U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

57–014 2010

PROVIDING ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND 

BENEFITS FOR VETERANS IN NEW MEXICO 

AND ACROSS AMERICA 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

MARCH 29, 2010 

FIELD HEARING HELD IN LAS CRUCES, NM 

Serial No. 111–70 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

( 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
ii 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

BOB FILNER, California, Chairman 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

VIC SNYDER, Arkansas 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN, South 

Dakota 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

DEBORAH L. HALVORSON, Illinois 

THOMAS S.P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

HARRY TEAGUE, New Mexico 

CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

JOHN H. ADLER, New Jersey 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

GLENN C. NYE, Virginia 

STEVE BUYER, Indiana, Ranking 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

JEFF MILLER, Florida 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee 

Malcom A. Shorter, Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine, Chairman 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

VIC SNYDER, Arkansas 

HARRY TEAGUE, New Mexico 

CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

GLENN C. NYE, Virginia 

DEBORAH L. HALVORSON, Illinois 

THOMAS S.P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina, 

Ranking 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records 

of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed 

hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to 

prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting 

between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process 

is further refined. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
iii 

C O N T E N T S 

March 29, 2010 

Page 

Providing Essential Services and Benefits to Veterans in New Mexico and 

Across America ..................................................................................................... 1 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Chairman Michael Michaud ................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement of Chairman Michaud .................................................... 43 

Hon. Harry Teague .................................................................................................. 2 

WITNESSES 

U.S. Department of Defense, Shirley Bratton, Director, Airman and Family 

Readiness Center, Holloman Air Force Base, NM, Department of the Air 

Force ...................................................................................................................... 24 

Prepared statement of Ms. Bratton ................................................................ 53 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: 

Susan P. Bowers, Director, Veterans Affairs Southwest Health Care Network, Veterans Health Administration .......................................................... 26 

Prepared statement of Ms. Bowers ............................................................. 56 

Grant Singleton, Director, Albuquerque Veterans Affairs Regional Office, 

Veterans Benefits Administration ................................................................... 29 

Prepared statement of Mr. Singleton .......................................................... 57 

Guy McCommon, Team Leader, Las Cruces Vet Center, Readjustment 

Counseling Service, Veterans Health Administration ................................... 30 

Prepared statement of Mr. McCommon ...................................................... 59 

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, Las Cruces, NM, Pamela Angell, Executive Director .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement of Ms. Angell ................................................................... 43 

New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services: 

Dalton Boyd, Veterans Service Officer, Hobbs, NM .......................................... 7 

Prepared statement of Mr. Boyd ................................................................. 44 

John M. Garcia, Secretary, Santa Fe, NM ......................................................... 11 

Prepared statement of Mr. Garcia ............................................................... 50 

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Department of New Mexico, 

Alamogordo, NM, Raul V. Sanchez, Commander .............................................. 9 

Prepared statement of Mr. Sanchez ................................................................ 46 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING

ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
(1) 

PROVIDING ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND 

BENEFITS FOR VETERANS IN NEW MEXICO 

AND ACROSS AMERICA 

MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2010 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., at the 

New Mexico State University, Corbett Center Student Union, Senate Gallery, Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Hon. Michael H. Michaud 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Michaud and Teague. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MICHAUD 

Mr. MICHAUD. I’d like to call the Subcommittee on Health to 

order, and I’d also like to thank everyone for coming out this afternoon. I look forward to hearing your testimony. I want to thank 

Congressman Teague for inviting me out here, and I also want to 

thank New Mexico State University for their hospitality in hosting 

this hearing today. 

The weather here is a little different than in the State of Maine. 

When I left, it was about 20 degrees, so I want to thank you, Mr. 

Teague, for bringing some warm weather as well. 

Today’s hearing would not have been possible, quite frankly, 

without the efforts of Mr. Teague, and I want to thank Mr. Teague 

for his work on veterans’ issues. He’s definitely been a very active 

member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. I’d also like to thank 

him for inviting me here today to hear what this area of the country has to say about veterans issues. 

Today’s hearing will cover a wide range of issues, to ensure that 

our veterans in New Mexico and across the United States receive 

the essential services and benefits that they need and deserve. 

Among the issues that we’ll be discussing today will be homeless 

veterans issues, mental health issues, reintegration, and outreach 

and health care for rural veterans. 

In this Congress, we have had several hearings on these issues 

already. For example, the Health Subcommittee, which I Chair, 

held a hearing on rural veterans issues in March of 2009 and an 

outreach hearing in May, also in 2009. And under the leadership 

of Chairman Filner, on the Full Committee, we also had a hearing 

on homeless veterans in June of last year. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
2 

I’m happy to share that the house passed H.R. 4810, a comprehensive bill to help homeless veterans, on March 22nd of 2010. 

H.R. 4810 included two very important provisions that Mr. Teague 

introduced in his bill, H.R. 2504, which would increase funding for 

the Grant and Per Diem Program, and H.R. 3906, which would increase funding for supportive service for low-income veterans family in permanent housing. This year, the Full Committee also held 

a roundtable discussion on issues facing veterans who live in rural 

areas, in January, and another roundtable discussion on reintegration issues in March. 

We have learned a lot from the series of hearings and roundtable 

discussions that we have held in Washington. However, these 

issues are of such magnitude that they warrant further discussion 

here today, because each region of the country has its own, different issues. I’m pleased to be here, and I look forward to the two 

panels that we have here today and listening to what the witnesses 

have to say about the unique challenges facing veterans here in 

New Mexico. 

I’d like to now recognize Mr. Teague for any opening statement 

that he may have. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Michaud appears on 

p. 43.] 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HARRY TEAGUE 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, let me 

begin by thanking you for traveling to the beautiful State of New 

Mexico and holding this field hearing in my district. One of the biggest goals that I have set for myself is to make sure that we are 

providing the people of southern New Mexico was the direct link 

to the decision makers in Washington, and I believe that a field 

hearing, like this one, is one way in which local residents can participate in shaping the discussions on and the decisions that take 

place in our Nation’s capital. Your help today will help give people 

a voice in our Nation’s capital, and I think that’s a very valuable 

opportunity for them. Thank you for coming, and I hope that you 

have enjoyed your visit. 

Today, we’re going to hear from individuals that are on the front 

lines, in terms of providing for veterans care and improving their 

overall quality of life. The witnesses before us today spend their 

days serving veterans in a variety of different and important ways. 

Whether it is trying to find veterans homes, assisting them in filing 

a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) claim, or helping them 

cope with mental issues that they are having, these individuals all 

share in a part of that process. 

And while I honestly believe that everyone in the VA is committed to providing care of the highest quality to our veterans, 

there is always room for improvement and we, as elected officials, 

are charged with the duty of overseeing the VA. We must be diligent in our efforts to ensure that we are giving VA the resources 

that they need, exercising the proper oversight, and when necessary, changing or creating laws to provide better service for our 

veterans. Over the last 3 years, I believe that the Congress has 

done much in the way of honoring the commitment that we make 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
3 

to these veterans. Our Nation asked them to make the ultimate 

sacrifice, so that our Nation could remain free. 

Let me say to all that are in attendance here, that this Congress 

places the highest priority on veterans and the care that they receive. I’m proud to say that over the last year alone, our Committee 

has passed significant legislation to improve on that care. That, we 

will be building on those successes. 

We were able to provide record increases to the VA budget, adding an additional $14.5 billion to the VA over fiscal year 2009. This 

amounted to the largest increase in the history of the VA. We 

passed H.R. 1016, which created for the first time advanced appropriations for the veterans health accounts, ensuring that the management of our medical facilities are never denied the funding that 

they needed to accomplish the mission that they have. 

Now, this care of our veterans will not be held hostage due to 

partisan wrangling in Washington, DC. We’ve worked to respond to 

the changing times by creating a new GI Bill of Rights, that ensures that returning veterans will be able to pursue an education 

after they’ve served their country. The Post-9/11 GI Bill of Rights 

ensures not only that we can open the door of higher education to 

the veterans, but also allows them to transfer the benefits to their 

family members, if they so choose. 

We are also working to end some of the problems that we, as a 

Nation, have ignored for far too long. The most glaring example of 

this has been the mental health of our troops and our veterans. For 

far too long, we have not treated the invisible wounds of war that 

many of our troops bear. Whether it was because we didn’t fully 

understand the problems ourselves or whether it was because we 

were just glad to have our veterans return home to us, there was 

never a comprehensive answer to these afflictions; and, thus, we 

have been paying a terrible price. 

This Congress, working together in a bipartisan manner, was 

able to begin to tackle the problem of mental health amongst our 

troops. I had the distinct honor and privilege of working with veterans groups and other more senior members of the House, like 

Mr. Michaud, to insert language in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010, that mandates private face-to-face mental 

health assessments for troops that are being deployed and returning home from combat. This measure will help us to diagnose mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 

earlier, and will, in the end, provide all of us with the keys to create a healthy homecoming for the troops. 

Another issue that we must recognize is that there are a growing 

number of women that are serving in uniform that have made huge 

sacrifices in the service to their country. The military is changing, 

and we must make sure that the VA is changing along with it. 

Women are due the same treatment, services, and benefits available to their male counterparts, and in many cases, they require 

a different approach in the delivery of their care. Sadly, when we 

look at the current VA system, there are still far too many barriers 

that exist in providing quality care to women warriors, and we 

need to knock them down, and that can’t begin to happen quickly 

enough. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
4 

Seeing that change was needed, the 111th Congress took up H.R. 

1211, which will begin to change the way we care for women veterans. It will provide an expansion of VA services to an estimated 

1.8 million veterans, and it’s long overdue. 

Unfortunately, while the makeup of the military has changed, 

the nature of war has changed as well. While we’re lucky to live 

in a day and age in which medical science has provided new ways 

in saving the lives of military personnel that have been deployed, 

we have much to do in assisting those wounded warriors with the 

tools that they need to transition back into civilian life. 

We, as a government, did not have the foresight to see what 

types of benefits and services needed to be available to disabled 

veterans that were coming home from the Global War on Terrorism 

(GWOT), and the wounded warriors are not the only persons that 

need assistance. In the vast majority of these cases, family members become the full-time caregivers, and support for them is needed as well. 

That’s why this Committee, under the leadership of Chairman 

Michaud, drafted H.R. 3155. This bill will provide a new set of 

measures to assist family caregivers of our wounded warriors. The 

bill will provide outreach, training, and counseling for these family 

members. It also includes provisions of a bill that I drafted, which 

provides for lodging and sustenance for caregivers accompanying a 

disabled veteran to a medical appointment. We recognize that 

when someone serves their country, it is not their sacrifice alone, 

but the shared sacrifice of their family and loved ones, and remember that we must honor our commitment to them as well. 

Lastly, this Congress has worked to address an issue that is a 

great shame of our country. It’s an issue that we will hear a lot 

about today: Homeless veterans. Every night, thousands of homeless veterans sleep in the city streets and the country fields of the 

Nation that they have defended. They move about us, while too 

many citizens look the other way, rather than do something to provide them with aid and comfort. 

Working with groups and organizations like the Community of 

Hope, this Congress is taking up the challenge of ending homeless 

veterans once and for all. H.R. 4810, the ‘‘End Veterans Homeless 

Act of 2010,’’ takes great steps toward providing the VA and local 

groups the tools that they need to accomplish this goal. The bill includes two bills that I originally authored to provide an increase to 

the Grant Per Diem Program that provides funding for homeless 

veterans programs, as well as funding for homeless prevention. 

While the Congress has provided a new direction for America’s 

veterans, there is much to be done for those that fought for this 

country. While we draft new laws and programs in Washington, it 

is important that we work with individuals on the ground, like our 

witnesses today, to ensure that we are counseled by the folks on 

the front line. 

Once again, I would like to thank Mr. Michaud for his leadership, his dedication to our veterans, and for his willingness to come 

here. I would like to thank the staff of the Health Subcommittee 

for their hard work and efforts and the witnesses for testifying 

here today. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
5 

And last, but certainly not least, I would like to ask that every 

veteran that is here today stand up and be recognized, because if 

it weren’t for your service and your commitment, we would not be 

here today. Thank you. 

And thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much, Mr. Teague. 

And I’d ask the first panel to come up. 

And while the first panel is coming up, I do want to thank all 

the veterans service organizations (VSOs) for all the hard work 

that they do. As you heard, from the lengthy list of bills that we’ve 

been able to get passed in Congress, from increased funding to advanced appropriations, if it weren’t for the veterans service organizations, they would not have been passed. I want to thank all of 

you for your continued service to our country and for your continued commitment to making sure that veterans get the services that 

they need. 

I will now turn it back over to Mr. Teague to introduce the first 

panel. But before I do, Mr. Teague made a comment about working 

with senior Members of Congress, such as myself. He was making 

reference to time of service, not necessarily age. With that, I turn 

it over to Mr. Teague for the introduction of our first panel. 

Mr. TEAGUE. I thought that that went without an explanation. I 

sure would have, yes, thank you all for coming. I would like to recognize the panel that is here. First is Pamela Angell from the Community of Hope for the homeless shelters. 

And, you know, I can’t thank you enough for the work that you 

continue to do there, and I want to thank you for that. 

Next is Dalton Boyd. And it’s a long way over here, isn’t it? 

Mr. DALTON. It’s a long drive. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Yes, I make that drive a lot, and I’m glad to see 

you come over from the east side to participate today. 

And then, of course, we have Mr. Raul Sanchez, who is the State 

Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), field director. 

It’s quite an honor for all of us here in southern New Mexico to 

have Raul be there and to have him be here to participate today. 

And then, at the end, we have Secretary John Garcia, who very 

possibly could be the best friend that veterans in New Mexico have, 

because he’s constantly working for the benefit of them. 

And I want to thank all of you for coming and participating 

today. It means a lot to me that not only that the Chairman came, 

but that you would come from everywhere to be here, too. 

So, Ms. Angell, could we start, please? Thank you. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
6 

STATEMENTS OF PAMELA ANGELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

MESILLA VALLEY COMMUNITY OF HOPE, LAS CRUCES, NM; 

DALTON BOYD, VETERANS SERVICE OFFICER, NEW MEXICO 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS’ SERVICES, HOBBS, NM; RAUL 

V. SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS 

OF THE UNITED STATES, DEPARTMENT OF NEW MEXICO, 

ALAMOGORDO, NM; AND JOHN M. GARCIA, SECRETARY, NEW 

MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS’ SERVICES, SANTA FE, 

NM 

STATEMENT OF PAMELA ANGELL 

Ms. ANGELL. Thank you very much for having me. It’s really an 

honor to be able to speak today before this panel. My name is Pamela Angell, and I’m the Executive Director of the Mesilla Valley 

Community of Hope, an agency that serves homeless people in Las 

Cruces and Dona Ana County. We have a daytime drop-in center 

and, also, we have several U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) housing programs and outreach services, like 

laundry and showers and some training programs. 

I am here to address, really, one specific segment of the homeless 

population. I think that a lot of your very new programs and the 

more established Grant Per Diem Program really work and will address a lot of homeless issues. But there is a population that a lot 

of us forgot about back in the day, when they served in Vietnam 

and earlier wars, and that there really are lost homeless who are 

forgotten today as well. So I’m really only going to be focusing on 

chronic homelessness and what I think is a better answer to help 

solve their homeless problems. 

President Obama and the Department of Veterans Affairs have 

made ending homelessness among veterans a top priority, with a 

5-year goal. If, indeed, the VA and the Obama Administration wish 

to meet this goal, they must shift their policies so they can address 

the needs of all homeless veterans, including those we characterize 

as chronically homeless. And chronically homeless is someone 

who’s been homeless four times in the last 3 years or for 1 year 

continuously and someone who has a disability, whether they recognize it or not. 

In the case of many of our veterans—and here locally, in Las 

Cruces, we’ve seen 211 veterans signed in during 2009 at our agency, and we’ve met with 84 homeless veterans on a case management level. Seventy-eight of those were male, and six of those were 

female. And their disabilities ranged from about 37—so that’s 

about 50 percent—said that they were physically disabled. About 

28 had mental disabilities. Twenty-three so that’s about almost a 

quarter—have drug/alcohol issues, and then another quarter said 

they have no disability whatsoever. 

But nationwide, it’s estimated that about a third of our adult 

homeless population are chronically homeless—or I’m sorry—a 

third of our adult homeless population are veterans. And there are 

no estimates that we have for chronic homelessness, but, usually, 

the chronically homeless are the ones that serve earlier. They can 

be an older population, in their 50s and 60s. So those are the ones 

that I’d like to address. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
7 

And I think the VA, with all of its good housing programs that 

it’s developing and the vast outreach in that—expanding the Grant 

and Per Diem Program is great, but they come with a lot of strict 

rules and requirements. So I would like the VA to consider Housing 

First. This is a model that’s used in HUD, that’s been used in our 

Nation for the past 20 years, and it’s a model that puts housing 

as the first place you go. It’s not get sober, get treatment first. It’s, 

here’s a house. Then we’ll let you deal with your issues. 

But the most important thing, I think, for homeless people is 

housing, and a lot of the veterans that we see that are homeless 

and that are chronically homeless, they are very disenfranchised. 

They don’t want a lot of services attached to their housing. So 

there’s great models out there and programs. We have one that 

we’re working on in Las Cruces for chronically homeless people. 

Some of those that are living there are veterans, and so far, it has 

a 66 percent retention rate, as far as permanent housing. And 

that’s pretty good for the chronically homeless population. 

But Housing First services are client driven. A lot of these people 

do have chronic alcoholism or drug abuse. I’d say more alcohol than 

drugs. And then, also, mental health issues. But as long as we dictate and mandate to them, you know, you can get housing if you 

get treatment first, a lot of them are going to stay on the streets, 

and I think that’s why a lot of them are still on the streets. 

Housing First is housing without a lot of stipulations, and from 

there, they can find it within themselves to get the services that 

they need. And a lot of them will, because a lot of them are on the 

streets with no hope. Once they have a house, then they can see 

a better future for themselves, and they will get treatment. 

And it looks like I’m out of time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Angell appears on p. 43.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Boyd. 

STATEMENT OF DALTON BOYD 

Mr. BOYD. Before I begin, I would like to thank Chairman 

Michaud, Congressman Teague, for the opportunity to address you 

today. The issues being discussed in today’s hearing are critically 

important to our veterans, to whom I believe deserve the full measure of our efforts to provide for them the rights and the services 

they deserve. 

My name is Dalton Boyd. I am employed by the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services. I have the privilege of serving our 

veterans as a veterans service officer. As one who works for our 

veterans on a daily basis, I feel I have a unique perspective concerning the needs of our veterans. I see their individual needs daily 

and draw from the resources available to aid them in addressing 

those needs. 

I would like to begin by addressing VA health care for veterans 

in rural areas. I personally believe that the VA provides worldclass health care, but, as with anything else, there’s always room 

for improvement. Veterans in rural areas face some unique problems, with fragmented health care being one of those problems. 

We have a very good community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) 

in my hometown of Hobbs, but they provide only basic services, 

with preventive health care being their primary focus. Veterans 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
8 

with special needs must travel hundreds of miles for treatment by 

specialists or facilities that can meet their needs. For example, veterans from Hobbs with cardiology or orthopedic conditions have to 

travel to Albuquerque for treatment, a round trip of 640 miles. 

Often, these are older World War II veterans in their 80s, in poor 

health, and for whom a trip of 640 miles or more for medical care 

is very difficult, if not impossible. 

I realize that fee basis is a very costly undertaking for the VA, 

and I understand the concept that if the VA can treat a veteran, 

they’ll provide that treatment at a VA facility in part, as a costcutting measure. It’s my opinion that fee basis should be more 

readily available to veterans in certain circumstances. For example, 

an 85-year-old World War II veteran with a serious heart condition 

or veterans taking chemotherapy should be given consideration for 

care locally through fee basis. 

I would also like to address the lack of resources available for 

homeless vets in rural areas. A lot of progress has been made in 

caring for our homeless veterans, to include H.R. 4810. Homeless 

veterans in metropolitan areas have numerous options, and we’re 

all grateful that they have those options. Those options often do not 

exist in rural areas. In practical terms, homeless veterans that I 

see in Hobbs have two options: Treatment at a shelter locally in 

Hobbs or enter into the substance abuse treatment program at the 

VA Hospital in Big Springs, Texas. 

We do have the New Mexico Veterans Integration Center in Albuquerque, the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope in Las Cruces, 

and the New Mexico State Veterans’ Home in Truth or Consequences (T or C). Our homeless veterans in rural areas often are 

not able to relocate or do not want to relocate to areas far from 

what has been their home and comfort zone. What they often seek 

is temporary assistance within their community. 

I would also like to speak about services for veterans 

transitioning from military to civilian life. New Mexico veterans receive readjustment counseling services from the Vet Centers located in Albuquerque, Farmington, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces. Lea 

County veterans are serviced by the Midland, Texas, Vet Center. 

The Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling services to combat veterans. Most of the veterans they serve suffer from PTSD 

and depressive orders. The Vet Centers serve veterans from World 

War II through present-day combat veterans. 

According to the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services 

2008 annual report, there are approximately 179,000 veterans in 

New Mexico, with 39,246 Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan-era veterans and 52,011 Vietnam-era veterans. The bulk of the Vet Centers’ clients are Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) and Vietnam veterans. Of course, the VA provides 

mental health care on a number of levels, through the CBOCs, hospitals, and telehealth. 

The Vet Center counselors, as I see them, are the front-line 

troops in the battle with mental health problems. They have the 

mobility, they conduct the outreaches, and they take their expertise 

directly to the veterans. Critically important is the fact that the 

Vet Center also provides services to family members. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
9 

An article in Psychiatric Times reports rates of PTSD in returning troops average 15 to 16 percent and that up to 35 percent meet 

the criteria for major depressive disorder. Clearly, these rates represent a large number of veterans in need of mental health care. 

As the number of deployed troops is reduced and the troops are 

brought home, the number of troops in need of mental health care 

services will rapidly increase. We have to be prepared to meet the 

needs of the growing number of veterans in need of mental health 

care. 

I appreciate the opportunity to address you today. I hope that 

I’ve given you a clearer understanding of some of the issues facing 

veterans in rural areas and the tasks the VA mental health care 

providers are confronted with. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Boyd appears on p. 44.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Mr. Sanchez. 

Mr. TEAGUE. You may have to scoot the microphone a little closer, because it seems to kind of fade out a little bit. 

Mr. SANCHEZ. How is this? 

Mr. TEAGUE. Okay. 

STATEMENT OF RAUL V. SANCHEZ 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Chairman Michaud, Ranking Member Brown, 

Member Teague, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, 

it is my honor to be here today to represent the VFW members in 

New Mexico, here in Las Cruces, and around our wonderful, wonderful State. 

I come before you as an advocate for our brave servicemen and 

women and for veterans and their families from all eras. I come before you as a reminder that those who go to war return home with 

an obligation to make things better for every ensuing generation 

who follows. This is central to the VFW’s core value, ‘‘to honor the 

dead by helping the living.’’ 

With these thoughts in mind, I would like to address a number 

of issues that we are facing here in New Mexico. All of the issues 

in my statement are of extreme importance to our State’s veterans: 

The OEF/OIF health care, women veterans health care, traumatic 

brain injury (TBI), mental health, the alarming suicide rate of veterans, veterans homelessness, employment, and quality of life 

issues. The number-one issue, though, that’s affecting our New 

Mexico veterans is the VA claims backlog and unacceptable waiting 

times for those seeking care. 

VA currently has more than 1.1 million individual claims and appeals for compensation, pension, and education benefits. Right here 

in New Mexico’s own regional office (RO) of Albuquerque, there are 

6,240 disability compensation claims and appeals pending. Over 

the past year, this backlog has grown by more than 10 percent. Of 

the nearly 3,400 claims requiring rating action, 38 percent are 

pending over 125 days. Reading quality reviews show a whopping 

19 percent error rate; and that is, one in every 5 cases, VA decides 

that New Mexico is wrong. The evidence shows that the Albuquerque VA regional office fails to provide adequate services in all 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
10 

three areas the VA measures: workload, timeliness, and quality. 

This is totally unacceptable. 

VFW has made reforming the VA claims processing system a top 

legislative priority. The VFW realizes there’s no silver bullet to fix 

the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), but there are opportunities for steady and deliberate improvement. We also know that 

any single plan to make the overall claims process simpler could 

occur at the expense of the rights and benefits earned by veterans, 

their dependents, and survivors. 

A quick-fix plan is simply unacceptable, because fixing the backlog would require thoughtful solutions to avoid harming our veterans and exacerbating the problem. 

VBA is a key to everything the VA does, so the VFW will continue to offer its expertise to the VA and your Committee, so we 

can solve this backlog problem together. Veterans have grown tired 

of the excuses. They want and deserve action. The VFW wants to 

help. 

The VFW has offered potential solutions in testimony and in The 

Independent Budget, but we cannot wave a magic wand to make 

the problem go away. Our suggestions have included improvements 

to the funding process; increased emphasis on ratings decision and 

accuracy, instead of speed; improvements in staff education and 

training; and increased use of technology. 

Unfortunately, it may be years before VBA will be able to reduce 

the backlog and improve rating timeliness and accuracy. We believe, however, that the VA can still make incremental improvements to demonstrate to veterans that it is both candid in its problems and responsive to their needs. 

Some of the first steps would be to demand a total commitment 

from VA leadership to do every claim properly the first time; improve the VA’s information technology and infrastructure, to include adopting paperless initiatives; upgrade and enhance training 

systems that invest in skills and knowledge of VA employees, reducing turnover and improving quality; higher accountability. We 

also ask Congress to commission a third-party study of the quality 

assurance of claims processing. 

We envision a VBA of the 21st Century, one in which veterans 

receive accurate and timely decisions. Congress must invest in the 

long-term success of VBA, which only is achieved through constant 

improvement. 

The VFW and other VSOs have a nationwide network of excellent service officers, including our own vet, Fred Ortiz, but we can 

only help those who seek us out. For a veteran to navigate the bureaucratic process without a service officer to guide them, it can be 

a nightmare, and a number of them simply give up, which means 

they lose their earned benefits, disability compensation, and access 

to VA health care. 

In closing, we ask that your Committee work with the VFW and 

other veterans service organizations to help effect all of the health 

care program provided by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) 

and Department of Veterans Affairs under the new national health 

care bill that was signed to law by President Obama last Tuesday. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Sanchez appears on p. 46.] 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
11 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Garcia. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN M. GARCIA 

Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, Members of 

the Committee, my name is John Garcia. I’m the Cabinet Secretary 

for the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services. I’m also the 

Past President of the National Association of State Directors of 

Veterans Affairs. On behalf of Governor Bill Richardson, 200,000 

veterans of the State, of which 30,000 are OEF/OIF veterans, and 

a rich military legacy, I’d like to welcome all of you to the State 

of New Mexico. 

I just recently returned last night from DC, as part of a commission appointed by Secretary Shinseki to select the Under Secretary 

for Benefits, and I believe we’ve selected three recommendations 

we’ll be presenting to your committee and the President. And there 

will be a well-qualified individual in that position in the future. 

Mr. Chairman, my comments are such—as the State Department 

of Veterans’ Services, I want to make sure that you, as the Chairman of the Committee and Member of Congress, understand the 

role of State Directors and the office that I represent. We’re a vital 

partner with the Federal VA in delivering services. We’re the second largest provider of services to veterans, and our roles continue 

to grow. 

Collectively, States contribute more than $5 billion each year in 

support of our Nation’s veterans and their families, even in the face 

of constrained budgets. Our duties include honoring and working 

with all veterans at the various organizations, both within our 

State and nationally. I applaud the cultural change at Federal VA 

in recognizing the importance of the VA partnership and the State 

Departments of Veterans Affairs and a concerned compassionate 

leadership demonstrated by our Secretary Shinseki and his senior 

leaders. 

The State Departments of Veterans Affairs are governmental 

agencies, and they’re not membership organizations. They’re tasked 

by our respective governors, boards, and commissions with the responsibility to address the needs of our veterans, irrespective of 

age, era of service, military branch, or services. 

On a daily basis, State Directors and their staff are confronted 

with unique situations in caring for all veterans, which often needs 

to be addressed in a timely manner. Delivery of meaningful services and support many times is best orchestrated at local levels, 

our offices, our veterans service officers, and our facilities, along 

with Federal VA facilities, Mike at the country. 

Several of my staff are here, which are veterans service officers. 

I’d just like to take a moment, sir, to introduce them to you. J.R. 

Turner, our veterans service officer from Las Cruces, and he can 

stand. Virginia C. Bell, a veterans service officer from Las Cruces; 

Mr. Reggie Price, out of Silver City; Dalton Boyd, who’s at the table 

here, from Hobbs; Tony Woodard, out of Alamogordo; and Armando 

Amador, who’s out of Silver City, a member of my State advisory 

board. I mention these names to you because they’re very engaged 

with us and our delivery of services around the State of New Mexico. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
12 

New Mexico appreciates the efforts of the Administration and 

Congress to improve overall funding of health care, homeless veteran programs, community clinics, and claims processing. Increases 

in VA funding, as reflected in the 2010 and 2011 budget, provides 

a 20 percent increase over FY 2009. The budgeting change for an 

advanced appropriation of 2012 will provide continuity for programming and services. 

We are now serving a new generation of veterans from 8 years 

of war who must receive medical care, establishment of benefits, 

and need assistance transitioning to civilian life after dedicated 

service. This funding supported by Congress will provide the 

wherewithal in three major areas. 

First, the overall access to the VA. In essence, the VA should be 

the provider of choice for veterans. Second, reducing the backlog of 

claims processing. And, third, the stated goal by Secretary Shinseki 

of eliminating homelessness among veterans and ongoing challenges to meet the critical demand of mental health, including 

PTSD and TBI, which needs continued funding and focus. Likewise, there should be an increased funding to veterans health care 

in rural areas and better known businesses through the Small 

Business Administration (SBA). 

New Mexico supports continuing efforts to reach out to our veterans, and I firmly believe all veterans, regardless of where they 

reside, should have equal access to Federal and State benefits and 

services, and that Federal and State Governments must collaborate 

to achieve this goal nationally. 

Many areas of the country are still shortchanged due to the veterans lack of information, awareness of their benefits. This directly 

impacts their access to the VA services. Federal VA and States 

must work together to reduce this inequity by reaching out to veterans regarding their earned benefits, and New Mexico supports an 

implementation of a grant program that would allow VA to partner 

with the States to perform outreach at local levels. 

State Directors and myself actively support increasing veterans 

access to the VA health care. This involves being engaged with VA 

Medical Centers on establishing, locating additional communitybased outpatient clinics, included on tribal reservations. With mental health services, expansion of Vet Centers, and the creation of 

veteran wellness centers, we applaud the efforts by the VA to address particular issues of health care for women veterans and veterans residing in rural areas. 

Future health care funding to expand outreach and access will 

have to include telehealth, telehome health, telemedicine; and, likewise, we support VA contracting out some specialty care to privatesector facilities, where access is difficult. VA research and development needs to focus on enhancing long-term health and well-being 

of veteran population; particularly, the new conditions, such as 

Gulf War Syndrome, PTSD, and effects of TBI. 

And attention must be given to the continued funding support at 

large capital projects identified and recommended by the Capital 

Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) assessment, 

while maintaining the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA’s) 

infrastructure of 153 hospitals, 951 CBOCs, and 232 Vet Centers. 

New Mexico fully agrees the support and efforts of VA and DoD is 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
13 

developing the seamless integration of electronic health records and 

recommends further integration of electronic records between the 

VA and State Departments of Veterans Affairs. 

New Mexico also recommends an in-depth examination of longterm care and mental health services, as well as wellness treatment centers, to include gap analysis clearly identifying where 

services are lacking, and any studies should include consultation 

with State Directors of Veterans Affairs. 

State veteran homes are a critical component of long-term health 

care for veterans and a model of cost efficient of partnerships between the Federal and State. State Homes, over half of the national long-term health care workload are infirm and aging veteran 

population. The Federal Government should continue to fulfill its 

important commitment to the States and, ultimately, to the individual veterans in need of this care. 

We strongly recommend that the VA review regulations, ensure 

that their implementation of Public Law 109–461, the Veterans’ 

Benefit, Health Care, and Information Technology Act, does not 

threaten the future of State veteran homes and their continued 

ability to meet the needs of our veterans. 

We also support full reimbursement of care of State veteran 

homes who have a 70 percent or more service-connected disability 

or who require nursing home care because of service-connected disability. There are two very important issues to implement this reimbursement. First, there needs to be a clear definition and understanding for calculation of the full cost of care; and, second, the 

Congressional legislation needs to allow States to bill Medicare and 

Medicaid. 

We also support the recommendation of the Veterans’ Disability 

Benefits Commission to streamline the delivery of disability benefits by updating the VA rating schedule, realigning the DoD and 

VA process for rating disabilities, and developing and implementing new criteria specific to rating post-traumatic stress disorder. 

We also applaud the initiative of Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

for establishing a goal to end homelessness among veterans and 

within 5 years, and encouraging the VA to partner with State Directors of Veterans Affairs. Programs should address the barriers 

to homeless veterans, medical issues, mental and physical, legal 

issues, limited job skills, and work history. We appreciate the increased funding for specialized homeless programs, such as the 

Homeless Providers Grant and the Per Diem Health Care for 

homeless veterans. 

We, in New Mexico, have a unique program, the New Mexico 

Veteran Integrations Center, which I believe could be a model. It 

could be reviewed by the VA and other agencies. It’s vital to continue the Veterans Affairs partnership with community organizations to provide transitional housing, and the VA HUD partnership 

with public housing authorities to provide permanent housing for 

veterans and their families. 

And there should be official coordination between the VA program, the office for homeless veterans, and the State Department 

of Veterans Affairs, for grant application and awards for organizations, with the respective state, to homeless veterans, and this 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
14 

would assist in fiscal accountability and local oversight of the services provided. 

New Mexico also supports efforts to diminish the national disgrace of homelessness among veterans. We applaud the permanent 

authority of the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program 

and propose authorization to increase annual spending to $130 million. State Directors of Veterans Affairs would prefer a Per Diem 

fund for homeless veterans pass through the State to nonprofit organizations to ensure greater coordination. 

Mr. Chairman, distinguished Members of the Committee, I respect the important work that you are doing to improve and support veterans who answered the call and service to our country. As 

a representative of the State Directors of Veterans Affairs and as 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs for my State, I’m dedicated to doing 

our part, but I also urge you to be mindful of the increasing financial challenge that States face, just as you addressed the fiscal 

challenges at the Federal level. I’d like to also emphasize again 

that the State Directors of Veterans Affairs, with the VA, in the 

delivery of services and care to our Nation’s patriots. 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, this concludes my 

statement. I’ll be glad to provide you a copy of this statement and 

answer any questions that you may have. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia appears on p. 50.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much, Mr. Garcia, and other the 

three panelists. 

My first question is for Ms. Angell. As part of VA’s 5-year plan 

to end veterans homelessness, the VA also plans to implement a 

national referral call center and a national homeless register. What 

are your thoughts on these new initiatives, and what other new initiatives do you think VA should include on their list? You mentioned the concept of housing first. What other new initiatives, 

such as that concept, do you think the VA should look at as it tries 

to address homelessness? 

Ms. ANGELL. Well, I think that using nonprofits, us and community-based centers, as a tool for veterans is good. I think a lot of— 

and, again, speaking just the chronically homeless, a lot of them 

are very disenfranchised. Some of them don’t even admit they’re 

veterans. They have spoken to some of the local agencies, and they 

have, like, this—I don’t know. They don’t have a great view of the 

VA. And that’s that small group. I mean, I’m talking very specifically to the chronically homeless. 

But I also think that housing, if you go for permanent housing, 

the Grant Per Diem Program, it’s great, but it’s transitional, so it’s 

2 years limited. So you get into this program, and then you have 

to move into permanent housing. But if we can go straight from the 

streets to permanent housing—that’s why Housing First is important. It takes people and puts them into permanent housing right 

away, and then delivers services that people want. 

So I think, with emergency and transitional housing, it’s temporary, and it’s so much easier to fall out of the cracks—fall into 

the cracks there. If we can get people straight into permanent 

housing, then they can move on to other permanent housing. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
15 

And that’s what we’re seeing in our permanent housing development. We put people in group homes, where we’re taking people off 

the streets and into these group homes, where they can live forever. And a good portion of them have moved out into other permanent situations. But during that time, they don’t feel threatened, 

like they have a limit of time. 

But during the time that they move in there, a lot of them are 

getting benefits and on Social Security and getting physical care. 

A lot of them are getting to doctors for the first time in decades. 

And so that kind of program, I think, is really good, in addition to 

the emergency and transitional housing. But those are mandates— 

permanent housing is the—you know, permanent. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Mr. Boyd, to help expand access to health care among our rural 

veterans population, you recommend making the fee-based care 

more readily accessible. I think that’s important, particularly for 

rural States. However, there has been some concern among some 

of the VSOs about ensuring the continuity of care among our veterans with fee-based care, as well as concern that they might be 

pushing farther away from the VA out to contract care. 

Do you share those same concerns about continuity of care and 

quality of care and—— 

Mr. BOYD. To a—— 

Mr. MICHAUD [continuing]. Loss of VA’s control? 

Mr. BOYD [continuing]. To a degree, yes, I do. However, you 

know, with continuity of care, a lot of times, the veterans that are 

in the rural areas like this, they’ll travel their 640 miles to Albuquerque from Hobbs, and they’ll receive their treatment. Three 

months later, when they go back, oftentimes, it’s not the same physician that’s attending to them. And so the continuity of care—it 

may be the same facility, but quite often, it’s not the same physicians. I understand the oversight, but the VA needs to follow 

through on that. 

Mr. MICHAUD. I’ve heard concerns from veterans service organizations in Maine. For instance, the distribution of funding for rural 

health care, through the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation 

(VERA) model places a lot of pressure on CBOCs and hospitals in 

rural areas that are part of the Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN), but not directly in that region. 

Are you concerned, or have you heard complaints about how the 

funding gets distributed from the VISN office out to rural CBOCs 

or other areas? In some cases, I’ve heard they’re actually looking 

at cutting back on fee-basis service, because they’ve got to make 

their budget balance. 

Mr. BOYD. And I don’t see a problem with that at all. As a matter of fact, I’m on the veterans council with the Big Spring hospital, 

the VA hospital, and, actually, funding has increased for our 

CBOCs, as well in Hobbs. That’s not an issue. 

We have expanded. They’re attracting a larger number of veterans. They do an outstanding job at our CBOC. The problem is, 

they’re restricted and limited in their care that they can provide to 

a veteran, and my concern has always been with those veterans, 

for example, the World War II veterans, that a lot of times, they’re 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
16 

just not physically able to travel those long distances. That’s my 

concern. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Sanchez, we’ve heard a lot about the VA 

working collaboratively with the State veterans service coordinators in certain States. Do you feel that the VA has worked collaboratively with the VSOs in this region? For instance, have you 

looked at whether they’re looking at building a new CBOC or how 

they’re going to deliver services in rural areas? How is the VA 

working with the VSOs in this area of the country? 

Mr. SANCHEZ. You know, that’s a very good question, Chairman. 

Our State—that’s why I brought my State service officer today and 

my District 3 service officer today. And if I can, with your permission, defer this question to him, since he is more in day in and day 

out. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Yes. That’ll be no problem. If you’d state your 

name for the record. 

Mr. ORTIZ. Fred Ortiz, Department Service Officer for the VFW. 

Mr. Chairman, it’s quite evident that there is a problem here, 

and I completely concur with Mr. Boyd, that sometimes the VA, as 

you put it—you’ve referred to the Medical Center; is that correct? 

Mr. MICHAUD. Yes, CBOC centers and—— 

Mr. ORTIZ. Okay. The Medical Center sometimes does not treat 

the very ill people that travel a long distance with the same doctor 

every time they come by, and that does create a problem. As a matter of fact, a lot of times, they wind up having some problems with 

housing. They travel 300 to 325 miles from home to go to the Medical Center. They want to have some place to stay, and a lot of 

them can’t afford it. 

They do have some small quarters at the Medical Center now, 

but it’s just simply not enough. It would be nice if the Medical Center had a little bit more money to probably to expand the housing 

that they presently have, which I believe it’s like 20—24, I think. 

Twenty-four people is all it’ll house. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Do you feel the VA works with the veterans service organizations or—— 

Mr. ORTIZ. No, sir. We don’t work with the Medical Centers 

quite—all that much, but we do try to get some information from 

them. If we can’t get the person that has the information; therefore, we have to go to a second or third party, and we wind up getting a lot of information that is not correct, when it comes to accomplishing some task that is important to the veteran. 

I myself and my office have received probably in the neighborhood of 15 or 20 major complaints, and I forward them to the public affairs person there at the Medical Center. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much. 

Mr. ORTIZ. Yes, sir. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Garcia, you brought up an issue concerning 

State Veterans Nursing Homes, and the Subcommittee had a hearing 2 or 3 weeks ago on that very issue. Congress passed legislation, then when VA ultimately adopted rules and regulations, defining what they considered to be the full cost of nursing home 

care. The VA regulations are troubling to a lot of the Veterans 

Nursing Homes around the country. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
17 

During that hearing, we heard some testimony that was very disturbing. For instance, in Maine, we have six State Veterans Nursing Homes. If the rules were to be implemented, the State Nursing 

Home Director said they would lose anywhere from $8 to $16 million a year. They would be forced to stop taking veterans in the 

State Veterans Nursing Homes because of that law. 

We heard from the State Veterans Nursing Home Director in Nevada that a wife of a veteran who was 100-percent disabled was 

not able to get her husband into the State Veterans Nursing Home 

because of the way the rules were being implemented. And even 

though the wife kept calling every week, ultimately the veteran 

passed away before he got into the facility. 

We also heard from another State Veterans Nursing Home that, 

what it’s going to force them to do is avoid taking care of the most 

severely disabled veterans because it costs more to take care of 

100-percent disabled veterans, because of the chronic illnesses that 

they have. Instead, they’re looking at taking the 70-percent disabled, the less severely wounded veterans, because of the rate of 

reimbursement and the issues with Medicare and Medicaid. 

What have been some of the stories that you’ve heard from State 

Veterans Nursing Homes here in New Mexico, as far as what they 

might do and how they’re going to treat the veterans in light of 

this? 

Mr. GARCIA. Well, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, one of 

the issues that we have in New Mexico—and I think it’s replicated 

across the country, and you hit on a couple there—is that we’re an 

aging population. Vietnam vets are in their mid-60s, World War II 

guys are in their 90s, and Korean veterans are in their—age 75. 

And on one hand, as the aging vet population in my State—we 

have one veteran home, the T or C Vet Home. It does an outstanding job. They have 110 beds available for my vets. There are 

5,000 beds available statewide that are not tied into the Veterans 

Home. Your State has four or five veterans homes. 

And as a population begins to age, there’s a need for more beds. 

We’re running into a lot of issues that you just articulated. We’re 

no different than other States. We had a medal of honor recipient, 

Korea, suffering from Alzheimer’s; yet, we only had 12 beds available in the state, and we had to get him accommodations up in the 

State of Colorado. 

I think the State Veterans Homes need more funding. We need 

more ways to help fund these State Veteran Homes, as the veteran 

population ages. We are currently working with our department 

and Agency on Aging, performing collaborative—see what other 

ways we can treat aging veterans and their needs. 

You know, aside from the Veterans Homes, is that we’re a huge 

rural State, and I have veterans who live in Clayton, New Mexico, 

or Farmington, have to drive 4 hours to come to the VA Medical 

Center, which is a very fine Medical Center. Though there are 

200,000 vets in my State, VISN 18 is responsible for 135,000 veterans. 

And so transportation and needs for my aging veterans and accommodations—I know the VA is looking at home care, day care 

for aging vets, but I think it’s a matter of Medicare or Medicaid 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
18 

helping to cover the costs of this and trying to come up with other 

means that could take care of an aging veteran population. 

And on one hand, then I’ve got this young veteran population. So 

we have some real unique challenges that we’re facing, an aging 

veteran population, with the young veteran population that’s a mirror image of the Vietnam generation. They’re just not showing up. 

So we’re looking at ways to expand our Veterans Home and provide 

rural service, rural care to aging vets. 

I think you articulated some of the answers that I think we’re 

looking for. We’re all finding problems with long-term care for veterans, and we need to find ways to trim that cost for our veteran 

homes. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Mr. Teague. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Angell, thank you for coming here today. I also want to 

thank you for the assistance and insight that you’ve been providing 

my office in regards to the homeless veterans that were camping 

on the outskirts of Las Cruces. You and Guy McCommon, as well 

as others, have been doing a tremendous job of getting those folks 

the assistance they need, and I want to personally thank you for 

that. 

You mentioned in your statement that we need to take a look at 

the concept of Housing First. Could you tell us a little bit more 

about that and how that program works and how would we maintain the facilities, I mean, because what we do, once we get all of 

the men and women that we can off the streets, we want to address the issues that’s keeping them homeless. 

Ms. ANGELL. Yes. Well, Housing First, I think the way that it 

works is—what we’ve done with our own program—and this would 

be one that would be designed just for veterans, kind of like the 

Per Diem Program. 

And what we did with ours is, we had the people who were actually going to live there help design the program. We could do it 

where you—it could either be scattered-site apartments, where basically, what the veterans need to do is, they need to comply with 

a lease. So all the initial efforts are to work with them on making 

sure that they maintain the lease, and that those are where the 

rules basically are. And then the other supportive services are offered to them. 

But a lot of the services are client driven, you know. They’re offered. They’re not mandated. A lot of it is getting them involved in 

activities, even taking them to plays or going to the movies or getting them into the community and reintegrating into the community. 

I think what we see, for instance, with the gentlemen that are 

living along the river and along the highway, the river, that are 

going to be forced out in a couple of weeks here, is that they’re 

not—they don’t feel a part of their own community, you know. They 

have, you know, their house. They don’t feel part of the greater 

community. So Housing First helps gets them into our community 

and to feel like one among us, instead of separate. 

Mr. TEAGUE. And that’s the other question that I was going to 

ask you, because in the case of a lot of the homeless veterans that 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
19 

would camp, that we found out here, several of those veterans, they 

seem to not have substance abuse problems, and they do have job 

skills, where they could do—but they simply do not want to go to 

a shelter or transitional facility. Do you have any suggestions on 

how we reach them? 

Ms. ANGELL. We’ve been working with a few of them, and one 

of them gave me—I quoted it in my paper, but I didn’t bring it up 

here. And, basically, you know, he and his girlfriend of 15 years— 

he’s honorably discharged from the Army many years ago. He’s 

probably not much past 50, I don’t believe. 

But they just want freedom, and they want the freedom to be 

able to, you know, make their own choices in life and maybe be 

given—you know, he doesn’t like getting up in the—you know, 

when it’s 20 degrees out, you know, he doesn’t like frying in the 

sun, but they want freedom, and there’s so many restrictions. 

I think a lot of people who are chronically homeless, they’ve paid 

their dues in rules, you know, and they don’t—they’re just kind of 

an independent lot that don’t want to prescribe to the same rules 

that you and I do. So we are—they want—we are giving them ideas 

of how we can get them into housing that would be free. 

And that particular couple is going to move on. They’ve said, you 

know, ‘‘We don’t want any troubles. We’re just going move on to the 

next place.’’ I think they just don’t believe that they’ll ever find 

housing without all the restrictions. 

So it is a tough—you know, I think we’re dealing with some of 

the most difficult people in our society to deal with, is chronically 

homeless people, because even, you know, our immigration population, a lot of them see hope and want to help—want hope. 

They’ve come here for the American dream. These other folks have 

lost the American dream, you know. They’ve lived it and lost it. 

So it’s pretty much helping them, having them help create and 

starting from the ground up with them. And we’re working on this 

program. You know, we have a housing CARES program. They’re 

live over by Apodaca Park, and we’re kind of learning as we go. 

But there are a lot of programs in the Nation. It’s just one thing 

a lot of our housing doesn’t consider is the need for operating and 

administrative costs, because if I’m looking into these great programs here, I’m not writing grants to keep our doors open and 

other things, too. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Right. 

Ms. ANGELL. And that’s where HUD falls short, pretty much, in 

fully funding the housing programs for homeless people. They forget about the administrative and the operating costs that you need 

to go along with it, so—— 

Mr. TEAGUE. Okay. Dalton, thank you again for coming over 

here, but I know that in your line of work, you end up dealing with 

a lot of issues that are related to the fee-based system. Mostly, you 

probably hear about it after the fact, when a veteran goes to a provider outside of the network. Do you think there’s more that we 

can do in explaining how the process works to our veterans, or is 

an instance where that the system needs to be streamlined? 

Mr. BOYD. We need to do a better job of explaining the program 

to our veterans, particularly with emergency care. Veterans aren’t 

familiar with the requirements needed for emergency care costs 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
20 

through fee basis. As veterans service officers, we provide the veterans with that information; but, oftentimes, it’s after the fact. 

They need to know prior to an emergency. They need to be educated on these issues relating to fee basis. 

Fee basis, if emergency health care procedures are followed properly, are taken care of in a timely manner by the VA, generally, 

within 90 days. However, if they’re not followed properly, there’s 

going to be some serious issues, and veterans need to understand 

those procedures. It’s our job to let them know that. 

Mr. TEAGUE. And, you know, a lot of them, maybe it’s hard to 

get that information to them because they’ve had a bad experience, 

of course. But how many cases do you deal with where a veteran 

finds himself in some sort of a financial bind or issue due to the 

fact that they missed this step in the fee basis system? 

Mr. BOYD. I have 4 or 5 a year, probably, in the Lea County area. 

And the Big Spring VA hospital is really good to work with, okay, 

and wherever possible, they will work with us in resolving the 

problem. 

Also needed is an education program to the emergency health 

care centers throughout the United States, not just the veterans 

hospitals, but, also, the public health care. And the hospital in Big 

Springs is actually taking—taking charge of that and going to the 

different hospitals and explaining the program and have had some 

good benefits and good rewards. 

Mr. TEAGUE. And I think that’s good. I think it’s going to be a 

lot easier to explain it to the hospitals than it is to track down all 

the groups—— 

Mr. BOYD. Thank God. 

Mr. TEAGUE [continuing]. And explain it to them. 

Are there any groups or local government agencies that the VA 

can look to to partner with in working to assist the homeless veterans? I mean, like here, the Community of Hope works with the 

Las Cruces Housing Administration. Are there some more things 

like that available that you see around in your work? 

Mr. BOYD. I utilize Manna Outreach in Hobbs. Adult Protective 

Services is always real good to work with. The best luck that I 

have is through—again, through the Big Springs hospital, through 

a substance abuse program. Most of the homeless people I see have 

substance abuse programs. If we want to really solve their homeless problems, we need to solve their substance abuse problems. We 

can do it both ways. We can cover both of those bases through this 

program in Big Springs. I’ve had several veterans that I’ve introduced to that program and each time, it’s been a success story. 

Mr. TEAGUE. How close is the closest Vet Center to your location 

there in Hobbs? 

Mr. BOYD. Midland, Texas, serves the Hobbs/Lea County area. 

Mr. TEAGUE. How many vets in the Hobbs/Lea County area do 

you think utilize the Vet Center? 

Mr. BOYD. Right now, about 15. And we have some from Carlsbad area that come over to utilize their services. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Okay. 

Mr. BOYD. Much more, I believe, would benefit from utilizing the 

Vet Centers. 

Mr. TEAGUE. If we had one locally there? 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
21 

Mr. BOYD. If we had one permanently, yeah. Absolutely. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again for coming 

over and—— 

Commander Sanchez, welcome, and thank you for your testimony 

today. Do you think that we’re doing good enough jobs of letting 

our veterans know about the telehealth service, so that they can 

utilize it? 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Congressman, there’s always room for improvement, you know. And—but, yes, I think you are right now, but, you 

know, our veterans still need, you know, more access to information technology, and all that. And I know that can—New Mexico 

is such a rural State, you know. It’s—news is hard to come around. 

And Albuquerque being the only VA hospital, that also creates a 

problem for the southernmost part, vets, you know. They either go 

to Albuquerque or Fort Bliss—— 

Mr. TEAGUE. Beaumont. 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Yes, or Holloman. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Yeah, it’s unfortunate. Some of the things that we 

love so much about our State, the wide open spaces, is a problem 

sometimes. 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Yes, it is. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Do you know of other things that maybe the VA 

could do to work with the VFW to help the homeless veterans in 

New Mexico? Do you have any other ideas on those? 

Mr. SANCHEZ. I think you covered—or Mr. Boyd covered most of 

them, you know. It’s—— 

Mr. TEAGUE. Our panel has done a good job. 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Yes, they have. Yes, they have. I know that what 

Mr. Boyd said about substance abuse, yes, it hits home. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you. Thanks for—— 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. TEAGUE [continuing]. Coming today. 

Mr. SANCHEZ. I thank the panel. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Mr. Secretary, I also thank you for taking the time 

out to come and join us here today. I appreciate you coming down. 

As you know, there are grants available to the States to build retirement homes for veterans. Currently, there is only—we only 

have the one facility here in the State. But do you think the utilization of these grants is something that New Mexico residents— 

something that we could do or—— 

Mr. SANCHEZ. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, most definitely. You know, you mentioned—and I answer in two parts. You 

mentioned, for example, telehealth. We have formed a health collaborative in the State with working with public, private, Federal 

agencies, the State agencies, and created a health collaborative, 

partnering with Presbyterian Medical Services. Part of the target 

is to address rural outreach, implementing telehealth. We’re a huge 

State, and it’s a task of getting out to the rural parts of the community to make the veterans aware of what we’ve got. Telehealth, 

I think, is the way of the future. We need to bring 21st Century 

technology into our State to deal with our veterans. 

Regarding another facility, it’s definitely needed. The VA has a 

formula based on number of veterans in our State. We have 

200,000 vets, as an example. We’re entitled to at least 220 beds. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
22 

We’re only utilizing 110 beds right now at T or C vet home. So you 

could put another—a clinic or a facility in your district of 50 beds 

or 100 more beds, and the VA would give us 65 percent funding 

for design-build-to-construct, if the State comes up with the other 

35 percent. 

And so any types of grants that are out there, my office would 

be delighted to work with you on that. And, again, I just want to 

emphasize to the Chairman and—and to you, Congressman, as I 

have to the other Congressional delegation, I honestly believe the 

State Departments of Veterans Affairs are being underutilized. 

We’re the point man. We work closely with the veterans service organizations. I have quarterly meetings with the State commanders, 

the VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, the VA 

regional office, the VA Medical Center, and that way, we’re all on 

the same sheet of music. 

I think we’re unique in New Mexico because we have a very 

strong team effort, but we have a lot of challenges, and one of those 

challenges, I think, is adequate funding. Again, as I mentioned in 

my testimony, the State’s contributed about $5 billion of their own 

money, State money, to do outreach for vets; but, yet, there’s a disconnect between the VA and the States, and there’s a greater disconnect, as you’re aware, between DoD and the VA. And so, somehow, we need to bring those three players together to implement 

the outreach and necessary services to my veterans. 

So, yeah, I think grants and more funding we definitely have to 

go after. I mean, if we can—you have the Fort Baird facility, beautiful facility. Stimulus funding could be secured to expand and continue using that beautiful facility out there, or even any part of 

your district, to take care of southern New Mexico. 

You know, we have at least a little over 30,000 veterans in 

southern New Mexico; but, yet, we take veterans in from the El 

Paso district, west Texas area, Arizona. So we have some great 

challenges, but I think there are solutions to those challenges, and 

part of that is grant and additional funding for rural States. There 

needs to be more opportunities for rural States. 

Mr. Chairman, if I may just take one more opportunity, an example of that, where I think there’s some prejudicial ruling that exists—and I’ll just use cemeteries, for example. We have a national 

cemetery in our State which is in Santa Fe. There are 30,000-plus 

burials there. But there’s a current ruling that says you must have 

175,000 veterans in a 75-mile radius. Well, hell—excuse me—we’ll 

never qualify for that ruling, so we have to stick to State-funded 

programs. 

And State-funded programs mean the State has to commit for 

perpetuity, for maintaining and operating the facility. So it’s a prejudicial ruling towards western States. It forces us into State-funded programs, which are great programs, but that ruling needs to 

be changed, you know. It should be—take out the 75-mile rule and 

just say 175,000 veterans. 

And so I point that out because, honestly, I believe that rural 

States, there’s prejudicial rulings, and sometimes, because of lack 

of large population base, we’re ignored, in terms of grants and/or 

funding opportunities, and so we have to work very aggressively 

with you and our Congressmen to ensure that those funds come in. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
23 

And, again, I just say that I think as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, I think my agency, working with our governor, working with 

our Congressional delegation and our State legislative body, we can 

be very effective to assist the VFW, American Legion, Military 

Order of the Purple Heart, through grants or contracts that come 

in through my office, which also allows us to become the fiscal 

agent, to ensure that these funds are being spent correctly and the 

outreach is being done. So I—that’s a long answer to your question, 

sir. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Well, but thank you for it. 

And that’s all the questions I have. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Once again, I want to thank all the panelists for 

your testimony here this afternoon. I look forward to working with 

you, as we move forward to try to improve access and programs for 

our veterans, regardless of where they live, urban or rural areas. 

Once again, I want to thank the panelists for coming. 

Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Chairman of the Committee, I also just want to 

make sure that you’re aware that today is National Vietnam Veteran Tribute Day. So on behalf of all of the Vietnam veterans, 

they’re all being honored and recognized nationally. So welcome all 

my Vietnam veteran brothers. 

Mr. MICHAUD. I’d like to ask the second panel to come forward. 

I’d like to ask Mr. Teague, if you would, to introduce our second 

panel as well. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Yes, I would. I’ll start with Ms. Bratton. Thank you, 

and thanks for all that you do for the airmen and everybody at 

Holloman Air Force Base. 

Ms. Bowers, thank you for coming. We just met a little while ago, 

but I appreciate you taking the effort to come this far to be with 

us, and everything. 

Mr. Marnell, George, thank you again for coming down. You and 

Mr. Singleton both have been a regular occurrence. I don’t know 

whether we’ll have you next month, but we’ll have you back. Thank 

you for coming again. 

And, Guy, Mr. McCommon, thank you, and thank you for all that 

you do with everybody in the Vet Center here. 

And, once again, I thank all of y’all for being here today. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you, Mr. Teague, and we’ll start our testimony with Ms. Bratton. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
24 

STATEMENTS SHIRLEY BRATTON, DIRECTOR, AIRMAN AND 

FAMILY READINESS CENTER, HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, 

NM, DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

DEFENSE; SUSAN P. BOWERS, DIRECTOR, VETERANS AFFAIRS SOUTHWEST HEALTH CARE NETWORK, VETERANS 

HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE MARNELL, DIRECTOR, 

NEW MEXICO VA HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, VETERANS HEALTH 

ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; GRANT SINGLETON, DIRECTOR, ALBUQUERQUE VETERANS AFFAIRS REGIONAL OFFICE, VETERANS BENEFITS 

ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; AND GUY MCCOMMON, TEAM LEADER, LAS CRUCES 

VET CENTER, READJUSTMENT COUNSELING SERVICE, VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

VETERANS AFFAIRS 

STATEMENT OF SHIRLEY BRATTON 

Ms. BRATTON. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Michaud and 

Congressman Teague. My name is Shirley Bratton. I’m representing the Airman and Family Readiness Center at Holloman 

Air Force Base, New Mexico, which has the responsibility—— 

Mr. TEAGUE. Is the microphone on? 

Ms. BRATTON. Which has the—I’ll get closer. 

Mr. TEAGUE. All right. 

Ms. BRATTON. Which has the responsibility for the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for our supported population. Just a little 

bit about our population. Approximately, there are about 13,000 

folks that are out there at Holloman. Three thousand are military 

members, 1,000 civilian employees, 3,000 U.S. dependents, 4,000 

retirees and their families, about 500 German, and 700 are German dependents. We make up—the military related—about 47 percent of the Alamogordo population. 

Our mission there, as the 49th Fighter Wing, which is where I’m 

from, is to fly, fight, and win. We are providing combatant commanders, combat-ready airmen, mission-ready MQ–1 and MQ–9 

crews, F–22s, and BEAR-based assets anywhere, anytime. 

In particular, the Transition Assistance Program that we provide 

our airmen and our families, what we do out there is, we provide 

consultation services to our commanders and assist them in developing and executing policies and programs which enhance individual, family, and community readiness. We support and maintain 

the mission readiness by assisting individuals and families with 

adapting to the challenging demands of military lifestyle. 

The Holloman Airman and Family Readiness Center is responsible for providing services to separating or retiring military and civilian personnel and their families transitioning from the military 

into the private sector and/or civilian lifestyle/workforce. The focus 

of TAP is to provide the information, skills, and knowledge needed 

for a successful transition. 

To ensure we offer the necessary services and support required 

by Air Force instruction, we provide the following: Mandatory 

preseparation counseling, logistic support for the Department of 

Labor TAP workshop, and other Air Force programs and support. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
25 

The mandatory preseparation counseling. We provide mandatory 

preseparation counseling and supplemental preseparation counsel 

for regular Air Force members who are retiring, regular Air Force 

members who are separating for disability, regular Air Force members separating after serving at least 180 days of continuous active 

duty, and Reserve and National Guard members who are released 

from active duty after 180 days of mobilization. 

Military members are required to attend an individual 

preseparation counseling session or small group presentation within no less than 90 days prior to separation and retirement. In addition, Public Law 107–103, Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, authorize retirees and separatees to participate 

in transition activities as early as 24 months for retirees and 12 

months for separatees. 

Preseparation counsel includes information and referral, career 

change information, employment assistance, Federal employment, 

education and training, relocation assistance, health and life insurance, and reserve affiliation. Additionally, we assist the members 

with development of an individual transition plan, as requested. As 

required, we document all preseparation counseling on appropriate 

forms. At Holloman, in 2009, 225 members received preseparation 

counseling, while 406 received services in 2008. 

The actual workshop, the TAP workshop, is a coordinated effort 

with the State Department of Labor offices in New Mexico, the 

local career center, the Veterans Administration, Veterans Service 

Office, and the Holloman Airman and Family Readiness Center. 

All of these offices meet on a quarterly basis to look at local and 

national employment trends, review classroom presentation and 

critiques from the past quarter’s seminars. If changes are needed 

to be made, it is a group effort. The close relationship between TAP 

workshop presenters and the Airman and Family Readiness Center 

ensures a comprehensive, quality workshop. 

The Airman and Family Readiness Center provides logistics support for the TAP workshop. The center provides classroom facilities, notification, registration, and ongoing publicity. Typically, our 

workshops have about 30 to 50 participants. Spouses are highly encouraged to attend. Some of the topics covered are strategies for effective job search, interviewing, employment resume, self-assessment, and dress for success. 

Currently, we are operating a High Year of Tenure seminar, 

which was added for our enlisted members affected by the recent 

changes in policy. During this seminar, attendees receive information on the guidelines affecting their separation, resources available to them, educational opportunities, financial planning, information, and relocation assistance. Additionally, we have worked 

with our officers and enlisted personnel who have been affected by 

force shaping. 

In Alamogordo, we have collaborated with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lear Siegler, National Enrichment Facility, and 

other local businesses to host job fairs. We collaborated with the 

Small Business Administration to host the ‘‘Start Your Own Business’’ workshop, and we work with many educational institutions 

to help our folks with that. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
26 

The DTAP, the disability portion, is where we develop—this was 

developed specifically for servicemembers who were separating/retiring with medical disabilities. At Holloman, the briefings are open 

to anyone planning to file a claim. The program provides members 

with specialized information and application procedures about the 

VA vocational rehabilitation program. TAP explains the process on 

obtaining the individual counseling on handling a disabling situation. Presenters from the Department of Labor and VA provide 

briefings. We conduct this once a month. In 2009, 300 folks attended those briefings. 

The next program that we have is the Air Force Wounded Warrior. We provide individual, personalized support for our Air Force 

wounded warriors. These airmen are our top priority. The previously mentioned services, we take care of those folks with those. 

In addition, we support their families with more financial counseling, relocation services, education services, employment assistance. Additionally, our Air Force Personnel Center Air Force 

Wounded Warrior program staff provides follow-up services for no 

less than 5 years after those folks have been separated or retired. 

The general feedback that we receive from our workshops is, it’s 

an excellent workshop. It’s a lot of information. Small business 

briefing for—Small Business Administration, really enjoy. 

During the counseling, our folks say, hey, it’s a lot of great information. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done before you retire, and it’s a lot of work for their family and themselves. 

Our workshops that we provide in support of those, along with 

those traditional ones, we do things such as resume writing, house 

buying, plan my move, stress management. Of course, it’s very 

stressful separating from the military after several years. Our 

workshops are evaluated annually, and they continue to receive 

outstanding support. 

And then our first-term airmen that are separating from the 

military possibly, we do something called ‘‘Informed Decision,’’ to 

give them a look at the pros and cons of whether they definitely 

want to separate. 

And, again, Team Holloman is proud to provide programs, services, and support to our transitioning military members and their 

families. Thank you. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Bratton appears on p. 53.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Ms. Bowers. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN P. BOWERS 

Ms. BOWERS. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, and Members 

of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to allow me to 

present to you today how the Department of Veterans Affairs is 

making health care more accessible to veterans in New Mexico. I 

am accompanied today by George Marnell, the Director of the New 

Mexico VA Health Care System, and I appreciate the opportunity 

to be able to discuss our ongoing efforts to ensure veterans receive 

timely access to high-quality care, benefits, and services that we 

can provide. 

New Mexico VA Health Care System is a proud member of this 

VA Southwest Health Care Network, Veterans Integrated Service 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
27 

Network 18, centered in Mesa, Arizona. My testimony will provide 

an overview of the New Mexico VA Health Care System and other 

services in New Mexico and explain programs and strategies to 

meet the challenges associated with providing quality care to veterans across a vast geographic area of New Mexico. 

The New Mexico VA Health Care System serves veterans in New 

Mexico through VA-staffed community-based outpatient clinics in 

Artesia, Farmington, Gallup, Raton, Santa Fe, and Silver City, and 

through contracted CBOCs in Alamogordo, Durango, Espanola, Las 

Vegas, and Truth or Consequences. The main campus of the New 

Mexico VA Health Care System is the Raymond G. Murphy VA 

Health Care Center in Albuquerque. It is a tertiary care referral 

system for veterans receiving care throughout New Mexico, including those seen in the Clovis CBOC, which is managed by the Amarillo VA Medical Center; the Hobbs CBOC, managed by the West 

Texas VA Health Care System; and the Las Cruces CBOC, managed by the El Paso VA Health Care System. 

There are 14 CBOCs within the State of New Mexico. Nine of 

them are VA staffed and five through contracted services. New 

Mexico VA Health Care System is actively deploying approaches to 

enhance care for veterans who do not reside near the Albuquerque 

facility. Enhancements in quality have been made to CBOCs and 

rural health programs throughout New Mexico. 

For example, the New Mexico VA Health Care System has significantly enhanced quality of care in all of the CBOCs, as measured by numerous clinical care performance measures. We accomplished this through careful coordination of several initiatives 

throughout the ambulatory care setting. 

Our facilities now meet more than 85 percent of targeted performance metrics, compared to just 14 percent in fiscal year 2008. 

The significant turnaround was highlighted during a VA regional 

conference on system redesign in October of 2009. 

New Mexico VA Health Care System has installed state-of-theart telemedicine equipment in all six of the VA-staffed clinics, as 

well as the Durango contracted CBOC. Currently, telemental 

health services are available, and we have secured equipment and 

staff to reduce the need for veterans to travel long distances to the 

Albuquerque VA Medical Center. The Alamogordo contract CBOC 

is very close to installing and activating equipment to provide telemental health services. 

We are continuing, also, to provide for teledermatology through 

a program that is being developed where we are purchasing cameras and lighting equipment for all 11 CBOCs. CBOC staff will use 

this equipment to take photographs of skin conditions and send 

these images to the dermatologist at the Albuquerque VA Medical 

Center. The dermatologist will review the photographs and make 

a medical determination for a treatment plan with the primary 

care provider in the rural location. 

New Mexico VA Health Care System has installed and is using 

teleretinal cameras for retinal eye exams of diabetic patients in five 

of its six CBOCs to eliminate the need to travel to Albuquerque for 

these exams. VA is leasing additional space at the Santa Fe CBOC 

to allow teleretinal services to begin in April of 2010. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
28 

New Mexico VA Health Care System has greatly expanded the 

number of veterans receiving care coordinated home telehealth, 

called ‘‘CCHT,’’ which provides devices veterans can use in their 

home to communicate with dedicated nursing and physician staff 

at the Albuquerque VA Medical Center. This program grew 24 percent during fiscal year 2009 with New Mexico, ending its yearly average daily census, every day, of having 177 patients in that program. 

Additionally, through the national VHA rural health initiative, the New Mexico VA Medical Center has secured a total of $3.8 million to further fund expansion in the telehealth program to 500 additional veterans. Then telemedicine coordination with Albuquerque will also be expanded. These services will also include pre 

and postsurgical care, education, and follow-up for veterans. 

High-resolution telemedicine units for surgical specialities consultative purposes have been purchased for 11 CBOCs operated in 

New Mexico. The telemedicine units are called total examination 

cameras and are capable of examining ears, skin, mouth, feet, and 

surgical sites for postoperative evaluation. 

Based on the 2009 Community Homelessness Assessment, Local 

Education and Networking Groups, called ‘‘CHALENG survey,’’ 

there were approximately 460 homeless veterans serviced in the 

area of—for Albuquerque and an additional 200 veterans, homeless 

veterans, in the El Paso region on any given night, many of whom 

are not in our urban areas and many that are located in urban 

areas. 

New Mexico works with the community providers across the 

State to address veterans homelessness issues. VA supports 80 

beds for homelessness through a Grant and Per Diem Program and 

another 40 beds through Domiciliary Residential Rehabilitation 

Treatment Program. There are 105 Housing and Urban Development/VA supportive housing vouchers available to homeless veterans in New Mexico. 

The New Mexico VA Health Care System Women’s Veterans’ 

Program offers comprehensive primary care, gynecology, cancer 

screening, and preventive care, while also collaborating with behavioral health programs to offer counseling. The New Mexico VA 

Health Care System mammography program is certified by the 

Mammography Quality Standards Act and accredited by the American College of Radiology. The New Mexico VA Health Care Systems Women’s Comprehensive Care Clinic has provided assistance 

to several homeless women veterans and provided referral or treatment as necessary. 

Of the 16,000 women veterans in New Mexico, over 3,500 are enrolled for VA care and almost 3,000 are active users. The New 

Mexico VA Health Care System is located near the Kirtland Air 

Force Base, and many women veterans return and settle in the Albuquerque region after deployment. VA has seen a six percent increase in the number of women veterans over the last year, and it 

expects to serve more than 5,750 veterans by the year 2014. 

VA is also making improvements for veterans who need to travel 

long distances for specialized care in Albuquerque. Congress provided funding to raise the mileage reimbursement rate from 11 

cents a mile to 41.5 cents a mile, to help defray costs for veterans 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
29 

who are eligible for beneficiary travel. In 2009, the New Mexico VA 

Health Care System opened an eight-bedroom, 16-bed, on-campus 

housing facility, with private rooms and bath, called Heroes Hall. 

We recently finished construction on phase two of this initiative, 

opening four additional rooms for occupancy. We expect to fully activate this facility by May 2010. It will double the current capacity 

by—and be sufficient to accommodate increased demand. This temporary lodging is furnished at no charge, through the New Mexico 

VA Health Care System, when veterans are traveling more than 

120 miles one way to the Medical Center to receive care or compensation and pension examination. Veterans are often accompanied by an adult care provider or a significant other, who can 

also stay the night on the hospital grounds just before or after their 

appointments. 

VISN 18 and the New Mexico VA Health Care System continuously strive to improve access to veterans in rural areas through 

strategic planning initiatives that identify outreach and rural 

health opportunities. We appreciate this opportunity to meet with 

you here and to allow you to hear your thoughts—to allow us to 

hear your thoughts and the opinions of other witnesses today. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement, and I’m pleased to 

answer any questions you might have. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Bowers appears on p. 56.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Singleton. 

STATEMENT OF GRANT SINGLETON 

Mr. SINGLETON. My name is Grant Singleton. I’m the director for 

the Albuquerque Regional Office. 

I appreciate very much, Chairman Michaud and Congressman 

Teague, for inviting me here to share with you what our regional 

office is doing, in terms of providing outreach to veterans. 

The Albuquerque Regional Office administers benefits, disability 

compensation and pension, for veterans and dependents. We also 

have occasional rehabilitation employment assistive services for 

them, and our goal is to deliver comprehensive and diverse nonmedical benefits and services in a timely, accurate, and professional manner. 

We provide outreach briefings; Transition Assistance Program 

and Disabled Transition Assistance Program briefings at each of 

the three Air Force bases in New Mexico. These briefings do provide comprehensive nonmedical benefits and service information to 

servicemembers who will soon be released from active duty. 

During this past fiscal year, the RO provided approximately 60 

briefings to almost 2,000 attendees. For this fiscal year, so far, 

we’ve conducted 30 briefings to almost 750 attendees. We’re working hard to reach our Native American veterans. We know that 

many of them live in rural areas, and it’s difficult, at times, to 

reach them all. There’s a number of different communities that 

we’re putting forth effort to reach. 

This past fiscal year, we conducted 40 outreach events, reaching 

about 1,500 Native American veterans. So far this fiscal year, we’ve 

conducted 10 outreach events, reaching about 375 Native American 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
30 

veterans. We need to continue to increase efforts to reach those in 

remote areas. 

We’ve assigned two additional employees and, also, purchased an 

additional vehicle to cover these highly rural areas. We also assist 

veterans service organizations and the Veterans Health Administration support homeless veterans with stand-down efforts. This 

past fiscal year, there was several hundred veterans who received 

help with completing claims for benefits and who received a substantial meal, warm clothing, shoes, haircuts, and identification 

cards. 

Our regional office employees visit the VA Medical Center 

monthly to reach out to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation 

Enduring Freedom veterans and to expedite the receipt of their 

benefits. We also work closely with Congressional liaisons and attend outreach events sponsored by Congressional offices. 

Our vocational rehabilitation and employment (VR&E) division 

job labs assist veterans to look for jobs on the Internet. We have 

printers and various other job-seeking materials. Our VR&E employment coordinator and the New Mexico Workforce Solutions Disabled Veterans Outreach program representative are available at 

these job labs to assist in answering questions and to provide them 

information and services. 

We’ve been highly successful in working with Federal agencies in 

New Mexico, including the U.S. Forest Service, Kirtland Air Force 

Base, and the Bureau of Reclamation, to place disabled veterans in 

suitable jobs. During this past year, 12 disabled veterans found employment in a Federal posting. Our VR&E staff aggressively marketed the program to Federal employers, which also helped veterans participating in State vocational rehabilitation programs. 

A monthly employment workshop is conducted in collaboration 

with the Department of Workforce Solutions for veterans within 

the VR&E program, as well as all veterans who have an interest 

in learning basic interviewing skills, resume writing, and personal 

presentation. 

In addition to the staff at the Albuquerque Regional Office, we 

have eight employees that were temporary hires under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These employees are making 

direct contributions, to include improving claims processing by assisting with development of claims and mail processing. The claims 

processing division, has 81 employees. Our vocational rehabilitation 

and employment division has 11 employees who also serve at our 

satellite offices in Las Cruces and Santa Fe. 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Albuquerque Regional Office is 

committed to providing veterans and their families all the benefits 

and services available to them in a timely, accurate, and professional manner. 

This concludes my testimony. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much. 

Mr. McCommon. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Singleton appears on p. 57.] 

STATEMENT OF GUY MCCOMMON 

Mr. MCCOMMON. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Congressman 

Teague, Counsel. Thank you for allowing me to appear before you 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
31 

today to discuss the New Mexico Vet Center’s efforts to improve 

rural access and outreach, as well as transition from servicemember to veteran. 

VA’s Vet Centers are a different kind of environment, a caring, 

nonclinical setting, in which veterans can receive care. Vet Centers 

serve combat veterans and their families by providing quality readjustment counseling. Vet Center care consists of a continuum of social and psychological services, including community outreach to 

special populations and referrals to services with community agencies. 

VA maintains a trained, qualified cadre of professional mental 

health professionals and other licensed counselors to provide professional readjustment counseling for combat-related PTSD and comorbid conditions, such as depression and substance use disorders. 

Nationally, over 60 percent of Vet Centers direct readjustment 

counseling staff are qualified mental health professionals, such as 

licensed psychologists, social workers, and psychiatric nurses. 

When necessary, for the treatment of more complex mental health 

conditions, Vet Centers refer veterans to VA medical facilities for 

mental health services and promote active partnership with their 

VA mental health counterparts to better serve our veterans. 

There are four Vet Centers located in New Mexico: One in Farmington, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces. The Santa Fe and 

Las Cruces Vet Centers are each home to a Mobile Vet Center. A 

core value of the Vet Centers is to promote access to care by helping veterans and families overcome barriers that impede the receipt of needed services. 

To extend the geographical reach of the Vet Center’s services, VA 

has implemented initiatives to ensure that new Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veterans can access 

its care. VA Vet Centers in New Mexico employ 15 counselors, four 

office managers, two Mobile Vet Center drivers, and one Global 

War on Terrorism, GWOT, outreach technician. Twelve of the 15 

clinicians are licensed clinical social workers. Eight are bilingual, 

and 13 are veterans. 

VA has extensive plans to provide outreach services to rural communities in New Mexico. In southern New Mexico, the Las Cruces 

Vet Center provides weekly outreach and clinical services to veterans in the Silver City area and the Truth or Consequences community. They also provide outreach to communities, such as 

Roswell, Artesia, and Alamogordo, Lordsburg, and Deming, New 

Mexico. 

The two Mobile Vet Centers in New Mexico have been providing 

outreach and counseling services in the rural communities of New 

Mexico and several American Indian pueblos. A third Mobile Vet 

Center, housed in Chinle, Arizona, on a Navajo reservation, also 

provides outreach coverage to the northwest corner of New Mexico. 

Mobile Vet Center outreach events have been staged in 22 different New Mexico communities. Most of these efforts have coincided with events, such as the Moving Wall, Veteran’s Day Parade, 

Run for the Wall, State and local veterans affairs, and the yellow 

ribbon gatherings. Other events include a day at the zoo for OIF/ 

OEF veterans in the El Paso, Texas, area, beyond the yellow ribbon 

event for women veterans, and the third annual southern Arizona 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
32 

gathering of American Indian veterans and the 11th annual Native 

American symposium in Albuquerque. 

The Mobile Vet Centers have been well utilized for over 79 different events in the past year alone. Outreach to other special populations include visits to some communities that have primarily 

Hispanic veterans, homeless veteran stand-downs in Albuquerque, 

veteran events at veterans service organization posts, and other 

veteran-orientated events. 

The Santa Fe Vet Center has a GWOT outreach technician, who 

provides outreach to National Guard and Reserve units throughout 

the State, as well as at active duty military sites. Several local 

units were deployed to combat last year and are scheduled to return home in June of 2010. The GWOT outreach technician is 

working with the New Mexico National Guard State family program director and staff to provide outreach and counseling services 

to all units upon their return. 

The GWOT outreach technician from Santa Fe attended 54 different welcome home events at the National Guard and Reserve 

units throughout the State, veterans clubs gatherings at universities, events sponsored by community hospitals for veterans, and 

two powwows for Native American veterans sponsored by local 

tribes. He also has been the guest on two radio programs and attended a variety of other community meetings to speak about veterans issues and services. 

The New Mexico Vet Centers have provided outreach and services at all Post-Deployment Health Reassessments (PDHRA), and 

Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program events, held by the National 

Guard and Reserve units in New Mexico. And VA’s New Mexico 

Vet Centers also provide counseling to 303 recently returned combat veterans in fiscal year 2009 and 155 in the first 5 months of 

2010. 

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you, and I’m prepared to answer your questions at this time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. McCommon appears on p. 59.] 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much, and thank you to the other 

witnesses as well. 

My first question is for Ms. Bowers. You stated that there are 

105 vouchers available for homeless veterans in New Mexico. How 

many of those vouchers are actually being used? 

Mr. MARNELL. Roughly, half of them are being used, and the 

other—— 

Ms. BOWERS. We did receive new vouchers this year. So about 50 

percent of those were vouchers from 2009, which are currently 

being used. The vouchers from 2008 are being used. And so that 

is—of the 105, we do have those that are remaining—that are for 

2010. So about half of them are still to be issued. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Do you expect them to be issued soon or—— 

Ms. BOWERS. Yes. There was some delay here in the State for the 

issuing of the vouchers, and it was a State-related issue, and that 

has been resolved, so we are now issuing those vouchers. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Great. Thank you. 

Also for Mrs. Bowers, you heard Mr. Garcia talk about the State 

Veterans Nursing Home and, looking at VISN 18, you cover several 

States. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
33 

Ms. BOWERS. Yes. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Have you heard from State Veterans Nursing 

Homes in other States, on the problems that they’re facing because 

of the new rules and regulations? 

Ms. BOWERS. I think all of the State Veterans Homes are facing 

issues because of the new regulations; that it would be very difficult for them to maintain the financial viability that they have 

had to this point under the new regulations. 

But we are also seeing other States moving forward with additional State Homes, where just breaking—we just broke ground in 

Tucson for a new Veterans Home that is partly funded by VA resources. And so I think we have some issues about the regulations 

that are going to need to be relooked at, to make sure that those 

State Homes can remain viable. 

They are of significant benefit to the veterans within each of 

those States, and quite frankly, the national VA would not be able 

to provide nursing home care to veterans in the numbers that we 

do without those State Veterans Homes helping in that very special 

way. 

Mr. MICHAUD. And as a VISN director—and I’ve heard the same 

thing from other VISNs as well—are you letting the central office 

know the problems that you’re facing within your VISN, with the 

State Veterans Nursing Homes and the rules that came out? 

Ms. BOWERS. There is the National Leadership Board, of which 

I am a member of, and there has been some discussion at the National Leadership Board of these issues. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Very good. Thank you. 

Under the CARES process that concluded in 2004, some States 

are to receive new CBOCs as new access points. Are there any new 

ones that hasn’t been built or presented in VISN 18? 

Ms. BOWERS. The two remaining CBOCs for the CARES process 

is east El Paso, which we’ll be opening very soon, and—— 

Mr. MARNELL. The northwest—— 

Ms. BOWERS. The northwest metro, which is Rio Rancho, and 

that one is also in the process of being established. Those are two 

that are remaining through the CARES process. There are some 

other areas that we have identified within our network, in the strategic planning process within our network, for additional development of outreach centers, which are small CBOCs. Some of them 

are part time, where they might be 3 days a week or 2 days a 

week, instead of a full 5-day-a-week process. 

And we anticipate that we will be moving forward with approval 

for a number of additional new outreach CBOCs very soon. We 

have been doing planning for this market. The CARES identifies 

the New Mexico/west Texas market as a single market for our network, and we are identifying particular gaps in mental health care 

and in some laboratory services that we have identified. The new 

strategic plan this year will identify new gaps within those markets as well. 

Mr. MICHAUD. And as you move forward with the additional access points for VISN 18, are you working collaboratively with, for 

instance, the State Veterans Nursing Home? I’ll give you an example. In Maine, we have two new community-based health clinics 

that are going to be built. State Veterans Nursing Home in Maine 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
34 

have actually been working with the VA, so, at their State Veterans Nursing Home site, there’s going to be a brand new CBOC 

and low-income housing on their facility. So we have a campus 

with providing a lot of veterans services. 

Likewise, in the western Auburn area, the State Veterans Nursing Home knew that there was going to be a facility down in that 

area, so they actually went out and were able to purchase land 

with the option to buy, so they can build the new CBOC there. But, 

also, they want to offer, on that same campus, adult day care facilities for veterans. 

So as you move forward with new access points, are you working 

collaboratively with the State Veterans Nursing Homes to see if 

they might be able to do a similar thing in this region? 

Ms. BOWERS. Well, I will admit that we have done more in the 

State of Arizona than the State of New Mexico. There are two— 

beside the breaking of the ground of the Tucson VA—Tucson State 

Veterans Home, which happens to be on the grounds of the VA 

Medical Center in Tucson, so the State Veterans Home will be colocated with that VA facility. And in Phoenix, the State Veterans 

Home is on the campus or adjacent to the campus of the Phoenix 

VA Medical Center. 

We do have CBOC locations in the areas of—in the same towns 

that we currently have the State Homes here in New Mexico, and 

I think it’s a wonderful idea, when construction is being planned, 

for us to work together. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Mr. McCommon, first of all, thank you for the tour of the Vet 

Center earlier this morning. I really appreciate it, and I think Vet 

Centers are definitely worth the money that are put into them. The 

peer-to-peer counseling they offer and the work of Vet Centers all 

across the country is to be commended, and I commend you as well 

for what you’re doing here in New Mexico. 

My question is, if you had a wish list of anything else that you 

would need for Vet Centers, what would that wish list be? Now is 

your opportunity. 

Mr. MCCOMMON. Congress has been very generous with readjustment counseling services over the last few years, as far as adding 

appropriated funds, so that we could expand. My personal wish 

would be to see a Vet Center in every community that had veterans 

in every State in the Nation, so a veteran would not have to take 

and travel to get services. That would be my personal wish, and 

I know it is a wish. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Ms. Bratton and Mr. Singleton, I’ve been impressed, with the 

statistics of the number on veterans that the VA has reached out 

to through the TAP sessions. However, the output data talks about 

the number of encounters that you’ve had with the individuals. I’m 

really interested in what really matters, quite frankly; the quality 

of the outreach and the message that is being conveyed to the individuals who attend these TAP sessions. I’d like to know if you have 

any performance measures that would actually measure and track 

the outcome of individuals that attend these TAP sessions. 

Ms. BRATTON. Currently, no, but we do measure them initially. 

We do have surveys that we do, that give us the feedback from 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
35 

that. Unless there is a critical need, that’s kind of where our services end, as far as tracking them. We do do continued workshops, 

as the VA folks do, also, of the resumes, and maybe global feedback 

that they give us that the services are outstanding. 

The Air Force Wounded Warriors, we track those folks every 

month, that we have in our area, so we know what their status is 

every month for at least 5 years. But the other folks, you know, we 

don’t track them after they get done with the transition case. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Singleton. 

Mr. SINGLETON. Yes, sir. I’m not aware of any information being 

tracked. We do get the feedback after the session or when the veteran applies for a claim. We’ll ask how did the briefing go? What 

did you hear? We look at the veterans input to see if we can tweak 

the presentation or focus on things they discuss. But written tracking, not that I’m aware of. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. 

Mr. Teague. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you. I thank all of you again for coming. 

Ms. Bratton, on the issue of the disabled airman, you know, I 

think that that’s wonderful, how you all are reaching out to the 

veterans. You said that you provide this for airmen that are in the 

process of filing a claim. Do you reach out to that veteran once 

they’re in here, in recovery, or, I mean, is it a proactive or reactive 

type of situation? 

Ms. BRATTON. Some of both. Proactive when they’re still active 

duty folks, and they’re getting out, and we have those workshops. 

Reactive, because sometimes you have folks that have already retired from the military that come to our monthly disability workshops. Reactive, in the sense—it’s somewhat proactive, again, when 

you’re talking about your Air Force wounded warriors and continuing with their tracking process, making sure that system is 

flowing well for them. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Do you also offer any counseling for the families of 

wounded warriors? 

Ms. BRATTON. Absolutely. Not only for the wounded warriors, but 

for our retirees and our military members. Very high on the scope 

is our Air Force wounded warriors. Again, back to that full continuum of care, anything that they need is a number-one high priority, whether it’s relocation assistance for housing, employment, 

mental health services. Absolutely, sir. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Ms. Bowers, I thank you for coming, and I guess 

you probably came the farthest, though not a lot farther than Boyd 

came. Where is it from Mesa? About 300 miles or a little over? 

Ms. BOWERS. It’s an airplane ride for an hour. I don’t know. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Well, Dalton didn’t get to ride in the airplane. He 

had to drive his 250 miles. 

But, hey, we’re going to have several questions for you, actually, 

but one of the first things I wanted to address was the issues that 

come up frequently in New Mexico, regarding the story in Farmington about what’s going on up there. And I wonder if you maybe, 

you could put that to rest since, as you said earlier in your testimony, that most of the things are being done in Arizona and VISN 

18, that, now, we’re starting to see them happen in New Mexico. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
36 

Ms. BOWERS. Oh, I didn’t say most things were happening in Arizona. I did mention the State Home, our relationship. The story out 

of the Farmington Press—and I will tell you that I found out about 

this when the newspaper article came out—that someone in the 

Farmington area wishes to build a hospital, spending $3 billion on 

the construction of this facility; promises 8,000 jobs at that facility. 

And the plan is to lease that facility back to the VA, so that the 

VA would be the occupant and the person who would be using that 

facility, and it would be placed in the area around Farmington. 

That was the first I had heard of that. It came as a surprise to 

me, since that is an area that is under my jurisdiction and my strategic planning area, so I was surprised to see that. And, quite honestly, there are a number of things about the proposal that concerned me. There has never been a VA hospital built anywhere for 

over $1 billion, and this is to be $3 billion. They also say that it 

will employ 8,000 people. In my entire network, I have just slightly 

over 10,000 employees. So the scope of the program is a little extreme. 

They are talking about some assisted-living facilities being built 

there as well, and under current regulations, VA is not permitted 

to pay for assisted living, so those would not be facilities that the 

VA would even be able to operate, if they were constructed. 

They keep saying that they’re talking to someone in VA, but I 

have not yet been able to figure out who this—who they have been 

talking with. I do know that VA does have a very extensive strategic planning process, that works from the national level, and that 

it identifies the areas for growth and where the next VA hospital 

will be built, and it is not in the Farmington area. Basically, 

they’re looking for a large-population areas, which, of course, are 

urban areas. They’re not rural areas. So I’m not sure that the concept is one that the VA would readily respond to. 

Mr. TEAGUE. If I could skip around a little bit, but I’d like to ask 

Secretary Garcia: Is there any New Mexico connection to that VA? 

Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, this is an individual that came out of Colorado; apparently, says he’s got a lot of 

money. During the legislative session, he came by our office, and 

when the press release came out, it was new to us. Immediately, 

we talked to George Marnell about it, the VA, and we’re not engaged with it, nor is the VA. We’ve already talked to some of the 

community leaders up in Farmington, so right now, it’s a lot of blue 

sky and smoke. That’s what I think about it. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Okay. Back to you, Ms. Bowers. As you’re well 

aware, our CBOCs in New Mexico are growing, and many of the 

facilities are outdated. Could you tell us about any specific steps 

that were taken to maybe upgrade them? 

Ms. BOWERS. We have, right now, ongoing, an entire plan for the 

expansion of our CBOCs. We are looking for additional space in 

Artesia. We’re looking for relocating the clinic in Silver City to be 

larger. When I say ‘‘relocating,’’ it means to a bigger building, not 

to a different city. 

Mr. TEAGUE. If I could interrupt just a little bit right there, 

but—since we’re talking about Silver City—you know, I’m proud to 

say that I have a very active group of veterans that—veterans advocates from Silver City, New Mexico, and they’ve been speaking 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
37 

to me about the possibility of the new Fort Baird Hospital there in 

Grant County housing the CBOC. Is that something—since we’re 

looking for space and that’s been made available, is that something 

we could look at? 

I mean, I know that it’s usually done different, but, I mean, we’re 

doing a lot of things out of the box, and everything. And could we 

possibly do that with a memorandum of understanding with the 

county, or something? Is it something we could at least consider in 

looking into? 

Ms. BOWERS. The advertisements are going out in the paper on 

April the 15th, and it would be very feasible for the hospital to— 

you know, to put forward their space as space that we could potentially lease. In fact, we would very much appreciate that. Many of 

the CBOCs in the areas that I have been in before are actually located in professional clinic space, within hospital settings. So if 

they’re in the process of putting something together, they have 

some space available, we would really appreciate their responding 

to the ad we will be placing in the paper in April. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Thank you. I’m sorry I interrupted you. Go back to 

what you were saying. But I did want—— 

Ms. BOWERS. I think that’s an excellent idea. 

We’re also looking at expansion in Rio Rancho. We are also looking at relocation and expansion in Farmington; also, in Raton. That 

is already out in the paper. And so we’re looking for additional 

space there. In Gallup, we’re looking at additional space, summertime of next year. And Santa Fe, that has just moved into some expanded space just in March of this year, and we will be looking for 

a new, larger lease in 2012. 

So there are quite a few activities that we’re doing in expansion 

of the CBOCs. Our clinics were built based upon projections that 

we put out 10, 12, 15 years ago. Some of the clinics opening 5 years 

ago are already bursting at the seams. We’ve added additional staff 

and to accommodate the veterans, and we’re running out of room, 

and that’s why each of these are up for expansion and relocation. 

Mr. TEAGUE. And one other thing. Could you expand, for the benefit of everyone here, just a little bit, about how you’re making the 

facilities more inviting and accessible to female veterans? 

Ms. BOWERS. Certainly. Our female veterans are a very important part of the veteran population. They’re small, but mighty, and 

I’m very pleased that our women veterans are being seen as a very 

active part of the people that we need to serve. And they have 

served, and now it is our turn to serve. 

We have a women’s veterans coordinator in VISN 18 who is responsible to oversee the activities of women veterans, not only in 

the main hospitals, but, also, in all of the CBOCs. We are making 

sure that our facilities are much more friendly to women. We’re 

looking at new tables that will accommodate women and women 

examinations. We’re putting in curtains, so that there is a guarantee of privacy, because privacy is very important to women. 

In our Medical Centers, both in Albuquerque and in El Paso, we 

do have women’s clinics that are specially set aside for women. We 

have a new program that we are doing, along with Network 19, 

which is north of us, and it is a training program for primary care 

physicians, to assure that they can do gender-specific care. And a 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
38 

number of our CBOC primary care physicians have attended this 

very special program. It’s a week long. It retrains them on womenspecific care, because many have not been doing a lot of women’s 

care. So this is to really bring their skills back up to where they 

need to be. So we’re really focusing a lot on women veterans, both 

in terms of our physical plant and the skills and approach that we 

take to women in our clinics. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Good, and thank you for that. 

Mr. Singleton, thank you, also, for coming in. In the short time 

that you’ve had this job in New Mexico, we’ve seen you in southern 

New Mexico a lot, and we want you to know that we will continue 

to do that. Once or twice a month, you can come someplace in 

southern New Mexico. 

Mr. SINGLETON. All right. 

Mr. TEAGUE. But, you know, Secretary Shinseki recently announced that it’s his goal to cut the claims process in time to 120 

days. Could you tell us how we can meet that goal in our regional 

office here, and are there barriers that we need to take down so 

that we could meet that goal, and are there other assets that you 

need to help you to get there? 

Mr. SINGLETON. Secretary Shinseki actually put out the mandate 

that we need to break the back of the backlog, so that means that 

we do not have any claims being processed over 125 days. What 

our office is doing is, we are focusing on getting the evidence received much quicker than we have in the past. Once you get all 

your evidence in and all the examination reports then you can adjudicate the claim. 

So we’re doing about three different things. One is that we’re getting on the telephone at the first part of the application, with the 

original application. If there seems to be any questions regarding 

the application, our people are calling the veteran to clarify, so 

there won’t be, down the road, additional issues that come up; and, 

thereby, prolong the claim. 

If the examination’s been ordered and it’s been done, and we 

haven’t received it within a reasonable period of time, we get on 

the phone to the Medical Center or to the doctor to try to get them 

to send that evidence in to us, so we can adjudicate the claim. 

We’re anticipating and striving to cut evidence receipt time down 

to between 45 and 60 days, to put us in a position to be able to 

adjudicate the claim. 

The other thing we’re doing is, we’re having a team of people review all the claims over 125 days, to see what we can do to get 

them moving. And one thing we’re looking at is looking at the 

claims that have few issues. As you know, the fewer the issues, the 

easier it is to adjudicate. So we’re doing that, and we think we’re 

going to have some progress with that. So those are two of the 

things that this office is doing right now. 

Mr. TEAGUE. You know, I want you to be sure and keep us 

abreast, apprised of anything that you need to be able to reach that 

goal, because we want to help you get there, if you need more people, or whatever it is. 

But, you know, at the last meeting that we had in Alamogordo 

with Secretary Shinseki, a member of my veterans advisory council 

brought up the deal about, as a Vietnam veteran, when he was getVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:57 Aug 25, 2010 Jkt 057014 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 I:\VA\57014.XXX GPO1 PsN: 57014

ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
39 

ting out, he had been forced to sign a document that waived his 

rights to benefits out of the VA before they would let him out to 

come home. He claimed that other veterans were made to sign the 

same document. 

Now, we’ve been working with the Secretary to get some answers 

on whether that was legal and whether those veterans would be 

entitled to VA benefits, and they’ve told me that the VA has told 

me that any of those signed documents would not stand up in 

court. So we know that that’s happening, but could you offer us any 

insight on the issue and, perhaps, suggest a way in which we can 

inform veterans that they are still entitled to their benefits? 

Mr. SINGLETON. I wish I could. We have been processing claims 

that veterans have filed that have that information on it, from 

what I understand. I wasn’t aware of that until at that meeting. 

The gentleman did mail us in a copy of the DD–214. We saw them. 

I’m having two people look into it. But locally, we haven’t found 

anything to address that. But we haven’t stopped. But we just 

haven’t found anything. 

Mr. TEAGUE. Okay. You know, we’ve still got Guy and Dr. 

Marnell here, and I’m sorry, but we’re out of time, so we’re going 

to have to cut things short, but I just want to say a couple of 

things. 

Guy, I wanted to thank you for all of the work that you’re doing, 

but they’re at the back of the room waiting on you, because you 

missed the chance to say we need the Vet Center in Silver City and 

Roswell, like we practiced all that time and—— 

Mr. MCCOMMON. I said every city, all cities, sir. 

Mr. TEAGUE. But, you know, we do want to take every opportunity that we get to brag on the operation that we have here in 

Las Cruces, with the Vet Center and everything that it does. 

Mr. Marnell, I want to thank you again for coming down. You’ve 

made the trip down here twice in a short period of time. I appreciate that. 

I definitely appreciate my chairman coming from Maine at the 

time that he needed to be visiting with his constituents back there, 

to visit with y’all. But more than thanking the witnesses and 

thanking the Chairman, I want to thank all of you that came 

today, because it’s you that’s going to allow the Chairman to go 

back and say that there’s a large group of people in southern New 

Mexico that want to help the veterans, and we need to help them 

help the veterans, and that’s how we get the information back to 

DC and to those decision-makers. 

One other thing. You know, while we’re here, a lot of times, we 

need to talk to the other people that are here, and so please don’t 

waste this opportunity. If there’s someone here you’re needing to 

have conversations with, and we don’t have time today, exchange 

numbers so that you can do that, please. 

Thank you for coming. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you, Congressman Teague. I guess I have 

just one last question for Ms. Bowers, and concerns rural issues. 

Mr. Garcia talked a little bit about how the rules on cemetery policy hurt rural areas. 

Earlier last year we had a hearing where a former facility director came before us and used the terminology ‘‘the mother ship’’ in 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
40 

referring to the VISN office. And in our case, the VISN 1 offices 

located in Boston. And part of the problem that he looked at, from 

what I’m hearing from some VSOs in Maine, at their mini-Mac 

meeting, is that the VISN central office sometimes doesn’t get the 

resources needed to the rural areas. 

As an example, we heard earlier that Congress did increase the 

mileage reimbursement rate from 11 cents to 41 and a half cents. 

In Maine, for instance, which is part of VISN 1, their total output 

or costs for that increase is a little over $5 million, but they only 

receive $1.5 million from the VISN office. So they’re shortchanged. 

So, now, they’re getting pressure—and this came out in the miniMac meeting—from the mother ship, so to speak, to bring their 

budget in balance. And one item that they’re looking at is reducing 

fee-based care to have their budgets met. 

You have a huge territory within VISN 18. There’s a huge need 

for access points out there, and I’m sure mileage is a big issue here 

as well. How are you dealing with the facility directors, to make 

sure that they have the resources that they need to operate the facilities in the way that they should be operated, and they’re not 

being forced to make tough decisions on whether to hold a position 

open, a vacancy open, so that they can actually meet the budget 

needs within the region? 

Or, if facilities are forced to reduce fee-basis services even though 

there’s increased money within the VA budget, what are the outcomes? How do you deal with the different facility directors’ needs 

in the really rural areas when you distribute the money? 

Ms. BOWERS. Stewardship of resources is part of our responsibility, and when you, as Congress, provide us with the resources 

to run our facilities, it is our job to do that within those dollars. 

And sometimes those do require us to have some very difficult conversations and to take some very significant looks at what we do. 

I know that the Albuquerque Medical Center is—it has really 

faced an issue with the additional reimbursement for mileage. In 

fact, Mr. Marnell did, in fact, send the network a briefing paper 

about the impact, and it was multiple millions of dollars of impact 

in transportation just at that one facility. 

We, as a network, distribute our dollars based upon both the 

VERA allocation and the complexity and some other features related to the patients at each one of the Medical Centers. Our facilities—and this network, long before my time, has realized that rural 

care is a very important part of what we do, so we actually are 

ranked among the best in the Nation for having veterans within 30 

miles of a CBOC, which, given our geography, is actually a pretty 

big thing to do. But we have put a lot of our resources into rural 

care and into the development of CBOCs because we know that’s 

where our veterans are. That’s where our patients are located. 

We know that we have financial issues. One of the things that 

happened this year was a patient that created a catastrophic impact on one facility. As a result of that, I had asked for the development from our financial group of a catastrophic care policy. The 

network always has a little bit of money that it puts aside for bailout, and we have had to use that when we have particular care 

needs that we have. So a catastrophic policy, when there is a veteran that may cost us a half a million dollars or more for the care 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
41 

of that single veteran, he would have a catastrophic care policy 

that would help that facility deal with those expenses. 

Particularly difficult things, like the increase of mileage, has actually affected all of our facilities, not equally, but pretty close to 

equally. So we have, basically, told our facilities that we need to 

deal with that within the budgets that have been distributed, because it does have a fairly profound effect on most of our facilities. 

Stewardship is important, and we do not want any veteran to not 

receive the care they need because of a financial issue, and that’s 

why the network is putting the catastrophic care policy together, 

why we have funding that we have put aside. Unfortunately, what 

we have put aside is money that could be used to purchase other 

things, such as equipment, and my greatest fear is that we use all 

of those dollars for daily business and neglect our capital investment in equipment. 

So we very much try to balance that. My financial staff give me 

an update every couple of weeks on how each facility is faring, in 

terms of both expenses and dollars. So I keep up on the condition 

of the financial situation in each facility on a regular basis, and I 

feel that the network is there to help the facilities, not necessarily 

beat them over the head. 

Mr. MICHAUD. I appreciate your straightforwardness. As a Member of Congress, that’s one of the things that is important to me, 

that, yes, even though we have substantially increased money to 

VA over the years, the percentage isn’t important. What is important is, are we taking care of the needs that are out there; versus, 

an increase of 10 or 15 percent, but a failure to take care of the 

needs. 

I appreciate your stewardship in looking at the finite resources 

that we have at the Federal level to give out. But, also, it’s very 

important that we make sure the veterans get the help that they 

need. And the fact that the facility directors have to live within 

their budget, when, in fact, they’re being strained because of mileage reimbursement costs; there’s not enough money to take care of 

the needs, I think it’s unfortunate, because then the VISN office 

and facility directors will have to make tough decisions: Well, do 

I hire this new person? Do I leave a position vacant for quite some 

time? Or do we reduce the amount of fee-basis services, which will 

ultimately hamper the services that our veterans in rural areas receive? 

I think it’s very important for those of us who sit on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and the appropriators to know exactly 

what the need out there is, and try to address the need; rather 

than looking at increases in the budget, because, quite frankly, 

with our aging population, with the veterans from World War II 

and the Vietnam veterans, and the ongoing need of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, who will have tremendous needs, I think it’s 

important that they get the services they need. If we cannot help 

them early on, whether for PTSD or traumatic brain injury, then 

those costs are going to be extremely high later on down the road. 

But it’s not only the costs to the veterans. It’s also the effect that 

it has on family and, ultimately, on the State, because State resources will be used if people end up homeless or on State aid. And 

I think that’s why it’s very important that, as elected officials, we 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
42 

know exactly what that need is, rather than whether it’s increased 

10 or 20 percent. That’s only a number. I think what’s important 

to us is, the fundamental question—are we meeting the need that’s 

currently out there? 

And it concerns me, as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, 

that some facility directors are actually making that tough decision 

of not contracting out fee-basis services or not hiring a physician 

because they need to live within the budget. They have to live 

within the budget, but we have to make sure that the budget is 

adequate to take care of the need. We need to make sure that these 

decisions are medically-driven and not just budget-driven. 

I want to thank you and the other panelists for your testimony 

this afternoon, and I want to thank everyone who came out this 

afternoon to hear what’s going on in veterans health care. I especially want to thank Congressman Teague for inviting me out here 

to have this hearing and for all of his hard work on the Veterans’ 

Affairs Committee. So, once again, thank you. If there are no other 

comments or questions, the hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:28 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
(43) 

A P P E N D I X 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Michael H. Michaud, Chairman, 

Subcommittee on Health 

The Subcommittee on Health will now come to order. I would like to thank everyone for attending this hearing. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to 

New Mexico State University for their hospitality in hosting this hearing. Today’s 

hearing would not have been possible without the efforts of Mr. Teague. I thank Mr. 

Teague for his work as a tireless advocate for veterans and for inviting us here 

today to Las Cruces to learn about the local needs of veterans in New Mexico. 

Today’s hearing will cover a wide range of issues to ensure that our veterans in 

New Mexico and across the U.S. receive the essential services and benefits that they 

need and deserve. Among the issues that we will discuss today are homeless veterans, mental health, reintegration, outreach, and health care for rural veterans. 

In this Congress, we’ve held several hearings on these issues. For example, my 

Health Subcommittee held a hearing on rural veterans in March of 2009 and an 

outreach hearing in May of 2009. Under the leadership of Chairman Filner, we also 

held a hearing on homeless veterans in June of 2009 and I am happy to share that 

the House passed H.R. 4810, a comprehensive bill to help homeless veterans, on 

March 22, 2010. H.R. 4810 included provisions from two important bills that Mr. 

Teague introduced. H.R. 2504, which increased funding for the Grant and Per Diem 

program and H.R. 3906, which increased funding for supportive services for low-income veteran families in permanent housing. This year, in 2010, the Full Committee 

also held a roundtable to discuss issues facing rural veterans in January and another roundtable on reintegration issues this past March. 

We have learned a lot from the series of hearings and roundtables that we held 

in Washington D.C. However, these issues are of such magnitude that they warrant 

further discussion here today. I look forward to hearing the testimonies of our witnesses and learning about the unique challenges facing our veterans in New Mexico. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Pamela Angell, Executive Director, 

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, Las Cruces, NM 

INTRO 

Good Morning: I am Pamela Angell, the Executive Director of the Mesilla Valley 

Community of Hope, a non-profit agency in Las Cruces that helps homeless people 

with outreach services, a daytime drop-in center, and several HUD housing programs. 

I am here to address chronic homelessness among the veteran population of our 

citizens of the United States. 

President Obama and the Department of Veterans Affairs have made ending 

homelessness among veterans a top priority with a 5-year goal. If indeed the VA 

and Obama Administration wish to meet this goal they must shift their policies so 

they can address the needs of all homeless veterans, including those we characterize 

as chronically homeless—men and women who have had repeated episodes or 

lengthy periods of homelessness, some lasting a decade or more. 

I will explain why I think the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs current homeless programs 

and policies fall short in addressing the needs of a large segment of the homeless 

veteran population—those who are defined as chronically homeless. I will also attempt to explain how a slight shift in policy can help the VA come closer to its goal 

of ending veteran homelessness. 

Nationwide, it is estimated that one third of our adult homeless population are 

veterans with as many of those defined as chronically homeless. While many of the 

VA’s current programs will help reduce homelessness among veterans, a large segVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:57 Aug 25, 2010 Jkt 057014 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6604 Sfmt 6621 I:\VA\57014.XXX GPO1 PsN: 57014

ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
44 

ment of the population will remain homeless if new programs are not established 

to meet their needs. 

This week I went out to three homeless camps along Interstate 10 that have recently drawn the attention of the City Code’s Enforcement, the NM Department of 

Transportation and the NM State Police. Plans are in effect to clear a 3-mile swath 

of trees and brush from along the highway right-of-way from the river to the City 

Solid Waste facility. The intention is to drive out nearly a dozen homeless people 

who have set up camps along this property and discourage their return by clearing 

the area of undergrowth and trees. 

I visited the area with the Homeless Outreach Coordinator for the U.S. Dept. of 

Veterans Affairs in El Paso, Jo-el Arrigucci, and my case manager, Sue Campbell. 

We let those living there know that they have a May 1st deadline to move out before 

the bulldozers and law enforcement come in. Many of them will leave with no resistance, only to find someplace else, likely equally as illegal, to set up camp if we cannot come up with an alternative for them. 

Among those we spoke with is an honorably discharged veteran and his girlfriend 

of 15 years. When we offered him various services from the VA—including the 

HUD–VASH voucher program his reply was, ‘‘I don’t like living in a dadgum prison.’’ He also doesn’t like crawling out of his tent in the morning when it is 20-degrees, or chasing off teen-agers who are throwing stones at his camp and spraying 

silly string, as they did last week. This veteran and his partner have lived along 

this stretch of highway off and on for 6 years, sometimes moving to Colorado to 

camp out near Colorado Springs and to Florida to look for work. 

Another fellow we spoke with was already intoxicated by 10 am and said he saw 

no hope and no alternative to where he is currently living. Alcoholism is a big problem among homeless veterans. Nearly 60 percent of homeless veterans report problems with alcohol and 40 percent with other substance abuse. It is estimated that 

at least another 10 percent have mental health issues, and in many cases include 

combat-related Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. A large part are just plain fed up 

with a system that didn’t meet their needs, or left them hanging for years denying 

them benefits for which they are eligible, or offer services that try to fit a square 

peg into a round hole. 

While the VA has a very good Transitional Housing Program and a new HUD– 

VASH (VA Supported Housing) voucher program to help get veterans off the streets, 

the VA has not yet bought into what is one of HUD’s most successful systems for 

ending chronic homelessness. The concept of Housing First. Housing First is housing without the hurdles, without the judgments, and without the restrictions that 

come with many other programs. The focus of Housing First is to help chronically 

homeless people get housed and stay housed. Many other programs, including the 

VA’s enforced sober transitional housing program make housing contingent upon sobriety or adherence to strict treatment guidelines. As a result, many chronically 

homeless veterans, whether they have substance abuse or mental health issues or 

not, are not going to come in from the extreme heat or cold for housing with strict 

rules. 

Housing First uses adherence to a lease as the main rule that tenants have to 

follow, and provides assistance in helping them adhere to that lease. Treatment and 

service options are client driven and not mandated. Participation in programs is not 

a condition of having a home. Housing First works in many big and small cities 

throughout our Nation and can work to help end veteran homelessness as well. 

Google Housing First and you will find numerous successful programs all across the 

country, including our own program here in Las Cruces. Google Harm Reduction 

and you also will find many modalities that support giving people the free will to 

come up with their own strategies to meet life on their own terms rather than a 

prescribed plan of requirements that will not fit all people. Many of these folks have 

followed rules and orders throughout their combat and military careers. We can give 

them an option to homelessness that does not require that they comply with numerous more restrictions. We all march to different drummers, and if we want to end 

homelessness among veterans, maybe we need to let them march to their own as 

well. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Dalton Boyd, Veterans Service Officer, 

New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services, Hobbs, NM 

Before I begin, I would like to thank Chairman Michaud, Congressman Teague 

and the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health for the opportunity to address you today. The issues being discussed in today’s hearing are critically imporVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:57 Aug 25, 2010 Jkt 057014 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6604 Sfmt 6621 I:\VA\57014.XXX GPO1 PsN: 57014

ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
45 

tant to our veterans, to whom I believe deserve the full measure of our efforts to 

provide for them the rights and services that they deserve. 

My name is Dalton Boyd and I am employed by the New Mexico Dept. of Veterans 

Services. I have the privilege of serving our veterans as their Veterans Service Officer. As one who works with our veterans on a daily basis I feel that I have a unique 

perspective concerning the needs of our veterans. I see their individual needs daily 

and draw from the resources available to aid them in addressing their needs. 

I would like to begin by addressing VA Health care for Veterans in rural areas. 

I personally believe that the VA provides world class health care but, as with anything else there is always room for improvement. Veterans in rural areas face some 

unique problems with fragmented health care being one of those problems. We have 

a very good Community Outreach Based Clinic in my hometown of Hobbs but they 

provide only basic services with preventative health care being their primary focus. 

Veterans with special needs must travel hundreds of miles for treatment by specialist or facilities that can meet their needs. For example: veterans from Hobbs 

with cardiology or orthopedic conditions have to travel to Albuquerque for treatment, a round trip of 640 miles. Often these are older WWII veterans in their 80s, 

in poor health and for whom a trip of 640 miles or more for medical care is very 

difficult if not impossible. I realize that Fee Basis is a very costly undertaking for 

the VA and I understand the concept that if the VA can treat a veteran they will 

provide that treatment at a VA facility in part, as a cost cutting measure. It is my 

opinion that Fee Basis should be more readily available to veterans in certain circumstances. For example, an 85-year-old WWII veteran with a serious heart condition or a veteran taking chemotherapy should be given consideration for care locally 

through Fee Basis. 

I would also like to address the lack of resources available for Homeless Veterans 

in rural areas. A lot of progress has been made in caring for our homeless veterans. 

Homeless veterans in metropolitan areas have numerous options and we are all 

grateful that they have those options. Those options often do not exist in rural 

areas. In practical terms, homeless veterans that I see in Hobbs have 2 options: 

temporary shelter at a facility within Hobbs or entrance into a substance abuse 

treatment program with the VA Hospital in Big Springs, TX. We do have the New 

Mexico Veterans Integration Center in Albuquerque, the Mesilla Valley Community 

of Hope in Las Cruces and the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences. Homeless veterans in rural areas often are not able to relocate or do not 

want to relocate to areas far from what has been their home and comfort zone. What 

they often seek is temporary assistance within their community. I do not know what 

the solution to this problem is but I do know there is a need for a solution. 

I would also like to speak about services for veterans transitioning from the military to civilian life. New Mexico veterans receive readjustment counseling services 

from Vet Centers located in Albuquerque, Farmington, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. 

Lea County veterans are served by the Midland, Tx Vet Center. The Vet Centers 

provide readjustment counseling services to combat veterans. Most of the veterans 

they serve suffer from PTSD and depressive disorders. The Vet Centers serve veterans from WWII through present day combat veterans. According to the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services 2008 Annual Report there are approximately 

179,000 veterans in New Mexico with 39,246 Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan era veterans and 52,011 Vietnam era veterans. The bulk of the Vet Center’s clients are 

OIF/OEF and Vietnam veterans. 

Of course the VA provides mental health care on a number of levels through the 

COBCs, Hospitals and Telehealth. The Vet Center counselors are, as I see them, the 

front line troops in the battle with mental health problems. They have the mobility, 

conduct the outreaches and take their expertise directly to the veterans. Critically 

important is the fact that the Vet Center also provides services to the family members of veterans. 

An article in Psychiatric Times reports rates of PTSD in returning troops average 

15 percent to 16 percent and that up to 35 percent meet the criteria for major depressive disorder. Clearly these rates represent a large number of veterans in need 

of mental health care. As the number of deployed troops is reduced and the troops 

are brought home, the number of veterans in need of Mental Health Care services 

will rapidly increase. We have to be prepared to meet the needs of the growing number of veterans in need of mental health care. 

I appreciate the opportunity to address you today. I hope that I have given you 

a clearer understanding of some of the issues facing veterans in rural areas and the 

task that the VA’s mental health care providers are confronted with. 

Thank you. 

f 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
46 

Prepared Statement of Raul V. Sanchez, Commander, Veterans of Foreign 

Wars of the United States, Department of New Mexico, Alamogordo, NM 

Chairmen Michaud, Ranking Member Brown, Member Teague and distinguished 

Members of the Subcommittee, it is my honor to be here today to represent the 

VFW members in New Mexico here in Las Cruces and around our wonderful State. 

I come before you as an advocate for our brave servicemen and women, and for 

veterans and their families from all eras. I come before you as a reminder that those 

who go to war return home with an obligation to make things better for every ensuing generation who follows. This is central to the VFW’s core value ‘‘to honor the 

dead by helping the living.’’ 

With these thoughts in mind I would like to address a number of issues that we 

are facing here in New Mexico. Foremost among them is VA’s claims backlog and 

unacceptable waiting times for veterans seeking care. 

VA CLAIMS BACKLOG 

VA currently has more than 1.1 million individual claims and appeals for compensation, pension and education benefits. Right here in New Mexico’s own regional 

office of Albuquerque there are 6,240 disability compensation claims and appeals 

pending. Over the past year this backlog has grown by more than 10 percent. Of 

the nearly 3,400 claims requiring rating action, 38 percent are pending over 125 

days. 

Rating quality reviews show a whopping 19 percent error rate. That is, 1 in every 

5 cases VA decides in New Mexico is wrong. 

The evidence shows that the Albuquerque VA Regional Office fails to provide adequate service in all three areas that VA measures: workload, timeliness and quality. 

This is totally unacceptable. 

VFW has made reforming the VA claims processing system a top legislative priority. 

The VFW realizes there is no silver bullet to fix VBA, but there are opportunities 

for steady and deliberate improvement. We also know that any single plan to make 

the overall claims process simpler could occur at the expense of the rights and benefits earned by veterans, their dependents and survivors. A quick fix plan is simply 

unacceptable because fixing the backlog will require thoughtful solutions to avoid 

harming veterans and exacerbating the problem. 

VBA is the key to everything the VA does, so the VFW will continue to offer its 

expertise to the VA and your committees so that we can solve this backlog problem 

together. Veterans have grown tired of the excuses. They want and deserve action. 

The VFW wants to help. 

The VFW has offered potential solutions in testimony and in The Independent 

Budget, but we cannot wave a magic wand and make the problem go away. Our suggestions have included improvements to the funding process; increased emphasis on 

ratings decision accuracy instead of speed; improvements in staff education and 

training; and increased use of technology. 

Unfortunately, it may be years before VBA will be able to reduce the backlog and 

improve rating timeliness and accuracy. We believe however, that VA can still make 

incremental improvements to demonstrate to veterans that it is both candid in its 

problems and responsive to their needs. Some of the first steps would be: 

• Demand a total commitment from VA leadership to do every claim properly the 

first time. 

• Improve VA’s IT infrastructure to include adopting paperless initiatives to help 

transform VA into a 21st Century agency. 

• Upgrade and enhance training systems that invest in skills and knowledge of 

VA employees, reducing turnover and improving quality. 

• Higher accountability and accuracy standards for adjudicators. VA must hold 

every employee and manager accountable for quality as well as providing proper 

positive incentives for production goals. 

• Ask Congress to commission a third-party study of the quality assurance of 

claims processing at VBA. 

We envision a VBA of the 21st Century, one in which veterans receive accurate 

and timely decisions. Congress must invest in the long-term success of VBA, which 

is only achieved through constant improvement. Part of the improvement process is 

utilizing service officers and other advocates who can help navigate through the system. 

The VFW and other VSOs have a nationwide network of excellent service officers 

including our own Fred Ortiz, but we can only help those who seek us out. For a 

veteran who navigates the bureaucratic process without a service officer to guide 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
47 

them, it can be a nightmare, and a number of them simply give up, which means 

they lose their earned benefits, their disability compensation and their access to VA 

health care. 

VA MEDICAL CARE 

As the Nation’s largest health care provider, the Veterans Health Administration 

(VHA) has four primary missions that benefit veterans as well as the entire country. 

They are: 

1. Providing health care and services to America’s sick and disabled veterans; 

2. Training and educating doctors, nurses and other health care professionals; 

3. Conducting world-class research into medical issues, to include prosthetics, 

and; 

4. Serving as the Nation’s primary health care backup in times of war or domestic 

emergency. 

VHA’s primary mission is the care of this Nation’s sick and disabled veterans. As 

of August 2009, (based on 2008 data) more than 554,000 New Mexican veterans 

sought care through VA’s outpatient services, and some 2,395 recently returning 

OIF/OEF veterans used VA services. 

Nationally, VA projects about one million veterans will receive some type of care 

this year, nearly double the number from a decade ago. Much of that increase is 

due to improved access as VA has shifted focus from being an inpatient provider 

into more of an outpatient provider, but the increase is also partially due to the 

aging veterans’ population and the influx of our newest war veterans. 

The VFW strongly believes that veterans must have timely access to quality 

health care. The VFW supports expanding rural health care options to those veterans who live in rural areas—New Mexico has a vast rural landscape and getting 

care can be difficult in many locations. Congress must ensure that gaps in care are 

recognized and filled, Telemedicine opportunities must be expanded, as well as additional points of care, so that veterans can be served wherever they live. 

VFW Supports H.R. 2879, the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act. H.R. 

2879 is a comprehensive bill which would improve and expand programs offered to 

veterans living in rural areas like New Mexico. We applaud the provision that increases the travel reimbursement rate to 41.5 cents a mile for those traveling to VA 

facilities for treatment. This is long overdue. 

OEF/OIF Health Care: As of the end of FY 2009, almost 1.1 million Operations 

Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom veterans have left active duty and become eligible for VA health care; 46 percent of them have sought care from VA. 

This demand for service created some major challenges for VA, which to their 

credit responded correctly by making the health care of OEF/OIF veterans a top priority. The VFW believes we must do everything we can to ensure that these men 

and women are properly cared for. Their care is part of the ongoing cost of war, and 

the fulfillment of that cost—a true national obligation—is central to the work of 

your committees. 

The health care issues this population faces varies from the routine to high-interest injuries and programs, such as mental health, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injuries, 

suicides, and the proper care of women veterans. 

Women Veterans Health Care: The percentage of women serving in uniform 

today far exceeds any previous conflict. Approximately 15 percent of the force is 

comprised of women, with more entering military service every year. Of those who 

have served in uniform, VA estimates that 44 percent have already enrolled in VA 

for health care, a percentage that VA expects to rise. VA continues to expand its 

female health care services, but more needs to be done. 

VA must expand gender-specific and primary health care services tailored to 

women. The VFW supports improved training and certification of female veterans’ 

mental health care providers, as well as improved programs for the treatment of 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Military Sexual Trauma (MST). 

Legislation (S. 1963) currently pending in Congress would address a number of 

the needs of female veterans. It would mandate studies to assess VA’s current programs and services for women, to include examining specialized programs for treating PTSD, substance abuse and mental illness, the availability of obstetric and gynecological care, and the possibility of providing a licensed childcare service at VA 

medical facilities. 

The study would also collect data on waiting times, demographics, geographic distance and other barriers to care. One of the largest hurdles VA faces is providing 

a woman a degree of privacy inside its medical facilities. Properly serving women 

veterans is a culture change to the VA, which for decades functioned in a ‘‘one size 

fits all’’ mode. The VA must tailor its programs and services to the specific needs 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
48 

of women veterans, and that’s why the VFW strongly urges the passage of the provisions of this bill. 

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Explosive blasts from roadside bombs and 

other Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) are causing devastating and often permanent damage to the brain tissue of our ground forces. Veterans with severe Traumatic Brain Injuries or Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI) may need a lifetime of intensive service to care for their disabilities, but VA also needs to study and develop 

programs for those suffering from mild or moderate TBI. 

TBI can occur even without other forms of physical injury, making detection difficult. It is likely that thousands of OEF/OIF veterans may be suffering from blast 

effects, but are unaware of their condition. 

Medical science is lacking on TBI. Recent studies have suggested that even mildly 

impacted veterans can have long-term mental and physical health difficulties, and 

there is no clear treatment model to be followed, especially for those with mild or 

moderate impairment. The VFW strongly urges Congress to ensure proper funding 

for additional studies into the treatment of TBI. VA must investigate and research 

all avenues to care for TBI patients, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. Finding optimal treatments will enhance the quality of life of veterans and their families. 

Mental Health: We applaud VA for raising the awareness on mental health 

issues. Congress and this Administration have continued to fund the growing support networks, medical treatment and services available through VA. Currently, VA 

operates a nationwide network of more than 190 specialized PTSD outpatient treatment programs. Further, VA’s Vet Center program operates a system of 232 community-based counseling centers, many of which are staffed by combat veterans who— 

like every VFW member—understand that no one goes to war and comes back the 

same. A recent OEF/OIF update shows that more than 48 percent of all patients treated 

at VA have suffered from some form of mental health impairment—a staggering 

number. Among the more than 243,000 OEF/OIF veterans who have been diagnosed 

with some degree of psychological symptoms, more than half are suffering from 

PTSD. War has a profound effect on those who defend the Nation. We must do everything we can to provide the men and women who are put in harm’s way the 

treatment options they need to care for them and their families. 

We need strong outreach and education programs to help eliminate the stigma of 

mental illness and other barriers to care. We need meaningful post-deployment 

health assessments that are designed in a way that eliminates the disincentive 

servicemen and women sometimes feel in providing completely honest responses. We 

need regular screenings of all at-risk veterans as part of their routine examinations. 

We need continuing education programs for military leaders at all level to understand and help reduce the stigma of seeking care and treatment. Care must be 

available to veterans and their families in order to help keep family units intact and 

functional. Providing a stable, safe, and supportive home environment is vitally important to the overall effectiveness of a treatment program. 

VA must also properly train its staff to ensure that they know how to deal with 

the unique needs of these veterans, and to recognize warning signs and other signals to get veterans into the programs they need immediately. We need continued 

emphasis on increasing entry points to care, especially at Vet Centers. Access to 

care must be as convenient as possible, which increases the likelihood an at-risk 

veteran will use the service. 

Suicide: The rate of veteran suicides is a national tragedy. VA has improved 

their outreach efforts, notably through the 1–800–273–TALK suicide prevention hotline, but more must be done for the active duty forces, as well as for the Guard and 

Reserve, a great number of whom reside in rural areas far away from the informal 

support network of fellow veterans, and from the formal services and programs provided for their benefit. 

I cannot imagine how depressed someone must be to take their own life, but I 

do know that war is an experience that is never forgotten. The vast majority of veterans are able to come to terms with their experiences, but not everyone. VFW 

members know that coming back to the Real World is not easy for any generation. 

That’s why I continue to urge VFW members everywhere to reach out to our newest 

veterans to welcome them home, to thank them for their service, and to extend a 

hand of friendship and support. We must all do more to ensure every veteran, regardless of age, does not feel alone. 

Veterans Homelessness: President Obama recently called for an end to veterans’ homelessness within 5 years, and his call to action could not have been 

timelier. According to VA estimates, at least 131,000 veterans are homeless on any 

given night, and twice as many veterans may experience homelessness at some 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
49 

point during the course of a year. Recent statistics also indicate that the number 

of homeless female veterans and veterans with dependents are increasing as well. 

This issue is further compounded by poverty, unemployment and the lack of affordable housing. 

Homelessness is a nationwide problem that cannot be cured from Washington. It 

must be addressed at the local level and supported with resources and services from 

the Federal Government. 

Major components in reducing veteran homelessness include outreach, transitional and permanent housing, training and employment assistance, and medical 

and psychiatric rehabilitation services. Yet many programs authorized at the Federal level to assist local communities are under funded or are not adequately promoted to community-based help organizations. In addition, information pertaining 

to the availability of these programs is also not widely disseminated or readily available to homeless veterans living on the streets. 

We strongly support the national call to end veterans’ homelessness, and we look 

forward to working with Secretary Shinseki to help VA meet its 5-year goal. 

EMPLOYMENT ISSUES 

Veterans’ employment must be part of any jobs bill because the unemployment 

numbers are shocking—during this economic recession the number of unemployed 

veterans has increased to 1,124,000 as of February 2010. The unemployment rate 

of our youngest veterans has reached a staggering 21 percent, and there are more 

unemployed OEF/OIF veterans than servicemembers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We vigorously urge Congress to include the following three policy improvements that have proven successful as veterans’ employment solutions: 

1. Broaden the tax credit beyond recently separated veterans to encompass all 

veterans. Nationwide, there are 1.1 million unemployed veterans who are motivated, educated and responsible. Encourage employers to put hard working 

veterans at the top of the list by increasing the $2,400 credit for hiring a veteran and $4,800 for hiring a disabled veteran. Public awareness is central to 

the solution. We must continue to offer incentives to American industry to hire 

veterans FIRST. 

2. Modernize the Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) program, 

which in 2009 served more than 32,000 disabled veterans by training, educating and helping them finding employment. Improve the program’s effectiveness by providing higher educational stipends that are on par with the Post9/11 GI Bill, eliminate the arbitrary 12-year ‘‘use or lose’’ program window, and 

provide additional family services, such as child care to eligible veterans. 

3. Lastly, increase opportunities for veterans interested in starting businesses, 

which inevitable leads to veterans hiring other veterans. Invest in their ingenuity through proper education, training, and access to small business startup capital. Increase funding and access to the Small Business Administration 

Patriot Express Loan Guarantee program. 

Veterans need to be at the forefront of congressional efforts to get America back 

to work. It is legislation like H.R. 4592, introduced by Congressman Teague which 

passed the House last week that begins to make it happen. The Energy Jobs for Veterans’ Act would authorize $10 million annually through fiscal 2015 for a Labor Department pilot program to encourage the employment of veterans in energy-related 

jobs. The bill establishes a pilot program that would award competitive grants to 

three States which would reimburse energy employers for the cost of providing onthe-job training for veterans in the energy sector. Through expansion and improvements to existing programs like this, Congress can reverse the veteran unemployment rate. 

QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES 

The War on Terrorism has greatly increased the demands of those serving on active duty and in the Guard and Reserve. As a result, active military and Reserve 

Component members are deploying at an alarming rate to fight the present day war 

on terror at home and abroad. More than one third of today’s troops have served 

at least two tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and/or Operation Enduring 

Freedom. 

The VFW is committed to improving the quality of life for all active military and 

Reserve Component members and their families. The VFW is increasing its efforts 

to provide Guard and Reserve members with benefits and entitlements equal to 

their participation and contribution in today’s conflicts. We will help ensure that our 

men and women in uniform receive the most modern equipment, best training, and 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
50 

resources they need to succeed, and we will continue to urge Congress to provide 

critical support services for the family members of those serving. 

The VFW firmly believes in taking care of the people who accomplish the mission, 

and although most of the below issues fall under the purview of your respective 

Armed Services Committees, each of you has a personal stake in a strong and viable 

military. We view the following bullets as essential to ensuring a high-quality, allvolunteer military: 

• Servicemen and women deserve base pay equity to their private-sector workers. 

• Benefits and entitlements must keep pace with inflation. 

• Increased funding is necessary to upgrade or replace military family housing, 

recreation and work facilities, and equipment worn out after almost 9 years of 

war. 

• Congress must lower the retirement pay age from 60 to 55 for all Reserve Component members. At the very least, Congress must make retroactive to Sept. 11, 

2001, the FY 2008 defense budget provision that allows Reserve Component 

members to receive retirement pay earlier than age 60 by 3 months for every 

90 days served on active duty in support of a contingency operation. 

Lastly, VFW reminds Congress that legislation for the full concurrent receipt of 

military retirement pay and VA disability compensation without offset should be 

passed and implemented regardless of the rating percentage. 

In 2004, Congress passed legislation that gradually phased in by 2014 the full 

current receipt of military retirement pay and VA disability compensation without 

offset, but only for those 20-year or more retirees who have 50-percent or higher 

disability ratings. Excluded were those service-connected disabled military retirees 

with VA ratings of 40 percent and below, and Chapter 61 retirees who were medically retired with less than 20 years, regardless of VA disability rating. 

All veterans should be entitled to receive full disability compensation concurrently 

with their military retirement pay, regardless of the nature of the disability. 

Mr. Chairman, I again thank you for the honor to present our priorities to you. 

I would be happy to answer any questions that you or the members of your committees may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of John M. Garcia, Secretary, New Mexico 

Department of Veterans’ Services, Santa Fe, NM 

Mr. Chairman, Congressman Teague, my name is John Garcia. I’m the Cabinet 

Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services and a past president of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans’ Affairs (NASDVA). 

I am honored to present my views and those of my fellow State Directors of Veterans’ Affairs from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the 

Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With me today 

are my department’s Veterans’ Service Officer from the southern New Mexico Region: Mr. Dalton Boyd, from our Hobbs office, Mr. J.R. Turner and Ms. Virginia Bell 

from our Las Cruces offices, Mr. Reggie Price from Silver City, Mr. Tony Woodard 

from Alamogordo. Also joining me is Mr. Armando Amador, who is a member of the 

State’s Veterans’ Advisory Panel. 

State governments and State Departments of Veterans’ Services are vital partners 

with the Federal VA in delivering services. We are the second largest provider of 

services to veterans and our roles continue to grow. Collectively, States contribute 

more than $5 billion each year in support of our Nation’s veterans and their families 

even in the face of constrained budgets. Our duties include honoring and working 

with all veterans and the various veterans’ organizations both within our States and 

nationally. 

I applaud the cultural change at Federal VA in recognizing the importance partnerships between the VA and State Departments or Commissions of Veterans Affairs . . . and the concerned, compassionate leadership demonstrated by Secretary 

Shinseki and his senior leaders. On a daily basis, State Directors and their staffs 

are confronted with unique situations in caring for all veterans, which often needs 

to be addressed in a timely manner. Delivery of meaningful services and support 

many times is best orchestrated at the local level. Our offices, veterans’ services organizations and facilities along with Federal VA facilities blanket the country. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
51 

FUNDING FOR VA 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services appreciates the efforts of the 

Administration and Congress to improve overall funding for health care, homeless 

veterans programs, community clinics, and claims processing. Increases in VA funding, as reflected in the FY 2010 and FY 2011 budgets, provides a 20 percent increase over FY 2009. The budgeting change for an advanced appropriation for FY 

2012 will provide for continuity of programming and services. 

We are serving a new generation of veterans from 8 years of war who must receive medical care, establishment of benefits and needed assistance transitioning to 

civilian life after their dedicated service. This funding support by Congress will provide the wherewithal to address four major areas of emphasis: 

• First, the overall access to VA. In essence, VA should be the provider of choice 

for veterans; 

• Second, reducing the backlog in claims processing; 

• Third, the stated goal by Secretary Shinseki of eliminating homelessness among 

veterans. 

• And Fourth, the critical demand for mental health services, especially to deal 

with veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). These services need continued funding and focus. 

• Likewise, there should be increased funding to veterans’ health care in rural 

areas and veteran-owned businesses through SBA. 

OUTREACH AND TRANSITION 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services supports continued efforts to 

reach out to veterans. I firmly believe all veterans, regardless of where they reside, 

should have equal access to Federal and State benefits and services, and that Federal and State Governments must collaborate to achieve this goal nationally. Many 

areas of the country are still short-changed due to veterans’ lack of information and 

awareness of their benefits. This directly impacts their access to VA services. The 

VA and State Departments of Veterans’ Affairs must work together to reduce this 

inequity by reaching out to veterans regarding their earned benefits. My department supports implementation of a grant program that would allow the VA to partner with the States to perform outreach at the local level. 

VETERANS’ HEALTH CARE BENEFITS AND SERVICES 

I and all other State Directors of Veterans’ Affairs actively support increasing veterans’ access to VA Health care. This involves being engaged with the VA Medical 

Centers on establishing and locating additional Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC) (including Tribal Reservations) with mental health services, expansion 

of Vet Centers, the creation of Veteran Wellness Centers, the deployment of mobile 

health clinics, and the use of telehealth services and innovative wellness treatment 

programs for veterans diagnosed with PTSD where appropriate. We applaud the efforts by VA to address the particular issue of health care for women veterans and 

veterans residing in rural areas. Future health care funding to expand outreach and 

access will have to include telehealth, tele-home health and tele-medicine. Likewise, 

we support VA contracting-out some specialty care to private-sector facilities where 

access is difficult. 

VA Research and Development needs to focus on enhancing the long-term health 

and well-being of the veteran population particularly the new conditions such as 

Gulf War Syndrome, PTSD, and the effects of TBI. Attention must still be given to 

the continued funding support of the large capital projects identified and recommended by CARES while maintaining VHA’s infrastructure of 153 hospitals, 951 

CBOCs, and 232 Vet Centers. 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services fully agrees and supports the 

efforts by VA and DoD in developing the seamless integration of electronic health 

records and recommends further integration of electronic health records between the 

VA and SDVA. DoD should develop a formal program that would provide State Veterans’ Affairs Departments with the names of returning servicemembers in order for 

States to connect veterans to all Federal and State benefits and services. We support initiatives to ensure that all of our wounded warriors who suffer from TBI and 

PTSD have access to the most advanced and current treatment options available regardless of their military status. There should be expanded screening for PTSD 

among all combat veterans. We share the concern about the mental health of service 

personnel, especially the number of suicides and long-term effects of PTSD. We appreciate the proactive steps such as the suicide hotline and the role by all agencies 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
52 

in addressing the underlying causes for suicide. We also fully support the concept 

of Veterans’ Wellness Centers and its use of alternative treatments as another 

choice for treating veterans diagnosed with PTSD. 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services suggests an in-depth examination of long-term care, mental health services, and Wellness Treatment to include 

gap analysis clearly identifying where services are lacking. Any study should include consultation with SDVA. State Veterans’ Homes (SVH) are a critical component of long-term health care for veterans and a model of cost-efficient partnership 

between Federal and State Governments. State Veterans’ Homes bear over half of 

the national long-term health care workload for our infirm and aging veteran population. The Federal Government should continue to fulfill its important commitment 

to the States and ultimately to the individual veterans in need of this care. We recommend that the VA pay States a more equitable per diem rate representing 50 

percent of the States’ average costs, as allowed by law. 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services strongly recommends that the 

VA review the regulations and ensure that their implementation of Public Law 109– 

461 (Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006) does 

not threaten the future of State Veterans Homes and their continued ability to meet 

the needs of our veterans. Sufficient funding of at least $100M for the SVH Construction Grant and Per Diem Program is essential to keep the existing backlog of 

projects from growing to further unacceptable levels. VA should develop a strategic 

plan for long-term care services that maximizes the role of State Veterans’ Homes 

in providing care for our Nation’s veterans. The success of VA’s efforts to meet the 

current and future long-term care needs of veterans is contingent upon resolving the 

current mismatch between demand and available funding. The SVH program is the 

most cost effective nursing care alternative. 

And my department supports full reimbursement for care in State Veterans 

Homes for veterans who have a 70 percent or more service-connected disability or 

who require nursing home care because of a service-connected disability. There are 

two very important issues to implement this reimbursement: first, there needs to 

be a clear definition and understanding for the calculation of the ‘‘full cost of care’’, 

and second, the Congressional legislation needs to allow States to bill Medicare and 

Medicaid. 

COMPENSATION AND PENSION BENEFITS 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services recommends a greater role for 

State Departments of Veterans’ Affairs in the overall effort to manage and administer claims processing, regardless of whether the State uses State Employees, nationally chartered Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) and/or County Veterans 

Service Officers. Collectively, we have the capacity and capability to assist the Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA). Additionally, a collaborative effort should take 

place on the establishment of standards for training, testing, accrediting, and recertifying Veterans’ Service Officers to include continuing education and performance 

standards. We can support VA in their ‘‘duty to assist’’ without diminishing our role 

as the veterans’ advocate. 

HOMELESSNESS AMONG VETERANS 

The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services applauds the initiative by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Shinseki for establishing a goal to end homelessness 

among veterans within 5 years and encourage the VA to partner with SDVA. Programs should address the barriers to homeless veterans e.g., medical issues (mental 

and physical), legal issues, limited job skills, and work history. We appreciate the 

increased funding for specialized homeless programs such as Homeless Providers 

Grant and Per Diem, Health Care for Homeless Veterans, Domiciliary Care for 

Homeless Veterans, and Compensated Work Therapy, and the New Mexico Veterans 

Integration Center. It is vital to continue VA’s partnership with community organizations to provide transitional housing and the VA/HUD partnership with public 

housing authorities to provide permanent housing for veterans and their families. 

There should be official coordination between the VA Program Office for homeless 

veterans and State Veterans’ Affairs Departments for grant applications and awards 

to organizations within their respective State for homeless veterans. This would assist in fiscal accountability and local oversight of the services provided. 

And my department also supports efforts to diminish the national disgrace of 

homelessness among veterans. We applaud the permanent authority for the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program and the proposed authorization to increase annual spending to $130M. SDVAs would prefer per diem funds for homeless 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
53 

veterans pass through the State to non-profit organizations, ensuring greater coordination. 

CONCLUSION 

Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Committees, I respect the important work that you are doing to improve support to veterans who answered the call 

to serve our great country. As a representative of all State Directors of Veterans’ 

Affairs Department, I remain dedicated to doing our part, and urge you to be mindful of the increasing financial challenge that States face, just as you address the fiscal challenges at the Federal level. I would like to emphasize again, that the New 

Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services is a partner with VA in the delivery of 

services and care to our Nation’s patriots. 

This concludes my statement and I stand ready to respond to your questions. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Shirley Bratton, Director, Airman and Family 

Readiness Center, Holloman Air Force Base, NM, Department of the 

Air Force, U.S. Department of Defense 

My name is Shirley Bratton and I am representing the Airman and Family Readiness Center, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, which has responsibility for the 

Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for our supported population. Thank you for 

the opportunity to offer remarks regarding support to transitioning military and civilian personnel and their families. 

Demographics 

Holloman AFB currently serves 12,927 personnel, which include: Air Force 3,327; 

civilian employees 1,083; U.S. Dependents 3,233; retirees and their family members, 

4,000; German Military, 528; German dependents, 756. The surrounding 

Alamogordo area population is approximately 11,515. Forty-seven percent (47%) of 

Alamogordo is military related. Our 49th Fighter Wing Mission is: Fly, Fight, and 

Win. We provide Combatant Commanders Combat Ready Airmen, Mission Ready 

MQ–1 & MQ–9 Crews, F–22s, and Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources (BEAR) 

Forces, Anywhere, Anytime. 

Transition Assistance Program 

Our Airman and Family Readiness Center (A&FRC) provides consultation services to our Commanders and assists them in developing and executing policies, programs and processes which enhance individual, family, and community readiness. 

We support and maintain mission readiness by assisting individuals and families 

with adapting to the challenges and demands of the military lifestyle. The A&FRC 

is the OPR for the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). The Holloman A&FRC is 

responsible for providing services to separating or retiring military and civilian personnel and their families transitioning from the military into the private sector and/ 

or civilian lifestyle/workforce. The focus of TAP is to provide the information, skills, 

and knowledge needed for a successful transition. To ensure we offer the necessary 

services and support required by Air Force Instruction, we provide the following: 

mandatory preseparation counseling, logistical support for the Department of Labor 

(DoL) TAP Workshop, and other Airman and Family Readiness Center program 

support. 

Mandatory Preseparation Counseling 

We provide mandatory preseparation counseling and supplemental preseparation 

counseling for regular AF members who are retiring, regular AF members who are 

separating for disability, regular AF members separating after serving at least 180 

days of continuous active duty, and Reserve and Air National Guard members who 

are being released from active duty after 180 days of mobilization. Military members are required to attend an individual preseparation counseling session or small 

group preseparation briefing no less than 90 days prior to separation/retirement. In 

addition, Public Law 107–103, Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 

2001 authorized retirees and separatees to participate in transition activities as 

early as 24 months for retirees and 12 months for separatees before date of separation (DOS). Preseparation counseling sessions include information and/or referral on 

the following topics: career change, employment assistance, Federal employment, 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
54 

education and training, relocation assistance, health and life insurance, and reserve 

affiliation. Additionally, we offer and assist members with development of an Individual Transition Plan, as requested. As required, we document all preseparation 

counseling on appropriate forms. At Holloman in 2009, 225 members received 

preseparation counseling while 406 received services in 2008. 

TAP Workshop 

The TAP workshop is a coordinated effort between the State Department of Labor 

(DoL) Offices in New Mexico, the local career center, the Veterans Administration, 

Veteran’s Service Office, and Holloman’s Airman and Family Readiness Center. All 

of these offices meet on a quarterly basis to look at local and national employment 

trends, and review classroom presentations and critiques from the past quarter’s 

seminars. If changes need to be made, it is a group effort. The close working relationship between TAP workshop presenters and the Airman and Family Readiness 

Center staff ensures a comprehensive, quality workshop. 

The Airman and Family Readiness Center provides logistics for the TAP Workshop. The Center provides classroom facilities, notification and registration of participants, and ongoing publicity. Typically, our TAP workshops include members of 

other Services. Class size ranges from 30 to 50 participants. Spouses are always 

highly encouraged to attend. The TAP Workshop is held on a monthly basis, and 

covers such topics as: strategies for effective job search, interviewing, effective resume development, self-assessment, dress for success, and opportunities for Federal 

employment. 

We are currently conducting ‘‘High Year of Tenure (HYT)’’ seminars, which were 

added for our enlisted members affected by the recent changes in this policy. During 

this seminar, attendees receive information on the guidelines affecting their separation, resources available to them, educational opportunities, financial planning information, and relocation assistance. During the HYT seminar, we strongly encourage 

the military member and spouse to attend the three day TAP workshop to get more 

detailed information on transition programs and services. In the past, we have also 

provided special seminars to prepare our officers and enlisted members when the 

Air Force had ‘‘Force Shaping’’ programs. 

In Alamogordo we have collaborated with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, 

Inc., Lear Siegler, National Enrichment Facility, and local businesses to host job 

fairs. We collaborated with the Small Business Administration to host ‘‘Start Your 

Own Business’’ workshops and we have worked with educational institutes to share 

educational opportunities available. 

In 2009, Our Holloman TAP Workshop attendees listed the top 3 reasons they 

were leaving the Air Force as follows: 

a. Retirees: High Year of Tenure 

b. Separatees: End of commitment 

c. Retirees/Separatees: High Operations Tempo 

Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP) 

The Disabled Transition Assistance Program was specifically developed for 

servicemembers who are separating or retiring with medical disabilities. At 

Holloman the briefings are open to anyone planning to file a claim. The program 

provides members with specialized information and application procedures about 

the VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program. DTAP also explains the process on obtaining individual counseling on handling a disabling situation. Presenters are from 

the Department of Labor and VA. Briefings are held once a month following the 

TAP workshop. In 2009, 300 transitioning military members attended. During 

DTAP, our VA representative answers questions on applying for medical disability 

and also reviews and assists members with completing their disability claim forms. 

Our VA representative goes above and beyond by gathering medical records of those 

retiring or separating who are staying in New Mexico, to start the disability compensation process. 

Air Force Wounded Warrior Support 

We provide individual, personalized support to our Air Force Wounded Warriors. 

These Airmen are our top priority. The previously mentioned services are provided 

to our wounded warriors and their families along with financial counseling, relocation services, education services, and employment assistance; we ensure they are 

linked with the appropriate services from various helping agencies, as needed, and 

we follow up to ensure they received the assistance needed. Additionally, our Air 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
55 

Force Personnel Center Air Force Wounded Warrior Program staff provides followup services for no less than 5 years after separation/retirement. 

Feedback 

Historically, TAP receives a lot of positive feedback. During the TAP workshop, 

participants complete a survey to determine the impact of participating in the program. 

Our participants have said or written the following concerning the TAP Workshop: 

• ‘‘Excellent Workshop.’’ • ‘‘Job internet search will help me find a job when I relocate from Holloman AFB. • ‘‘SBA—good briefing for those looking to start their own business.’’ • ‘‘I really enjoyed this workshop. It was very informative and educational. I highly recommend this class to others I know that are separating!!’’ 

During Preseparation Counseling sessions, our participants have said the following: 

• ‘‘A lot of good information’’ • ‘‘Great to have this since you only retire once from the military’’ • ‘‘I have a lot of work to do to prepare for retirement’’ 

During other separate workshops/classes, which often spouses attend, such as resume writing, house buying, plan my move, and stress management, the feedback 

is always ‘‘this was very helpful’’. 

Annually our TAP Workshop is evaluated by Veteran, Employment & Training 

Services. During the last review, we were cited as offering an ‘‘Outstanding’’ TAP 

workshop. 

Other A&FRC Support Services 

Our first term Airmen attend a briefing called ‘‘Informed Decision’’ given by the 

Career Assistance Advisor. We speak to the Airmen on things to consider when deciding to reenlist or separate, such as: medical cost, day care, housing etc. The information provided gives our Airmen an opportunity to look at their options for staying 

in or leaving the military. During the briefing, attendees are also encouraged to attend the TAP workshop to help them make an informed decision. 

In accordance with our Air Force Instruction for Airman and Family Readiness 

Centers, (AFI 36–3009), we offer additional programs and services to further ensure 

the needs of our transitioning Airmen and their families are being met: 

Employment Assistance supports customers in achieving short and long-term 

employment, education/training, and career goals. Information, skills development, 

and resources are available to prepare customers for local and long-distance job 

searches, self-employment, and/or small business and entrepreneurial efforts. 

Air Force Aid Society (AFAS) provides emergency financial assistance, interest 

free loans, and grants. 

Relocation Assistance provides relocation information, education, and skills development for customers, to ensure a smooth relocation. 

Personal Financial Readiness Services offers information, education, and personal financial counseling to help individuals and families maintain financial readiness. Personal and Family Life Education Services provides prevention/enrichment education and consultation designed to enhance social competence for individuals, couples, and families, and build resilience skills that assist in navigating a mobile, military lifestyle. Services focus on assisting customers to develop and improve 

interpersonal competencies and social relationship skills throughout the life cycle. 

Military Child Education support includes civilian and military School Liaison 

Officers, who advocate for the educational needs of military children and will assist 

Airmen and families with information and referrals regarding local school districts 

and other educational options including home schooling, private schools, charter 

schools, and cyber schools. 

Personal and Family Readiness Services provides mobility and deployment 

assistance to help members and their families meet pre-deployment, sustainment, 

reintegration, and post deployment challenges. This includes pre-deployment education briefings, sustainment support services, and return/reunion/reintegration support. 

Our Major Command also funds Executive TAP Seminars at other select locations, 

specifically targeted to senior military members (Colonels and above, and Chief 

Master Sergeants). 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
56 

Team Holloman is proud to provide programs, services, and support to our 

transitioning military members and their families. We appreciate the policy guidance, support and resources we receive from the many government agencies that enable us to provide the necessary assistance to facilitate a smooth transition for our 

military members and their families. They have served our Nation well, and we are 

grateful to be able to provide the support and services needed as they transition. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Susan P. Bowers, Director, Veterans Affairs 

Southwest Health Care Network, Veterans Health Administration, 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation 

to appear before you today to discuss how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 

is making health care more accessible to Veterans in New Mexico. I am accompanied today by George Marnell, Director of the New Mexico VA Health Care System (NMVAHCS). I appreciate the opportunity to discuss our ongoing efforts to ensure that Veterans receive timely access to the highest quality care, benefits and 

services we can provide. NMVAHCS is a proud member of the VA Southwest Health 

Care Network, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 18, located in Mesa, Arizona. My testimony will provide an overview of NMVAHCS and explain programs 

and strategies to meet the challenges associated with providing quality care to Veterans across the vast geographic area of New Mexico. 

NMVAHCS serves Veterans in New Mexico through VA-staffed community-based 

outpatient clinics (CBOC) in Artesia, Farmington, Gallup, Raton, Santa Fe and Silver City, and through contract CBOCs in Alamogordo, Durango, Espanola, Las 

Vegas and Truth or Consequences. The main campus of the NMVAHCS is the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Albuquerque; this is a tertiary care 

referral facility for Veterans receiving care throughout New Mexico, including those 

seen by the Clovis CBOC managed by the Amarillo VA Health Care System, the 

Hobbs CBOC managed by the West Texas VA Health Care System, and the Las 

Cruces CBOC, managed by the El Paso VA Health Care System. 

NMVAHCS is actively deploying approaches to enhance care for Veterans who do 

not reside near our main facility in Albuquerque. Many enhancements in quality 

have been made to CBOCs and rural health programs throughout New Mexico. For 

example, NMVAHCS has significantly enhanced the quality of care in all CBOCs 

as measured by numerous clinical care performance measures. We accomplished 

this through careful coordination of several initiatives throughout the ambulatory 

care setting. Our facilities now meet more than 85 percent of targeted performance 

metrics, compared to just over 14 percent in fiscal year (FY) 08. This significant 

turnaround was highlighted during a VA regional conference on systems redesign 

in October 2009. 

NMVAHCS also has installed state-of-the-art telemedicine equipment in all of its 

six VA-staffed CBOCs (Artesia, Farmington, Gallup, Raton, Santa Fe, and Silver 

City), as well as the Durango contract CBOC. Currently tele-mental health services 

are available, and we have secured equipment and staff to reduce the need for Veterans to travel long distances to the Albuquerque VAMC. The Alamogordo contract 

CBOC is very close to installing and activating equipment to provide tele-mental 

health services. We are continuing to develop a tele-dermatology program, and we 

have purchased cameras and lighting equipment for all 11 CBOCs. CBOC staff will 

use the equipment to take photographs of skin conditions and send these images 

electronically to the dermatologist at the Albuquerque VAMC. The dermatologist 

will review the photographs and make a medical determination for a treatment plan 

with the primary care provider in the rural location. 

NMVAHCS has installed and is using tele-retinal cameras for retinal exams of 

diabetic patients in five of its six VA-staffed CBOCs to eliminate the need to travel 

to Albuquerque for these exams; VA is leasing additional space at the Santa Fe 

CBOC to allow it to offer tele-retinal services in April 2010. NMVAHCS has greatly 

expanded the number of Veterans receiving Care Coordination Home Telehealth 

(CCHT), which provides devices Veterans can use in their home to communicate 

with dedicated nursing and physician staff at the Albuquerque VAMC. This program grew 24 percent in FY 2009, and NMVAHCS ended the year with an average 

daily census of 177. 

Additionally, through a national VHA rural health initiative, NMVAHCS has secured $2,337,356 in new funding to further expand this program to 500 additional 

Veterans. NMVAHCS has also received $3.8 million from VA’s national Office of 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
57 

Rural Health to expand telemedicine coordination with the Albuquerque VAMC. 

These telemedicine services will include pre- and post-operative care, education and 

follow-up for Veterans. High resolution telemedicine units for surgical specialties 

consultative purposes have been purchased for all 11 CBOCs in New Mexico. The 

telemedicine units, called total examination cameras, are capable of examining ears, 

skin, mouth, feet, and surgical sites for post-operative evaluation. 

Based on the 2009 Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and 

Networking Groups (CHALENG) Survey, there are approximately 460 homeless 

Veterans in New Mexico on any given night, many of whom usually reside in urban 

areas. NMVAHCS works with community providers across the State to address Veterans’ homelessness issues. VA supports 80 beds for homeless Veterans through the 

Grant and Per Diem program, and another 40 beds through the Domiciliary Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program. There are 105 Housing and Urban Development/VA Supportive Housing vouchers available to homeless Veterans in New 

Mexico. 

The NMVAHCS Women Veterans Program offers comprehensive primary care, 

gynecology, cancer screening, and preventive care, while also collaborating with behavioral health programs to offer counseling. NMVAHCS’ Mammography Program 

is certified by the Mammography Quality Standards Act and accredited by the 

American College of Radiology. NMVAHCS’ Women’s Comprehensive Care Clinic 

has provided assistance to several homeless women Veterans and provided referral 

or treatment as necessary. Of the 16,000 women Veterans in New Mexico, 3,694 are 

enrolled in VA for health care, and 2,902 are active users. NMVAHCS is located 

near Kirtland Air Force Base, and many women Veterans return and settle in Albuquerque after deployment. VA has seen a six percent increase in the number of 

women Veterans over the last year, and it expects to serve more than 5,750 women 

Veterans by 2014. 

VA is also making improvements for Veterans who need to travel long distances 

for specialized care in Albuquerque. Congress provided funding to raise the mileage 

reimbursement rate from 11 cents per mile to 41.5 cents per mile to help defray 

travel costs for those Veterans who are eligible for beneficiary travel. In February 

2009, NMVAHCS opened an 8-room, 16-bed, on-campus lodging facility with private 

rooms and baths called Heroes Hall. We recently finished construction on Phase 2 

of this initiative, opening two additional rooms for occupancy. We expect to fully activate this facility by May 2010; this will double the current capacity and be sufficient to accommodate increased demand. This temporary lodging is furnished at no 

charge through the NMVAHCS when Veterans are traveling more than 120 miles 

one way to the NMVAHCS to receive medical care or a compensation and pension 

examination. Veterans who are often accompanied by an adult care provider or a 

significant other can now spend the night on the hospital grounds just before or 

after their appointments. 

VISN 18 and NMVAHCS continuously strive to improve access for Veterans in 

rural areas through strategic planning initiatives that identify outreach and rural 

health opportunities. We appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and to hear 

your thoughts, as well as the opinions of the other witnesses here today. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I am pleased to answer any questions you may 

have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Grant Singleton, Director, Albuquerque 

Veterans Affairs Regional Office, Veterans Benefits Administration, 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Congressman Teague and Members of the Subcommittee, it is my pleasure to be 

here today to discuss our efforts to meet the needs of Veterans residing in New Mexico. 

The Albuquerque Regional Office (RO) administers the following benefits and 

services to approximately 217,000 Veterans and their families in New Mexico: 

• Disability compensation and pension for Veterans and dependents; 

• Vocational rehabilitation and employment (VR&E) assistance; and, 

• Outreach for all Veteran and survivor benefits. 

Our goal is to deliver these comprehensive and diverse non-medical benefits and 

services in a timely, accurate, and professional manner. 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
58 

Outreach Efforts 

The Albuquerque RO conducts extensive outreach. We provide Transition Assistance Program and Disabled Transition Assistance Program briefings at each of the 

three Air Force bases (AFB) in New Mexico; Cannon AFB, Holloman AFB, and 

Kirtland AFB. These briefings provide comprehensive non-medical benefit and service information to servicemembers who will soon be released from active duty. The 

RO provides the same information to the many National Guard members and Reservists as they return to their civilian lives. The most recent briefing was on Saturday, March 13 to 155 servicemembers returning from Iraq. During fiscal year (FY) 

2009, the RO provided approximately 60 briefings to almost 2,000 attendees. In FY 

2010, our outreach specialists have already provided 30 briefings to approximately 

750 attendees. 

The RO works hard to demonstrate to Native American Veterans that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a caring agency dedicated to assisting them in any 

way possible to make a successful transition into civilian life. Many Native American Veterans live in rural areas. Accordingly, our outreach specialists travel to community centers to assist them in applying for compensation and pension benefits 

and medical care. The Albuquerque RO is challenged to serve this deserving population because of the remoteness of their communities and the number of tribes in 

the State. In FY 2009, approximately 40 outreach events were conducted for over 

1,500 Native American Veterans. For this fiscal year to date, 10 outreach events 

were conducted, reaching approximately 375 Native American Veterans. We need to 

continue to increase efforts to reach the remote Native American Veteran population. The RO recently assigned two additional employees to their outreach program and purchased a vehicle to cover these highly rural areas. 

On October 23, 2009, the RO supported a Homeless Veteran Stand Down in conjunction with many Veteran Service Organizations and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Approximately 500 Veterans received assistance in completing 

claims for benefits and identification cards, along with a substantial meal, warm 

clothing, shoes, and haircuts. Albuquerque’s outreach efforts served over 700 homeless veterans in FY 2009, and almost 600 in this fiscal year. 

RO employees visit the VA Medical Center monthly to reach out to Operation 

Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans and do everything possible to 

expedite the receipt of their benefits. 

We also work closely with congressional liaisons and attend outreach events sponsored by congressional offices. In February 2010, RO employees attended job fairs 

and town hall meetings where approximately 1,500 were in attendance. 

Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) 

Within Albuquerque’s Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) division 

is a Job Lab with Internet access, printers, and various materials on job seeking. 

The Job Lab is open to all Veterans seeking employment. The VR&E Employment 

Coordinator and the New Mexico Workforce Solutions Disabled Veterans Outreach 

Program representative are available to answer questions and provide information 

and assistance. 

We are highly successful in working with Federal agencies in New Mexico, including the U.S. Forest Service, Kirtland Air Force Base, and the Bureau of Reclamation 

to place disabled Veterans in suitable jobs. During the past year, 12 disabled Veterans found employment in a Federal posting. VR&E staff aggressively market the 

program to Federal employers, which also helps Veterans participating in State vocational rehabilitation programs. 

VR&E staff recently attended an all day event in Las Cruces in support of the 

Coming Home to Work program, where Veterans were informed about VR&E services available to them. A monthly Employment Workshop is held in collaboration 

with the Department of Workforce Solutions for Veterans within the VR&E program 

as well as all Veterans who have an interest in learning basic interviewing skills, 

resume writing, and personal presentation. 

Staffing 

The Albuquerque RO hired eight employees as a result of the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act. The employees are making direct contributions to improving 

claims processing by assisting with development of claims and mail processing. Currently, 81 employees work in the Veterans Service Center, and 11 VR&E employees 

work in the Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe offices. 

Conclusion 

The Albuquerque RO is committed to providing Veterans and their families all the 

benefits and services available to them in a timely, accurate, and professional manVerDate Nov 24 2008 13:57 Aug 25, 2010 Jkt 057014 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6604 Sfmt 6621 I:\VA\57014.XXX GPO1 PsN: 57014

ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
59 

ner. This concludes my testimony. I appreciate being here today and look forward 

to answering your questions. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Guy McCommon, Team Leader, Las Cruces 

Vet Center, Readjustment Counseling Service, Veterans Health 

Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Good Afternoon, Mr. Chairman: Thank you for allowing me to appear before you 

today to discuss the New Mexico Vet Centers’ efforts to improve rural access and 

outreach, as well as transition from servicemember to Veteran. 

VA’s Vet Centers are a different kind of environment—a caring, non-clinical setting—in which Veterans can receive care. Vet Centers serve combat Veterans and 

their families by providing quality readjustment counseling. Vet Center care consists of a continuum of social and psychological services including community outreach to special populations and referrals to services with community agencies. VA 

maintains a trained and qualified cadre of professional mental health professionals 

and other licensed counselors to provide professional readjustment counseling for 

combat-related PTSD and co-morbid conditions such as depression and substance 

use disorders. Nationally, over 60 percent of Vet Center direct readjustment counseling staff are qualified mental health professionals (licensed psychologists, social 

workers and psychiatric nurses). When necessary for the treatment of more complex 

mental health conditions, Vet Centers refer Veterans to VA medical facilities for 

mental health services, and promote active partnerships with their VA mental 

health counterparts to better serve Veterans. 

There are four Vet Centers located in New Mexico: Farmington, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The Santa Fe and Las Cruces Vet Centers are each home 

to a Mobile Vet Center. A core value of the Vet Centers is to promote access to care 

by helping Veterans and families overcome barriers that impede the receipt of needed services. To extend the geographical reach of Vet Center services, VA has implemented initiatives to ensure that new Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi 

Freedom (OEF/OIF) combat Veterans can access its care. VA’s Vet Centers in New 

Mexico employ 15 counselors, 4 office managers, 2 Mobile Vet Center drivers, and 

1 Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Outreach Technician. Twelve of the clinicians 

are Licensed Clinical Social Workers, 8 are bilingual, and 13 are Veterans. 

VA has extensive plans to provide outreach services to rural communities in New 

Mexico. In southern New Mexico, the Las Cruces Vet Center provides weekly outreach and clinical services to Veterans in the Silver City area (Grant County) and 

the Truth or Consequences community (Sierra County). They also provide outreach 

to communities such as Roswell, Artesia, Alamogordo, Lordsburg and Deming, NM. 

The two Mobile Vet Centers in New Mexico have been providing outreach and counseling services in the rural communities of New Mexico and several American Indian Pueblos. A third Mobile Vet Center, housed in Chinle, Arizona on a Navajo 

Reservation, also provides outreach coverage to the northwest corner of New Mexico. 

Mobile Vet Center Outreach events have been staged in 22 different New Mexico 

communities. Most of these efforts have coincided with events such as the Moving 

Wall, Veterans Day Parade, Run for the Wall, State and local Fairs and Yellow Ribbon gatherings. Other events included a day at the Zoo for OEF/OIF Veterans in 

El Paso, Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Event for women Veterans, the 3rd Annual 

Southern Arizona gathering of American Indian Veterans, and the 11th Annual Native American Symposium in Albuquerque. The Mobile Vet Centers have been well 

utilized for over 79 different events in the past year alone. Outreach to other special 

populations includes visits to some communities that have primarily Hispanic Veterans, homeless Veteran Stand Downs in Albuquerque, events at Veterans Service 

Organization posts, and other Veteran-oriented events. 

The Santa Fe Vet Center has a GWOT Outreach Technician who provides outreach to National Guard and Reserve units throughout the State as well as at active 

duty military sites. Several local units were deployed to combat last year and are 

scheduled to return home in June 2010. The GWOT Outreach Technician is working 

with the New Mexico National Guard State Family Program Director and staff to 

provide outreach and counseling services to all units upon their return. The GWOT 

Outreach Technician from Santa Fe attended 54 different welcome home events at 

National Guard and Reserve units throughout the State, Veterans Club gatherings 

at Universities, events sponsored by community hospitals for Veterans, and two Pow 

Wows for Native American Veterans sponsored by local Tribes. He also has been the 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING
60 

guest on two radio programs and attended a variety of other community meetings 

to speak about Veteran’s issues and services. 

The New Mexico Vet Centers have provided outreach and services at all Post-Deployment Health Reassessments (PDHRA) and Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program events held by National Guard and Reserve units in New Mexico. VA’s New 

Mexico Vet Centers also provided counseling services to 303 recently returned combat Veterans in fiscal year (FY) 2009 and 155 in the first 5 months of FY 2010. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you. I am now prepared to 

answer your questions. 

Æ 


ebenthall on DSK9Q6SHH1PROD with HEARING