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You might remember the stories KHQA's Melissa Shriver has been following about the uncertain future for smoking veterans at the Illinois Veterans Home.

Here's a breakdown of what happened  for this KHQA FactFinder report.

When we first checked into this back in November, no one, including the state, could tell us how the Smoke-free Illinois ban would affect smoking veterans.

Before the ban, veterans were allowed to smoke in designated rooms inside their residence buildings.

They were *not* allowed to smoke in their private and semi-private rooms...which is allowed in many nursing homes.

After the smoking ban went into effect January 1st, we discovered that, by law, veterans no longer have designated smoking rooms and cannot smoke in their private and semi-private rooms.

That means staff must wheel smoking veterans out to areas 15 feet away from facility entrances for their cigarettes, as required by law.  But that means veterans are sitting outside in freezing temperatures to smoke...and that has many people concerned.

Former Marine Don Prasun spent 27 years defending his nation's freedom. Now he feels his right to smoke in his home is being choked.

What do you think should be done?

Prasun said, "I don't think they should treat us veterans like this or treat anybody like this. People bring their dogs in in this type of weather. So they're saying I'm less than a dog."

What's it like to smoke in freezing temperatures?

Smoking Veteran Jack Binkley said, "It's not comfortable when you have to wear gloves and you catch them on fire. That's the hazard of smoking outside like this."

What has life been like after the smoking ban was put into effect?

Vietnam Veteran Eugene Zalazinski said, "It's depressing standing out here freezing your you-know-what off. It's a shame we had this right ripped out of us because we had it before. We hate the idea that we had this ripped away from us.//This is your home and you can't do this and you can't do that."

Eugene Zalazinski served in the Vietnam War. He says he worries for the health of many of his fellow smokers.

Do you worry for your comrades?

Zalazinski said, "Oh yeah, there's old-timers we have to wheel out. Nursing aides wheel them out and sit there until they're done smoking and then they have to wheel them back in. They have to dress them to take them outside and then when they go back in they have to undress them. It takes them away from what they are doing upstairs. We're usually short on aides, too."

Prasun got frost bite on this hand in Korea....now this bitter cold is causing even more problems for him..

Prasun said, "It's very miserable."

These men say the employees here are doing their best to help. We've heard reports of workers pushing laundry carts outside to block the wind while smokers are outside. And the veterans home is offering to help the smokers quit with nicotine patches and other treatments. But these veterans still believe the state's smoking ban is leaving them out in the cold.

These concerns also have reached the desk of state Senator John Sullivan. He told me he's writing a bill to address the problem. Here's what his legislation would do: Let vets smoke in their own semi-private and private rooms, the same as regular nursing homes, even after the smoking ban started.

Senator John Sullivan said, "We're trying to mirror what others can do in a nursing home. I've heard from a number of family members and employees and residents talking about veterans going out in the freezing cold so they can smoke. There are big concerns about their health about being outside about moving them. I think it's a serious issue and I think it needs to be addressed."

Senator Sullivan told me he hopes to introduce this legislation soon.

We did try to get some answers about this from the veterans home. But we were told that no one at the Quincy facility could answer any of our questions, and that we had to call the state department of veterans affairs.  All of those offices were closed today because of the federal holiday.

We'll start calling again on Tuesday and let you know what we find out.