Understanding, serving veterans’ needs

The long waiting lists at some of the nation's Veterans Affairs hospitals and the deaths of some veterans on those waiting lists have been making headlines across the country recently. It has many people asking, 'How could this happen?”

While there is no simple answer, I believe the problem was caused in part because even before the invasion into Iraq and Afghanistan, the VA Health Care System's resources already were stretched serving World War II, Korean War, Cold War and Vietnam veterans.

The problem was made worse by a culture that often rewards those who produce desired statistics and overlook the fact the each veteran seeking help needs to be heard and understood. That takes time, not statistics.

Fortunately the VA Health Care System in Eastern Iowa does not have long waiting lists - a remarkable fact, considering the number of veterans living in Eastern Iowa. This extends to the county level where we are fortunate to be part of a culture that takes the time to see and understand each veteran when they call or walk into a county VA office.

All of Iowa's 99 counties have county veteran service offices that assist veterans. As the VA director for Linn County, I interact with many of the county service officers across the state and can say with confidence that Iowa's county service officers take pride in their work and have a passion for serving veterans, listening to their concerns and helping them in any way we can. Like me, many of the service officers are veterans themselves.

Sure we document statistics and report them to our Board of Supervisors and Veteran Affairs Commissioners. For example, the latest census data from May 2014 shows 18,431 veterans live in Linn County. Between May 2013 and May 2014, I served 908 Linn County veterans.

I serve veterans in my office and I also conduct outreach to rural and homebound veterans in Linn County. Last year, my outreach services totaled 868 miles. The Iowa City VA hospital and the Cedar Rapids VA Community Based Clinic served 4,822 Linn County veterans and provided $35 million in medical benefits. In addition, 622 Linn County veterans received medical care approved by the VA at local hospitals.

We keep statistics such as these so we know how many veterans we are serving and to let the general public know we are serving our veterans and their families. But statistics don't drive our goals, objectives and service; our mission statement does. The Linn County Veteran Affairs mission statement is: Serve each veteran. Remember their service. Understand their needs.

As a county VA office, our first objective is to ensure that all veterans receive their entitled medical, compensation and pension benefits. Secondly, we work to ensure all eligible veterans in need receive rent and food assistance. And thirdly, we help veterans transition back to civilian life and the workforce through referrals to education, VA vocational rehabilitation training and employment agencies. Each VA county service officer in Iowa understands our most important mission is to help veterans access the high-quality health care and benefits veterans have earned and deserve.

Linn County VA gives all veterans personal service, whether they come into our office for something as simple as getting a Freedom Festival button, or if they're seeking help from our food pantry, or struggling with homelessness or thoughts of suicide. We are here to serve our veterans, and that is exactly what we do.

Our local VA health care and benefits programs have avoided the problems seen in other states because the Iowa City VA hospital and Cedar Rapids Community Based Outpatient Clinic takes the time to serve each veteran.

' Don Tyne is director of Linn County Veteran Affairs. Contact: don.tyne@linncounty.org