Advocates for NY Veterans Seek Help, Answers Amid Pandemic

"ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Lawmakers and advocates are calling on New York to better protect the state’s estimated 800,000 veterans struggling with challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advocates for veterans acknowledge New York’s estimated $14 billion revenue drop through March, but called on lawmakers Friday to protect funding for veterans from potential cuts. Legal service groups, mental health providers and veterans service providers warned that New York could lose progress made in helping veterans increasingly facing eviction, trouble accessing mental health treatment through telehealth and challenges from joblessness to hunger to social isolation.

“We have spoken with too many veterans who have lost their jobs or have had to drop out of school, too many veterans concerned about whether they will have housing next month or who have suddenly been tasked with serving as caretakers for their elderly and ailing family members,” Logan Campbell, project coordinator of the City Bar Justice Center’s Veterans Assistant Project, which helps low-income disabled veterans in New York City, said in written testimony.

James Fitzgerald, an Army veteran and deputy director of the New York City Veterans Alliance, said it took until late April for the city to organize services for veterans.

“We got referrals from both city and state veterans’ services agencies, asking us to support veterans when they could not,” Fitzgerald said in written testimony. “Veterans were getting shut-off notices on their utility bills. They could not get out to pick up food at distribution sites, so we got deliveries to hem.”

As the coronavirus took hold in New York City and elsewhere, some veteran homes were particularly hard-hit. The Department of Health reported 146 residents who had or likely had COVID-19 died in New York veterans' nursing homes. The state hasn’t reported how many nursing home residents died at hospitals or how many residents tested positive for COVID-19..."

Continue reading