VA: System is Reaching Out to Vets

James Peake, U.S. secretary of veterans affairs, said the department is monitoring the health of returning combat veterans carefully in an effort to ensure that their physical and mental needs can be met.

Peake was in Wichita for Friday's 75th-anniversary at the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center.

In an interview following his keynote speech, Peake said more than 300,000 of the 800,000 returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have already touched base with the VA.

"It's easy to identify the 1,300 to 3,000 seriously injured veterans," he said. "Those veterans require intensive case management. It is the thousands of others who may need services down the road that we are reaching out to, making sure they know what their benefits are."

He said the VA has expanded mental health services in anticipation of a wave of post-traumatic stress cases and has hired 3,800 new mental health providers.

"We are still recruiting in some areas," he said. "But we have a $41.2 billion budget for health care in 2008. We have the resources to care for our veterans."

Joining former Sen. Bob Dole on the podium Friday were Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt, Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback and Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

Each briefly expressed support for America's veterans and for the staff of the Dole Center and VA hospitals nationwide.

Dole earned a standing ovation as he spoke of his own service and the care he received as a wounded veteran of World War II, and of the letters requesting help that he still receives daily.

"Every once in a while I get a letter from an unhappy veteran, reminding me that my name is on this building and asking if I want people treated the way he's been treated," Dole said. "I send all those letters to Tom," he said, referring to Tom Sanders, the director of the Dole Center.

Those letters are few, Dole emphasized.

The Dole Center ranked third in the nation on the most recent scorecard of VA hospitals for quality of care and patient satisfaction.