Louisiana State Veterans Homes

The Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs runs five veterans homes providing short and long term nursing care, with roughly 129 to 156 beds each. Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home, 3130 Arthur Ray Teague Parkway, Bossier City, (318) 741-2763, 156 beds. Louisiana Veterans Home, 4739 Highway 10, Jackson, (225) 634-5265, 129 beds. Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home, 1610 Evangeline Road, Jennings, (337) 824-2829, 156 beds. Northeast Louisiana Veterans Home, 6700 Highway 165, North Monroe, (318) 362-4206, 156 beds. Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home, 4080 W. Airline Highway, Reserve, (985) 479-4080, 156 beds. Each home staffs registered nurse coverage around the clock, a pharmacist and technician, a dietician, a social worker, memory care, recreational activities, and veteran assistance counselors on site. That last item is a real advantage: the person who helps with a VA claim works in the building. Admission needs 90 days of active duty with an honorable discharge, or less than 90 days where the discharge was for a service-connected disability. Louisiana residency is required unless the referral comes from a VA Medical Center, which is the route for a veteran who has moved for care. There is no rating requirement to be admitted. The cost provision is the one to act on. The department states there is no monthly fee for veterans with a service-connected disability rating between 70 and 100 percent. A veteran at 70 percent facing long-term care in Louisiana should treat that as the first thing to verify with the home, because it is the difference between a monthly bill and none, and because 70 percent is a much lower threshold than most states set for free state nursing care. Ask the home to confirm it in writing against the current admission agreement; the department publishes the rule as a single line and does not cite a statute or a rate schedule for it. Spouses of veterans and Gold Star parents are eligible to live in a home. The spouse does not need to be a veteran, so a couple need not be separated by an admission, and the inclusion of Gold Star parents is unusual. Apply with the admissions application on the department's homes page, or through a parish veterans service office, which is generally the faster path because the counselor knows which homes have beds. Louisiana runs no state veteran home loan program and no state veterans nursing home daily-charge statute of the kind some states carry; the fee waiver above is administered by the department.