West Virginia VA

West Virginia
41 funded beds
357 homeless veterans
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81

Benefits available to veterans, their families

By Katie Wilson
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT — Veterans and their families have many opportunities for different kinds of help.

Different benefits are available through the state and federal government as well as various online support groups.

“We are blessed in this state to have a real strong VA presence,” David Allen, acting director of the Veterans Administration Huntington Regional Office, said.

Just for starters, the state has four medical centers in Beckley, Clarksburg, Huntington and Martinsburg, as well as seven veteran centers, a national cemetery and a veterans home in Barboursville, Allen said. Each of the medical centers and veterans centers have satellite offices, which bring veteran care and benefits to those who have served and their families in every part of the state.

Allen said all the state and federal veterans officials work together, which ultimately benefits the veterans. A VA representative can pick up the telephone and call other organizations to benefit their veterans, he said. If someone is in a real hardship situation, such as terminal illness, a dire emotional state or if they’re homeless, the veterans organizations can provide help.
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Taking a look at what they say and what they do.

West Virginia VA

VA spent more than $912 million in West Virginia in 2006 to serve about 182,000 veterans who live in the state. That same year, 32,555 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in West Virginia. VA provided 4,778 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 10,120 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $297 million. West Virginia veterans held nearly 9,000 VA life insurance policies worth $97 million. In 2006, 224 were interred in West Virginia’s national cemeteries.


In West Virginia, VA operates medical centers at Beckley, Clarksburg, Huntington and Martinsburg.

In 2006, the Martinsburg medical center had 336,814 outpatient visits and 4,726 inpatient admissions.

Beckley had 145,787 outpatient visits and 1,571 admissions.

Huntington had 293,359 outpatient visits and 4,459 inpatient admissions.

Clarksburg had 207,669 outpatient visits and 3,820 inpatient admissions. Clarksburg also admitted 191 to its nursing home.

A full range of medical services is provided to West Virginia’s veterans, including acute medical, surgical, psychiatric and nursing home care. Specialty units at most medical centers offer veterans rehabilitative medicine, prosthetics and sensory aids, spinal cord injury care, women's health clinics, mental health and substance abuse clinics, urology and post-traumatic stress disorder counseling.

Additionally, outpatient clinics throughout the state serve veterans in rural areas such as Tucker, Wood, and Braxton counties, and at Charleston, Franklin, Williamson, and Petersburg.

The Martinsburg medical center provides inpatient psychiatric care and a residential therapeutic program for veterans who completed inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder treatment. Martinsburg also offers a center for addiction treatment and a brain injury rehabilitation unit. In addition to general medical care, the Beckley, Huntington and Martinsburg medical centers use telepathology, telemedicine and telepsychiatry services to provide care to veterans closer to home. Clarksburg uses telepsychiatry at its outpatient clinics in Wood and Tucker counties. Martinsburg offers telepsychiatry at the outpatient clinic in Cumberland, Md.

Each of the medical facilities is affiliated with at least one major university, including West Virginia University and Medical School, Mountain State University, Bluefield State College, Radford University, Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, and the Pikeville, Ky., School of Osteopathic Medicine and The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. West Virginia VA provides training for hundreds of medical students each year in nursing, dentistry, dietetics, audiology and speech pathology, medical technology, radiation technology, pharmacy, podiatry, psychiatry and social work. Through West Virginia's Rural Health Education Consortium, medical and dental students, along with pharmacy and physician assistant students, rotate annually through the Martinsburg medical center.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense are working together to seamlessly transfer the health care of returning service members from military treatment facilities to VA health care facilities. The purpose of this initiative is to assist service members who were injured or became ill during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Although this initiative pertains primarily to OIF and OEF, transition to VA health care is available for service members returning from other assignments.

In West Virginia, more than 3,300 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 Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, Logan, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Princeton and Wheeling. 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.

Programs to assist homeless veterans in West Virginia are extensive and reach all areas of the state. VA domiciliary staffs make sure veterans receive a supportive, therapeutic residential rehabilitation program that addresses the multi-faceted needs of the homeless by providing comprehensive clinical and vocational services. Outplacement and aftercare are also offered. The Martinsburg, Huntington, Beckley and Clarksburg medical centers have homeless outreach social workers who routinely screen and counsel homeless veterans. During the past several years, West Virginia facilities have been a significant partner with their communities in hosting veterans' stand downs, providing medical care, clothes, sleeping bags and VA counseling.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/statesum/wvss.asp