Veterans: VA access, jobs pose challenges

SARANAC LAKE  — U.S. military veterans say access to even basic healthcare is a struggle in rural upstate communities.

A group of about 25 men and women who served in all branches of the military met with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Willsboro) at St. Joseph’s in Saranac Lake and described how long trips to see specialists in Albany or Syracuse are exacerbated by shrinking Home Base Primary Care services.

“We’re starting to see the Veteran’s Administration retract from that (Home Base),” said Steve Bowman, who is director of the Clinton County Veterans Service Agency.

He described circumstances where home-bound veteran’s are cut off from local providers due to VA efforts to centralize services.

“The VA is leaving them to fend for themselves,” Bowman said.

“It’s immoral and unsafe.”

Many elder veterans do not have the ability or resources to travel to VA medical centers in Albany or Syracuse, he said.

Bowman attributed the lack of access in part to delayed and inadequate staffing levels at regional Veteran headquarters.

There are 97 veterans in this area that need specialist care, he told Stefanik.

That means 97 times eight or ten hours or more for travel.

“Why can’t these (specialists) go out to the veterans instead of parking their butts in Albany?” Bowman said.

“The (VA’s) central office is the nemesis of VA healthcare.”

Bowman said the federal budget is using outdated numbers to determine funding.

Funding levels for 2017 were set using 2015 numbers, which the veteran and Clinton County leader says are not accurate.

“There are 100 new patients in Clinton County alone. Funding cannot and has not kept up with the needs of veterans.

“They’ve got to be more flexible in managing these programs,” Bowman told Stefanik.

The congresswoman said she knows that working through the bureaucracy causes delays.

“I think we can come up with a streamlined process,” Stefanik said, explaining how her office in Plattsburgh and their mobile office works to open individual cases and helps solve problems with federal institutions.

Improving care at home is one good response, she said, explaining that the House has passed a new bill, “Support Our Military Caregivers,” which assists those who provide daily care for disabled and homebound veterans.

The roundtable discussion with Stefanik last week was held at the Col. C. David Merkel, MD Veteran’s Program dining room.

The veteran’s addiction treatment center founded two years ago is part of the St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Center campus in Saranac Lake.

While access to medical care rose to the top as a primary concern, it wasn’t the only concern veterans raised.

Employment is another problem: specifically transferring valuable skills learned through military training to small business operations in the North Country.

Stefanik said she’s sponsored and supported several new pieces of legislation, one that has incentivized the U.S. Border Patrol to hire more vets, the Border Jobs for Veterans Act of 2015.

It became law about 10 months ago, signed by President Barack Obama last October.

Additionally, Stefanik said, veterans do not have to reapply for a civilian Commercial Driver’s License if they obtained one in the military.

Breaking through similar military-civilian regulatory barriers is a top goal, the congresswoman said.

As the hour-long discussion batted ideas back and forth, a major success story emerged of  work being accomplished at St. Joe’s Veterans Center.

Bob Ross, the center’s executive director, said they have been lobbying with state officials to encourage Tricare, the military’s health insurance, to expand coverage for some services.

The Veterans Program here is working.

A former resident, Tony Chandler, retired U.S. Army, completed his military service in 2009.

During the roundtable discussion, he explained how he had been in and out of several programs.

But coming to Saranac Lake was a lot different, he said.

“It felt like ... more of a home type of setting instead of a clinical setting. I spent a year here and I’ve been working here,” Chandler said.

Opportunity came in the form of access to college courses at both North Country Community College and Paul Smith’s College, the veteran said.

It also came in the form of job training.

“This program definitely saved my life. For me, it felt like living back in the barracks. I couldn’t say enough about this program.”

Asked after the discussion if St. Joe’s could prove a model for replication to support veterans in other areas of the country, the congresswoman said St. Joe’s is helping define best-practices.

The site in Saranac Lake and it’s community are a large part of what makes St. Joe’s treatment for veteran’s unique, Stefanik said.

“And that’s unique to this area.

“Success at St. Joe’s comes from innovation,” she added.

For Ross, leadership in New York State at the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) has included the kind of flexibility missing at the federal level.

“It would be great if this program could be brought to Washington,” Ross said.

“I get my best ideas from these types of roundtable discussions,” Stefanik said, encouraging any veteran with problems related to medical care, employment, education or even discharge designation should contact her office.

RESOURCES FOR VETERANS:

Elise Stefanik,  21st District Office in Plattsburgh:  518-561-2324, Renee McFarlin, regional director.

Clinton County Veterans Service Agency, Steven W. Bowman, Director

Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

Clinton County Government Center

137 Margaret Street, Suite 106

Plattsburgh, NY 12901

 Phone: (518) 565-4720

Essex County Veteran’s Office, Tim Pierce, manager

7551 Court St

Elizabethtown

Phone: (518) 873-3488

New York State Division of Veteran’s Affairs

veterans.ny.gov/

Veterans’ Choice Program, healthcare options for vets living more than 40 miles from a Veteran’s Center, online: va.gov/opa/choiceact/

or call: 1-866-606-8198

Veterans’ Crisis Line:

1-800-273-8255 (Press 1)