Dr. James B. Peake doing what Nicholson should have done years ago

VA Has Added 20 New Vet Centers
Posted : Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:19:51 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs




PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.

In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.

"Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year," Peake said.

"To support this expansion and augment the staff at 61 existing Vet Centers, this year we are channeling a 44 percent increase in funding to the Readjustment Counseling Service, which operates the Vet Centers -- nearly $50 million more than last year's budget," he added.

The community-based Vet Centers are a key component of VA's mental health program, providing veterans with mental health screening and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling, along with help for family members dealing with bereavement and loved ones with PTSD.
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Nicholson to veterans, you're no different than the rest of the citizens

Nearly $2 billion has been budgeted for homeless veterans’ health care, but $1 billion is earmarked for faith-based programs, such as that operated by the Volunteers of America, to provide per-diem assistance to veterans suffering from addiction and mental disease, Nicholson said.

Half the money went to "faith base" programs instead of the VA programs and shelters already operating for all veterans without any strings attached.

“We’re aware of the influx of homeless veterans here and (are aware of the need for) making more resources available for medical and grant per-diem programs,” Nicholson said. “And we’re constantly looking for good, faith-based sponsors here like the VOA.”

And are they supporting the shelters that operated all over the country? No they are looking for more "faith based" ones to give money to. Nicholson seems proud of this instead of ashamed that the money has not gone to fund the VA but faith base groups.

Veterans vent to VA leader
Homelessness, few resources are big issues

By SAMUEL IRWIN
Special to The Advocate
Published: Sep 9, 2007 - Page: 5B

Page 1 of 2 SINGLE PAGE VIEW
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson heard praise, complaints and suggestions Saturday from homeless military veterans while touring the Baton Rouge Volunteers of America nine-bed transitional housing facility on West Garfield Avenue.

Nicholson visited with the veterans in the parlor of the old Odd Fellows Lodge a few blocks away from Magnolia Mound Plantation and the LSU campus.

“We (the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) are the agents of a grateful society grateful for people who put on the uniform,” Nicholson said. “But we have challenges to take care of the many living veterans who are no different from the rest of the citizens of our country. We have veterans who have problems.”

This is the other part that made me lose my dinner. Nicholson told this group of homeless veterans, they are no different than that rest of the citizens in this country. No different! No different! Is he out of his mind? I wonder how they avoided beating the crap out of him to show him how very different they are?
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http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9669677.html