Washington, D.C.
and the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

• General:  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a wide variety of programs and services for the nation’s 24.3 million veterans.  In 2006, about 5.3 million people were treated in VA health care facilities, 3.6 million veterans and survivors received VA disability compensation or pensions, nearly 600,000 used GI Bill education benefits and more than 2.4 million owned homes purchased with GI Bill home loan benefits originally valued at $236 billion.  About 97,000 veterans and family members were buried in VA’s national cemeteries and 335,000 headstones and markers were provided for veterans’ graves worldwide.

VA spent nearly $1.9 billion in Washington, D.C., in 2006 to serve approximately 370,000 veterans who live in the district, northern Virginia and southern Maryland.  That same year, 6,207 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in the District of Columbia.  VA provided 1,052 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 2,566 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $75 million.  Washington D.C. veterans held nearly 2,700 VA life insurance policies valued at more than $31 million.

• Health Care:  One of the most visible of all VA benefits is health care.  VA has 153 hospitals, 882 ambulatory care and community-based outpatient clinics, 207 Vet Centers, 136 nursing homes, 45 residential rehabilitation treatment programs and 92 comprehensive home care programs.  Due to technology and national and VA health care trends, VA has changed from a hospital-based system to a primarily outpatient-focused system over the past decade.  Veterans will make 55 million outpatient visits to VA health care facilities this year.

In fiscal year 2006, VA facilities in Washington, D.C., had 6,429 inpatient admissions and provided care during 573,097 outpatient visits.  The Washington, D.C., medical center is one of the most visible and dynamic facilities in the VA system.  This teaching facility provides general and specialized services in medicine, surgery, neurology and psychiatry, and offers nursing home care.  The medical center also oversees four outpatient clinics in Alexandria, Va.; Greenbelt, Md.; Charlotte Hall, Md.; and southeast D.C.

Selected as a primary back-up facility to the military’s medical system during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Washington, D.C., medical center also has a peacetime sharing agreement with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The Washington, D.C., medical center holds three medical school affiliations: Georgetown University School of Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine.  Additionally, it has affiliations with numerous colleges and universities in such areas as pharmacy, rehabilitation medicine, biomedical engineering, dietetics, social work, nursing and medical center management.  Medical professionals from across the nation and around the world regularly visit the facility to view its computerized patient record system (CPRS) and its bar coding method for distribution of medication.

• Post-Conflict Care:  VA has launched special efforts to provide a "seamless transition" for those returning from service in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF).  Each VA medical facility and benefits regional office has a point of contact to coordinate activities locally to help meet the needs of these returning combat service members and veterans.  In addition, VA increased the staffing of benefits counselors at key military hospitals where severely wounded service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are frequently sent.  Once home, recent Iraq and Afghan veterans have ready access to VA health care, which is free of charge for two years following separation for any health problem possibly related to wartime service.  Some 205,000 veterans from the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care since returning stateside, about one-third of the total number of men and women leaving military service.

In 2006, more than 2,500 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror sought VA health care.  Many veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Alexandria, Va.; Silver Spring, Md.; and in northeast D.C.  These community-based Vet Centers serve as an important resource for veterans who, once home, often seek out fellow veterans for advice or help transitioning back to civilian life.  Vet Centers offer counseling, job assistance and referral, case management, and substance abuse screening and counseling.  Counseling is also available to veterans who experienced sexual harassment or assault in the military.

• Geriatric Care:  Long-term care is a critical issue for America’s veterans.  Approximately 39 percent of living veterans are at least 65 years, compared with 12 percent of the general population.  The challenge to care for these 9.5 million men and women is met through a spectrum of home and community-based programs such as home-based primary care, homemaker and home health aide services, home respite and hospice and adult day care health.  VA also provides home and domiciliary care for veterans who can no longer be safely maintained in non-institutional settings.  Additionally, VA conducts nationwide research on the causes and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and funds 21 geriatric research, education and clinical centers, each focusing on a major geriatric problem.

In Washington, D.C., VA treated 24,654 veterans 65 years old or older in 2006.  The District of Columbia's VA geriatric programs include a 120-bed nursing home unit that provides rehabilitation services and end-of-life care by an interdisciplinary team.  Additionally, a wide range of geriatric extended care services are available in outpatient and noninstitutional settings, including home-based primary care, geriatric primary care, hospice and respite care.  The center also provides geriatric fellowships in conjunction with The George Washington University.  Programs continue to expand to meet this growing population.

• Research:  To provide the highest quality of health care to the nation’s veterans, VA sponsors a world-renowned research and development program that addresses some of the most difficult challenges facing medical science today, such as aging, vision loss, women’s health, Gulf War illnesses, diabetes, bioterrorism and hepatitis. VA researchers led the way in developing the cardiac pacemaker, the CT scan, magnetic source imaging and improving artificial limbs.  More recently, injuries sustained by armed forces engaged in current deployments have further increased the long-standing emphasis on VA research on limb loss; prosthetics and tissue replacement; traumatic brain injury; spinal cord injury; and mental health issues including post-traumatic stress disorder.  The quality of the research and relevance to the veteran population remain the determining factors in deciding what studies to fund.

Ongoing research at the Washington, D.C., medical center addresses a broad range of health-related issues, including AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer and heart disease.

The medical center has been selected as an AIDS research site by the National Institutes of Health, allowing the facility to provide the most up-to-date treatment to veterans with HIV in the Washington, D.C., area.

• Disabilities and Pensions:  Not all military service related issues end when people are discharged from active duty.  About 2.7 million veterans receive monthly VA disability compensation for medical conditions related to their service in uniform.  VA pensions go to about 330,000 wartime veterans with limited means.  Family members of about 527,000 veterans qualify for monthly VA payments as the survivors of disabled veterans or pension recipients.

VA's Washington Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in the District of Columbia who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Washington Regional Office processed 883 disability compensation claims, including 523 veterans applying for the first time and 360 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 1,900 District veterans participated in VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program in 2006.

• Homeless:  Nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults are veterans, and many more veterans who live in poverty are at risk of becoming homeless.  VA is the only federal agency that provides substantial hands-on assistance directly to the homeless.  It has the largest network of homeless assistance programs in the country.  More than 15,000 residential rehabilitative, transitional and permanent beds are available for homeless veterans throughout the country.  VA aggressively reaches out to veterans on the street, conducts clinical assessments, offers needed medical treatment, and provides long-term shelters and job training.  More than $265 million is dedicated to specialized homeless programs to assist homeless veterans, including grants and per diem payments to more than 400 public and non-profit groups.

From shelters and abandoned buildings to soup kitchens, VA staff reached out to nearly a thousand homeless veterans in the Washington, D.C., area in 2006.  Serving northern Virginia and southern Maryland as well as the District, VA ensures that homeless veterans have medical and psychiatric care and substance abuse treatment through the medical center's outreach programs.  Partnering with nonprofit, community-based organizations, VA provides housing, medical care and counseling for the chronically mentally ill and veterans with substance abuse problems.  The Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program helps veterans find jobs and homes in the community.  VA in the District of Columbia also sponsors standdowns that provide medical screening, food, clothing, dental care, job services, spiritual counseling, referrals for substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment and legal advice to the homeless.

• Memorial Affairs:  Most men and women who have been in the military are eligible for burial in a national cemetery, as are their dependent children and usually their spouses.  VA manages the country’s network of national cemeteries with more than 2.7 million gravesites at 125 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier’s lots and monument sites.  In 2006, nearly 97,000 veterans were buried in VA's national cemeteries.  Additionally, VA provided more than 335,000 headstones and markers and 405,000 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased veterans.  VA-assisted state veterans cemeteries provided more than 22,000 interments.

The District of Columbia has no veterans cemeteries.  VA provided 44 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in the District and sent 199 Presidential Memorial Certificates to District survivors of veterans.

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