VETERANS SERVICE OFFICE

John J. Weibel

OPERATING AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE

Chapter 45 of the Wisconsin State Statutes requires the presence of a Veterans Service Office in each of the State's 72 counties. The State contributes an annual grant of $13,000 toward the Service Office budget, with the balance of required funding coming from the County.

The office assists all eligible ex-servicemen and women and their dependents in securing any aid or benefits which may be due to them under Federal or State law because of their service in the armed forces of the United States. Benefits include health care, home loans, burial, insurance, disability compensation, pension, personal debt consolidation loans, emergency subsistence aid grants and food vouchers, along with educational grants and loans. The staff assists in locating military or medical records and in arranging transportation to the Milwaukee VA Medical Center.

We maintain a full time office at the Racine County Workforce Development Center and a twice-monthly office at the Western Racine County Service Center in Burlington. We also offer home visits to shut-ins. The office maintains an active presence in local veterans' activities including at parades, holiday ceremonies and educational and fraternal events.
 

ACHIEVEMENT OF PERFORMANCE GOALS

Our main goal for 2001 was to achieve a smooth transition to a new office in the Racine County Workforce Development Center. This was successfully accomplished and has resulted in a significantly higher volume of walk-in traffic. This office can also take some credit for promotion of the VA's health care system with its inexpensive $2 pharmacy co-payment plan, seeing enrollment at the Union Grove VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) grow from 0 to 2,022 patients in its short two-year existence.

2002 GOALS AND BUDGET STRATEGIES

•  We will continue to meet the challenge of an increasing work load (due in part to the advancing age of W.W.II vets) with the 2.5 people on our staff. We will also seek to increase the number of Racine County veterans claiming their honorably earned VA disability compensation and will encourage increased use of VA medical facilities. The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) has asked us to aim for an additional 745 enrollees in the VA's medical system. It is also our goal to assist in filling the 90 Community Based Residential Facility(CBRF) beds now available at the Union Grove WDVA facility that opened on August 16, 2001.
   
•  Work on these goals began in August '01 with the formation of a cross-functional team, composed of both State and County officials, which will address needs and form strategies. Promotional and financial support from the WDVA in presently being defined.