Mississippi
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 a billion dollars in Mississippi in 2006 to serve more than 236,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 43,270 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Mississippi.  VA provided 4,315 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 23,159 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $685 million.  Mississippi veterans held nearly 11,000 VA life insurance policies worth $121 million.  In 2006, 858 were interred in Mississippi’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 fiscal year 2006, VA facilities in Mississippi had 7,530 inpatient admissions and provided 592,998 outpatient visits.  In Mississippi, the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (HCS) operates medical centers in Biloxi and Gulfport. The 163-bed Jackson medical center operates community-based outpatient clinics in Byhalia, Houlka, Kosciusko, Meridian, Hattiesburg, Natchez, Meadville, Greenville and Columbus.  The VA Gulf Coast Veterans HCS, Biloxi Division, operates 40 acute care medical beds, 20 intermediate medicine beds, 10 intensive care unit beds and a 171-bed domiciliary, which includes an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment program.  The nearby Gulfport Division provides 144 psychiatric beds.  The VA Gulf Coast Veterans HCS also operates outpatient clinics in Mobile, Ala., and Panama City and Pensacola, Fla.

• 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 Mississippi, more than 6,100 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terrorism sought VA health care in 2006.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Biloxi and Jackson.  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 Mississippi, 42,487 veterans aged 65 or older received medical care from VA in 2006.  The aging population, with its complex chronic illnesses, is creating new medical concerns.  To meet these needs, the Jackson medical center has a 120-bed nursing home care unit and supports community contract nursing homes, and a variety of outpatient programs for aging veterans.  The VA Gulf Coast Veterans HCS provides nursing home care in a 104-bed unit at the Biloxi Division and a 56-bed dementia unit at the Gulfport Division.  Institutional geriatrics and long-term care are provided for veterans whose health needs cannot be met in the home or on an outpatient basis.  However, there are numerous programs, like adult day care, home health aide services and contract home health care, that the VA provides to allow veterans to remain in their homes as long as possible.

Mississippi operates four 150-bed state veterans homes supported by VA funds.  All four homes, in Collins, Jackson, Kosciusko and Oxford, provide skilled nursing 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.

In 2006, VA facilities in Mississippi received nearly $900,000 in VA funding.  VA research in Mississippi focuses on chronic diseases that affect residents of the state in greater proportion than the rest of the nation -- diabetes, prostate cancer, hypertension, sickle-cell anemia, lupus and cancer.  The first FDA-approved treatment for sickle-cell disease was developed at the Jackson facility.  The Jackson medical center is affiliated with the University of Mississippi Medical Center and works with the school in research and training.  At the VA Gulf Coast Veterans HCS, support for continued and expanded research is an important part of the system's strategic plan.

• 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 Jackson Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in Mississippi who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Jackson Regional Office processed 8,386 disability compensation claims, including 2,716 veterans applying for the first time and 5,670 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 500 Mississippi 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.

Mississippi received its first homeless grant in February 2000 -- a $224,000 grant for a 40-bed shelter that provides substance abuse and jobs skills counseling for veterans in Jackson.  A partnership with The Common Bond Association, a community-based non-profit organization that operates I.S.I.A.H. House, will improve the Jackson medical center's ability to provide care for homeless veterans throughout the state.  The Homeless Veterans Program continues to be popular at the VA Gulf Coast Veterans HCS, Biloxi Division's domiciliary, as demonstrated by the number of applications and referrals received.  Recent evaluations show 87 percent of patients have a residence at the time of discharge.  Veterans entering the program find employment readily available on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

• 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 Mississippi.  Biloxi National Cemetery had 696 burials in 2006, the cemetery at Corinth had 51 and the cemetery at Natchez had 111.  VA provided 4,664 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Mississippi and 2,037 Presidential Memorial Certificates for Mississippi survivors of veterans.