Idaho
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.  More than 100,000 veterans and family members were buried in VA’s national cemeteries and nearly 360,000 headstones and markers were provided for veterans’ graves worldwide.

VA spent more than $325 million in Idaho in 2006 to serve nearly 132,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 20,215 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Idaho.  VA provided 2,741 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 14,480 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $480 million.  Idaho veterans held more than 7,000 VA life insurance policies valued at more than $77 million.

• Health Care:  One of the most visible of all VA benefits is health care.  VA has 153 hospitals, 895 ambulatory care and community-based outpatient clinics, 209 Vet Centers, 135 nursing homes, 47 residential rehabilitation treatment programs and 92 comprehensive home care programs.  To improve patients’ ability to access care, 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 Idaho had 1,423 inpatient admissions and provided nearly 190,000 outpatient visits, including visits to community facilities.  In Idaho, VA operates a major medical center in Boise and community outpatient clinics in Caldwell and Twin Falls (supported by the Boise medical center), Lewiston (supported by the Walla Walla medical center) and Pocatello (supported by the Salt Lake City medical center).

The Boise medical center has 78 beds and provided inpatient medical, surgical and psychiatric care, as well as outpatient care to more than 20,000 veterans in 2006.  The service area includes southwestern and central Idaho, southeastern Oregon and the Duck Valley Reservation, which extends into northern Nevada.  Specialty services are provided at the Boise facility, and through referrals to community care or to VA Puget Sound Health Care System.

The Boise medical center is affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine and works closely with the southwestern Idaho medical community.  Other major affiliations include the Idaho State University College of Pharmacy and the Boise State University School of Nursing.  Other health professional training programs include social work, occupational therapy, radiology and laboratory technology.

• 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 Idaho, nearly 1,400 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror sought VA health care in 2006.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Boise and Pocatello.  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.

• 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 Idaho, more than 8,500 veterans aged 65 and older received medical care from VA in 2005.  The Boise medical center provides long-term care to veterans in southwestern and south-central Idaho and to eastern Oregon veterans in four counties.  The facility also offers geriatric care, including home health, residential, geriatric rehabilitation, extended care, and community nursing homes (using VA contracted care).

• 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.

During fiscal year 2006, there were dozens of research projects at the Boise VA Medical Center.  The total VA research funding for fiscal year 2006 was more than $942,000.  Major areas of research include cancer, drug development and treatment, pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, geriatrics and drug response interactions.  Research related to medical educational outcomes is also being conducted at the medical center.

As an affiliate of the University of Washington School of Medicine, the Boise medical center has an active research program in which physicians care for patients, teach medical students and residents, and engage in their own research.  There are also affiliations and cooperative agreements with Boise State University, Idaho State University, Northwest Nazarene College, University of Idaho, Mountain States Tumor Institute and Mountain States Research Institute that allow their respective faculty to conduct research at the Boise medical center.  The facility also plays an important role in providing biomedical research for students who are planning to enter the medical field.

• 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 Boise Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in Idaho who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Boise Regional Office processed 4,117 disability compensation claims, including 1,424 veterans applying for the first time and 2,693 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.

• Homeless:  Less than 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.  Nearly 16,000 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.

As the largest metropolitan area in Idaho, Boise has an ever-increasing homeless population.  In 2006, it was estimated that there were more than a thousand homeless people per night in the greater Boise area, including Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell and other areas of the Treasure Valley.  Census data shows that approximately one of every three homeless men has served in the armed forces.  In response, the Boise VA hired a full-time homeless coordinator to manage services within VA and between VA and community service providers.

The homeless outreach extends to areas outside of Boise such as Mountain Home, McCall, Twin Falls and other cities.  A homeless stand down has been an annual event in Boise since 1992, reflecting a strong partnership with VA, the state of Idaho and many community agencies and businesses.

• 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 2.9 million gravesites at 125 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, as well as in 33 soldier’s lots and monument sites.  In 2007, more than 100,000 veterans and dependents were buried in VA's national cemeteries.  Additionally, VA provided more than 359,000 headstones and markers and 423,000 Presidential Memorial Certificates to the loved ones of deceased veterans.  VA-assisted state veterans cemeteries provided more than 23,000 interments.

In 2004, Idaho gave up its status as the only state without a national or state cemetery by opening a state veterans cemetery in Boise.  In 2006, the cemetery conducted 387 interments.  Also that year, VA provided 1,328 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Idaho and sent 1,266 Presidential Memorial Certificates to Idaho survivors of veterans.