Dear Governor Youngkin, Attorney General Miyares, and Members of the Virginia General Assembly,

I’m following up on my previous communications—now well over two months of weekly emails, legislative outreach, and direct testimony from both healthcare workers and families—because it appears that many of you may still be missing the point.

This is not just about one facility. But what happens at Harrisonburg Health and Rehabilitation Center matters immensely, because how the Commonwealth responds to it will set the tone for every other long-term care facility operating in Virginia.

So let me be very clear:

Anything less than revoking this facility’s license to operate is unacceptable.

We’re not talking about a minor lapse in compliance. We are talking about decades of systemic abuse, neglect, and federal Medicaid and Medicare fraud. We are talking about residents left in soiled briefs for days. About catheter infections resulting in sepsis. About fraudulent billing for care that was never provided. This facility has not earned the privilege to “work toward compliance.” They have had decades to do the right thing—and they chose not to.

Fines and enforcement actions may sound official, but they are not consequences—they are line items in a corporate budget. They don’t send a message of accountability; they send a message that abuse is manageable if the profit margins stay intact.

And yes, I’ve seen the emails and statements shifting blame to district boundaries and promising bipartisan efforts in the future. But none of those responses change the reality that no legislator—not one—has publicly called for this facility’s license to be revoked. That silence speaks volumes about where the priorities of this body lie. And it clearly isn’t with the constituents whose lives and livelihoods you were elected to protect.

For those still struggling to grasp the urgency: this is not theoretical for me. I work in these facilities. I see what happens when underpaid, short-staffed caregivers are left to navigate an impossible system built on cost-cutting and fraud. This is not about making noise. It’s about forcing a reckoning.

If Virginia’s leaders can’t revoke the license of a facility with this extensive a history of harm, then what exactly does it take? And what faith should any of us have in your willingness to protect the vulnerable, hold corporations accountable, or enforce basic standards of human decency?

I urge each of you—again—to read the proposed Virginia Long-Term Care Staffing Standards Act of 2025 (Dale’s Law). Understand what is being asked. Understand what is at stake. And please understand that Virginians are watching.