Spotlight on Our Facility Audiences: Veterans Home of California

Performer Jeffrey Halford at the Veterans Home in Yountville after a recent concert at Holderman Hospital. Photo by Marian Hubler

“Our veterans always look forward to the quality entertainment Bread & Roses Presents offers them. We always know the performers they schedule will be well received. Residents who have been professional musicians themselves really appreciate the musicianship of those performing. Thank you to Bread & Roses for providing this service to our veterans. We are looking forward to many more years ahead in our new skilled nursing facility.”

– Sabrina Raudales, Supervising Rehabilitation Therapist, Licensed Care

In honor of our 50th Anniversary, this spotlight on the Veterans Home of California in Yountville is the sixth in a monthly series highlighting our wide range of facility service. Bread & Roses Presents has provided live music to residents at the Veterans Home for close to two decades. Situated on over 600 acres in Napa, the state-run Veterans Home offers a wide range of services to veterans and their spouses. Established in 1884, it is the most comprehensive facility of its type located in the U.S. We are proud to bring healing live music to our veterans as well as to partner with the esteemed facility, which is ranked by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report as one of the state’s best skilled nursing facilities.

It has been our great honor to bring live music to those who have served our country and are now receiving care in three different locations in the large complex: Holderman Hospital in their skilled nursing facility, the Roosevelt Annex for those in memory care, and the Eisenhower Annex for those veterans in assisted living/intermediate care.

Through the years, we have brought many wonderful high-profile performers to the Holderman building, including internationally touring Americana singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeffrey Halford, renowned jazz vocalist Nicolas Bearde, the acclaimed pianist Mike Greensill, and extraordinary bass player Tony Saunders. For the past decade, we have also collaborated with an onsite committee of veterans to produce special annual concerts for Black History Month at the Holderman recreation area.

Our performers enjoy the opportunity to interact with different audiences at the large complex. Our audiences of veterans at the Roosevelt Annex include residents who are affected by dementia, memory loss, and other cognitive impairments.  Dedicated artists like Robert Sims and Syria Berry, Richard Wuerth and Gail Muldrow appreciate being able to share their music with these enthusiastic audiences and find it rewarding to play in such an intimate and interactive setting. 

This year, we began a new program for veterans in assisted living at the Eisenhower Annex, renewing our commitment to bring live music to residents at the extensive Veterans Home campus where ever we are needed. Under construction on the campus is a new 240-bed skilled nursing facility with a planned opening in 2025 where we hope to also bring concerts. 

Bread & Roses deeply values our partnership with the Veterans Home in Yountville. We look forward to continuing our partnership for many years to come and continuing to serve those who have so remarkably dedicated their lives to serving us. For more info, visit http://www.calvet.ca.giv/VetHomes/Pages/Yountville.aspx and www.breadandroses.org.