titleendendVETERANS SERVICE AGENCY REPORT
April 3, 2025 - 12:00 PM
Director’s Report
§ Local Activities
o On February 26th, I attended the Liberty Elks Lodge 1545 meeting and discussed annual programs for veterans to include the Honor Flight and the Camp Bristol retreat. Lodge members April Rodriguez Walsh and Megan Yelekli were successful in distributing food and supplies to the warming center in Liberty helping our office in locating homeless veterans.
o On six separate dates in February and March, our Clerk Sheldon Dillon assisted Sharon Ferber at the Community Assistance Center to distribute pallets of food.
o Our office has continued to conduct wellness checks of elderly veterans and those suffering from food insecurity within the community. VSO Zack Jones has contacted surrounding VSA’s to investigate the status of many Vets we encounter, and provide information on services available.
o On March 17th Senior VSO Joe Putnam and on March 24th VSO Zack Jones, attended the “Coffee and Camaraderie” event held by Vet 2 Vet of Sullivan County. The event was informative and provided invaluable networking with veterans and veteran agencies. This event is held at ATI every Monday at 10:00 am.
o In recent months, our office received information regarding potential veterans at local establishments, asking for monetary donations. We advise the public to be careful who you donate to, as we’ve recently uncovered cases of stolen valor.
o Our Administrative Assistant April Barschow will attend an accreditation training provided by the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, to provide a wider range of services to our local veterans and surviving spouses.
§ VA & PACT Act Updates
o The new Administration has appointed former US Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). At our last meeting, we discussed many of his plans to implement previously attempted VA projects which do not contain realistic timeframes.
o The administrations’ personnel cuts have already impacted Sullivan County veterans due to the closure of the Acute Care Clinic at the Castle Point VA Medical Center. This 21-bed facility provided 24-hour emergency care to include suicide and addiction treatment and counselling.
§ Veterans are currently being directed to the Montrose Campus for care as the Castle Point clinic is scheduled to remain closed for months while “staffing requirement are being reviewed”.
o The current administration plans to cut 80,000 more VA employees that work in VHA and the office that investigates disparities in Veterans’ care. Many of our clients have been advised of excessive wait times for mental health care appointments. We have reported the disruption to our national commanders, as well as the concerns of our local veterans.
o Our Congressional contacts have urged Senate VA Committee leaders Mark Takano and ranking member Richard Blumenthal to back separate bills to limit agency’s workforce cuts to that of 2019 staffing levels. Hopefully the “Putting Veterans First Act” will reinstate all veterans who were fired, demoted, or suspended and provide them with back pay. The bill also seeks to protect veterans in the federal workforce from mass terminations, as vets make up over 30% of the federal workforce.
o Since the implementation of AI processing, there have been widespread issues causing an unusually high error rate with decisions. The AI cannot reliably identify medical records, which is causing them to be tabbed incorrectly in the veterans file. Once the evidence is mislabeled, the human adjudicators miss the information and approve flawed decisions. The very process that was intended to speed things up, has now created hundreds of thousands of appeals to be added to the VA “hamster wheel”.
§ The Good News
o I have contacted our newly elected State Assembly and Congressional Representatives to open lines of communication between VA liaisons, and assist our County veterans with more complicated needs. Paula Kay along with other representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on a bill to streamline the communication between Veterans Service Agencies offering everything from in home care to counselling.
o Working with OFA to obtain a volunteer to aid our office in serving our residents more efficiently.
o We have continued strong advocacy and success for surviving spouses and veterans within our County.
o On March 11th through March 24th, I attended The American Legion’s Department Service Officer (DSO) training course which was presented by the VA Accredited law firm, Bergmann & Moore.
§ Some of the many topics covered included:
• VA claim scenarios, chronic conditions, presumptive conditions, 1151 claims (malpractice), Federal tort claims, and mental health conditions.
• The VA’s use of AI and automation in decision making.
§ This training provided solutions to help identify AI generated errors and correct issues before it leads to a lengthy appeal process. The DSO level training has provided our office access to the American Legion National Claims Office and the appeals team of the Bergmann & Moore law firm.
VETERANS SERVICE AGENCY REPORT
April 3, 2025 - 12:00 PM
1. Veterans referred to Sullivan County Transportation for VA Medical Appointments:
Albany Castle Point Local
January 2 45 34
February 3 43 23
2. Veterans/Dependents buried in Sullivan County Veterans Cemetery through March 24, 2025:
Veterans Buried Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,173
Dependents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Veterans/Spouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
Total Burials in Veterans Cemetery - 1,992 (+16 since Dec. 2024)
3. Contacts:
January 172
February 192
4. Applications:
January 19
February 10
5. Homeless Veterans:
January 6
February 5
6. New Veterans
January 10
February 7
7. Phone Calls
January 809
February 636