NUECES COUNTY, Texas — Nueces County commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to support the concept of building a veterans nursing home, bringing the Coastal Bend one step closer to having a dedicated facility for veterans.
"They put us as a priority because we don't have access to a veteran's nursing home, within 2 hours of our location," J.J. De La Cerda, Nueces County Director of Veterans and Social Services and Veterans Services Officer, said.
According to the agenda, the need for accessible and affordable long-term care options for aging and disabled veterans continues to increase in South Texas.
"So we wanted to try to utilize the Robstown area commissioner because it's a hub for the other rural communities,” De La Cerda said. “You have Kleberg County, Jim Wells County, San Patricio County. I mean, we want to make it accessible for every single veteran out there."
The commissioners removed Robstown from the resolution because the land Nueces County offers to the Texas Veterans Land Board (TVLB) doesn't have to be in the county.
"The main thing we need to know is we need property first, so 20 to 30 acres, and we of course have to fill out the grant," said Dawn Buckingham, Texas Land Commissioner.
The Veterans Administration would cover 65 percent of the construction costs, and the TVLB would cover 35 percent. Nueces County would only have to donate the land.
"Most of our staff are veterans themselves. They consider it a calling more than just a job. We have special treatments for post-traumatic stress. We have all kinds of special therapies available," Commissioner Buckingham said. “And it's really a special place for our veterans to spend the last years of their life when they need that extra care.”
Krystina Ramirez, whose father served in the Army for 20 years, told me he wasn't getting the best care when he was in a nursing home because staff did not understand his military life.
"What we saw in the nursing home that we were at, they were just crowded into one room sitting in wheelchairs, and they look like they were depressed," Ramirez said.
Ramirez told KRIS 6 News that she would have to take off work to make sure her father was being taken care of properly.
“It would be nice to know that when we left them at night that his care was gonna be just as good as ours,” Ramirez said. “They were gonna treat him like their own parents, and at the time, what we experienced it wasn't like that.”
Ramirez said it would be amazing to have people who would know the difference between military and civilian life, especially for veterans who have given so much to their country.
"For them to be in a nursing home together and know that the person sitting next to them experienced stuff that they did, yeah, I mean. That's just like having a cafe of war heroes," Ramirez said.
Buckingham says it's a 3 to 5-year process even after the land is donated and the grant has been received from the federal government.
The deadline for the county to apply for this state and federally funded veterans-only nursing home is April 2026.
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