Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 09-23-08 regular agenda — reading text

4  Page 1 of 2 Joyce Shanahan From: Mike Anderson Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 2: 37 PM To: Joyce Shanahan Subject: FW: Help getting a Vet Center Attachments: Vet Center Sample. doc; addresses for letter.doc; Vet Center News Release July 9 2008. doc; Vet Center Sample ( mga). doc Joyce, I believe Mr Garvie has addressed this before. I' d like to make it an agenda item for Sept 23 with a proposed letter endorsing a Vet Center (see attached Sample ( mga). Doc). Thanks, Mike From: Patricia Yoho [ mailto: patriciayoho @fwbchamber.org] Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1: 08 PM To: ' Aileen Koon'; ' Alan Gieseman'; ' Amy Oliver'; ' Ben Savage'; Bill Garvie - wgarvie@aol. com; ' Bob Bennett'; Brad Pollett'; ' Bruce Marshall'; ' Carl Roberts'; ' Chad Hamilton, CPA'; ' Charles Corsentino'; ' Charles Dean Covey, III'; 'Chris Hughes'; ' Chris Sehman'; ' Col Bruce McClintock'; ' Dan Cauley'; ' David Braithwaite'; ' Dawn Hart'; ' Delana Peterson'; ' Desley Parker, MA'; ' Dick Marks'; ' Gene Barker, CPA'; ' Ginger Walker'; ' Hugh Kendall'; ' Ivana Coteat'; Jackie Goodman'; ' Jackie Pitcher'; ' Jan Pooley'; ' Deana DeCarlo'; ' Jennifer Meredith'; ' Jessica Jarosz'; ' Joan Doman'; ' John Benne'; ' Joyce Sanders'; ' Kathy Houchins'; ' Kathy Pritchard'; ' Ken Hair'; ' Kenneth Hill'; ' Kristina Newton'; ' Larry Keefe'; ' Lee Harmon'; ' Lena Lopez'; ' Lisa Jo Spencer'; ' Lori Allgood'; ' Lydia Johnson'; ' Lynn Dominique'; ' Marcia Bunge'; ' Marcia WrightReynolds'; ' Marie M. Vanover'; ' Matthew Gaetz'; Mike Anderson; ' Mike Hart'; ' MikeWrightReynolds, CPP'; ' Minty Knighton'; ' Pamela Bousquet'; ' Patti Demski'; ' Patti Gonzo'; ' Paul Singleton, Sr'; ' Peggy Brockman'; ' Peggy Moravec'; ' Philip " Squirrel" Carroll'; ' Richard Butler'; ' Shelley Normand'; Soupy Campbell'; " fed Corcoran'; ' Terre Dominique'; ' Terry Lisenbee'; ' Thomas Eggers'; ' Tom Rice'; ' Tracy Burnham'; ' Zachary VanDyke' Subject: FW: Help getting a Vet Center In connection with my responsibilities as county court judge, I have become acutely involved with issues regarding the Okaloosa County jail population and the challenges presented by homelessness, particularly among veterans. Okaloosa County is home to more than 31, 000 veterans, many of them combat -era veterans. Some 286 Okaloosa County veterans are chronically homeless while the veteran population of the county jail fluctuates between 1 -8 %. Homelessness and homeless veterans are a drain on local resources. I write to ask you to help me get a Vet Center established in Okaloosa County. Vet Centers are separate from VA clinics and unlike other VA services, a veteran and the veteran' s family are eligible. Vet Centers even allow an individual to seek services 4 times during the process of proving eligibility since many Vet Center clients do not have ready access to organized files and documentation. A Vet Center provides benefits counseling, PTSD and sexual trauma counseling, bereavement counseling, counseling for incarcerated veterans, and job /housing counseling. Typically, a Vet Center would be a " store front" operation staffed with 4 to 5 civil service employees so in addition to helping veterans, merchants, law enforcement and the public, a Vet Center has an economic development component. Florida received 5 Vet Centers for 2008, see attached, but all 5 were located in south Florida. Both the Okaloosa County commissioners and the City of Fort Walton Beach have passed resolutions asking the congressional delegation and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a Vet Center in Okaloosa County in 2009. 9/ 18/ 2008 -- ky  Page 2 of 2 I have attached a copy of a letter I wrote as well as addresses for the Congressional delegation and Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Would you please write them? I appreciate your taking the time to consider this issue and anything you might do to help combat veterans in need. Please let me know if you need any other information and if you will be able to support this initiative. Patt Maney 9/ 18/ 2008  September 2, 2008 Honorable James B. Peake, M. D. Secretary of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, N. W. Washington D. C. 20420 Dear Mr. Secretary, As a veteran and the Mayor of a City with a very large military presence, I' m writing to ask that you establish a Vet Center in Okaloosa County, Florida. Okaloosa County is home to more than 31, 000 veterans, many of them combat veterans needing services of a Vet Center. Some 286 Okaloosa County veterans are chronically homeless, including at least one veteran of World War II and veterans of the Global War on Terrorism. Homeless veterans constitute almost one -half of the chronically homeless people in Okaloosa County. The veteran population of the county jail fluctuates between 1 -8 %. Incarcerated persons are a greater risk of homelessness than the population at large. Many incarcerated and homeless veterans need services ranging from PTSD counseling to substance abuse counseling as well as benefits counseling. Some veterans need sexual trauma counseling and all too many families need bereavement counseling. It is wonderful that a VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic has been established on Eglin Air Force Base and there is much support for construction of a VA wing to the Eglin Regional Hospital. Some of the neediest combat veterans cannot get to Eglin or to the Vet Center in Escambia County. The homeless population tends to move east -west along the 1 - 10 and US 98 highway corridors. A Vet Center is needed where the population to be served is located. Many veterans are not award of their earned benefits and the counseling available at Vet Centers. Veterans of the war in Viet Nam, as well as the Global War on Terrorism are recognizing they need assistance but do not know where to turn for help. Various Okaloosa County community groups, veterans' groups and governments are actively working to assist combat veterans, but these efforts would be dramatically enhanced through the presence of a Vet Center with personnel to provide needed services and counseling. Please support the establishment of a Vet Center in Okaloosa County in 2009. 1 appreciate your consideration and help. Regards,  September 2, 2008 Honorable James B. Peake, M. D. Secretary of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, N. W. Washington D. C. 20420 Dear Mr. Secretary, As a combat veteran, I write to ask that you establish a Vet Center in Okaloosa County, Florida. Okaloosa County is home to more than 31, 000 veterans, many of them combat veterans needing services of a Vet Center. Some 286 Okaloosa County veterans are chronically homeless, including at least one veteran of World War II and veterans of the Global War on Terrorism. Homeless veterans constitute almost one -half of the chronically homeless people in Okaloosa County. The veteran population of the county jail fluctuates between 1 -8 %. Incarcerated persons are a greater risk of homelessness than the population at large. Many incarcerated and homeless veterans need services ranging from PTSD counseling to substance abuse counseling as well as benefits counseling. Some veterans need sexual trauma counseling and all too many families need bereavement counseling. It is wonderful that a VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic has been established on Eglin Air Force Base and there is much support for construction of a VA wing to the Eglin Regional Hospital. Some of the neediest combat veterans cannot get to Eglin or to the Vet Center in Escambia County. The homeless population tends to move east -west along the 1 - 10 and US 98 highway corridors. A Vet Center is needed where the population to be served is located. Many veterans are not award of their earned benefits and the counseling available at Vet Centers. Veterans of the war in Viet Nam, as well as the Global War on Terrorism are recognizing they need assistance but do not know where to turn for help. Various Okaloosa County community groups, veterans' groups and governments are actively working to assist combat veterans, but these efforts would be dramatically enhanced through the presence of a Vet Center with personnel to provide needed services and counseling. Please let me know if you will actively support the establishment of a Vet Center in Okaloosa County in 2009. 1 appreciate your consideration and help. Respectfully,  Mailing Addresses for Vet Center Letter Honorable James B. Peake, M.D. Secretary of Veterans Affairs 811 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, D. C. 20420 Senator Mel Martinez United States Senate 356 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D. C. 20510 Senator Bill Nelson United States Senate 716 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Congressman Jeff Miller United States House of Representatives 1535 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Congressman Allen Boyd United States House of Representatives 1227 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D. C. 20515  Office of Public Affairs Washington, DC 20420 Media Relations 202) 461 -7600 www.va.gov ezDepartment of Veterans Affairs News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 9, 2008 VA Vet Centers Coming to 39 Communities Peake: Provide Counselingfor All Combat Veterans WASHINGTON —Combat veterans will receive readjustment counseling and other assistance in 39 additional communities across the country where the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will develop Vet Centers by fall 2009. Community -based Vet Centers -- already in all 50 states -- are a key component of VA' s mental health program," said Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. " I' m pleased we can expand access to bring services closer to even more veterans, including screening and counseling for post- traumatic stress disorder." The existing 232 centers conduct community outreach to offer counseling on employment, family issues and education to combat veterans and family members, as well as bereavement counseling for families of service members killed on active duty and counseling for veterans who were sexually harassed on active duty. Vet Center services are available at no cost to veterans who experienced combat during any war era. They are staffed by small teams of counselors, outreach workers and other specialists, many of whom are combat veterans. The Vet Center program was established in 1979 by Congress, recognizing that many Vietnam veterans were still having readjustment problems. The centers have hired 100 combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as outreach specialists, often placing them near military processing stations, to brief servicemen and women leaving the military about VA benefits. VA' s 2009 budget proposal seeks $ 20 million more than this year' s budget for Vet Centers, to include operating and leasing space for the new centers. Eighteen of the counties that will have new centers already have one or more; the other 21 do not. A list of the new Vet Center locations is attached.  Vet Centers 2/ 2/ 2