Minnesota
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 more than $1.2 billion in Minnesota in 2006 to serve more than 410,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 61,126 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Minnesota.  VA provided 8,121 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 27,888 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $873 million.  Minnesota veterans held more than 34,000 VA life insurance policies worth $358 million.  In 2006, 4,367 were interred in Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.

• 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 Minnesota, VA operates major medical centers in Minneapolis and St. Cloud.  In 2006, VA served 10,111 inpatients and conducted nearly 817,000 outpatient visits.  To provide better access to health care for veterans, especially those living in rural areas, VA has community-based outpatient clinics in Brainerd, Chippewa Falls, Fergus Falls, Iron Range, Maplewood, Rochester, South Central (Mankato), and West Central (Montevideo), and Superior, Wisc.

• 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 Minnesota, some 3,600 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care.  At the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, doctors have treated more than 2,000 returning veterans; and in St. Cloud, 1,571.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Minneapolis and Duluth.  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 St. Cloud, 16,063 veterans aged 65 and older received medical care from VA in 2006.  The St. Cloud VA Medical Center offers a 225-bed nursing home care unit, which includes a 10-bed chronic ventilator-dependent unit that serves veterans from Minnesota as well as the rest of the nation; a 40-bed unit that provides care for patients suffering from a number of dementias; an eight-bed unit offering extensive rehabilitation services; an eight-bed sub-acute unit; and an eight-bed (average daily census) hospice unit.  The nursing home care unit also provides respite care.  In 2006, the nursing home care unit treated 857 veterans, including 44 patients who were admitted for terminal care.  An adult day health care program provided health maintenance and rehabilitative services to 103 veterans who live within a 45-mile radius of the medical center.  Additionally in 2006, VA provided support to veterans in their homes by paying for 11,327 home health aides and/or homemaker visits.  Public health nurses conducted 6,646 visits.

The Minneapolis medical center hosts one of 20 VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Centers (GRECC).  The program focuses on improving care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease through integrated research, education and clinical demonstration projects.  For example, the GRECC adaptive work program is a unique approach to the care of mildly to moderately impaired Alzheimer patients.  Based on a sheltered workshop, the program provides meaningful jobs and a small salary for veterans in the early stages of dementia.  The Minneapolis GRECC is also a major producer of satellite programs that are broadcast nationwide for health care professionals.

• 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.

Minnesota VA investigators are currently working on 836 research studies, involving 161 scientists and investigators.  The VA-funded research is in the following areas: cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson-like diseases, energy metabolism, gastrointestinal diseases, aneurysm detection and management, Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, AIDS, kidney failure, smoking cessation, cancer, prostate, lung, arthritis, brain functions, hypertension, schizophrenia, diabetes, emerging pathogens, head injury, Gulf War illnesses, pain and numerous others.

• 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 St. Paul Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in Minnesota who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the St. Paul Regional Office processed 13,761 disability compensation claims, including 5,546 veterans applying for the first time and 8,215 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 1,400 Minnesota 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.

The Minneapolis medical center provides outreach to homeless veterans at inner-city soup kitchens and day centers.  It works closely with community homeless agencies to provide veteran benefits counseling, health assessments and to assist homeless veterans to obtain counseling for alcohol, drug and mental problems.  Approximately half of the veterans admitted to addiction services at the St. Cloud medical center are homeless at the time of admission.  By the time they are discharged, most have completed a chemical dependency treatment program, benefited from vocational rehabilitation counseling, and were employed and able to save funds for their own apartments or other housing arrangements.  VA partners with community agencies in providing transitional housing for veterans in many communities throughout the Minneapolis and St. Cloud areas.

• 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 124 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.

VA has one national cemetery in Minnesota.  Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis had 4,367 burials in 2006.  Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls, which received a VA grant, had 283 burials.  VA provided 10,335 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Minnesota and sent 3,272 Presidential Memorial Certificates to Minnesota survivors of veterans.

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