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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
QUESTIONS: 414-328-8910
Date: Feb 2, 2008
Additional Vet Centers in the State of Wisconsin,
The Honorable Michael J. Kussman, MD
Under Secretary for Health for the Veterans Health Administration
Department of Veterans Affairs, Central Office
810 Vermont Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20420
Dear Dr. Kussman:
We write to urge you to establish two additional Vet Centers in the state of Wisconsin, one in
La Crosse County and another in Brown County. We were disappointed that none of the 23
new Vet Centers to be opened in the United States in 2007 and 2008 will be located in
Wisconsin, which is greatly underserved withinthe current Vet Center system. We are very
concerned that roughly forty percent of Wisconsin veterans do not currently have reasonable
access to a Vet Center. Servicemembers are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with
alarming rates ofPTSD and other mental health and readjustment issues. Additional Vet
Centers are urgently needed to ensure that Wisconsin veterans and their families have
reasonable access to necessary counseling in the welcoming, non-clinical environment that
Vet Centers offer.
Wisconsin only has two Vet Centers, both in the southern part of the state, to serve 469,000
veterans. Most states with similar veterans populations have over double this number of Vet
Centers. Maryland has fewer veterans than Wisconsin and is one fifth the size of the state
but nonetheless has four Vet Centers. Massachusetts is nearly one eighth the size of
Wisconsin with only a slightly larger veterans population, but it has seven Vet Centers.
When you compare the number of Vet Centers in Wisconsin relative to the number of
veterans in the state and the size of the state, Wisconsin ranks seventh from the bottom in
terms of the availability of Vet Centers.
We have heard from many Wisconsin veterans and veterans service officers who are
concerned that there are insufficient counseling resources in Wisconsin. Our research
indicates that, based on the VA's 2005 data, roughly 185,912 Wisconsin veterans (40%) do
not have a Vet Center close enough for them to seek counseling on a regular basis. See
attached map. To seek care at a Vet Center, these veterans would need to drive over two
hours round trip. This makes it extremely difficult for these veterans and their families to
seek care routinely or easily, especially in instances when an individual suffering from
combat-related stress needs to speak with a counselor in person, upon short notice.
As a result, too many veterans and families in Wisconsin will not be able to readily access
the Vet Center counseling they need, sometimes desperately. Ifthe VA were to establish two
new Vet Centers in these proposed locations, roughly 82% of Wisconsin veterans would be
within an hour drive of a Vet Center.
The La Crosse County location would also benefit the approximately 7,000 veterans in
Houston and Winona Counties in Minnesota. Currently these veterans must travel over an
hour to the Vet Center in the Twin Cities. Allamakee County in extreme Northeast Iowa
with about 2,000 veterans would also benefit from this Vet Center.
We appreciate that the VA is in the process of establishing 23 new Vet Centers and that these
centers are complemented by private counselors and phone counseling. Unfortunately, the
availability of contracted-out, private counselors and phone counseling does not substitute for
the availability of Vet Centers. As you know, Vet Centers play an important outreach role.
Many veterans would never learn about the availability of a range of VA services, including
private counselors, if it were not for the fact that there is a Vet Center in their community
where they can ask for assistance in a non-clinical setting. In addition, telephone counseling
does not provide the human contact that many veterans need to establish a meaningful
therapeutic relationship with a counselor.
We therefore urge you to consider our request to establish two new centers in Wisconsin, one
in La Crosse County and one in Brown County. Thank you for your attention to our urgent
request. We look forward to working with you to bring about two new Vet Centers in
Wisconsin in the very near future.
Sincerely,
Proposed Vet Centers
Pepi
L1 Crosse
# # #
Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of America
2311 South 108th Street
West Allis, WI 53227-1901
414-328-8910
<http://www.wisconsinPVA.org/>
info@wisconsinPVA.org
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