“We’ve been trying to decrease the turnaround time from the time a veteran files to the time he receives benefits, and to help vets avoid time lost to snail mail and going back and forth to Ft. Harrison” in Missoula, said Valley Veterans Center Director Ron Skinner.

Through a two-way video system and associated computer programs, the center can quickly contact the benefits people at the Veterans Administration, start the process of getting a veteran signed up, and identify and often resolve any problems without extended delays.

“What used to take months or years now takes weeks or days,” said Skinner.

The center has used the technology to help more than 30 veterans so far.

About two weeks ago, recalled Certified Service officer Marvin Edstedt, a veteran came in “with no job, no money, nothing, who was going to be evicted. He came here and he left with another month’s rent. We started the claim for him and he got in the VA health care facility. He was a Gulf War vet.”

“There’s increased accessibility to the Veterans Benefits Administration through the service officers here and through the video-teleconferencing,” said Skinner. “You have to credit Benefits at Fort Harrison. They’ve been great.”

That wasn’t always the sentiment. The center hosted two visits by Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT, where he got to talk with local veterans. Both times, veterans complained about long delays in access to benefits and related VA services.

Skinner said the VA hopes to use what it now terms “Frontier Remote Sites” n based on what the Center here in Hamilton has pioneered n to provide access to benefits to vets living in remote places.

“The VA is stepping up to the plate because of Sen. Tester, the Valley Veterans Service Center and other concerned people and groups,” Skinner said.

This March, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake announced that Valley Veterans’ “first-of-its-kind, remote benefits delivery program” had been designated a national pilot program.

Skinner said the VA is now looking at installing a similar program in Winnemucca, Nev., another large, and largely rural state, where video-teleconferencing could be a big help to veterans living far from any large city.

The center also expanded its capacities by bringing on board Cristi Block, of Conner. She is a veteran with 20 years service in the U.S. Navy.

“I’m kind of a world traveler,” she said. “But there’s no place like home. I was born in St. Pat’s in Missoula.”

Block said she had been referred to Valley Veterans by people she knew who liked the work Skinner and his associates have been doing.

She is training to become a service officer. Once she is certified, she will become the second service officer at the center. Marvin Edstedt is the other. He is certified by the Vietnam Veterans of America and the American Legion.

Block is being trained through the National Veterans Legal Service Program, a volunteer organization of lawyers based in the nation’s capitol. Once she takes the test and passes, she will be certified by the VA General Counsel’s office.

That could be in about six months.

Even before passing that benchmark, Block has already worked with about 50 veterans informally, starting the process that then goes to Edstedt and the video-teleconferencing system.

Having a female on staff should make it more comfortable for female veterans to come in and discuss their situations, Block said.

Valley Veterans Service Center has been in existence for two and a half years, and has helped more than 1,500 veterans from around the Bitterroot access and obtain benefits and services.

Each year, the center has organized a “Stand Down” day, when the center and its volunteers provide free haircuts, lunch, blood pressure monitoring, clothing and blankets and counseling. It is a combined open house, outreach and one-stop assistance for veterans.

Last year it drew about 450 veterans.

This year it will be held Sept. 13, starting at 9 a.m. at the National Guard Armory at 910 W. Main St., in Hamilton. The event is co-sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America and the American Legion.

Reporter Joel Gallob can be reached at jgallob@ravallirepublic.com or at 363-3300

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m wrote on Aug 28, 2008 3:20 PM:

" This is how Democrats help our Veterans. One simple meeting with Jon Tester and this thing was in motion and now it's a done deal. If Conrad Burns was still in office, the meeting would never have happened and he would have voted against the bill. It was a chilling experience to look that lying shrimp in the eye when he was in Hamilton and listen to him crow about how much he and the Republicans had done for our Veterans. Nothing was true about those statements to the public and the past 2 years have shown just how repugnent the voting record of the Republican Party is on veterans issues. Even McCain voted against the New GI Bill...how can you support such ignorance and lack of compassion?

There is a reason 5 Western States now have Democratic Governors, Senators and House Members. Because people are starting to actually look at the actions and voting records of the Republicans and voting them out of power. I suggest that Rehberg should be the next to go. "

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