New patio at Spokane Veterans Home lets residents enjoy outdoor space

The Spokane Veterans Home on Wednesday dedicated a new patio that offers residents space to gather outdoors, even as unseasonably cold and wet weather put a damper on a tailgate-themed party.

The facility is the smallest of the four homes run by the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. Gary Wright, an Army veteran and president of the home’s resident council, said the new outdoor space is “a big improvement” for the building that occupies a city block next to Interstate 90 in the Rockwood neighborhood.

“We have too much concrete and freeway around us, so we had to do something,” said Wright, 65, who has lived at the Veterans Home for nearly six years. “We had to change the look of this place.”

Dan Murray, the operations director for the state’s four veterans homes, credited the facility’s staff with taking the initiative to turn the area outside the home into a garden and patio with seating for the residents and visitors.

“Because our footprint is so small, there wasn’t a lot of outside space for the veterans,” Murray said. “This totally enhances the lives of the residents – and the staff.”

Staff wore football jerseys to complete the “tailgate” party theme, as local community members showed their support for the home’s 91 residents.

Veterans from three local VFW posts chatted and played cards with residents inside, while members of the local branch of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association grilled hamburgers made from beef donated by the Spokane and Lincoln County Cattlemen’s Associations. After lunch, a Ben & Jerry’s truck pulled up to the patio to serve ice cream for dessert.

Heidi Audette, communications and legislative director for the WDVA, said the entire project cost less than $35,000, partly thanks to discounts from companies that wanted to support the veterans. The work started about a year earlier, she said.

“They play a pivotal role in taking care of those veterans who can no longer take care of themselves,” Anderson said of the facility’s staff.

Wes Anderson, the VFW district commander, joked that Murray and Audette brought the rain across the Cascades with them when they came from Olympia for the event.

Russ Sanders, a Marine Corps veteran and member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, said the day was about “veterans helping veterans,” and showing support for the home’s residents.

“For them, I think it represents that we didn’t forget about them, they’re still supported, and that as a military family we’re still all together, even though we’re at different stages in our lives,” he said.

Bob Smith, a 76-year-old Air Force veteran who goes by “RV,” said he was originally going to live at the Walla Walla Veterans Home but decided to stay in Spokane when he arrived at the home about two months earlier.

“The staff, they’re just very, very conscious of what they do, and they make you feel like they want you here,” Smith said. “That’s very important, if it’s going to be the rest of your life. It means lot.”

Myerlene Spiess, a 77-year-old widow of an Air Force veteran who has lived at the Veterans Home for about two years, echoed that sentiment.

“I love it,” Spiess said. “I get along with everybody, and everyone is just so nice.”

As he flipped burgers under a tent outside, Rich Brown, commander of the local branch of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, said older veterans can “get lost in the fracas.”

“This is giving back to those guys that went before us, and it means a lot to support the veterans in the local area,” Brown said. “It’s a great facility, and we love supporting these guys.”