COLORADO — Colorado's community living centers for veterans will have fewer employees working to care for veterans in the coming months.
The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), which the facilities are under, says under its worst-case scenario 49 people could lose their jobs. The department says it will work to help those employees transfer to other jobs within the state.
The cuts come as CDHS said its four facilities are overstaffed compared to the private sector. The state has four Veterans Community Living Centers in Florence, Rifle, Aurora, and Homelake, which is near Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley. A fifth facility is operated in Walsenburg under a private-public partnership.
The cuts will take place across the state's four facilities.
CDHS said if it did not make these staffing cuts it would need to close a facility to remain financially viable in the short term. The cuts will positions across departments including those directly caring for patients like nurses.
In a letter sent to employees obtained by News5, it says the state's Veterans Community Living Centers must be funded 90% through payments, which would mean money coming from residents who pay privately and the Department of Veterans Affairs, meaning only ten percent of its funding comes from the state.
The state said transfers for employees whose jobs were cut could happen as early as Nov. 6.
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