SUMMARY/MINUTES
Special Veterans Affairs Committee Meeting
18 November 2003
INTRODUCTION: The LVMAC Veteran
Affairs Committee met with county, state, and federal veterans’ service
officials and veteran service organizations on 18 November 2003, from 10:00 AM
to 4:30 PM to discuss the veteran benefit services situation in the Lehigh
Valley. Based on anecdotal information
there seemed to be a problem. Consequently,
a meeting was suggested. The following
is Summary/Minutes of a meeting that was far-ranging in its scope.
ATTENDEES: See attachment.
DISCUSSION:
1. It was generally
agreed that improvement in veterans benefits services was required both in
manpower and coordination of the existing assets.
2. When one talks to a
valley veteran, the key topics are disability compensation (and pensions) and
medical care: discontent with claims processing and access to the health care
system.
3. To provide quality
service, [t]he[re] must be a veterans service officers (VSO), carefully
selected and properly trained: VA accredited and regularly updated. VA accreditation means the individual is a
member of a VA recognized organization and has completed a VA
approved/recognized course of instruction (such as the one the state DMVA provides
to county officers on an annual basis at Indiantown Gap). This has been a continuing problem in many
counties. The guiding regulation for this is 38CFR14.629.
4. The VA provides one
counselor once a week to the valley. The
state, while it requires county veteran officers, does not require them to be
VA accredited. County director job
requirements do not require VA accreditation. Currently, the counties have been undergoing
staffing problems. Department of Labor
and Industry veterans representatives (both at CareerLink and in the Governor's
Outreach and Assistance Center (GVOAC)) are not required to be
VA-accredited. In fact, GVOAC employees
are contracted; they are not state employees.
Veterans’ service organization post service officers are not required to
be VA-accredited either, and their levels of qualification vary. Only at the national/state level are service
organizations providing VA-accredited personnel. Also, these veterans organizations are having
staffing problems of their own.
5. The state itself
has no DMVA Veterans Affairs 'Bureau' presence in the counties. It only provides “AGO” veterans service
officers for the counties and homes at the VA claims processing centers. The county officers are intended to be part
of its system of service. Towards this
end, it trains county veterans officers (at the discretion of the
counties). Actually, its major focus is
upon operating its veteran's homes and the Scotland School.
6. Many veterans do
not understand that the Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) provides veterans
service representatives (veterans benefit counselors, veterans claims officers,
veterans claims examiners) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) does
not. For them, the Allentown Outpatient
Clinic is the VA presence in the valley, a presence made all the more important
by the problem suggested in the preceding paragraphs: marginal county services
beyond burial benefit services and veteran observances. The county directors do not have the staff to
dedicate exclusively to claims processing, the major problem.
7. The valley has a
tradition of providing volunteer veteran benefit services in a room at the
clinic. Formerly, there were five
volunteers. By luck, most were
accredited. But this arrangement has
also had its fair share of problems. One
from the American Legion died this year and has not been replaced. Two others left over a bitter dispute
concerning qualifications and competence which jeopardized the arrangement at
the clinic altogether. Currently, only two volunteers remain, both provided by
the American Ex-POW, Inc. They are about
80 years of age and have had severe health problems. Attempts to re-staff have been marginally
successful: the national service officer
in Philadelphia for the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) has agreed to
service the clinic twice a month.
8. The arrangement
poses another problem: how to ensure continuity of effort when a veteran needs
attention. The current “confederacy”
does not really address this problem. No
one is in charge. No real coordination
occurs. No file management system exists
at the clinic to assist in follow-ups.
Since the clinic is governed by 38CFR14.635, the clinic administration
will not allow the keeping of files at the clinic by volunteers and the VA and
MOPH representatives, who would qualify, do not.
9. The clinic
administration is willing to provide the space for service representatives, but
is also concerned that if service is improved, the clinic will become overcrowded. A call-in, appointment arrangement was
discussed in this regard. However,
walk-in traffic will continue to occur.
A discussion occurred about using the space and additional volunteers to
redirect veterans to those who could serve them best, e.g., the
county veterans’ office. This concept
was called "Ambassadors". [It pans the problem. A subsequent practice attempt on Mondays has
not proved successful: the veterans wanted on-site service, not referral.]
10. Establishing a
Veterans Center for services other than medical was discussed. Its location within a city seems to be a
negative for many veterans though not out of the question. The vicinity of the clinic seemed a good
location for reasons of administration and transportation access, and it is a
well-known location to veterans.
Co-location of Veteran Employment Representatives was suggested to
support the concept of one-stop shopping, like the Philadephia
Multi-Purpose Center(?).
11. Few people seem to
know about the CareerLink-stationed veterans employment representatives. While funded through the federal Department
of Labor via the Wagner-Peyser Employment Act, they are an important component
of veterans benefits: vocational rehabilitation and training.
12. The local regional
Governor's Outreach and Veterans Assistance Center personnel and funding could
be better employed to assist those in this valley. It has no solid presence. Also funded through the Wagner-Peyser
Employment Act, a lot of the local regional organization’s time and money seems
to be used for traveling. It does not
appear to coordinate its efforts with County Directors, nor really seem to be a
vital component of vocational rehabilitation [little tie-in with the veterans
employment representatives]. It is a
program that could be more effectively integrated with the efforts of
others. It needs a management
review.
13. The Red Cross no
longer provides VSO services.
14. The VFW offered to
provide a national service officer twice a month to the clinic. The State Bureau offered a VSO, once hired
for the Wilkes-Barre office and qualified, on perhaps a weekly basis. The Carbon County veterans director stated he
would be willing to also provide assistance at the clinic on a temporary
basis. The Veterans Employment
Representatives offered their services as "Ambassadors" during the
normal course of their liaison with the clinic, if a set space were
provided. No offer of assistance was
made by the American Legion, AMVETS, or GVOAC.
15. A discussion on
how LVMAC could help the counties occurred.
What a county veterans office is supposed to do seems to a subject not
clear to all. A statistical assessment
of the situation to justify a greater commitment of governmental resources
towards veterans services was suggested.
The idea of a cost-benefit study was bandied about. Unfortunately, the counties do not keep
meaningful data for this, other than for burial information; and provided no
ideas on what information would be most useful.
Supposedly, the county executives see their veterans’ offices as a
source of outflow of funds (burial benefits), bringing nothing into the
community. [This is a strange argument for a government to make, since one of
the primary purposes of government is service to its citizens. Also, most of the veterans programs originate
with the federal government.]
Consequently, county veterans programs do compete with others for funds
perhaps at a disadvantage. The VA
representative had nothing to contribute to this topic, but the state
representative suggested reviewing his Dave Heiland's briefing presented to the
Pennsylvania State Association of County Directors of Veterans Affairs. A sample of that briefing was shown.
16. Methods for getting the word out on services
available were discussed fragmentarily: Internet, newspapers, information
posters, and handbooks. A cheat sheet
for Ambassadors, a pocket card, and a handbook were suggested.
17. The need for follow-up meetings to improve
coordination and to disseminate information seemed a good idea.
/s/
Richard J. Hudzinski
Veterans Affairs Committee
Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council
20 December 2003
Attachments
1 - List of Attendees
LIST OF ATTENDEES
Date: 18 November
Location: American Red Cross Building, Lehigh Valley Industrial Park
Purpose: Special Meeting, Veterans Affairs Committee, LVMAC
Type of Meeting: Open Discussion
William T. Harris, President, LVMAC
Nathan Kline, VP, LVMAC
Herb Farnsler, Treasurer, LVMAC
Charles Kowalchuk, VeteransAffairs Committee (VAC), LVMAC; MOPH
Stanley R. Staples, VAC, LVMAC
Mary Ann Lewellyn, Chairman, VAC, LVMAC; former Lehigh County Veterans Director
Richard J. Hudzinski, VAC, LVMAC
Richard Kram, VAC, LVMAC
Nancy Jordan, Chief of Public Contact, VA Regional Office and Insurance
Center, Philadelphia
Jeffrey Vollum, Administrative Officer, Allentown Outpatient Clinic
Jim Davison, Deputy Director for Veterans Affairs, DMVA-VA,
Pennsylvania
Joseph Prusak, Veterans Employment Representative, CareerLink Team Pennsylvania
Leo Oropeza, ditto
Mario Lopez, ditto
Samuel Jones, ditto
Ron Pennypacker, Director, Governor's Veterans Outreach and Assistance
Center (GVOAC)
Ray Greene, Director, Veterans Affairs, Northampton County
Earl B. Stafford, Director, Veterans Affairs, Lehigh County
Charles J. McHugh, Director of Veterans Affairs, Carbon County
Robert Shalala, Cdr, Dept. of Pennsylvania, American Legion
Frederick Smith, PA Dept. Service Officer, American Legion
John J. Novak, 14th District Cdr, The American Legion
Kenneth Cahill, Executive Dir, AMVETS, Dept of PA
Joseph Hart, PA Dept. Service Officer, VFW
Franklin L. Homme, Cdr, Chapter 7, DAV
Cordelia Miller, Director, Emergency Services, American Red Cross of
the Greater Lehigh Valley
Carol Lewis, Emergency Services, Red Cross
Mary T. Ensslin, Special Assistant. , U.S. Senator Rick Santorum