Meeting Minutes – July 2, 2014

Call to order – 09:30, Invocation – Pledge of Allegiance –
Greetings: Recognition of visitors and guests –
Announcements – Ralph Donais, Chairman – Jerry Kyser, Vice Chairman.

1. Federal Congressional Representatives and Senators

6th District Representation – Michele Bachmann- Nicole Pelzer

  • Congresswoman voted for Veteran’s Access to Care through Choice Accountability and Transparency Act
    • Bill will cost nearly 2 billion dollars
    • 500 million will be used for more Doctors and nurses for VA
    • Will require public colleges and universities to grant Veterans in-state tuition
    • Will improve medical care for victims of military sexual assault
  • Congresswoman concerned over reports about 64,000 Veterans  stating they never heard back after calling to enroll in the system
  • Nomination of new VA Secretary Bob McDonald
    • Knows structural reform is necessary at head of agency
  • Congresswoman has been meeting with Veterans in the district and D.C.
  • Wrapping up Academy nominations for the last time
    • Congresswoman is only serving until January

Comment: Bill passed the House

7th District Representative – Collin Peterson – Mary Bertram

  • New to this office but have been with Congressman for 19 years
  • Congressman has been visiting throughout the district
  • Signed on to HR4863: National Guard and Reserve Equal Acts as Legal Service Act
  • Negotiation underway on Bill seeking to boost healthcare options for Veterans ( will run about 44 Billion over next 5 years)
  • Signed letter to President Obama urging him to seek Congressional approval and advice if he decides to send soldier over to Iraq
  • Passed 2 bills reauthorizing programs aimed at improving access to trauma care as well as reducing incidents of TBI
  • Also passed Defense Appropriation Bill-included 1.8% raise for military

8th District Representative – Rick Nolan-  Rick Olseen Unable to attend
                             

2. State Agencies and MN Veteran Assistance Organizations

          MN Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV)- Kathy Vitalis

  • Women’s Golf Fundraising event in June was a good success
  • Annual dinner fundraising event is at Landmark Event Center Masonic Home
    • On September 19th in Bloomington
  • Upcoming Legal Clinics and Stand downs:
    • July 8th in Minneapolis
    • July 9th in Fargo
    • August 5th & 6th Metro Stand down in Minneapolis
    • August 21st in Virginia Stand down
    • August 22nd Stand down in Duluth
    • August 29th legal clinic in Minneapolis
    • September 23rd legal clinic in St. Cloud
    • September 24th Stand down in Bemidji
    • September 25th Stand down in Grand Rapids
  • Comment: Jimmy just received a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for working with homeless Veterans

3. Federal Agencies

VISN 23 – Janet Murphy- Director VISN 23 – Barry Bahl

  • Lot of turnover in Washington
  • President nominated Robert McDonald to be new VA Secretary
    • Hoping to get approval within 6 weeks
  • Dr. Carol McClancy appointed interim Undersecretary for Health
  • Dr. Jonathan Perlend is returning
  • Looking to replace infamous scheduling package
    • Getting bids from private sector groups- not easily done overnight
  • Press is blowing things out of proportion
    • Ex. People want to have all appointments on same day
    • A lot of attention is being paid to scheduling to increase efficiency
    • Biggest problem is not being able to hire enough providers
    • VA looking to add additional 2,000 residencies this year
    • In St. Cloud, there are 13 new providers going through credentialing process
    • Comments about how many performance measures VA health care providers go through
    • Hard to get qualified Directors because the pay is not equal to the responsibilities
  • Cedar Rapids VISN clinic had flooding, so temporarily moved location
  • Several National reviews for scheduling were done and went well
  • Budgets are fine- plenty of money to get through the year
  • Have been allowing Veterans to get care in the community for years
  • Nobody is being denied care; urgent needs are being met
  • Virtual Tour of campus with slides
    • Finished audiology department; tripled previous space
    • Expanded optometry equipment and space
    • Doubled Dental space
    • Finished Pharmacy project
    • MRI is up and running for a year
    • Walking path is in very last phases
    • Building 49, the Nursing Home, had 2 floors gutted and being put back together
    • Will spread out beds to maintain numbers
    • Long term goal is 4 buildings with 30 beds each
    • ALS patient increase, looking to house an entire floor of them
    • Will soon be building an infusion center
    • 5 geothermal field already done ( 90 miles of pipes underground)
    • Finishing Psych building
    • 116 total buildings
    • New Kitchen just started
    • Comment: Very few nursing homes live up to VA standards
  • Windmill is broken, waiting to hear from Washington
  • Comments about suicide prevention

Vet Center – Carl Sporer

  • Last meeting due to retirement
    • Has enjoyed time working with Veterans
  • Continue to reach out to Veterans from the Center
  • New legislation that has expanded our role ( increases people they serve)
  • Not just younger Veterans coming into Center
  • Our Records still do not mix with the VA ( ensures measure of privacy)
  • Have some Vietnam Vets. No WWII Vets use services, but some visit

Military Action Group (MAG) –  Jerry Kyser

  • MAG is a think tank for Veterans issues
  • Next meeting is on August 19th
  • Reviewed legislative things that happened( on printout)
  • Talked about Vikings Stadium
    • Going through Federal Government to certify that a business is Veteran owned is timely
    • Helped circumvent that by doing a preliminary certification through VA to speed up process
    • Recap of bill passed that allows State to certify Veteran owned business, but did not provide money to do so
    • Women and minority numbers met for Stadium workers, but not Veterans
    • Challenging situation – Mortenson would like to meet the 10%
    • Less than 100 retired Veterans move back to Minnesota because their pensions are still taxed here- still working on it
    • Also discussed trying to take away gun permits for any Veterans that talk about PTSD
      • Going to be an ongoing issue. Need to be aware of it, and figure out how to handle it before rights get taken away
  • Issue about Hmong people to be buried in Federal cemeteries.
    • Bill is at House and Senate again
    • Mixed emotions about outcome: up to you to talk to your representatives about your feelings
    • Need to think about policy of foreigners being buried here

4. Announcements –
5. Meeting in Recess for 10 minutes

Business Meeting   

  • Decide next MAG meeting: August 19th
    • Need to come up with ideas for 2015 to present
  • Ask to send out newsletter to all contacts so that it circulates throughout state        
  • Not a great turnout in St. Cloud – need to take a hard look at why?
    • Poor turnout is partly due to being a campaign year
    • Can look at leasing motor coach to travel up here
  • Mike has volunteered to be our Secretary – represents Farmer Veteran Land Project and on board of Military Officer’s Association, MN chapter
  • Idea to get in writing from all member organizations who their delegates are
    • New commanders have all been selected- plan to talk to new commanders of organizations  in fall
  • Meeting adjourned

Next meeting 6 August, 2014

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.” – George Washington, 1789