[Editor's Note: Because of the length of the work session on Feb. 23, 2021, the coverage has been broken into a multi-part series of articles. This is part 3. It begins with the fourth of five presentations.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The fourth presentation at the Grant County Commission second work session of the month on Feb. 23, 2021 was presented by Jason Quimby on veterans.

"The missing VSO (veterans services officer) was serving Sierra and Grant counties," Quimby said, "so, it's a huge missing piece for our area. I am the veterans' affairs manager at Western New Mexico University. I recently took the job. Most of my time is spent serving veterans at the university, but I also have a community aspect. I think the vital thing to address in Grant County is there is a huge amount of people in Grant County that are going without service because of the missing VSO. This is a proposal to the board to develop a veterans' coalition that will replace a VSO.

"The county's population as of 2019 was about 26,000, he said. "We have a massive 2,555 of our residents are veterans. That's 9.46 percent of our population as veterans. Compare us to Dona Ana County which has VSO officers, and veterans are 6.5 percent of their population. In Bernalillo County, veterans are 7.01 percent of the population. Some of the services we have here in Grant County are the veterans' clinic, my office here at the university, the American Legion, The Veterans of Foreign Wars is listed, but has since closed and Fort Bayard Medical Center, which has a veterans' wing, the National Cemetery and small support groups in the surrounding area. For our rural populations, we don't have many services. A designated VSO will interview and investigate applicants and recipients of public assistance, including public housing, medical assistance, other governmental programs and grants. The VSO can also determine expenditures and evaluate reimbursable cost statements for example to visit VA facilities for medical purposes, provide information to applicants and current recipients, as well as provide referrals to other resources, will keep records, track requirements and prepare reports.

He said the position acts as a liaison assisting veterans in need of guidance. "As we are coming off of our longest-standing conflict, we are seeing huge numbers of veterans coming back with post-traumatic stress disorder and disabilities, as well as substance abuse and other issues. I want to highlight the Vietnam veterans. We have a huge population of Vietnam veterans. Thirty percent of them have PTSD, which results in substance abuse and other issues. A lot of times they don't have the knowledge of how to apply for compensation because it's nowadays primarily computer-based. They are usually lost. Often the VSO does the application process.

"In Sierra County they realized the need and developed a coalition, so they are now acting as the liaison between the veteran and the state," he said. "They developed a list of needs that veterans wanted addressed as a service in Sierra County. The group identified service providers in the area, so the veterans didn't have to travel to Albuquerque for medical help. They also engaged their state legislators to have regular meetings with state agencies to assure that no veteran falls through the cracks. More and more we're seeing that happen to veterans. The group developed a veterans' pamphlet for Sierra and Grant counties. I actually supported in that effort. My request for Grant County is that we mirror the proactive approach that Sierra County took. If we can, we can together service the two counties effectively covering the area of responsibility of the missing VSO.

"What I'm asking for would need one of the commissioners to champion the effort to find members to serve on The Grant County Coalition, which I could assist with on the outreach and development of the board," Quimby continued. "Once the board is developed the responsibility falls on the board to continue the necessary liaison activities. WNMU Veterans Affairs could act as ad hoc members in support. In my role with Sierra County I acted as the technological consultant, doing the Zoom meetings and such. I have given you a lot of information that we can discuss."

"Thank you, Jason," District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said. "I'll be giving you a call because I've been getting a lot of calls from people with questions on this. I need to learn more about it, and I'll give you the contacts I've heard from."

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked if the VFW is permanently closed or just during the pandemic. Quimby wasn't sure.

"Do we have no hope of getting a VSO?" Edwards asked.

Quimby said that the state did make Sierra and Grant counties a priority. "To my understanding the previous VSO, when the state did an analysis of how many people he was seeing a month, he said 8, so they said it wasn't fiscally responsible to keep the VSO and retracted it back to Las Cruces. So, now it sits with George Vargas, who is also the southwest region director. "I think it's probably too much on his plate to serve as director and to serve Sierra and Grant Counties, especially with the distances."

Edwards said she thought it was great that he was working on an alternative. "I would like to see us get a VSO again. With 2,500 veterans here, a person could meet with a lot more than 8 a month."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings read from an email from Vargas, dated Dec. 8, 2020, that was not written to him, but given to him that had information he felt was relevant. "He said it was programmed to hire a VSO for the Silver City area. However, due to COVID, everything was placed on hold. Once the situation dies down, Gov. Grisham will proceed with the order to fill the position. Do you think it's a possibility?"

Quimby said he believes the governor could give an order, but his personal perspective is that since COVID took off, "we've seen an increase of about 20 percent in suicides in veterans. Male veterans are more than1.5 times more likely to commit suicide as the general population and female veterans 2.1 times more likely than in the general population. I think with the segregation, it's very difficult for veterans suffering from PTSD to mitigate the health issues that come with that. I don't think it is something that should wait until COVID dies down. I think we have too many needs for us not to move forward now. We don't know how many needs there are. We need the services now. It's our veterans' lives at risk."

Billing asked if Quimby thought a resolution from the commission and calls to the governor and lieutenant governor to get this position filled would help.

"I feel more attention to the issues, yeah, would help," Quimby answered.

Ponce said he understands the precautions around COVID, but "I don't think COVID this or that is a good answer. I tend to agree that any support we can give to get a VSO is important."

The next article will be a presentation from New Mexico Central Arizona Project Entity to give an update on the board and the discussion on amendments to the joint-powers agreement with the Interstate Stream Commission.