VETERANS AFFAIRS

      When it came to providing the high- est quality programs and services to New Jersey’s 735,000 veterans and their families, the department continued to move forward in seeking to expand the availability of entitlements to veterans and in maintaining the integrity and excellence expected of those services and programs already established.
      
      The phrase “Promises made, promises kept,” defined the commitment and was characteristic of the department’s accomplishments during 1997. These achievements were in keeping with the mission of ensuring that the state’s veterans and their families receive the assistance, care and recognition they have earned; of providing leadership within state government to represent their concerns and needs; of actively informing those veterans about their entitlements; and to manage those programs to maximize the benefit to all veterans.

      New Jersey’s veterans memorial homes in Vineland, Paramus and Menlo Park continued to provide excellent service while operating at peak efficiency. The homes’ average daily occupancy rate increased to 99 percent of capacity; processing time of admission for those on the pre-qualification list was reduced to two days; this resulted in reductions in time spent on the pre-qualification lists and the number of veterans on the pre-qualification lists.

      All three homes were Medicare Part B certified. This enabled the facilities’ physicians to bill Medicare for services, an initiative which saved the state almost $390,000. The homes received $500,000 in additional funding from the state to restore certain housekeeping and maintenance employees to a 40 hour workweek.

      Construction of the replacement veterans home in Menlo Park continued on schedule, with the building’s shell completely enclosed at year’s end so interior work could be completed during the winter months. Occupancy is expected in August 1998. The department, through the Division of Veterans Healthcare Services which oversees the operations of the three veterans homes, also entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ N.J. VA Healthcare System to provide home health care support to those veterans on the waiting lists of the homes in Menlo Park and Paramus. The pilot program will be monitored and, if successful and economically feasible, expanded to include veterans not on the waiting lists.

      The Office of Cemeteries and Memorials continued to oversee needed improvements at the BG William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Arneytown, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Holmdel. Maintenance assistance was also provided to smaller veterans cemeteries owned by the department on the grounds of the Veterans Memorial Home, Vineland; Fairmount Cemetery, Newark; and Arlington Cemetery, Kearny. Cemetery personnel also assisted Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, with a restoration/replacement project for damaged VA issued gravemarkers.

      Interments at the Doyle Cemetery increased to almost 2,000 per year. This increase in demand warranted the need for some infrastructure improvements at the facility. A roadway network was completed to permit access to all areas of the cemetery, improving the management of burial operations throughout the year. The completed road network also permit ed the opening of an additional entrance to the cemetery, an enhancement which greatly improved traffic flow during the annual Memorial Day service. A cemetery-wide irrigation project was completed permitting improved ground maintenance and landscaping esthetics of the cemetery.

      The federal government awarded the cemetery a $56,000 grant to build a committal shelter serving the newly opened areas of the cemetery. When completed, the permanent wood and concrete structure will permit the cemetery to schedule two funerals concurrently, a necessity of increased demand. Matching funds for the shelter were provided by the American Legion, Department of New Jersey.

      Governor Christine Todd Whitman delivered the keynote address at the Eleventh Annual Memorial Service at the cemetery; but the governor’s commitment to promoting the remembrance of the state’s war dead began five days earlier, on May 20, as she supported New Jersey’s participation in a national program to “Remember Memorial Day” by lighting the State Remembrance Candle on the steps of the State House.

      At the N.J. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, ground for the Education Center was broken on Veterans Day. As liaison to the N.J. Korean War Veterans Memorial Committee, coordination assistance was provided in support of their efforts to erect a fitting tribute to New Jersey’s veterans of the Korean War. During 1997, the committee reviewed proposed sites for a memorial; chose a site in Brighton Park, Atlantic City, at the corner of Boardwalk and Park Place; and initiated the design competition. The committee hopes to dedicate the memorial in July 2000, the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

      The Division of Veterans Programs maintains oversight authority of the state-wide network of Veterans Service Offices; Veterans Haven; the State Approving Agencies for college and non-college programs; the Blind and Catastrophic entitlement programs; and the toll-free information line. The division also provides administrative support to the Agent Orange Commission; coordinates the department’s involvement in Stand Downs; and acts as a liaison to other state and federal agencies administering veterans entitlements.

      The State Approving Agency (SAA) is responsible for approving and supervising programs of education and training for the G.I. Bill. The agency, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997, approved and updated 3,966 education/training programs for veterans in 1997. Those approvals and an additional 1,145 other approval activities, made it possible for over 5,000 eligible veterans or dependents to attend colleges and universities, technical and vocational schools, apprenticeship and other job training programs and flight schools.

      In 1996, in a cooperative effort with the State Approving Agencies and Army and Air National Guard recruiting, a single, consolidated direct mail marketing pamphlet on entitlements and programs was developed for use in the department’s Transition Outreach Program. The mailer, which was designed to appeal to younger veterans and which significantly reduced paper, postage and man-hour requirements for the outreach programs, received a 1997 Pyramid Award from the N.J. Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America as best public/government affairs program by a public or non-profit agency.

      Veterans Haven admitted 57 new veterans during the year, maintaining an average of 30 veterans in the program at all times. By the end of the year, the program was operating at capacity with 32 enrollees. Forty-four veterans secured employment; nine entered educational programs; 18 veterans graduated from the program and are employed full-time.

      The division coordinated the department’s efforts in providing support assistance, personnel and equipment for Operation Stand Down ’97. The Burlington County Stand Down, held at Fort Dix, provided a three-day respite from the streets for 329 homeless veterans and 37 family members, while a one-day event at the Atlantic City Armory offered information, assistance and services to 168 homeless veterans and 6 family members. The veterans and their families received volunteer assistance with VA entitlements claims, welfare, unemployment, Social Security, legal and medical problems.

      Through the division’s Office of Veterans Housing Services and Homeless Intervention, another 33 veterans received assistance in avoiding or addressing homelessness.

      Claims and entitlements submitted through the Veterans Service Offices resulted in awards totaling over $49 million in federal money, an increase of more than $10 million from the previous year. Three hundred eighty-three veterans or surviving spouses received assistance through the Blind & Catastrophic Entitlement Program; veterans received almost 18,700 trips underwritten by the department’s Transportation Program; 119 Vietnam era veterans received educational assistance under the Veterans Tuition Credit Program; 3 children received tuition assistance under the POW-MIA Tuition Benefit Program; while 4 received assistance under the War Orphans Tuition Assistance Program. Over 4,000 counseling sessions were given to those veterans and their families dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

      In a cooperative effort with the VA Regional Office, Newark, and the state Department of Treasury’s Division of Taxation, procedures were implemented to improve the Veterans Property Tax Exemption Program. Under the program, 100 percent totally and permanently disabled war-period veterans are exempt from paying taxes on the real estate property which they own and occupy. Several problems inherent in the program were examined and addressed. Solutions to some of these problems included conducting a seminar at the local tax assessors conference; improvements to VA certifying documentation; and improved notification of the entitlement.

      In an effort to definitively establish a link between exposure to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange and birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans, a $48,000 contract was awarded to the Association of Birth Defect Children, Inc., Orlando, Fla., to continue its National Birth Defect Registry. Involved with the registry program since 1986, the Agent Orange Commission hopes the appropriation will allow for an increase of at least 2,000 more families into the Agent Orange Birth Defect Registry, at least 700 of them from New Jersey.

      Through such outreach efforts as the Transition Outreach Program for Servicemembers (TOPS), the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), veterans group Commanders Calls and Veterans Summit, a syndicated newspaper column, increased participation in community events and the “Veteran’s Guide,” awareness of entitlements, distribution of information and visibility in the community continued to increase.

      Increased marketing efforts through expanded participation at veteran group conventions; state, county and job fairs; health fairs; and newspaper advertising increased awareness and demand for information and services. A quarterly newsletter, the “Veteran Journal,” increased distribution to over 20,000 veterans, and an upgraded site on the Internet with links to other sites provided more information to Web-browsers world-wide. The department also actively supported VA medical centers in opening more Access Points (clinics) throughout the state. As a result of the above efforts, over 6,000 veterans or their family members called the toll-free information line for assistance or referrals.

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