State Lawmaker Calls on Baker to Testify Over Deadly Holyoke Soldiers' Home Outbreak

A Massachusetts state lawmaker is calling for Gov. Charlie Baker and other officials to appear before a Senate oversight hearing to answer questions about the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home last year.

Sen. Diana DiZoglio, in a letter to Senate President Karen Spilka, said the hearing was necessary because an investigation into the outbreak commissioned by Baker failed to place blame on the governor himself.

Her remarks come after the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team published a scathing report on what it said was the Baker administration’s failure to address poor leadership at the home.

“Now is the time to get answers to some of the questions raised by the recent Boston Globe Spotlight series which exposed not only serious flaws in the management and oversight of the entirely state-funded Holyoke Soldiers Home, but also begged the question of how to legislatively prevent similar disasters from ever happening again,” DiZoglio wrote in the letter.

Among the questions DiZoglio wants answered is how Bennet Walsh, the former superintendent of the facility, was named to the role despite not having a background in health care.

Last month, in a sweeping report that directed blame at the Baker administration for failing to address poor leadership and leaving key positions unfilled, a special committee created to probe the tragedy punctuated its findings with a long list of recommended legislative actions.

Like the June 2020 report from former U.S. Attorney Mark Pearlstein, the committee's investigation found glaring deficiencies in former Holyoke Soldiers' Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh's decision-making leading up to the deadly outbreak and in his preparedness for the job.

Lawmakers wrote in their summary, provided to reporters on Monday ahead of a final vote to release the report on Tuesday, that Pearlstein's report "generated more questions than answers for the committee."

"Therefore, the findings presented to you focus on both the how and the why of this tragedy," the committee's chairs, Rep. Linda Dean Campbell of Methuen and Sen. Michael Rush of West Roxbury, said in a joint statement. "They highlight how governing structures in place at this time created a perfect storm for this COVID outbreak to become a tragedy."

The panel questioned why Walsh remained in his position for years, despite apparent awareness among Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders and former Veterans' Services Secretary Francisco Urena about issues during his tenure.

They concluded that a "breakdown in communication" between Walsh, Urena, Sudders and Gov. Charlie Baker "contributed substantially to the tragedy." The committee also found that the facility had already been in a precarious position before COVID-19 hit due to several broader problems.

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Among those were "serious problematic short- and long-term staffing issues," which lawmakers said contributed to the ill-fated decision to combine two dementia units early in the outbreak.

In their report, lawmakers listed 14 major findings and recommendations. Their suggestions include requiring the governor rather than boards of trustees to appoint soldiers' home superintendents, launching a hotline for staff and family to report concerns, and transforming the Holyoke facility into a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services facility like the Chelsea Soldiers' Home