The New Mexico Veterans' Conference takes place at Hotel Encanto April 17, 18. This year’s conference theme, “Empowering Every Veteran, Enriching Every Community,” highlights the partnership between New Mexico’s veterans and the organizations which support them. KC Counts spoke with Sam Newton, public relations program coordinator with the New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services. Here is a transcript of their conversation:
KC Counts:
I'd like to begin with just talking a little bit about the process that many veterans go through to receive all the benefits that they're entitled to. We hear stories time and time again that process can be difficult; and sometimes veterans actually don't even know all the benefits that they are, in fact, entitled to.
Samuel Newton:
That's correct. And New Mexico has many different benefits for veterans to take advantage of. In fact, our state offers benefits that many other states in the country do not have. So our goal is to get the word out to let our New Mexico veterans know that the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services is here to help them with either a VA veterans claim, but also to make sure that they claim the state veteran benefits they have earned, like their veteran exemptions for property Also, there are many different benefits for education, the tax waiver, and the Lifetime Veterans Park Pass for the state of New Mexico.
KC Counts:
So let's talk about how you're combining all of those resources into one place over a couple of days.
Samuel Newton:
Yes, the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services is going to hold their annual Veterans Conference in Las Cruces, and it's going to happen April 17th and 18th at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. And it is an all-day event on Friday and 3/4 of the day on Saturday that will encompass everything veterans would want to know about their state benefits. And also, we'll have many other vendors and exhibitors and veteran centric organizations on hand. Our theme is empowering every veteran, enriching every community. And registration for this event is totally free and can be done at our website, nmdvs.org.
KC Counts:
What would you say have been some of the challenges in connecting veterans to services that they're entitled to over the years?
Samuel Newton:
We know New Mexico is such a large state with many rural areas. It's hard to reach every veteran, but New Mexico has a very high population of veterans and of those who have served in the armed forces from New Mexico. So we know our veterans are out there. We're just trying to get the word out to reach them and let them know that the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services is here to help them, not only again for those state benefits, but to help them through the VA system if they are looking to get VA health care benefits or if they have other challenges such as unique services, mental health challenges. Also, our tribal veterans’ liaison is available for those hard-reached communities, our veteran lands, our pueblos, tribal areas where we have veterans that don't get services. And this is a way also to try to bring them into this conference and let them know there is a place, one-stop shop, where they'll be able to get all kinds of different services, just bringing in their DD214, their other voter registration forms. We also ask that widows and widowers bring copies of marriage and death certificates for the benefits they are entitled to, income tax return. If they bring the documents to our event, they'll be able to get benefits. And our goal is to keep trying to reach out. We're all over the state with a new mobile unit that also visits these rural areas that are very hard to get to with our veterans and get the word to them that we're here, we're here to serve you, and we're here to help you get your benefits.
KC Counts:
It's been a challenging year for many federal agencies. I think the VA has not been spared. How does the state agency step in to kind of fill those gaps when they exist?
Samuel Newton:
The New Mexico Department of Veterans Services has trained veteran service officers. These are highly trained individuals who will take a veteran and help guide them through the VA process and help them claim their federal benefits. But also, they help our veterans and our benefits department will help our veterans for those state benefits. So we work closely with the Veterans Administration, but we are not them. We are the state agency to help our state veterans claim federal benefits, but mainly also get those state benefits they are entitled to.
KC Counts:
Maybe you can talk a little bit about, in more recent years, we've started to pay, I think, more attention to the mental health, not only of veterans, but to society as a whole. What would you say are the most important changes along those lines to address the mental health of our veterans?
Samuel Newton:
We will have conference sessions during this NMDVS annual veterans conference that talk about not only state, federal, and community issues that are affecting our veterans, give an update on all the programs available, including mental health, women's health, Women veterans face unique challenges and they have unique service needs. Those will be addressed too in special sessions, including those that address PTSD and other mental health challenges. We will have a special speaker from the New Mexico Department of Health talking about those treatments that are available to New Mexico veterans that are facing mental health challenges.
More information about the conference can be found right here.
