Kansas
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 nearly $667 million in Kansas in 2006 to serve some 238,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 32,547 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Kansas.  VA provided 4,844 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 24,453 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $722 million.  Kansas veterans held nearly 15,000 VA life insurance policies worth more than $170 million.  In 2006, 1,094 were interred in the state's three national cemeteries.

• 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 Kansas, VA operates major medical centers in Leavenworth, Topeka and Wichita, with the Leavenworth and Topeka campuses forming the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System.  VA had 6,442 admissions and nearly 740,000 outpatient visits in Kansas in fiscal year 2006.  To provide better access to care for veterans, especially those living in rural areas, 17 outpatient clinics are located at Dodge City, Hays, Liberal, Louisburg-Paola, Parsons, Kansas City, Abilene, Chanute, Emporia, Garnet, Holton, Junction City, Lawrence, Russell, Ft. Scott, Salina and Seneca.  Kansas VA medical facilities currently have more than 100 affiliations with educational institutions, including the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri.  Each year, nearly a thousand students in a variety of disciplines received training at VA's facilities.

• 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 Kansas, more than 4,800 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terrorism have sought VA health care.  At the Wichita VA Medical Center, doctors have treated 3,781 returning veterans; and in Eastern Kansas, 1,022.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Manhattan and Wichita.  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 Kansas, more than 35,000 veterans aged 65 and older received medical care from VA in 2006.  A wide range of geriatric, rehabilitation and extended care services are available and programs continue to expand to meet the growing needs of the elderly veteran population.  Kansas medical centers offer elderly veterans physical rehabilitation, interim care, psychogeriatric care, hospice services, respite, nursing home care, dementia treatment, home care, geriatric evaluation and management, adult day health care, residential services and blind rehabilitation.  Long-term care facilities in Leavenworth, Topeka, and Wichita have VA nursing home care units.  Two state veteran facilities are located in Kansas: in Fort Dodge and in Winfield.

• 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.

VA supports many research initiatives, which are conducted at tertiary care and affiliated medical centers.  Laboratory-based science, which improves our understanding of how disease progresses or how medications or other treatments can be effective, is important for medical research.  Clinical research studies improve treatment of health problems prevalent among veteran patients and the general population.  The Dole VA facility in Wichita is providing oncology research and has a cardiovascular biochemical marker research project.  The VA Eastern Kansas facilities have four research investigators participating in active research projects, covering a full array of subjects for health care investigation.

• 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 Wichita VA Medical and Regional Office Center serves veterans and their survivors in Kansas who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Wichita VAMROC processed 5,519 disability compensation claims, including 1,898 veterans applying for the first time and 3,621 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 600 Kansas veterans participated in VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program in 2006.

• 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.

The Kansas facilities participate in standdowns, which provide homeless veterans a new start.  Additionally, the three medical centers collaborate with local homeless shelters, community and statewide homeless service providers to break the cycle of homelessness by assisting with job counseling, medical care and rehabilitation.  The Leavenworth medical center operates a 178-bed domiciliary.  Wichita and Topeka facilities use the Health Care for Homeless Veterans program.  This allows them the ability to place homeless veterans who require supported housing into appropriate housing options by contracting with community-based service providers.  Topeka VA staff have been active with other community homeless service providers who participate in the HUD competitive grant program.

• 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.

VA has three national cemeteries in Kansas: Leavenworth, Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Scott.  In 2006, the national cemetery in Leavenworth had 820 burials and the cemetery at Ft. Scott had 127.  The Ft. Leavenworth National Cemetery buries family members and cremation remains and had 147 burials.  State veterans cemeteries are in Ft. Dodge, Wakeeney and Winfield; each received federal grants.  Last year, VA provided 3,983 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Kansas and 3,084 Presidential Memorial Certificates to Kansas survivors of veterans.