Commissioners learn about new veterans program

ALBANY — Linn County Veterans Services will soon be able to assist veterans whose health has been negatively affected by Agent Orange and by chemicals released from large fire pits during the Gulf War, Veterans Services Officer Dee Baley-Hyder told the Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning.

Baley-Hyder said Congress recently passed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, what Baley-Hyder said may be the “largest health care and benefit expansion in Veteran Administration history.”

Baley-Hyder said the program will aid veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals as far back as the Vietnam war era.

The act adds 23 new presumptive conditions and could affect five million veterans or their survivors.

She said the program’s budget is $300 billion over 10 years.

Veterans Services has had 23 inquiries since September, Baley-Hyder said and the program doesn’t start until January.

Baley-Hyder also said the county has helped families recover $831,820 in benefits since July 1, compared to $363,328 for the same time period a year ago.

Veterans Services has also used all of the $11,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs to provide transportation for veterans who can’t drive and need transportation to medical services.

Linn County committed up to $20,000 to supplement the program and Baley-Hyder said she has used about $6,617 of that allotment.

“This has been very popular,” Baley-Hyder said. “We have trips booked through mid-October already.”

She said many of the veterans are receiving cancer treatment or have diabetes and are have wound care appointments.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Approved paying $6.73 annually to rent space for the county’s fiber optics lines on Pacific Corp poles. IT Director Steve Braaten said that is the same as the current rate and the county uses 94 poles.
• Approved a $150,000 four-year contract with Sparkle Laundry Services to provide laundry and dry-cleaning services to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
• Approved a $4,931,947change in the Linn County Public Health Department’s budget due to an influx of money the State of Oregon. Because he money amounts to more than 10% of the approved budget, the county needed to approve a supplemental budget according to Oregon law.
•  Approved a $1,062,500 Personal Services Contract with Intercommunity Health Network to help pay for staffing to expand the county’s Alcohol and Drug outreach, especially in schools and among members of the homeless community. Board Chairman Nyquist said he would like to see the program weighted heavily toward helping children, who has been affected by Oregon’s decriminalization of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine.

Media contact: Alex Paul, Linn County Communications Officer 541-967-3825 or email apaul@co.linn.or.us.