WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) today pressed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald for more support to better address the mental and physical health challenges many newly returning veterans experience during their readjustment to civilian life.

Heitkamp requested a full-time Vet Center in Grand Forks to help increase access for the area’s combat veterans. Homelessness among North Dakota’s veterans has ballooned by 10 percent – from nine to 19 percent from 2006 to 2013 alone. These statistics are particularly shocking when compared to the rate of homeless veterans across the country, which decreased by 33 percent over part of the same period, from 2009 to 2014. Heitkamp also pointed out that North Dakota has lost more post-9/11 servicemembers to suicide than combat since the beginning of the Global War on Terror.

As transitioning servicemembers are likely to cluster around military bases after concluding their military service, this issue is particularly pronounced in North Dakota – which has a post-9/11 veteran population of more than 7,000 – with the majority of these new veterans settling near U.S. Air Force Bases in Minot and Grand Forks. Vet Centers can 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, located in Fargo, Bismarck, and Minot. 

“In North Dakota, we take care of one another – from our neighbors to extended communities, so no one gets left behind – and our veterans returning from combat zones particularly need our support,” said Heitkamp. “Answering the call of duty is a life-altering experience that can leave many veterans with both the visible and invisible wounds of war, and many also feel isolated when they return to their communities. Today I urged VA Secretary McDonald to provide our veterans in the Grand Forks area with the resources they need close to home, so we can better address the devastating health impact of war on our sons and daughters, and make sure that no North Dakota service member gets left behind.”

“Vet Centers are crucial in guiding veterans and their family’s lifestyle adjustment, often occurring when veterans return home from battle,” said Grand Forks Mayor Michael Brown. “War zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, combined with current military operations around the world, have placed a severe strain on our combat veterans and their families. Returning combat veterans will find this service beneficial in easing their transition back into our local community.”

“Veterans who have returned from fighting our nation's wars are plagued by an array of injuries,” said Walsh County Veterans Service Officer Chris Kratochvil. “Some of these injuries can be observed such as burns or wounds from battle, but others are not so easily recognized such as adjustment disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress. Mental health is a top priority for our nation’s veterans and ensuring that we as a nation are doing everything in our power to see these heroes are given the care that they deserve is our duty and obligation.”

Read Heitkamp’s letter to VA Secretary McDonald here, and read letters of endorsement for a Vet Center in Grand Forks here.

Heitkamp has long pressed for policies that better connect our nation’s new veterans with the services they need to help them transition and readjust to civilian life. This 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.

Background

As co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Defense Communities Caucus, Heitkamp has long stood up for veterans and servicemembers in North Dakota and throughout the country. 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. Since then, she has worked to:

• Improve Veterans’ Access to Readjustment Resources: In July, Heitkamp reintroduced her bipartisan Connect with Veterans Act to help newly returning veterans readjust to civilian life by allowing them to decide the resources and services – like employment and educational opportunities and health services – they receive information on in their area. Specifically, her bill would create a voluntary, locally based directory of information to allow agencies and organization to contact interested veterans with information on the resources they need. Her bill is endorsed by community leaders and organizations working to assist veterans across North Dakota.
  
  
• Connect Native American Veterans with Benefits and Services: Last month, Heitkamp hosted her second Native American Veterans Summit in Belcourt. Building on the success of her first Native American Veterans Summit in June 2014 in Bismarck, she brought together Native veterans from across the state, officials from the VA, and other advocates to give veterans a chance to be heard. It was also an opportunity for Native veterans to learn more about ongoing initiatives to connect them with services and benefits. In August 2014, she fought for and helped pass legislation to help veterans living in rural and areas and Native American veterans more easily get care. Also last summer, following her initial Native Veterans Summit, Heitkamp launched a new one-stop-shop webpage for Native American veterans, aiming to more easily connect these veterans with information about benefits and services available to them.

• Honor North Dakota Vietnam War Veterans: As our nation remembers the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, Heitkamp gave 15 speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate to recognize North Dakota’s KIA and MIA Vietnam veterans. In working to honor these veterans, Heitkamp collaborated with 150 Bismarck High Schools students who researched the lives of North Dakotans lost in the war.

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