Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone Discusses Taking Care Of Our American Heroes and Their Families

Wed, 12/20/2006 - 1:59pm

When: October 28, 2010 at the Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Understanding our veterans after they have returned home can be difficult. The emotions to deal with include relief, hope, and a desire for things to "return to normal". Then, there are the emotions and behaviors of our veterans who have lived in and through extreme conditions that are anything BUT "normal". Every veteran is different and so is every family, but there are some common "readjustment problems". Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone will discuss this topic and reach out to families as we near Veteran's Day. This event is part of Investing In Abilities Week.Brigadier General Carol Ann Fausone is currently the Assistant Adjutant General of Veterans Affairs, for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, State of Michigan. She received her commission in the United States Air Force as a medical officer in 1977.

Transcript

• [00:00:21.76] IRA LAX: OK. Good evening, everyone, and welcome. My name is Ira Lax from the Outreach Neighborhood Services Department here at the Ann Arbor District Library. And we are very, very honored to be part of Investing in Ability Week for the, I believe, it's the third year now. And to work with Carolyn Grawi and Anna Schnitzer, who will tell you more about their organization in their introductions.
• [00:00:52.94] But I just want to say that the library's been involved now for almost two years with Washtenaw Library For the Blind and Physically Disabled and it's the only service we do for the whole county. So if anyone cannot read regular print or any print at all, they can get large print books sent from us, or a digital player, or Cassette player, to play talking books on free of charge through the mails. And there's information about that on the back table.
• [00:01:23.61] And we also have an assisted technology lab now on the second floor that everyone's able to use who has a disability. We have computers, we have scanners, we have a closed circuit TV, we have braille embosser, and there's a list on the table as well of all the services that are provided in that room. Well I just want to thank Carolyn for all her good work and she's going to introduce our speaker. Carolyn Grawi.
• [00:02:02.36] CAROLYN GRAWI: Thank you, Ira. Thank you to the library for allowing the Investing Ability Week to be part of the community. We're very proud to have our two communities come together, both the university and the community at large. And it's wonderful. And, as Ira said, this is the third year in a row that the Ann Arbor District Library has been involved in our Investing in Ability Week, but we are 20+ years now for the Investing in Ability Week. And this year, our theme is Honorable, celebrating all of our veterans. And we are very happy to have both organizations working together.
• [00:02:40.48] What we'd also like to let you know is that tomorrow is our last day of this year's Investing in Ability Week. And in the morning at 9:30, we will have the Neubacher Award ceremony. It starts with some refreshments. And what happens is that we recognize all the great work of many of our community citizens and university employees, staff, or students, or alumni who have done work related to disability. And then, in the early evening, we are going to have this great game that's going to take place-- Army/Navy. And it is going to be a wheelchair basketball event that will be out at Saline High School. It will lead with a processional from in front of the Michigan Union at 6:30 in the evening. So we welcome everybody to come and be part of that. There will also be free transportation from the Union at 6:30 for anybody who would like to do that. And there will be transportation back to the Michigan Union afterwards.
• [00:03:37.68] Now it is my privilege and honor to be able to introduce our speaker. We are very fortunate to have Brigadeer General Carrol Ann Fausone, who is just a wonderful person, and has given her time and her service to us here in our country. And she's currently the Assistant Adjunct General of Veteran Affairs for the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs Services here in the state of Michigan. And she's going to tell us, as she talks about caring for our American heroes today, all about her programs and services that are throughout the state as well throughout the country. Carol Ann, from 2001 to 2005, served as the Assistant for the Mobilization and Reserve Affairs, working directly with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Health Affairs Office and the Force Health Protection and Readiness. Serving in this capacity, she assisted in the developing and implementing of programs, policy, and operations for Reserve Affairs.
• [00:04:44.92] She graduated from the great University of Michigan in 1975, and in '77 began a commission to the United States Air Force. And then she later went on to get her Master's in Administration and her Master's in Nursing from Madonna University. It is my privilege and pleasure to introduce to you General Carol Ann Fausone.
• [00:05:06.62] [APPLAUSE]
• [00:05:12.11] GENERAL CAROL ANN FAUSONE: Good evening. Thank you for all being here. It is my privilege. And I hope that I'm able to share with you some of the great stories taking care of our American heroes, because we truly have a lot of American heroes in this great country. I'm going to move kind of quickly. I would encourage you that if you have a question, please just wave and let's go ahead and ask your question. In the last group-- and the guys are probably going to laugh in back-- I was able to walk around and engage with you. But I've been told I need to stay in this box because they are filming. So please just bear with me because this is kind of difficult, for me to stay this close to the podium.
• [00:06:15.23] I am the Assistant Adjunct General for Veterans Affairs in our state of Michigan in the department of Military and Veterans Affairs. I have some very distinct responsibilities. Under my responsibilities, we have two veterans homes-- and I will share a little bit with you in a few minutes. And then we have the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund. $50 million emergency grant program for our veterans. I also have responsibility over two boards: the Board of Trustees has oversight for the trust fund, and then the Board of Managers has oversight for our two veterans homes. And then the Veterans Memorial Park Commission. We make sure that monuments and parks are going out there to represent our veterans, that they're doing it in the appropriate manner, with statues and recognition awards.
• [00:07:16.35] Let's talk about our responsibilities and veterans affairs: to operate the two state of Michigan veterans homes, manage the trust funds, administer veterans service organization grants. What this means is we've got veteran organizations out there. 11 very strong organizations, like the American Legion, the VFW, the Disabled American Veterans, the Jewish War Veterans, the Catholic, the Marine Corps League, Vietnam Veterans-- I don't want to miss anybody-- Paralyzed Veterans, the Polish Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, just to name a few of our major 11 organizations. And then, after that, are 44 chartered organization out of DOD, the Department of Defense. For instance, like the Daughters of the Revolution, the Sons of the American Legion, and I could go on and on. These are distinct groups helping our veterans. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that a little later.
• [00:08:23.58] Constituent services. What I mean by constituent services are questions, problems that our families, our veterans that are returning, our World War II veterans, our Korean veterans. Thank you to our veterans in the house. How many veterans do we have with us tonight? Thank you for your service.
• [00:08:45.07] [APPLAUSE]
• [00:08:47.32] How about family members of our veterans? Where are you? Thank you very much for your sacrifice.
• [00:08:53.56] [APPLAUSE]
• [00:08:57.23] As I said earlier, we don't say thank you enough. Because our family, our servicemen and women, have sacrificed. You've allowed us, family, to take your loved ones away from you so that you could, our veterans, our servicemen and women, today can protect this great country. I get approximately in the office, some weeks we get about 100, some weeks, depending on the situation, could be as many as 200, questions, concerns. We follow up on all of those issues. We're a small office. I have only four individuals in the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund and I have two additional individuals for the rest of the department. I'll tell you, we're mighty, but we get back to individuals. We portray ourselves as one-stop shopping. If you've got an issue, you call us, we will help you. That's our whole mantra, taking care of our American heroes, supporting the military families.
• [00:10:04.22] I'd like to share with you the population. When I received this position back in '03, we had 1.28 million veterans. Today as you see here, as October of 2010, we're down to about 703,000. Where have they gone? Well we're losing our World War II veterans to the clip of about 1,100 day, and then when you look at all the campaigns, Korea, Vietnam, this campaign, they say around the country about 1,800 a day. And then, putting that with our economy and some of the issues in Michigan, individuals that are returning that are having trouble finding a job, they have moved out of our state. So that gets us to about 703,000 today. Back several years ago, our World War II veterans: 129,000. Today were sitting at about a little over 65,000. One group that I don't have up there but I'd like to share with you is a group that is growing, is our women veterans. There are more women entering the service, and in Michigan today, we have 45,316 women veterans.
• [00:11:37.86] Let me share with you a little bit about our two state veterans homes. I could describe them to you as two mini hospitals. I could describe them to you as nursing homes, but I would be remiss in describing them as nursing homes. It's already happening. I'm not going to get too far away. At Grand Rapids, our capacity is at 758. But if you could imagine 70 acres, we have two fishing ponds that our veterans could go out and fish, we have a bowling alley, a handicap bowling alley. We administer over 300 hundred activities a month. We have activities up on the floor. We have our own buses. We take our veterans out shopping, to basketball games, football games, hockey games. If you say trip, they're lined up outside.
• [00:12:48.73] We have full service, 24/7, at both locations. 24/7 nursing care. I have five physicians that just don't come once a month, that are there every single day to take care of our veterans, just like a hospital would run. Our budget at Grand Rapids is a little over $51 million.
• [00:13:15.32] In Marquette, the capacity is 241, and that budget is close to $17 million. A very good question this afternoon was asked is, how is the waiting list? At one time, Grand Rapids had a six week waiting list. But if there was an emergency and we needed to get somebody in, let me tell you, that staff is pretty awesome. We would take care of our veteran. And at both of our veterans homes, you're dependent, your spouse, could also live with you.
• [00:13:53.05] The skilled nursing, the 24/7, we have special needs unit. We have the Alzheimer and Dementia Unit. We also have the dual diagnosis. And then we have, at both veterans homes, a really neat phenomenon called domiciliary care. And what this is, is you would have your room, and it's independent living except we feed you, we give you all your medicine, we allow you to have the opportunity to go out and maybe get a job. You're not homeless. A different word, because the VA is paying your per diem to live with us. You're a veteran. You're allowed to stay at our home. And it's very independent living. We do keep track of you. You could leave the grounds. We ask that you sign in at least once a day. So we're taking care of you.
• [00:14:53.45] Let's talk for a little bit about the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund. It's a discretionary fund. Oh, I just want to go back for one second. To live in our veterans home, you need to be a veteran, you need to have served on active duty at least 90 days, other than training. So if you went to training and you say, well I was there for six months, that doesn't count. So that's to be eligible for the veterans homes. For the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund, which is discretionary grant emergency fund, you have had to serve on active duty for a 180. This is also for yourself and your dependent. Since 1946, that's when this went into law, we have administered over $94 million in money to our veterans in Michigan.
• [00:15:57.66] And we had another program that we reassessed. The program still exists, but it's not taking the funds from our trust fund, is the Tuition Grant Program. Individuals who are eligible for that are our veterans and their children who are at 100% disabled or if the veteran died in combat. Their children would be able and eligible for the Tuition Grant Program. It is still existent. We just moved it over to education and the treasury department.
• [00:16:35.71] Any questions so far? Hope I'm not going too fast. No. Very good question, John. No. Every state does not have a trust fund. This is a great benefit, both of these, to care for veterans.
• [00:16:56.77] To show you the history, year by year, of the applicants that have come in, the approval process, and then the grant process. Now I'm going to get a little bit away from this, but just to prove a point, in '01, '02, you see the numbers. And as you look at the numbers, you're going to say, oh my God. The applications have probably decreased by half because veterans have had other opportunities to go to other resources. This is an emergency grant program. And let me give you a couple good examples.
• [00:17:39.95] We hear the foreclosures. In the last two years, a lot of the emergency grant program money has been used to save veterans' homes. Now if you're three years in arrears, and it might mean $40,000 or $50,000, we're not going to rescue you. But if you're waiting for a new job, you need your mortgage paid for say a month or two, and we could go out, save your house as you're curving that time period before you get a job, we're going to pick up those bills.
• [00:18:18.05] The majority of these funds have gone, in the past, for heating and electric. We're coming upon cold weather. Today was definitely a change in the weather. It's really sad to hear that some of our veterans don't have heating and electric bills. We will pay those bills. Food bills, how about medical, that's where this fund really comes to the rescue.
• [00:18:48.87] Let's talk about health care. This is a huge area between the health care, helping them find jobs, being here in Michigan, and providing great education. And with those benefits, this is what we spend the majority of our time. Going out there for a veteran and helping them fill out the paperwork, so that if you're entitled to a disability, it's done the right way. Now I asked for a show of hands for our veterans and their family members, and I would tell you, if you have a veteran and are a veteran, I would not do this by yourself. I know there's very many educated people in this room. But you know what, trying to navigate that system, the VSOs, the Veterans Service Organizations, and your county councilors-- and let me talk a little bit about the county councilors.
• [00:19:53.18] We have 83 counties in Michigan. And there are 67 counties that think that our veterans are so important that some of that funding, they go out and hire county councilors. That's the one-stop shopping. I say it's the window to the world. It's the initial entrance for you, a veteran, to go to a county councilor in your community and find out if you have any benefits available to you and your family. So the county councilors, the veteran service officers, are outstanding.
• [00:20:32.00] I gave an example this afternoon. If you said to me, I was in Vietnam. I think I was exposed to Agent Orange. I'm now a diabetic. Boy, I know which course you're going. And there are three main issues there for disability claim. So let them help you navigate the system. Don't try to do this alone. And it is a known fact that veterans and their family who attempt to navigate the systems by themselves, versus utilizing a county councilor, a veteran's service officer, will get anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000 less than if they didn't. That's a known fact.
• [00:21:28.66] We work daily with the Department of Defense when we have our servicemen and women, the sailors, the soldiers, the airmen, the marine, and the coast guard. Coast Guard is not in the Department of Defense, the rest are. They're in Homeland Security. When they're leaving the service, we have a direct interface with the VA. And what we hope to do is to transition that health care so that it's seamless. So that if you're receiving care, you can go in, you've done your service, and you're entitled as you leave Iraq, Afghanistan, and you are being discharged from one of the military services, and then going into the VA you have five years of health care that you're entitled to.
• [00:22:28.39] In Michigan we are very fortunate. We have five VA medical centers. We've got Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit, Saginaw, and then, in the UP, we've got Iron Mountain. And then we've got the clinics. And what the VA is trying to do is to get services to the closest point where our veterans live. And it's real interesting. It was only seven years ago that we probably had only six or seven CBOCs, which are the Community Based Outpatient Clinics. And now we're close to 30. We're going to be bringing Bad Axe, Sheboygan, Grayling, and a couple others online very shortly. So we continue to look where our population is.
• [00:23:27.56] I said this-- all recently discharged veterans are eligible for five years of health care after discharge. Now if you get a disability rating, that might extend your services from the VA for the rest of your life. It depends on the disability and what services will remain. It might be as little as receiving medications. As we all know, the cost of medications continue to escalate. This might be a great way to get your medications and save some money.
• [00:24:08.67] Presently-- and this is a sad figure-- presently of all the eligible veterans in Michigan, going back to that 703,000, there's only something like twenty some percent that are enrolled in the VA. And we're one of the lowest states. We should be up around 50%, 60% mark. So that's our goal in the next year, to be doing outreach programs like this. I've just completed this October going around, literally, the entire state of Michigan talking to our women veterans-- that's the first time that's ever been done-- to recognize their great work. And then talked to a lot of communities about these benefits.
• [00:25:00.36] You're exactly correct, John. If I understood John's question, it is just because you're a veteran doesn't mean you could go to the VA medical center. And that is absolutely correct. That's why, working with the Veterans Service Organization-- and I would tell everybody-- I told them this this afternoon, go to a VA Medical Center and enroll. If anything, even if you can't accept that the benefits today, as they're opening up the eligibility from year to year.
• [00:25:33.73] They just increased the economic limits again. There is eight categories, and it used to be nobody in category eight could get benefits. Well they've opened up three of the categories. And if you're enrolled, you never know what's going to happen. And I hate to say this, but who knows what's going to happen to any one of us tomorrow. So if a condition changes-- the eligibility-- John said a critical word. Your door opens if you're a combat veteran. If you have a disability, your door opens. So there are key words and criteria that you need to first ask and have you tell your story and have it analyzed. Good comment.
• [00:26:34.30] OK, here's the challenge for our returning sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines, and coast guard. And even for our World War II veterans, Vietnam veterans, Korean veterans. I think this is the big challenge today for our returning soldiers, is the case management point. The biggest medical issues that we're challenged with today, and I'm not telling, I'm sure, this crowd anything new, is the PTSD, the Post-Traumatic Stress, and then the TBI, which is the traumatic brain injury.
• [00:27:14.93] The signature hallmark of Operation Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, are the blasts. The traumatic brain injury is the signature injury for this campaign, also known as the invisible wound. It's really hard to tell sometimes what's going on in this brain because it's not a visible wound a lot of the times. Sometimes it's going to take three to five years to diagnose this. And that's the sad thing, that when our young men and women return, they want to go home to their families. I understand that. But then they need to get enrolled in the system, and it's not a mandatory enrollment. So maybe if DOD changes that rule, that everybody automatically would be enrolled, it would take away some of the stigma and then you would be vested.
• [00:28:17.11] The patient education is so critical. You're going to watch a DVD in a little bit. It's a lot of the times now where our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marine, and coast guard are not stepping up and saying I need help. It's the spouse. It's, sadly to tell you, it might be their children. I've gotten calls from as young as 10 years old.
• [00:28:50.40] And I won't ever forget I had a 10 year old by the name of Matthew who I met at one event, two events. I saw him back to back within a three month period. And Matthew called me. And I distinctly remember Matthew and we talked and he begged me. And I'm crying because he says, General, you've got to help my dad. He won't listen to us. I know he'll listen to you. You got to help us. Pretty moving. Pretty hard to handle. You're just one person. I don't know that I have that much influence. This time he was lucky. I did know his dad and we got him in the system. And the other thing is it's not my chain of command. So they could come in and tell me some of their concerns and we got him into the VA. And we got the family helped, too. And that's the other beautiful thing is there is counseling for the families and the children.
• [00:30:13.07] Here's another huge issue that we're contending with, and we're out there all the time, is employment. It's that spiral. You don't feel well, you don't have a job, the stress of taking care of your family. So we are out there trying to help and find jobs. We're one stop shopping. I can't do all of this alone. There is a great department in the state of Michigan. It's called the Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth, also known as DELEG. And they are the job finders. That's their expertise. They go out there and they scout for the jobs.
• [00:31:00.01] We have created a brand new skills inventory that if you come in and you're looking for a job you put all your skills in there, and then if somebody calls from the automotives, or we had one last year from an energy company. And they said we're looking for 10 people. We went into the skills log. We looked to see who was looking for a job. And so we're marrying up those skills. And we help find people jobs.
• [00:31:39.73] They also help with resumes. There are some awesome web sites. For any of you in the audience looking for jobs, there is the www.michigan.gov/talentbank. I think there's also www.usajobs. A great website. There's also www.va.gov. That's out of the veteran's world and Veterans' Affairs, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, federal. Some great jobs.
• [00:32:16.16] You just have to be a little patient sometimes, because sometimes you have to be able to navigate the system. And this just doesn't happen overnight. But give it some time, and keep going back to the sites. Because I happen to be on it to show somebody a couple weeks ago, and they were touting something like 1,800 jobs. That's a lot of jobs.
• [00:32:54.90] Once again, another great site is the www.mighigan.gov/mdcs. Click on My Jobs, or Michigan Jobs. You can search by career, category, state, department. We have an online system called NEOGov. They'll help you navigate. All of this is free. If you're having trouble, call our office. I'll tell you a couple times. I believe it's in the Powerpoint, but our office, one-stop shopping, 517-335-6523. Once again, 517-335-6523.
• [00:33:47.53] The federal jobs. The usajobs.gov, my favorite site. People go to it-- I see some heads-- people go to it and they do find jobs. All across the country. Search by word, location, duty, they'll come up with the qualifications. The one thing though, with usajobs.gov and va.gov is the KSA. That's the knowledge, the skills, and the abilities. Those are really critical that if we do your inventory through DELEG, that hones you in on specialties. And if they are looking, if you've got your skills listed, they sometimes will find you if they need jobs filled once you're in these job banks. So I think it's really critical if you're taking the time to fill out some of these applications, that you really don't blow over this section. I think if there's any section that's absolutely critical, it's the KSAs.
• [00:35:09.08] Once again, we do have a veterans hotline. And we got another great website that we helped create out of our office. It's the michigan.gov/veteranjobs. The hot line is a great line for not only employment, it's health care, it's burial benefits, it's employment, it's education, so that is an awesome sight out of our office. And then you've got the vet reps which are out of DELEG.
• [00:35:46.36] Education. Wow. In the last group, we talked about the different eras. Our World War II veterans, our Korean veterans, are Vietnam veterans, the Persian gulf era, and then this campaign. I think one of the groups that probably had it the most difficult were the Vietnam veterans. Because when they returned home we weren't there to say thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for the honor. We had a Vietnam veteran in the last setting, and she said, you didn't even want to wear your uniform. And hopefully that has changed now.
• [00:36:39.82] The Vietnam veterans and their interest in this group of returning veterans said, don't forget them. And they had to push to assist in creating the post-9/11 GI Bill. This GI Bill is as good, if not better, than the World War II GI Bill. I would encourage you to go back and research it though. Because there is also a present GI Bill called the Montgomery. And where these veterans are running into some trouble is they're leaving the Montgomery to jump into the post-9/11 GI Bill, and your program might not be covered in this one. And then it's irrevocable. Then you've lost your Montgomery GI Bill benefits. So check into the program before you leave one program to get into another.
• [00:37:41.11] This does have a living allowance. It has a book allowance. It has licensing and certification benefits. It is outstanding. And it's all based upon, obviously, if you were injured and you're 100% disabled, you will get the maximum of 36 months. But it's your time that you served, it's pro rated. I'm not even going to go there and say, if you did this, you're going to get maybe this. No, no, no, no. We need to look it up.
• [00:38:18.40] And here it is. So here are the exact numbers. And once again, if you did 36+ months-- we hear some of our young men and women have gone back for the third or fourth time. If those are year long deployments, then you will be picked up 100% for your education. And all of this started after 9/11. 90 days to six months will get you 40% of benefits.
• [00:38:58.23] This means-- and the University of Michigan has an awesome Yellow Ribbon program-- post-9/11 GI Bill. They're an institute of higher learning and they need to be approved, so that's one thing, also, that you need to look into. Colleges, universities, community colleges, some post secondary institutions of higher learning are also accredited. Now the huge difference is with the Montgomery GI Bill, they approved training, like apprenticeships, if you wanted to become a welder, if you wanted to go to flight school. Let's say you wanted to go to cooking school. The Montgomery GI Bill would pick that up, not the post-9/11 GI Bill.
• [00:39:54.24] This is very critical. There is a new rule called transferability. And you could transfer your post-9/11 GI Bill to a son, a daughter, a spouse. But there are rules for current-- requires how many years of service-- six or more years of service, with a total commitment of 10 or more years. So there are some factors in there. However, if you are getting out of the service, before you leave active duty and you don't know your plans for the future, you should-- on your post-9/11 GI Bill-- sign away. Put a spouse or a child's name there so that down the road, they would be eligible if you've done your 10 years of commitment. Does that make any sense? Because it's one of those things, 10 years after you've served down the line, you can't go back and put somebody's name on that document. And then the total family benefit will not exceed 36 months of education.
• [00:41:17.35] At this time, I want to show you two DVDS. But the first one I want to share with you is called Coming Home. And I want to go back a little bit to frame this. We talked about the medical issues and what does our loved ones who serve face when they come home. Coming home gives you a different perspective from the eyes of a service man or woman, and what they're feeling, and what they've expressed-- how they feel. And how they sometimes have not transitioned back into their communities. So I would like you to watch this. And then let's have a little discussion.
• [00:42:14.41] [VIDEO PLAYBACK]
• [00:45:17.81] What you think? What is being expressed here is when a soldier comes home, he or she could have that post-traumatic stress or a traumatic brain injury and it hasn't been diagnosed. So it's really important for you, our families, to assist in recognizing some of those clues. The irritability, the depression, the headaches, and nightmares, and in the power point when you leave, I've got the signs in here for PTSD and TBI. Because sometimes they overlap. I think the dizziness, irritability, the memory problems, the nightmares, that exists. And it's you, sometimes, our family members, to help the veteran to go and get care. I know that's not easy. I shared you the story with Matthew. But sometimes it takes somebody else to help them to recognize some of the problems.
• [00:46:49.87] Our families are so important to us. And yet, when our veterans come home, sometimes you're bearing the hurt again. So please recognize some of these clues in helping them. And, even if at this point they're not registered in the VA, we need to get them some help. So please call our office.
• [00:47:18.74] You also know that you could work through their command, but sometimes that's what would get the soldier very upset. Any questions? Any comments? Yes, John.
• [00:47:40.99] JOHN: Transitional services between the time that the soldier leaves Iraq, Afghanistan until the time that he comes home to Detroit, Michigan, is there anything between point A and point B? Because that's one of the things that I found myself was the immediate nature of, OK, you're done. Welcome home. And you're sitting in your house and it's really quiet, and three days before I'm on an aircraft carrier supervising 5,500 people. And I didn't see combat. I was fortunate enough to just sit off the coast of Afghanistan. I can't imagine being in the Army or the Marine Corps, being a military member who's faced combat. And having that happen to me, going through with these young men and women have gone through.
• [00:48:41.03] GENERAL CAROL ANN FAUSONE: Well I can answer it this way. When our young men and women are coming back, they go through an a post-deployment briefing. It could be anywhere between three and five days at some point. Well there's been problems with that because we have medical people there, we have VA people there, we want to get them enrolled, we want to hear what's going on. Filling out the post-deployment health assessment, and you know what? They're not answering it properly. Because what do they want to do? They want to get home. And so, in doing that, they're not thinking about how honestly they're feeling and what's going on.
• [00:49:30.51] Now several years ago, we were saying, OK. We're going to leave you alone for 90 days. And then it was determined 90 days was too long. Then they cut it down to 60 days. And now, in our state, I could tell you that within 30 days we are bringing them back, we're doing briefings, were bringing family in also to sit in on the briefings. So the spouse hears, children hear, and we're doing weekends so that we're bringing families back together to hear this information. And then, in that 30 day period, if there are issues already starting, they know the resources. We give them the resource sheet. And if there's one piece of paper that they're receiving-- and it is very simple, like one stop shopping.
• [00:50:32.53] And the family support has done a great job because, in the last couple years, as you are the veteran, the soldier, sailor, airman, marine, and coast guard is being deployed, we've been reaching out to the families. So that bridge has been gaped, so that when you come back, if the family's have been problems, they know who to call. Very good comment.
• [00:50:57.45] And you know what? Every single person is different. And as a nurse, you have to build that plan with each individual. There's no one cookie cutter that fits all. And if you try to do that, I'm telling you, it's going to fail the system. You can't say to every veteran, OK. You're going to feel like this. You got to do this. I'm going to fail in trying to help them.
• [00:51:27.15] So I try. bring them in, listen to their story, and then, with them, determine what resources we need to find. Whether it's a job, school-- the beautiful thing about the education and the benefits out there is a voc rehab. Sometimes you can't go back to what you were doing. But then, through the VA, we could cross-train you. There are so many opportunities. And after seven years, I'm still learning. Any other questions? Anything I could help you with? Yes?
• [00:52:10.01] CAROLINE: I get a mic. With the emergency trust fund, is there a limit to how many times a person can reutilize it? Because I work at an agency that's emergency financial assistance and I go, wow. I wish we had that much money. So I was just wondering if there's any sort of--
• [00:52:30.31] GENERAL CAROL ANN FAUSONE: Sure. Very good, very good question. You could tell student, Caroline, very good question. Yes, there are limitations, depending on how much you get. And you can't come back every single month. Because, believe it or not, some will. We put the provisions in there several years ago. I believe you could come back once every year. And also it will be evaluated. But you know what? I know the trust fund. I know the board of trustees. If a veteran's in trouble, we're going to help that veteran.
• [00:53:15.73] The trust fund, in of itself, is only one avenue. You've got the soldier's relief, you've got the communities, you've got the VSO groups you could go out to. We're going to help that veteran. You're very good. Thank you. Any other questions? You sure?
• [00:53:38.59] I'd like to share with you one other, I think, very moving DVD. And then I'll see if you have any more questions, or anything that you wished I would have talked about. I could tell you one other area they came up pretty loud this afternoon. One additional area. I've been trying to help out women veterans. Another area that I will share with you that we are trying to go out and reach out to and eradicate is homelessness.
• [00:54:12.97] And that issue. of our veterans being homeless, has been on an increase. And we've been addressing additional initiatives. Just recently opened, in the city of Detroit, is Pickett Square. It's 150 apartment that are open for veterans. It is filled. It filled within seven weeks. In the third floor are the apartments. On the first floor is one-stop shopping where the VA comes in and offers health care benefits. And we've got some things from the VA medical center, the John Vingell, which is right there in Detroit. Accessible storefronts there to help our veterans. So that's a great concept.
• [00:55:11.93] Another program, a great program-- and Michigan has 2,000 vouchers-- it's called the VA HUD Voucher Program. So if you are a veteran and you are homeless, then you could apply through HUD for a VA voucher. And they will put you in an apartment-like setting. And they will pick up that tab. And that goes up to, I believe, two years. You reapply after every year, and then they will take a look and see if you're still in that condition. So another great program that we're working with. No questions? OK, Matthew?
• [00:56:03.82] [VIDEO PLAYBACK]
• [00:56:04.30] [MUSIC PLAYING-- "AMERICAN SOLDIER" BY TOBY KEITH]
• [00:59:31.17] [END VIDEO PLAYBACK]
• [00:59:31.65] SPEAKER 1: For a second I didn't think it was on. One of the things is that, many of us are in the community. And we want to do what's right. We're proud to be Americans, and were proud to support our soldiers and our veterans. And, as you already know, we have a few students who are in the audience. And then this is being taped, so I think what all of us, as community members, could hear from either you and from other veterans that are in the audience, what can we do? What do you need from us? So maybe yourself, as well as other veterans here, would be willing to share with us what we, as professionals, can do, what we as community members, what we as neighbors, as friends, as Americans, can do for each other to help support our veterans.
• [01:00:22.45] GENERAL CAROL ANN FAUSONE: Well I would love to hear thoughts, but I could tell you, you just being here tonight. That you have an interest. And you know that this campaign is going on in your communities. And I know there's events throughout Michigan. Veteran's Day is coming up November 11th.
• [01:00:50.30] I think, to show your support. And if you are a family member, or you know a veteran, a returning young man or woman, or any veteran, I say, say thank you. Thank you for their service. Recognize them. You don't know how far that goes. To recognize them, walk up to them in a community, those ball caps-- when I walked in and I turned around, you recognize those veterans who are proud. That says a lot. Walk up to them. If there's an event going on, I do know here-- I am so proud to be an alum of the University of Michigan. Next week, there's going to be a huge event at The Big House to honor Veteran's Day. And they're going to be collecting goods. It's little things.
• [01:01:55.59] So know your community. I talked about the county councilors. And Washtenaw has an awesome county councilor office. And so, I think, calling them, seeing if there's any services, anything they need to help, volunteering-- I had a great question this afternoon session. We've got the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center in our backyard. They're always looking for great men and women to help and volunteer.
• [01:02:29.77] SPEAKER 2: I think it's really important to, my opinion, a military member gets trained up before they go. On a carrier unit, being a retired senior chief navy guy. Carrier, it takes a year, 18 months before they deploy, pre-deployment work-ups. What the wives, the husbands, the kids, they don't get that. And I think that's a really important element. What this spouse is talking about, to focus on that, so that everybody gets trained up. I know that coming back from deployment, we would have councilors flown on board the ship, and this is what you can expect when you come back. Your wife has taken over a lot of the chores that you've taken over. And get counseled on what to expect. But I don't know what's out there for someone like yourself, who's got a husband or a loved one who's getting ready to deploy. Let's train them both up.
• [01:03:41.55] GENERAL CAROL ANN FAUSONE: I know in Michigan we have the family support group, which is huge. And it starts the day they get the activated orders. We start to get to know when they're going. Now I'm very familiar with the Marines. I work with the Marines a lot. Really great family support. My nephew, matter of fact, is a marine. Not in this state, in another state. He's in Afghanistan. And I want to tell you, every day, there's a concern. And as a family, as an aunt, it is a concern.
• [01:04:26.24] But I think the communication is the best it's ever been. We Skype with him. We're Skyping in Afghanistan as a family, That wasn't there in Vietnam. That wasn't there for a lot of the gulf. So communication, it's definitely not World War II or Korean veterans. So I think times have changed, and we really need to go out there.
• [01:04:57.58] I've said this since I've been a captain, so it was several years ago, but we just don't deploy a soldier, sailor, airmen, marine, and coast guard. I saw that through my career. We're deploying a family. And we need to be very prepared, and I think we are doing that, to get the family engaged, to bring them in on the briefings, pre- and post-. And then to communicate with the families. Because if our families are taken care of while the serviceman or woman is serving, then they're going to be able to do their job, so we could get them home-- all of them home-- while the family is being taken care of. Great questions and good comments.
• [01:05:49.43] I really want to thank all of you for coming out tonight. If there's anything I can do, our number to the office is in the PowerPoint. It's under the traumatic brain injury section. Please don't hesitate to call. We are there. Let me give you that number one more time. It is 517-335-6523. I'll be hanging out a little bit if you want to talk. It has been my honor. I am very proud to wear this uniform. And all of us should be proud for those great men and women that are fighting for our freedoms. I really want to thank you. God bless you. God bless our families. God bless our veterans. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you.