Montana Roundtable looks to boost care for vets

Roundtable looks to boost care for vets
By PETER JOHNSON • Tribune Staff Writer • November 12, 2009
Montana is the model for broader mental health screening for war veterans, but the state needs to do more to meet their other health and employment needs.

Those were some of the major points made in two back-to-back Veterans Day panel discussions led by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

About 25 people attended the nearly three-hour session in the Civic Center Commission Chambers.

Baucus said he is "deeply troubled" by the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and the increase in suicides among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He praised the Montana National Guard for creating a model program requiring more frequent mental health screenings for returning veterans.

Baucus successfully carried a federal bill that will require that system to be used nationwide.

He said veterans face other issues, including chronic claims backlogs, underfunded facilities, bureaucratic red tape and a lack of access to facilities in rural areas.

Susan Fuehrer, acting director for the Veteran Administration Montana Healthcare System, said the VA treated 31,744 Montana veterans last year, and is seeking to expand its service. Plans call for a 24-bed inpatient mental health center at Fort Harrison near Helena, veterans centers in Great Falls and Kalispell, and expanded rural health treatment in Plentywood and Hamilton.

Additionally, Buck Richardson, minority veteran program coordinator for the Rocky Mountain states, is trying to line up more veteran representatives on Indian reservations to help Native American vets learn about health benefits. He also hopes to arrange for more traveling psychologists to help provide screenings for PTSD.
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Roundtable looks to boost care for vets