When Gov. Asa Hutchinson opens the state's final veterans service office in Hope today, it will mark the symbolic completion of a program that's helping three times more veterans than two years ago.
The district-office concept has placed service officers in nine strategically located offices across the state -- closer to many of the 250,000 veterans in Arkansas. Before, most veterans had no choice but to trek to North Little Rock if they wanted help filing their federal benefits claims to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The state's veterans advocates are seeing an average of 1,261 former military members per month this year, up from 394 in 2015. The first district office opened in November 2015.
"We're seeing dramatically more because we're seeing them in their homes," said Gina Chandler, the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs assistant director over service officers.
The opening of the ninth district office, 205 Smith Road, Suite A, in Hope, comes three years ahead of schedule. It also coincides with a steady rise in the number of veterans submitting federal VA claims, officials said.
Chandler compares service officers to tax preparers, noting that accountants ensure taxpayers receive the maximum number of deductions and exemptions. Navigating the federal claims process can be daunting, so service officers secure every possible benefit for the veterans they represent, Chandler said.
The state VA Department next wants to localize the service-officer program even more by increasing the number of accredited advocates at the county level. Currently, about half of Arkansas counties employ an accredited service officer, according to state records.
The district concept was one of the major initiatives pushed by former department Director Matt Snead before his resignation earlier this year. Once the federal VA's Little Rock Regional Benefits Office in North Little Rock went paperless in 2015, the agency was able to process claims remotely.
Arkansas veterans still must travel to North Little Rock for appeal hearings, but state and federal officials hope those, too, will soon be conducted remotely through video conferencing.
More than any district, District 9, based in Monticello, has taken off since it opened in April 2016. The district office helps nearly twice as many veterans as any other location, despite having a smaller population of veterans.
Sue Harper, the state's District 9 service officer, has focused much of her effort at the county level. She has equipped and trained those who are willing and able, and in several cases she's arranged for them to buy federal surplus laptops, because their computers were too old for the necessary software.
Veterans are eager to use the resource once it's there, Harper said.
"Word gets around," Harper said. "If you're a county service officer doing your job right, you can't hardly go to the grocery store without a veteran approaching you. Almost like a pastor."
Several of the 11 counties in Harper's district still don't have properly trained service officers. The smaller counties simply don't have the money to support it.
It's the same barrier the state VA faces throughout the state, but Chandler is trying to sell county judges and quorum courts on the idea that having a veterans service office can be an economic boon.
If a veteran starts receiving a monthly disability check from the federal VA, for example, those dollars would go into the local economy, Chandler said.
Katie Davis, Saline County's service officer, said her county has seen the number of veterans it helps increase tenfold over the past few years. County officials moved the office from an old jail area in the courthouse basement to a more visible location in downtown Benton.
Saline County is home to about 9,600 veterans.
"They're healthier citizens now," Davis said of the veterans for whom she's helped file claims.
"And they're spending more money in the county and not having to rely on other government resources."
A Section on 05/30/2017