Veteran’s Resources in Whatcom County with Elizabeth Harmon-Craig
 
Matt: Welcome to Bellingham Technical College’s Money$marts Podcast. I’m your host, Matt Benoit. And each episode we’ll talk to BTC students, staff community professionals and financial experts about financial literacy and wellness all to help listeners navigate resources in the community and empower themselves financially. Today, I am here with Elizabeth Harmon-Craig, Whatcom County Veteran’s Specialist. So obviously, as someone who works with veterans, I imagine you, yourself have past military service? 
Elizabeth: I do in fact it’s why I took the job. Just briefly went to West Point for my undergrad, became an officer, promptly did two tours in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan, realized that that was enough overseas time for me. So, I actually came to Bellingham, I needed to take some Post-Bac courses in route to grad school. I came here, went to Western Washington University, met my now husband who is a staunch civilian, realized we liked the community, liked the town so I started looking for jobs nearby. I saw this position come up on WorkSource and I thought it sounded absolutely amazing. Again, it was to hedge your own veteran’s program and I knew I had had some frustrations with my own transition of not being able to find the answers so I thought that this was a job that I felt passionate about. It was funny though, they wanted someone specifically, with a Masters in Social Work, which I did not have at the time. I remember telling both my now husband and my father about it and they both were like “you’d be brilliant for this but you’re not qualified.” I put in the application anyhow. Got a job interview and it was funny, I thought I tanked the job interview because the last question was “What was your veteran’s experience like here in Whatcom County?” And I just sort of went off. [Laughs] And I was like, “oh, that is not what I should have done!” In fact, one of the interviewers was a veteran and was on the Veteran’s Advisory Board, followed me out into the hallway to apologize. [Laughs] And shockingly, I got a call later that afternoon and they wanted to check my references to offer me the job. And it’s been a pleasure to do this job. It’s a job that even when it’s hard, I’m glad to do, I want life to be better for my fellow veteran’s here in Whatcom County. So, it’s nice to have a job that involves your passion, you know. Even when the days are hard, it’s still, I know I’m helping people and it makes it worth getting up in the morning. 
Matt: So, Elizabeth tell me about your position. 
Elizabeth: So, Whatcom County has a veteran’s assistance program. It was established eight years ago to help local veterans navigate financial hardships. The program has grown exponentially since we started eight years ago. And a lot of that was due to the Whatcom County Veteran’s Advisory Board realized that there should be a program to help folks. And it started out being strictly housing and basic assistance for low income folks. We’ve expanded services to include help for anyone with their mortgage, housing, basic utilities, childcare, burial assistance, health services, there’s a whole plethora of programs. What’s important for veterans to know is that if you’re on the G.I. Bill and you’re experiencing break pay, we can cover your rent or mortgage for you during that break pay period to ensure that you have stable housing. In addition, the financial cut offs for the program were significantly raised last year thanks to county council. We now can serve folks with financial assistance as long as they make less than 65% of average median income. For a single-family household here in Whatcom County that is about $2,800. One of the big ones I want to bring up for student veterans is again we have in 2018 declared childcare a basic need. So again if you need childcare assistance in order for you to go to BTC and complete your coursework, again, please call the office. We can definitely help you cover childcare. In addition, for student veterans there are programs such as Vocational Rehabilitation. If you are in receipt of a V.A. disability, Voc Rehab can cover your degree. I know many students here at BTC are using Voc Rehab to cover their degrees. And again if it’s something you haven’t looked into as a student veteran, you should. We also have transportation assistance, again if you’re having a hard time making essential appointments, we can have a volunteer driver pick you up and take you where you need to go. Also, if you’d like to volunteer for that program, we’re always looking for volunteers. I recently was federally accredited by the V.A. as a Veteran’s Service Officer. This means if you’re looking to file a compensation or pension claim with the Veteran’s Administration, you can come to the county office direct to file that claim. You no longer have to work through a third party agency. This has been huge for Whatcom County because often we had to refer folks down to Skagit or Island County to get with VSOs, so to have one here in Bellingham is great, particularly, for students who can’t take the time away from class to go do these claims. And again, the reason why a student veteran would want to file for compensation or pension, again the V.A. is going to compensate you for any injury that occurred to you on active duty and that results in a monthly tax-free stipend that is directly deposited into your account. It results in increased access to healthcare and again, once you reach a certain disability level it’s free educational services and job placement. So, again I highly recommend every veteran to sit down with a veteran’s service officer just to explore your benefits and see what’s out there for you.
Matt: So, what are the main questions and concerns you get from veterans about their benefits?
Elizabeth: I think the biggest question or concern I get with veterans about their benefits is healthcare. Again, Whatcom County is pretty remote from the Seattle V.A. Which means most of the veterans up here in Whatcom County are what’s called the V.A.’s Insurance Choice Program. Choice has a lot of hiccups right now, I think the government is trying to straighten it out. But again it’s finding out how does one access a Choice provider, how does that Choice Provider get paid, how do you get your healthcare needs assessed? That seems to be the biggest issue across the board, at any age, coming into my office. Again, the second is if there’s a problem with the G.I. bill. To make sure that the school is getting paid, and that they’re getting their basic housing allowance so they can cover their rent. So, for any student veterans who haven’t enrolled in V.A. healthcare, it’s quite simple, literally go online and google 1010 EZ.  It will automatically bring up the enrollment form for healthcare. You fill it out, you can fill it out online now, and scan a copy of your DD214. That will enroll you in V.A. healthcare. You’ll get a call from the V.A. in about ten days to set up an initial appointment. It is essential to go to that initial appointment. Your V.A. enrollment is not active until a V.A. doctor sees you once. When you have that initial appointment with that V.A. doctor, they will ask if you want to opt in for the Choice Program. And, again that’s because we, here in Whatcom County, are definitely more that 40 miles from Seattle. Once you opt into the Choice Program, you’re sent what’s called a Choice Card and what’s important for a student veteran to know is that you should always call the number on the card to schedule an appointment with your doctor. Do not schedule with your doctor direct. Because if you schedule with your doctor direct, there’s a chance Choice won’t pay for that appointment. Everything must be run through Choice first. So you would call Choice and you would say “Hey, I want to see Doctor Smith.” Choice then contacts Doctor Smith to set up that appointment. It’s a little extra step that’s a bit different than normal health insurances but again I want to make sure student veterans are aware of so those bills get paid. Also, at any point if anyone’s not sure again how to do the 1010 EZ or enroll in healthcare that’s why my office is here, it’s 509 Girard St. here in Bellingham and that office number is 360-778-6050. We’ll definitely have someone walk you through the process because I understand the first time for anything seems a bit daunting. 
Matt: Alright. So you mentioned VSO. What is a VSO and what do they do? 
Elizabeth: A VSO is a Veteran’s Service Officer, and what a VSO does is act as a liaison between the veteran to the VA to help the veteran claim their benefits. I recommend every veteran work with a VSO because it’s good to have a second set of eyes to look at your claim, also to know the right words to paraphrase for your claim in order for you to get the benefits you deserve. I’m a veteran myself and even though I do this work I use another community member as my VSO because I know that she can have that impartial, you know, third party experience to make sure that she represents me to the V.A. 
Matt: Now, for students who are veterans what kind of benefits are available to them?
Elizabeth: If you’re a military student veteran you are most likely eligible for the post 9/11 G.I. bill. I certainly hope you’re using it here today and if you’re not, please, go see Ms. McConnell in the admin office to find out. But again, for student veterans there’s definitely the G.I. bill, again I’ve spoke about Voc Rehab before. If you’re in receipt of a V.A. disability, you are not only eligible for Voc Rehab, which is a robust program that not only covers your school and a living stipend, it also covers anything you need for school which could be a laptop, boots, shop equipment for those type of classes, it’s a really robust program and also pairs you with a counselor to help make sure you’re making it through school.  In addition, on the far end you are paired with a jobs counselor that helps you look for and find job placement. In addition, for student veterans, again the County Office at 509 Girard St. if you’re having trouble paying your bills, definitely give us a call so we can see if we can help you with that because we want you to be successful here at school, graduate, go on and do good things. 
Matt: So, you mentioned Patti McConnell, she’ll be retiring shortly here. So those who have questions should see Alisen Outlaw, the new certifying official at BTC. So, what resources are available for career navigation and employment assistance? 
Elizabeth: I’m really glad you asked this question. We’re lucky here in Whatcom County to have Paul Pelot at WorkSource. He is the disabled veteran’s outreach coordinator and he can actually work with all veterans that are seeking employment. His number is 360-676-3203, again that’s 360-676-3203 and I highly recommend any veteran that’s getting close to graduating to sit down with Paul to look at what your job prospects are here in Whatcom County and farther afield. He also is aware of any state vocational benefits that veterans may qualify for. Paul is able to find resources, again, from the state and federal government that I may not have access to at the county programs. So, again if you are a student veteran, I highly recommend giving Paul a call just again to see what resources are available to you and Paul’s number again is 676-3203.
Matt: Now, are there any other resources within the community that can assist former and current military members that we haven’t already covered, that you’d like to talk about?
Elizabeth: A colleague, actually, she’s formerly at Western, and I started a program called the Whatcom County Veterans Gmail. And it’s a listserv that goes out to about 600 veterans now and what we do in that listserv is, it’s sent out once a week, and it’s a list of events or things of interest for veterans in the community. Also there’s a link on that email that goes to a webpage that’s a calendar that list events in Whatcom County for veterans. It also has a good resource guide, divided up by housing, jobs, health. I highly recommend any veteran check it out. Again, it’s – if you want to get on that listserv it’s WhatcomCountyVeterans@gmail.com. In addition, to be frank, the easiest way to get to that listserv or to get to the actual website would be to just put Whatcom County Veterans in Google. Again, we’ve paid some money to have a search engine have it pop up. So, again that’s Whatcom County Veterans in your Google search bar will get you to the calendar and the website and again if you’d like to get on our listserv, just send an email to WhatcomCoutnyVeterans@gmail.com 
Matt: So, what do you see as the mission for the work that you do?
Elizabeth: So, I think that the military does a great job, they spend weeks, months, if not years training on you how to be really good at your job while you’re in the service. Unfortunately, I feel like on the back side you don’t get that same level of care and training and my hope, again, is that the Whatcom County veterans program is that transition for veterans, that it is there to help walk you through accessing your benefits when you first come off active-duty. Helping you know how to use your V.A. home loan. Helping you find work and again even that the end of life, how do you access having the V.A. cover nursing care, to again, burial. Because really you’ve earned benefits on active duty that will help you throughout your entire lifespan. And I feel like the mission of the program is to make sure that you and we as veterans are aware of those programs that we’ve earned. And I again, would just, if you’re hesitant about calling the office, I’d really ask you, again, to just call, again. I kind of feel like this a reverse basic training or it’s the basic training for veterans in the next step of your life. 
Matt: You have everything to gain and nothing to lose, essentially. 
Elizabeth: Yes. Absolutely. 
Matt: So, Elizabeth thank you so much for being here today.
Elizabeth: Thank you for inviting me.
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Matt: Thanks for listening to this episode of the BTC Money$marts podcast, be sure to check out all our episodes on the BTC website. They’re loaded with stories, tips, tricks and strategies for financial literacy. This podcast is produced by Cheryl Kennedy with music courtesy of Bensound.com. I’m Matt Benoit, see you next time!