Dorn VA open house aims to connect veterans to services

In conjunction with a national effort to raise awareness about services available to military veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia hosted an open house Saturday to help educate veterans on ways they can receive medical care and connect them with services.

“There are people who can serve a good number of years in the military and not know what kind of benefits they have when they get out unless they come by and ask,” Dorn spokesman Bob Hall said. “It’s just not something that’s been well communicated, and we’re trying to improve that now.”

Rogers Cleveland Sr., a 65-year-old Vietnam War veteran, said the VA “gets high marks in my opinion.”

New to the area from Miami, Cleveland stopped by the Dorn drop-in to get advice on updating his disability benefits claim. He also received information on psychological rehabilitation services Dorn offers, and its staff pointed him in the direction of Christ Central Ministries to receive dental care he has been seeking.

“I don’t have nothing but good to say about the services I’ve gotten” from the VA, Cleveland said.

In recent years, the VA has come under fire for systematic issues, including, at Dorn, long wait times for appointments and procedures, concerns about benefits and difficulty in promptly reaching representatives.

But for the past two years, said Dorn spokesman Bob Hall, Dorn has worked to correct those problems and improve its services.

And its services, said Dorn chief of staff Dr. Bernard DeKoning, are second to none when it comes to the health of veterans.

“We know what (the veterans) have gone through, so we’re able to structure their health care to serve their unique needs and serve them best,” DeKoning said.