling and saying do you know what's going on in there Congressman Josh gim is sponsoring a bill that would place a federal advocate in every Veterans Home across the country after the coid crisis in state run homes in pamis and Meno Park yielded one of the highest death tolls for veterans facilities in the nation Advocates including the Department of Justice have demanded better communication this Advocate will be a direct line of contact and a voice for our veterans ensuring that every day they have access to someone who can immediately help them with any concerns I think it would have made a big difference because they would have been able to be the voice that those people didn't have we still have a long way to go to give us a platinum level care for the veterans that call Meno Park and pramis home VFW spokesman Jay boxwell says the Department of Justice investigation at the paramis and menow park homes found that they violated residents constitutional rights through September of 2022 it called for vast improvements in medical care and management and threatened a lawsuit lawmakers began drafting bills to reconfigure the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs it's kind of a two-step process where we're going to have uh a new Department only dealing with nursing homes and we're going to have an advocate making sure that uh that that commissioner is doing its job basically meanwhile negotiations continue between the Murphy Administration and the Department of Justice after Federal investigators discovered an ongoing risk of serious harm at two of New Jersey's three veterans homes a deadline for remediation established by the feds expired a couple weeks ago they see us taking significant action and are willing to allow us to the opportunity to move forward Senator Joe cryan chairs the military and Veterans Affairs committee he says conditions at the two homes have improved but that legislation to create a new cabinet level department for veterans is too complex to draft in time for the legislature's lame duck session there's a high degree of an expectation of a federal monitor uh as those negotiations conclude and we don't really don't want it to be part of Lane duck cryan says he expects draft legislation and hearings after the holidays in January or February this is you know how they make the sausage kind of thing but there's a lot of federal dollars involved and bicationic um is also one of the tricks of the uh getting this right there are currently focused groups and different uh uh groups of individuals that are working on specific parts of the realignment of theava everybody from the executive Brands the folks at theava to the legislative side boxwell says it's worth the time I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news