PANAMA CITY — U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham announced her first piece of legislation Wednesday, calling for hiring and training more recovery coordinators to help the most seriously injured and ill post-9/11 veterans.
Graham, standing with North Florida veterans at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City where some of the new hires could train for the program, announced her plans to file HR 914, known as the VETS Act, an acronym for Veterans, Education and Training Act.
“When I thought about what type of first bill I wanted to offer, I could think of no better opportunity than to recognize the men and women that have served our country so admirably,” said Graham, D-Tallahassee.
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The bill calls for expanding an existing recovery coordinator program, which has 17 coordinators nationwide who work for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Her bill would add 45 more to the program. She said funding for the positions would come from cutting waste in military spending.
Graham said since 9/11, almost 3 million new veterans have been added to the country. The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado, has been endorsed by the Wounded Warrior Project. The program assists the most seriously injured and ill veterans in their transition from active duty to veteran status.
This transition can be especially difficult for injured veterans, Graham said. VA recovery coordinators help veterans cut through bureaucratic red tape in all aspects of this transition.
“This individual helps that veteran with a whole host of issues as they return home,” she said. “It is health care. It is education. It is training. It is housing. Whatever that man or woman needs in terms of assistance, their recovery coordinator is there to help.”
The bill calls for requiring the VA to work with an existing nursing school to create a curriculum to train veteran recovery coordinators. It also requires the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to better coordinate the recovery program.
Under the legislation, the VA would work with colleges that have existing nursing programs, like Gulf Coast State College and Chipola College, to create a curriculum specifically designed to train recovery coordinators.
Linda Cope, the founder and president of Warrior Beach Retreat in Panama City Beach, praised the bill.
“We’ll have more people reaching out to (veterans) to give them the help that they need, and so many of them need somebody to help walk them through the process,” she said.
Gulf County Veterans’ Service Officer Joe Paul also praised the bill, saying the veterans’ recovery program is one of the important VA programs.
“We’ve got to take a stand to make the veterans number one, employable; number two, be able to live with their disability,” he said. “This looks like it will address that by increasing the number of recovery coordinators.”
Desert Storm veteran Matt Duncan said he would be pleased with expansion of the program.
“I have too many friends who have waited too long to see the right people, with post-traumatic stress disorder or physical problems,” he said.
John Holdnak, president of GCSC, said the program could create opportunities for students.
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“This is a great opportunity for us to help give back,” he said. “Nothing would please me more than for the first person that most veterans deal with when they come back home — the first person they talk to to help them out — is one of our community college graduates.”
Graham said that the legislation will improve the veteran recovery program by:
- Requiring the Veterans Administration to work with an existing nursing school to create a curriculum to train veteran recovery coordinators.
- Authorizing the Veterans Administration to increase the number of veteran recovery coordinators.
- Requiring the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to better coordinate the recovery program to ensure no returning service members fall through the cracks.
- Under the legislation the department of Veterans Affairs would work with colleges that have existing nursing programs, like Gulf Coast State College, FAMU, FSU, TCC, and Chipola College to create a curriculum specifically designed to train recovery coordinators.
- The legislation is co-sponsored by Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) and has been endorsed by the Wounded Warrior Project.