South Carolina
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 South Carolina in 2006 to serve more than 410,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 73,691 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in South Carolina.  VA provided 7,445 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 41,615 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $1.3 billion.  South Carolina veterans held 22,000 VA life insurance policies worth more than $248 million.  In 2006, 714 were interred in Beaufort and Florence national cemeteries.

• 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 South Carolina, VA operates major medical centers in Charleston and Columbia.  In fiscal year 2006, VA facilities in South Carolina had 8,629 inpatient admissions and provided nearly a million outpatient visits.  To provide more care for veterans, especially those living in rural areas, VA operates outpatient clinics in Myrtle Beach, Anderson, Beaufort, Florence, Greenville, Rock Hill, Sumter and Orangeburg.  Additionally, VA operates 10 mental health clinics throughout the state and a Women’s Center and sexual trauma support group for women veterans at the Columbia medical center.  The Beaufort community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) leases space in the Beaufort Naval Hospital.  The Navy also provides ancillary services (i.e., lab and x-ray) for VA patients.  The Myrtle Beach CBOC has a construction project that will more than double the size of the clinic.  As a result of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) initiative, VA has identified the need for additional CBOCs in Aiken and Spartanburg – and broke ground in March 2007 for a new clinic in Goose Creek.

• 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 South Carolina, more than 2,000 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care.  Many veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Columbia, Greenville and North Charleston.  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 South Carolina, nearly 40,000 veterans 65 and older received medical care from VA in 2006.  In South Carolina, VA provides a full spectrum of medical, nursing and social services (both inpatient and community-based) to eligible veterans.  These programs and services are designed to meet the needs of older, more frail veterans and to make the home and community the preferred place of delivery of these health services for as long as possible.  The home nursing, homemaker and home health aid program continue to grow each year.  The home-based primary care program continues to be a preferred community-based service.

The Charleston medical center’s geriatric and extended care service has an inpatient Geriatric Evaluation Management (GEM) unit and a GEM outpatient clinic.  They also have a 28-bed nursing home care unit to augment existing contract services such as community nursing home, adult day health care, homemaker and home health aide services, home health, hospice and home IV services.  Their home-based primary care program provides medical care to homebound veterans within a 50-mile radius of the Charleston medical center.

• 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 funds 263 research projects in the two South Carolina facilities with a combined budget of $5.3 million.  Research areas include cardiology, endocrinology, nephrology, hematology, oncology, rheumatology, psychology and alcoholism.  VA’s Charleston medical center is the recipient of two highly prestigious Research Enhancement Award programs, and it was one of the first research programs in the country to successfully achieve accreditation for its Human Subjects Protection Program.  The Columbia medical center  is actively engaged in basic clinical and health systems investigations as well as cooperative VA studies that foster investigations leading to disease prevention, better and earlier diagnosis, and safer and more effective treatment.  South Carolina’s VA medical centers make a continual effort to update professional practices with the latest evidence-based research.  This information is shared throughout the VA medical system.  South Carolina researchers also participate in multi-center clinical trials looking at antibiotics to treat specific symptoms for Gulf War illnesses and numerous studies to determine the best therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

• 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 Columbia Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in South Carolina who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Columbia Regional Office processed 15,561 disability compensation claims, including 4,032 veterans applying for the first time and 11,529 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 2,400 South Carolina 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.

VA homeless programs in South Carolina are based in Charleston and Columbia.  In both cities, non-profit organizations were awarded VA grants and per diem payments to establish transitional housing and job training for homeless veterans.  The Columbia medical center’s Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program has 107 veterans employed with a monthly payroll of $20,000.  A Columbia VA program provides dental care to homeless veterans.  The Charleston medical center has active outreach and CWT programs, and has hired a second full-time homeless outreach coordinator to expand these efforts.  Volunteers throughout the state, particularly from veterans’ service organizations, augment the South Carolina VA homeless 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 2.7 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 two national cemeteries in South Carolina.  In 2006, Beaufort National Cemetery had 410 burials and the Florence National Cemetery had 304.  VA is examining possible sites for a future cemetery in the Greenville/Columbia area.  South Carolina is also seeking a VA grant to establish a state cemetery in Anderson, south of Greenville.  VA provided 4,786 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in South Carolina and more than 2,800 Presidential Memorial Certificates to South Carolina survivors of veterans.

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