Commissioner Jack

Veterans’ Relief Passed!

As many of you now know, in a last minute change of hearts and minds on the board of commissioners, the Veterans’ Relief Fund Act passed unanimously, and at full funding of 1/10 mil.

Thank you to all the Veterans that persisted in the past several months, and in many cases over the past several years, in attending meetings and voicing their support for this relief. Once again, you answered the call to serve your country, in this case your county. In particular, I would like to recognize 3 of the WWII veterans that gave their faithful support, Irene Hosking, who was an army nurse and shared letters and memories, Don Cooney with AMVETS and Roger Tyler. I would also recognize veteran Bob Evans who has always been a powerful voice for veterans. There are so many others certainly worth mentioning whom I will always remember and deserve our deepest gratitude and respect for their tireless and continuous support of their fellow citizens.

Thank you to the many public officials and citizens I have spoke with over the past 2 years that have all supported the Veterans’ Relief Fund. Your support was critical to my persistent pursuit of this funding.

Thank you also to the Board of Commissioners, who in the end, unanimously supported this funding, and also to the support staff, including the county administrator, Margaret McAvoy, for their help in gathering data and making important contacts and arranging for vital support from experts from other counties. This degree of success on this issue could not have been possible without the support and contribution from everyone involved. Thank you is just not enough, but a good place to start.

Now, after years of trying to get this funding, we finally have it, and the work is just beginning as we carefully consider how best to use it to provide true relief for our veterans.

I will be supporting using a substantial amount of the $180,000 available, to fund Mental Health Services for Veterans which can now be provided in Shiawassee County by Community Mental Health, as has recently been directed by Congress for the VA to begin utilizing Community Mental Health systems to provide services to our veterans. I sit on the board of directors at our CMH and can assure you we have a fine organization and we will thoroughly investigate our options to develop a Veterans outreach in our community that is sensitive and effective. I have already been discussing this issue for some time, and it looks very promising now with the new county funding and the VA directive to use CMH systems. A perfect storm.. !! Funds that the county provides to  CMH are matched by the state at 9-1 and by the federal medicaid program by about 7-1. All the dollars we direct to CMH for veterans services can leverage you tax dollars many, many times over for veterans relief in the form of mental health services, which has been identified as a priority as indicated by the recent directive from the VA to use CMH to provide services to veterans.

Stay tuned. As we are poised now, in Shiawassee County to be on the front lines and be one of the first in the state and the nation to implement these vital policies for our veterans.

Shiawassee County, moving forward!

Jack Johnson,
Chair of Health and Human Services
743-5003