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| Soldiers` Needs Addressed |
May 05, 2007 |
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By Charles D. Brunt
Journal Staff Writer
A one-stop shop where soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and their families could find needed community services might be a first step in streamlining the difficult transition from battlefield to community, a diverse group of local leaders said Friday.
At the request of Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., more than three dozen leaders representing businesses, nonprofits, schools, the military, veterans and government gathered Friday morning to brainstorm ideas for better serving service members and their families.
"It`s very unusual to get people who are leaders in the business community together with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and with the head of the Veterans Affairs Department," Wilson said. "Today, I saw that interaction where these different worlds were coming together" to address an issue everyone supports.
Wilson, who announced the initiative April 5, said the vast community support for today`s servicemen and women does not always result in easy access to needed services.
Those services, participants concluded, range from employment needs and marriage counseling to university enrollment and mental health treatment.
Although there are numerous agencies that can address those needs, many of them function in isolation, Wilson said.
The key question she asked the group to answer was, "How will we welcome them home?"
After breaking into discussion groups, several common themes arose, including the one-stop shop concept, a need to inventory existing services and identify any gaps, and better communication among all of the agencies involved.
Though Friday`s meeting was a first for the group, Wilson said she was pleased with the progress.
"This is the kind of group that is very good at identifying problems, so that if there is a problem or a gap in the community, they have the ability to address that," she said. |
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