Vermont
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.

In 2006, VA spent nearly $209 million in Vermont to care for nearly 56,000 veterans who live in the state, plus veterans from neighboring New Hampshire who use the White River Junction VA Medical & Regional Office Center.  That same year, 7,123 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in Vermont.  VA provided 694 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 1,880 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $66 million.  Vermont veterans held more than 3,600 VA life insurance policies worth $40 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 fiscal year 2006, VA facilities in Vermont had 2,531 inpatient admissions and provided for nearly 182,000 outpatient visits.  In Vermont, VA operates the White River Junction VA Medical Center and a satellite Regional Office Center.  The medical center has 60 operating inpatient beds and offers a full range of general medical, surgical and psychiatric services.  Additionally, the medical center provides diagnostic and therapeutic services such as CT radiography, angiography, nuclear medicine, oncology, vascular laboratory and respiratory care.  Also located at the facility are the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the National Quality Scholars Program and VA’s Veterans Health Administration’s Center for Learning and Improvement of Patient Safety.  The medical center is affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School and the University of Vermont College of Medicine.  Annually, the medical center rotates more than a hundred Dartmouth and University of Vermont residents through more than 40 positions in 17 specialties.  To augment the medical center, VA operates community-based outpatient clinics in Bennington, Colchester and Rutland.

• 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 Vermont, 1,511 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror sought VA health care at the White River Junction VA Medical Center, and its clinics in 2006.  Some veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Burlington and White River Junction.  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 Vermont, 11,979 veterans age 65 and older received medical care from VA during fiscal year 2006.  The medical center offers home-based primary care, community nursing home, adult day health care, home health aid and respite care.  The focus is to maintain veterans in their homes and communities.  Future efforts will explore use of home telehealth.

• 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 fiscal year 2006, the White River Junction medical center received more than $4 million in research funds from VA.  A 47,000-square-foot research building houses 14 laboratories, conference rooms and office space.  The center focuses on research in areas such as cancer, arthritis, liver disease related to environmental toxins and heart disease.  It is the only facility in Vermont and New Hampshire where HIV research is conducted.

The White River Junction center plays a significant role in a number of major VA national cooperative studies ranging from reducing body iron to screening for colon polyps.  The White River Junction VA Outcomes Group collaborates with colleagues at the Dartmouth Medical School’s Center for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (CECS).  The group’s research focuses on patient decision-making, health economics, regionalization of surgery and screening for disease.

• 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 White River Junction VA Medical and Regional Office Center serves veterans and their survivors in Vermont who are seeking VA financial benefits.  In fiscal year 2006, the White River Junction VAMROC processed 1,664 disability compensation claims, including 637 veterans applying for the first time and 1,027 cases where veterans reopened a claim, usually to seek an increase in their disability rating level for higher payments.  More than 150 Vermont 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 Vermont are based in many locations including Rutland, Brattleboro and Burlington.  The medical center's homeless coordinator works closely with Vermont and New Hampshire homeless shelters and their coordinators.  Through coordinated efforts with community groups and state and local agencies, VA reaches out to homeless veterans and their families to provide housing, health care, employment and legal assistance.

• 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.

Vermont has no national cemeteries.  The state veterans cemetery in Randolph Center, which was a VA grant recipient, had 110 burials in 2006.  The state also has a veterans home cemetery that received no federal development funds.  VA provided 806 headstones and markers for the graves of veterans in Vermont and 329 Presidential Memorial Certificates to Vermont survivors of veterans.