Report

Meeting at St Cloud HCS Auditorium

Call to order – 9:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance

Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests

Announcements -Jerry Kyser, Chair, Mike Rivard, Vice Chair.

1. Federal Congressional Representatives

Not present:

Senator Amy Klobuchar – Kurt Johnson

Senator Tina Smith – Alex Schueller

1st District Representative – Tim Walz – Shawn Schoesser

2nd District Representative – Jason Lewis – Tom Chida Reporting

3rd District Representative – Erik Paulsen – Margret Cavanaugh

4th District Representative – Betty McCollum – Connie Haddeland

5th District Representative – Keith Ellison – Mike Siebenaler

6th District Representative – Tom Emmer – Alejandra Henriquez Reporting

*The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act was passed.

*The House passed HF 5895, which included fiscal year 2019. It increases the general operating expense funding to address the VA case backlog. It includes nearly $4 million in funding for infrastructure.

7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Meg Louwagie Reporting

*Peterson was the first MN congressional member to be part of the 50th anniversary congressional commemorative lapel pin program. He went to several VFWs on Memorial Day to present these pins to veterans.

8th District Representative – Rick Nolan – Rick Olseen Reporting

*On July 17th, the MN National Guard is taking congressional staffers to a tour of the home and field, and then spend the night at Camp Ripley.

*We are still dealing with a number of Veterans Choice issues and issues with ambulance rides for veterans, where the bills for the ambulance should be picked up by the VA and are not.

YMCA Twin Cities (Minneapolis) – Amanda Hooper

*Not present.

County Veteran Service Officers – Robbie Robinson

*Not present.

2. Federal Agencies

VISN 23 – Director Janet Murphy – Andre Kok

*Not present.

VA Regional Office – Kim Graves – Ron Woolery

*Not present.

VAHCS Minneapolis – Director Patrick J. Kelly – Ralph Heussner Reporting

*Beginning on July 1st, we placed an ad on three of the eighteen light rail train cars going between St. Paul and Minneapolis to get the word out for veterans to get enrolled. Our enrollment numbers have dropped for the first time in over a decade and are projected to continue to drop unless we find eligible, unenrolled veterans. The data we gathered showed that Ramsey County has the highest number of eligible, unenrolled veterans. We spent $21,000 for three months of advertisement. This is a way for us to gain positive visibility.

*VA nursing homes have been in the news the past couple of weeks nationally. The VA issued a rating system on VA nursing homes and the press jumped on it, noting that when you compare VA nursing homes with the private sector, they do not fare as well. The VA’s response is this: VA nursing homes aren’t really nursing homes, they are transitional care. Nursing homes are forever care. Another issue is that private homes can refuse patients, where VA nursing homes cannot. Minneapolis scored 4 out of 5 stars.

*Last week, the VA announced suicide figures by state by 2015. In MN, there were 71 veteran suicides in 2015. By comparison, there were 91 in 2014. More information is available on (va.gov)

*The NIH and another Department have given the VA a $6 million grant to study mindfulness for the treatment of chronic pain. Mindfulness is a medication technique and has been shown to be effective in the treatment of PTSD. Minneapolis and several other VA facilities are going to be studying its usefulness for threating chronic pain. It will be a long-term study, covering six years and 750 patients nationwide.

*Every CBOC community clinic has to hold a community meeting. The next is in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin on July 12th. In August there will be a meeting in St. James, MN. In September, we will be in Duluth.

*The Mental Health Summit will be held at St. Thomas University on August 20th. (More information here: www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-annual-va-and-community-mental-health-summit-tickets-47930994896)

Q. Concerning the suicide communication, what can we do to pass information on to our members and other veterans at VWF posts?
A. The VA has allocated significantly more funds for outreach. Our suicide prevention team added three staff since January. I will take your name and phone number, and they do a great deal of outreach. This is their primary focus, in addition to education. They are willing to come to local posts to answer questions.

Q. Is Director Kelly back?
A. Director Kelly is still the Acting-VISN director. I believe he is halfway through his 90 day detail. The director indicated that he is looking forward to returning and we fully expect him to be back.

Q. The VA is exploring Mindfulness. Are they looking into scuba therapy?
A. Not that I am aware of, though I will look into it

St. Cloud VA HCS – Director Stephen D. Black Reporting

*Introducing the following staff members: Cheryl Thieschafer, Associate Director, Jeff Smith, Administrative Officer to the Associate Director, Dave Hintgen, Chief, Health Administrative Services, Dr. Scott Bartley, Chief of Staff, Dr. Christopher Churchill, Extended Care and Rehab Service Line Director, Luke Steinback, Surgery and Specialty Care Admin Officer, Tyler Bieniek, Administrative Officer for the Director, Barry Venable, Public Affairs Officer, and Heather Helmin, Secretary.

*We received the measures for rating our nursing homes as well. Our facility came in with three out of five stars. One reason was it takes the prior yearly surveys into account. Two years ago, we had a survey that did not go as well as we had hoped, and those surveys are logged and kept on record for three years. Each year, the prior survey has less and less impact. Last year’s survey was exceptional.

*We do a survey for families of deceased veterans who received end of life care and according to that, we did better than all other facilities in VISN 23. VISN 23 is one of the highest rated in the nation.

*We have continued to be a five star facility for five years running. We have had challenges with our phone systems, making sure we are answering phones in a timely manner, and several other quality measures, but are confident we will score well. Additionally, we continue to be one of the leaders on market penetration. Veterans who are eligible for services in our area largely opt to receive those services. Our overall growth for the year is 0.3%.

*Services in Brainerd have been expanded, with an additional 3900 square feet of space. Optometry and audiology services have been added, as well as ultrasound imaging.

*Suicide prevention continues to be our number one clinical priority. Our #bethere campaign has been highly successful this year. At St. Cloud, we handed out 6,000 gunlocks last year in MN. This year, we set a goal to double the gunlocks. By the end of the year, we anticipate that we will have handed out over18,000 gunlocks. The goal is not gun control, but rather gun safety. Now we are looking forward to our efforts for next year.

*We are also working to focus on access to care. A goal was put out in June across the VA to ensure that by the end of fiscal year 2020, that every clinician in the entire VA would be able to do Video Connect. At St. Cloud, we made it our goal to reach that at the end of this calendar year. We are on pace for that. Though we are not pushing this form of care, we want it to be available to veterans who want or would benefit from it.

Ft. Snelling Cemetery – Jerry Kyser Reporting

*We have performed over 76,000 rifle salutes.

3. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations

MN Department of Veteran Affairs – Ben Johnson Reporting

*July is Minnesota’s Hire A Veteran Month. In support of that, there is a Veterans Career Fair going on at the Earl Brown Heritage Center on July 18th from 2:00 to 6:00 PM.

*Military Appreciation Day will be on August 28th at the State Fair. We will be focused on women veterans. We will have a booth in the Education building, connecting veterans and their families with various services and benefits.

*Concerning the funding for new state veterans homes: three new homes received funding from Minnesota and the legislature. They will be Preston, Bemidji, and Montevideo. They will be up to 75 beds, with skilled nursing and long-term care. This is permanent housing for veterans and gold star family members. There was a community meeting on this issue here several weeks ago, which included a conversation on the timeline and expectations of the project. The goal is to get applications submitted to the federal veterans home grant program by April 1, 2019. These communities have locations identified and we have started the process of making sure the sites are controlled by the state of MN and are amenable to the construction of a state veterans home. The funding split is 65/35: the state will provide 35% of the funding and the federal government will provide 65%. We hope to have the sites approved by October of 2019 and have them open by May of 2021. This assumes the communities would be able to come up with the money they have told their legislators they have. It also assumes the federal VA is able to process the three applications and give the 65% of construction costs. The process is in place.

*There is a meeting in Minneapolis on July 11th concerning the Truss Bridge. We are getting an update on admin about getting the contractors held responsible for fixing what was not fixed or repairing what was incorrectly fixed. More information will be forthcoming. This has been an issue for at least four years and we hope to get some clarity, in order to resolve the issue soon.

*We have a pavement rehab project at the Little Falls Veterans Cemetery.

*Construction progress in Duluth is on target for the new cemetery. It is on track to be open for burials on Veteran’s Day. The final new state veterans cemetery will then begin construction in southwest MN after that. This is contingent on funding from the federal veterans cemetery program.

*We are continuing our annual process of developing legislative initiatives and our agency’s budget so we will be ready for however the new administration looks like after the upcoming elections.

*Portions of Building 6 are in use, but there is still space not being utilized. We need the support of the legislature to move forward.

Q. I would like to make an observation. It seems like the veterans legislation got dumped into omnibus bills and when they are vetoed we veterans are out of luck. It seems like we would have better luck putting forward individual bills. Does that make sense?
A. Yes. The single-bill issues concerning veterans were almost unanimously supported. Omnibus bills are effective for forcing political groups to vote for or against a large number of items.

Q. Is it better to get the bills in early for the legislative session so some of the stand-alone bills will get through?
A. Yes. What it takes is the leadership determining how they will move forward with each piece of legislation.

Military Action Group (MAG) – Jerry Kyser Reporting

*The Secretary of State visited the last MAG meeting to describe the steps for military absentee voting in the November general election: 1) Go to the Secretary of State website and print off the ballet. 2) Mail the ballet in to the address, so that the ballet will arrive by November election date. If it’s late it won’t be counted.

*The next MAG meeting will be August 20th at 10 AM in room 400, State Office Building.

MN Military Affairs – Major General Jon Jensen, Annette Kyper

*Not present.

MN Assistance Council For Veterans (MACV) – Shane Rubel reporting

*One of our main focuses this year is expanding our existing inventory of transitional housing so we can better serve veterans experiencing homelessness. Another focus is improving the quality of our existing housing. Currently we have nine houses in Minneapolis, two in Maplewood, one in Ramsey County, one in Duluth, and one in Mankato. In total, we have 77 units of transitional housing.

*We are asking those in the community who have the skillset or donation power to step up and help MACV. We will be pushing this.

*We are focusing on women veterans who are homeless. Currently we have 16 women veterans on the homeless registry. MACV has a team that is reviewing the individual cases to properly address the challenges that male veterans do not have. We are also in the process of building a transitional home for female veterans in Maplewood. There will be five beds.

*Throughout Minnesota, we have 202 veterans on the homeless registry. 112 of them are in Hennepin County. Ramsey County has 42.

*MACV is in support of the Veterans Career Fair and will be in attendance.

*Our Metro Stand Down will be on August 14th at the Target Center in Minneapolis. This is a new location. It is in proximity to three shelters via light rail. We want to improve access to veterans and felt this was the way to do it.

*More events are listed on our website (www.mac-v.org).

Q. How are you improving on getting the word out about the Stand Downs?
A. It sounds like in years past, you’ve had a connection with the VA in Rochester?

Q. We need to do a better job. Most of the veterans I am helping do not have email.
A. Understood.

Q. Building 47?
A. Building 47 is full right now. We have been at high capacity for a while now.

Q. What is the time period for a veteran leaving one of the temporary housing situations and entering into a home?
A. Our goal is 90 days. It’s dependent upon the veteran’s situation when they enter the program.

Q. What is the duration at the community buildings?
A. In our transitional homes, a veteran can stay up to two years.

Historic Fort Snelling – Tom Pfannenstiel

*Not present.

Paralyzed Veterans of America – Tim Valentine Reporting

*We are ramping up for the 38th National Wheelchair Games, scheduled from July 29th to August 4th in Orlando, FL.

TPT – Randal Dietrich Reporting

*TPT hosted the wall on the state capital grounds June 21st through the 24th. Thousands of veterans attended. There was a tremendous amount of programing and events, including a flyover.

*We held a wrap-up called Epilog at the Ordway Theater as part of the Minnesota Remembers initiative.

*We are in conversation with TPT about what comes next to talk about the Vietnam War and its legacy.

*We have opened a library at Camp Ripley for military history.

*We will be presenting at the Great River Regional Library in St. Cloud in October, talking about the end of WWII.

*We were also involved with a program in Princeton, July 6th through the 10th, involving the wall.

Atomic Veterans -James Hamann Reporting

*This report will be included in the UVLC August Meeting Report.

4. Announcements

*On August 28th, Veteran Farm Initiative will have a booth at the State Fair to answer questions about a nonprofit veterans farm in Wright County.

* The next UVLC meeting will be on August 5th, Building 9 and will feature The Adjutant General MG John Jensen.

End of Report