South Dakota
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 nearly $378 million in South Dakota in 2006 to serve nearly 72,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 14,107 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in South Dakota.  VA provided 2,048 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 6,083 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $194 million.  South Dakota veterans held more than 5,000 VA life insurance policies worth nearly $57 million.  In 2006, 698 were interred at the Black Hills 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 South Dakota, VA operates major medical centers in the Black Hills (Fort Meade and Hot Springs) and Sioux Falls.  The Sioux Falls VA Medical Center admitted 3,149 veterans and had 185,317 outpatient visits in 2006.  The VA Black Hills Health Care System admitted 2,325 veterans and had 199,573 outpatient visits.  To provide more accessible care for veterans, VA operates community-based outpatient clinics in Rapid City, Pierre, Winner, Rosebud (Mission), Aberdeen, Eagle Butte, Isabel and Faith, S.D.; and Sioux City, Iowa.  Primary care is also delivered through rural outreach clinics in Pine Ridge, S.D.; Alliance, Rushville and Scottsbluff, Neb.; and Newcastle, Wyo.

Specialty outreach programs are located on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation at McLaughlin and on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, Mont.  VA Black Hills serves as the primary health care provider for the State Veterans Home in Hot Springs.  Sioux Falls VA provides primary care coverage for the Minnesota State Veterans Home in Luverne.  A post-traumatic stress disorder residential rehabilitation program operates at the Hot Springs VA Medical Center.  An aftercare outreach clinic and transitional residence program are on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

VA in South Dakota continues to expand programs and services for women veterans.  The number of women veterans seen in South Dakota VA health care facilities continues to increase.  The Sioux Falls Medical Center saw 1,153 women patients in 2006, and the VA Black Hills Health Care System saw 2,025 women veterans.  Specialty programs include sexual trauma and OB/GYN.  Sioux Falls VA holds an annual women veterans' symposium.  VA Black Hills’ Substance Use and Post Traumatic Stress program has semi-annual retreats for women veterans and collaterals of male combat veterans.

• 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 Dakota, more than 2,500 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 Martin, Rapid City and Sioux Falls.  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 Dakota, 24,282 veterans 65 and older received medical care from VA in 2006.  The Sioux Falls and Black Hills medical centers have established extended care services to include two outpatient geriatric evaluation units.  Additionally, VA provides skilled nursing, physical and occupational therapy, homemaker, home health aide and in-home hospice care.  VA in South Dakota provides referrals to contract nursing homes, residential care and assisted living, and partners with the community for adult day-health care when available.  Services also include inpatient respite care programs for the caregivers of geriatric patients.  Both Black Hills and Sioux Falls have hospital-based nursing home care units providing complex rehabilitative care for veterans. VA Black Hills recently established a home and community-based health care department.

• 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.

The Sioux Falls VA Medical Center research program includes basic and clinical research.  Clinical research studies are conducted in infectious disease, diabetes registries, sleep disturbance, lung disease self-management, anticoagulation therapy, stroke prevalence and mental health.  Research projects in basic science include studies in gene silencing, chemical receptors in the kidney and gene expression in obesity-linked renal disease.  Currently, there are nine principal investigators directing 21 different research projects.  The VA Black Hills Health Care System research program is active in clinical and non-clinical research.  Research projects are being conducted in mental health, internal medicine, smoking cessation, anticoagulation therapy, medical care management and audiology.  Seven principal investigators are responsible for nine different research projects.

• 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 Sioux Falls VA Medical and Regional Office Center serves veterans and their survivors in South Dakota who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Sioux Falls VAMROC processed 3,079 disability compensation claims, including 925 veterans applying for the first time and 2,154 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 800 South Dakota 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.

A Black Hills domiciliary at Hot Springs is dedicated to a transitional program, where veterans are assisted in housing, employment and medical and psychological treatment needs.  The mission is to return veterans to their highest level of independent living in the community.  Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) is a key component of the program.  Black Hills offers a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment program and a CWT residential unit at Pine Ridge.  CWT is also the cornerstone of the Veterans Industries Program located at McLaughlin and Eagle Butte.

Since 1997, VA Black Hills and the Rapid City Vet Center have conducted stand downs in Rapid City, Pine Ridge, Martin, McLaughlin and Eagle Butte.  The Sioux Falls medical center and Vet Center conducted their sixth stand down for homeless veterans and other veterans in need last year.  Medical screenings, clothing, food, job services, counseling and legal advice were provided.  Minority veteran coordinators work closely with the homeless coordinators.

• 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 three national cemeteries in South Dakota.  Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis had 698 burials in 2006.  Ft. Meade National Cemetery and Hot Springs National Cemetery are closed for new burials.  The South Dakota Veterans Home Cemetery received no federal development funds.  VA provided 1,666 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in South Dakota and 1,331 Presidential Memorial Certificates for South Dakota survivors of veterans.

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