LaSalle County Veterans Assistance Commission Supt. Steven Kreitzer is among 16 veterans organization and agency leaders from across the state asking for new leadership at the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. A letter sent to Gov. Pritzker says they have no faith anymore in IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia and Chief of Staff Anthony Kolbeck.
The letter says non-alcohol sanitizer should not have been in the veterans home in LaSalle so late into the pandemic. And the signers say it took too long for IDVA to get involved and tackle the coronavirus outbreak that started at the end of October.
WCMY file photo of IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia in Ottawa for the Veterans Honor Guard
Thirty-six residents have died of the virus, according to the latest statement on it from IDVA. In the letter, there’s also concern about information possibly being limited during an outbreak at the veterans home in Quincy.
Most of the letter’s signers are the superintendents at veterans assistance commissions from around the state. One identifies himself as a Medal of Honor recipient and another as a representative of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.