Utah
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 more than $441 million in Utah in 2006 to serve about 147,000 veterans who live in the state.  That same year, 19,186 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Utah.  VA provided 4,799 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 16,233 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $561 million.  Utah veterans held more than 10,000 VA life insurance policies worth nearly $109 million.

• 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 Utah, VA operates a major medical center in Salt Lake City, which serves veterans in one of the largest geographic areas in the VA system.  It is a modern, 121-bed facility specializing in cardiology, oncology and amputee care.  In fiscal year 2006, VA treated 5,350 inpatients and conducted more than 378,000 outpatient visits in Utah.  Veterans are referred to Salt Lake City from throughout Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming for specialty care.  Special outpatient services include clinics for post-traumatic stress disorder, domestic violence, same-day surgery, women veterans and ambulatory medicine.  Veterans receiving outpatient care, who are able to function independently, are welcome to stay in the 30-bed "hoptel" and recreational vehicle lot.

The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System provides primary and mental health care in four community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) in Ogden, Orem, St.  George and Roosevelt.  Veterans are also treated by contract arrangement in Nephi and Fountain Green, Utah; Ely, Nev.; Pocatello, Idaho; and Green River, Wyo.  Vet Centers are located in Provo and Salt Lake City.

The Salt Lake City medical center is a major training site for the University of Utah School of Medicine and affiliates with training programs in nearly all health sciences.

• 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 Utah, nearly 3,000 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror sought VA health care in 2006.  Many veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Provo and Salt Lake City.  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 Utah, 23,195 veterans aged 65 and older received VA medical care in 2006.  Geriatric primary care clinics treat the complex health care needs of elderly veterans.  A home-based primary care team provides care to homebound veterans within a 30-mile radius of the Salt Lake City facility.  The Salt Lake City Geriatric, Research and Clinical Center (GRECC) give interdisciplinary training to health care practitioners in geriatrics.  The GRECC is currently researching changes that occur to cells as they age and strategies to reduce adverse drug effects.  The state of Utah operates a state veterans home on the campus of the Salt Lake City 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.

The VA Salt Lake City Health Care System has hundreds of active research investigations that produce knowledge, techniques and products leading to improved prevention, diagnosis, treatment and control of disease.  VA funded nearly $3.3 million in veteran-related research projects in Utah.  Topics being investigated include conditions related to audiology, pulmonary diseases, cardiology, geriatrics, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious diseases and neurovirology.

• 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 Salt Lake City Regional Office serves veterans and their survivors in Utah who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the Salt Lake City Regional Office processed 12,944 disability compensation claims, including 10,116 veterans applying for the first time and 2,828 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 1,300 Utah 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.

VA homeless programs in Utah include the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans program.  This program provides outreach to homeless veterans in shelters and through referrals from social service agencies; assessment of their needs and referral to VA and community programs; liaison with community programs that have received VA per diem grants to house or treat veterans for alcoholism and drug addiction; and coordination of care with VA eligibility, benefits, substance abuse treatment, post-combat treatment, mental health counseling, medicine, dental and surgical programs.

VA works with local, state and national groups and provides leadership in organizing and administering homeless veteran stand downs.  Transitional housing is provided on the medical center campus in cooperation with the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City.

• 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.

Utah has no national cemeteries.  The state veterans cemetery in Riverton had 245 burials in 2006.  VA provided 1,142 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Utah and provided 1,885 Presidential Memorial Certificates for Utah survivors of veterans.