COLUMBUS East Central District Health Department will be using grant money to better serve military veterans.
The local health department is one of several in the state to receive funding from the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors. That nonprofit group was recently awarded $2 million by the Veterans Administration to start a two-year pilot program to support local veterans and their families in rural or underserved areas.
The program will provide resources to help ensure veterans returning to their homes in rural Nebraska can access the support needed to reintegrate into their communities. Also, it will assist veterans and their families with benefits and health care.
Locally, ECDHD will receive $46,000. That money will be used to hire a person or subcontract with another agency to provide community health case management work to recently returned veterans as needed, said Rebecca Rayman, executive director of the health department.
Ideally, we would like to hire someone already working with vets on a part-time basis and expand them to full time, Rayman said.
The contract with the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors is still being finalized. Once that part is complete, the search will be on to fill the position. Rayman said it will probably be after the first of the year until they have someone in place and ready to assist people.
Overall, 14 health departments covering 71 of the states 93 counties will receive part of the $2 million. The counties of Platte, Boone, Colfax and Nance are covered by ECDHD.
The program is one of five pilot programs being funded nationally. The grant will allow local health departments to focus on building their capacity to meet the needs of veterans in that area, according to the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors.
The organization will focus its work in three main areas through the program. Those include:
* training local health departments and their partner organizations in veteran-specific needs and resources.
* building veteran outreach teams to connect veterans and their families to services they need. The teams will be led by a veteran outreach worker and based at local health departments.
* developing online mechanisms for easy identification and navigation of local, state and federal resources.
