Taking care of those who took care of us: Housing, health care at forefront of issues faced by veterans

By Lily Martis, Heather Inglis, Drew Jones, Alexa Maslowski and Robert Carroll

There are 21.8 million veterans living in the United States. After serving our country, some come back OK, but many face issues with finding permanent housing, employment and health care. Some don’t come back at all.

A home for the brave

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, is supporting legislation to improve programs for homeless veterans and their families in East Cleveland.
About 12 percent of the adult homeless population is comprised of veterans, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and according to newly-released numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 47,725 veterans were homeless during a “point-in-time” survey conducted on a single January night in 2015. In Ohio, 1,183 veterans were homeless during that single night study.

“It’s our responsibility to ensure that every veteran has a place to call home and an opportunity to succeed,” Brown said at a press conference on Nov. 30, 2015. “That’s why I’m working to pass the Veteran Housing Stability Act of 2015, which would make meaningful improvements to services for homeless veterans and give more veterans access to permanent housing. Every one veteran on the streets means we aren’t doing enough to tackle this problem.”

The first home completed as part of the Veterans’ Affordable Housing Initiative is in the shape of a duplex located in East Cleveland, the location of Brown’s press conference. The duplex has three bedrooms on each side, allowing a total of six residents when filled to capacity.

The duplex was made possible by a partnership between the Cuyahoga Land Bank, who donated the duplex, and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM), which provides permanent affordable housing for homeless veterans living in Cuyahoga County.

LMM helps about 4,000 people annually, said Michael Sering, vice president of housing and shelter at LMM.

Additionally, LMM operates a homeless shelter at 2100 Lakeside Ave in East Cleveland.

“Last year we had 3,780 individuals,” Sering said. “We help a lot of people with shelter and help them in all the different housing options that are available. About 15 percent are veterans, and that is down from 22 percent from about five years ago. Fortunately, these efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans are working, and we are seeing less at the shelter, but obviously there is still need for more resources and housing solutions.”

Ohio ranks 11th among states in the estimated number of homeless veterans, according to HUD’s report. Nationally, about a third of homeless veterans live in unsheltered locations, three percent have families with children, nine percent are women, and most homeless veterans are white (57 percent, with 34 percent black).

Currently, there are four residents living in the duplex – three of them are veterans. The duplex is in the process of placing two more veterans in the empty rooms.

Prospective applications must be able to live independently, get along with roommates and pay 30 percent of their income toward monthly rent, but no less than $325. All utilities are included.

The duplex’s rent was designed to be as low as possible to make it affordable, Sering said, but LMM does help with finding employment to pay for rent. Through its social enterprise employment services program, LMM gives veterans skills to find jobs, such as teaching them culinary arts. Additionally, the VA offers its Homeless Veterans Supported Employment Program, as well.

Frank Veres, a World War II veteran residing in Toledo, Ohio, said he has never had any issues finding employment.

“I was going to go to college, but I had register for the draft 10 days after I finished high school, so I didn’t know when I would go,” Veres said. “I didn’t want to start college and get pulled out, so I didn’t go to college. I went to work. I got a job at Jeep. I didn’t go until the following August when I got sworn in in ’43.”

Veres never ended up going to college but said he didn’t face any issues with finding employment when he returned as he found work at a refinery.

A local organization is working to get homeless veterans back on their feet, Alexa Maslowski reports.

Re-entering the workforce, though, can have its challenges. Adam Miller, a Cuyahoga Falls councilman-elect and U.S. Marine Corp veteran, talked about some of the challenges veterans face when re-entering the workforce.

Health care

When veterans return home, the lives as they once had are different. Some return from combat missing limbs, some have developed mental illness and some have ongoing issues caused by the battles they were in; however, some of the biggest readjustment hurdles they often face is with their health care.

The United States makes sure that veterans have access to the Veterans Health Admission and military health care but obtaining it isn’t always convenient.

Like any other health care program, Veterans Affairs (VA)  has eligibility requirements for those who have just left combat. In order to be eligible for health care through the VA, veterans must have enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981 and must have served at least 24 continuous months for which they were called to be active. The VA website says anyone who served might be eligible, including those in the Reserves or the National Guard, but it’s not always a guarantee.

If approved for coverage, veterans have a handful of options when deciding what plan would work best for their specific needs and the needs of their families in some cases. There’s the standard Veterans health care program, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), the Spina Bifida program, the Camp Lejeune Family Program, the Children of Women Vietnam Veterans Health Care Program (CWVV) and TRICARE.

These programs cover a variety of issues, ranging from very specific issues like birth defects under CWVV and, for the children of Vietnam and Korean veterans, Spina Bifida, to more everyday issues like dental procedures and eye exams under CHAMPVA and TRICARE.

Once approved for such programs, gaining access to the care is the next step. The state of Ohio has five inpatient admission centers, 32 outpatient clinics and eight Readjustment Counseling Centers according to a 2013 report from the Department of Veteran Affairs. In that year alone, Ohio outpatient clinics saw 3.2 million visits from veterans seeking some sort of treatment.

One of the U.S.’s biggest battles for returning veterans is increasing access to VA assistance. Kenneth Swartz, a Vietnam veteran, uses the VA clinic in Lancaster, Ohio, because it’s conveniently located.

“It’s only a few minutes away,” he said. “I go, I try to get what I need and I get back home.”

The key word is “try.” Swartz has had chronic back issues from years of working as a heating air conditioning and ventilation specialist but has trouble getting immediate treatment from the VA.

“It can be tough to get appointments,” he said.

At 91 years old, Veres, echoed Swartz and said the trouble lays in the lack of government funding for veterans.

“You have money for everything else, but none for the veterans,” Veres said. “When you have to wait six months for an appointment, that’s ridiculous. In six months you could be dead. We need to take care of the people who saved this country.”

The VA has had several issues, ranging from delays to illnesses, with its clinics and hospitals alike. In 2011, nine veterans in Dayton, Ohio, tested positive for hepatitis after receiving dental work. A dentist admitted he had barely washed his hands or changed his gloves between patients in 18 years. A former director of Veterans Affairs facilities in Ohio admitted to taking bribes.

The biggest national break, however, came in January 2014 when CNN reported that “at least 19 veterans died at VA hospitals in 2010 and 2011 because of delays in diagnosis and treatment.”

But sometimes it isn’t always easy to access clinics, or even regular facilities that accept military health care. Kyle Zahniser is a recent veteran after having served in Afghanistan. Coming home, he was enrolled in TRICARE Select and says location determines care.

“It can be inconvenient,” he said. “Not a lot of doctors or facilities accept TRICARE, leaving soldiers to drive sometimes more than an hour away to a facility that will accept TRICARE.”

He explained that he now experiences this struggle firsthand. When he moved back to his hometown, there was a facility located 15 minutes away that accepted his plan. When he started a new life in Johnstown, Penn., however, that changed.

“Now that I’m in Johnstown, the nearest [facility] is over an hour away,” Zahniser said.

Frank Seery, another World War II veteran from Toledo, Ohio, faces these types of issues, as well.

“If it were available, I could use transportation to and from the doctor’s office,” Seery said. “As of now, I have to depend on someone to take me. I’m 93 and a half years old. I’m barely able to get by.”

Accessibility can leave a major impact on how veterans reintegrate into society. Whether it’s simply obtaining the coverage or finding a facility that will accept that respective plan, gaining health care isn’t always easy for America’s bravest.

Some gave all

As the clock strikes nine on a frigid December morning in Northeast Ohio, the sounds of God Bless America and The Star-Spangled Banner belt out from a bell tower at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. You can’t help not to feel a sense of American pride while walking the sacred grounds.

Located in the rural town of Seville, Ohio, the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery is a part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA).  Built in 1995, it is one of 134 national cemeteries and it is currently the second national cemetery located in Ohio along with Dayton National Cemetery. Approximately 273-acres big, the Ohio Western Reserve has close to 29,000 burials with the first one occurring in 2000.

Made up of a wide range of staff from cemetery caretakers, equipment operators, directors and administrative officers, the majority of them have one thing in common: they’re veterans., including Cemetery Director Matthew Metschke.

Metschke is a former mortuary affairs specialist in the United States Army, and just like his time in the army, it’s all about serving others.

“At the end of the day, it was one of those things where I felt being a director at a national cemetery would fall in line with my skills,” Metschke said. “I’ve always liked serving others, and with this job, it’s important to carry on the memory of those fallen people.  I have the privilege each and every day to take care of those families who trust me with their family member and preserve their memories.”

Metschke said about 80 to 90 percent of his staff are United States veterans, and every one of them is just as passionate as he is about their jobs.   

“I have a really, really, really great staff,” Metschke said.  “Their dedication makes it important to me to be a part of a team that cares.  It’s something that I love getting up everyday and going to work for.  I feel like I’m making a difference.  I know that my staff does, too.”

Among those staff members is Gerald Carr, program support assistant and minority veterans program coordinator.  Carr, an Air Force veteran, said his job is to do everything possible to make it easier for veterans or active serving families.

“Before I retired from the Air Force, I worked with family support,” Carr said. So, coming here is a lot like that because you’re dealing with families and veterans in a time of need. [When] a veteran or spouse passes away, just trying to take care of them means a lot to me.”

To become eligible to be buried in a national cemetery, such as Ohio Western Reserve, doesn’t just mean you have to be a veteran.  Along with veterans, their spouses and children under the age of 21, if they live at home, and under 23, if they’re at a college or university, are all eligible.  If the parents are the sole provider for a child due to a medical issue, that child is eligible to be buried at a national cemetery, as well.

“It’s not only the veteran and their families who served peacetime or wartime, but there are other categories out there that make other people eligible,” Metschke said. I myself have a special needs son who will be able to use my benefit as a veteran.”

Within the cemetery lies the memorial walkway.  The memorial walkway is a pathway of 130 to 140 monuments dedicated to a number of military groups that have served our country. Metschke said the memorial is either the first or second largest among the 134 national cemeteries located throughout the country.

“When you build a national cemetery, you could have great support or you’ll have to outreach and develop it,” Metschke said. “I think due to the nature of where we’re located, it shows by that memorial walkway of how many groups out there throughout the Northeast Ohio area support the vets.  It truly is remarkable to see.”

With all of the history and fallen brave men and women at Ohio Western Reserve, it’s hard for Metschke to just pick one fallen veteran’s story out from the others.  Yet, there is one that has always stuck out to him.

“There’s a notable veteran in every space,” Metschke said. “Each and every person decided to take the oath to volunteer to fight for his or her country, but I always can recall the Sam Hewitt story.”

Samuel E. Hewitt was a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps who was deployed to fight in the Vietnam War. Metschke said Hewitt was on patrol alone and never returned back to his base.  They believed he was shot and killed and died instantly.

Forty-four years later in 2010, the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of Hewitt were found in Vietnam in a search effort to locate prisoners of war or missing in action American soldiers.  Hewitt’s family decided to lay him to rest at Ohio Western Reserve, marking one of the first MIO or POW the cemetery has had.

 

The mission statement of the NCA is to honor veterans and their families with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service and sacrifice to our Nation.  This is shown at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.

“It’s all about giving back to other veterans and their families,” cemetery volunteer Ray Hettinger said.  “I was a veteran, and I have realized that so many of us die alone and are isolated at the end of our lives.  So, I’ve committed my life to help with the end of theirs.”