WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today urged a top U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official to bring a full-time Vet Center to Grand Forks using federal funds from the year-end spending bill that were allocated to help veterans living in very rural areas.

Heitkamp highlighted to VA Under Secretary for Health David Shulkin that Grand Forks is a strong candidate for a new Vet Center, given the fact that North Dakota has the highest percentage of highly rural veterans in the nation.

Statistics suggest North Dakota veterans have unmet mental health needs, which Vet Centers can help address. Homelessness among the state’s veterans ballooned from nine to 19 percent from 2006 to 2013 – even as veteran homelessness across the country decreased by about 33 percent over a similar period. North Dakota has lost more post-9/11 servicemembers to suicide than combat since the beginning of the Global War on Terror.

“Considering the large number of servicemembers and veterans living around Grand Forks, it’s surprising this community still doesn’t have a Vet Center, and I’m working to change that. Now that we’ve secured federal funding specifically for the unmet mental health needs of rural veterans, I’m urging yet another top VA official to bring a Vet Center to Grand Forks to better serve our state’s rural veterans,” said Heitkamp. “These funds that I pushed for were designated to help veterans living in particularly rural areas, and our state has the highest percentage of veterans in very rural communities in the entire country – making Grand Forks a logical and needed choice for a new Vet Center. A new Grand Forks Vet Center would help veterans in the region reintegrate and benefit from health services they’ve earned. That’s the least we can do for these heroes when they finish their service.”

Vet Centers help vulnerable veterans who served in combat zones readjust to civilian life by providing free counseling, screening, and referral services, while removing the stigma of seeking mental health care. The VA currently maintains three Vet Centers in North Dakota – in Fargo, Bismarck, and Minot. 

The bipartisan year-end spending bill Congress passed in December, which Heitkamp supported, included $258 million for Readjustment Counseling Services, which is $15 million above the requested level. The increased funds are directed towards Vet Centers to address unmet mental health needs of veterans in rural and very rural areas like North Dakota.

Click here to read Heitkamp’s letter to VA Under Secretary Shulkin.

Background

In November 2015, Heitkamp pressed VA Secretary Robert McDonald for a Grand Forks Vet Center to help address the mental and physical health challenges many newly returning veterans experience during their readjustment to civilian life. The next month, Heitkamp pushed Secretary McDonald to visit North Dakota himself to see the challenges rural veterans face getting quality care.

Transitioning servicemembers often cluster around military bases after concluding their military service. In North Dakota, which has a post-9/11 veteran population of more than 7,000, the majority of new veterans settle near U.S. Air Force Bases in Minot and Grand Forks.

Heitkamp has long pressed for policies that better connect new veterans with services they need to readjust to civilian life. Last summer, Heitkamp reintroduced her bipartisan Connect with Veterans Act, which aims to address the challenges newly returning veterans in North Dakota face in obtaining needed services and benefits, including employment opportunities, education assistance, and health care like mental health services. Heitkamp first introduced the bill last Congress.

As co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Defense Communities Caucus, Heitkamp has long stood up for veterans and servicemembers. Shortly after joining the Senate, she conducted a statewide listening tour, meeting with veterans across the state and discussing their concerns to better understand the challenges many of them face.

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