Durham veterans affairs office closure could lead to long waits
DURHAM (WTVD) -- A worry is brewing among Durham county officials when it comes to veteran services and what will happen when the state shuts down its veteran services office in the Bull City on March 1, 2016.
"That was some pretty shocking news to me," said Durham County Veteran Services Director Lois Harvin-Ravin. "With the North Carolina Division of Veteran Affairs closing their office, it's certainly going to make a significant impact on us."
The state office in Durham serves about 140,000 veterans in 11 counties. Harvin-Ravin said she's concerned that her office doesn't have the capacity to help when the state office closes its doors.
"I'd love to be able to tell you I'm so good, I can handle this," Harvin-Ravin said. "But I'm sure there are veterans out there who say, I haven't been able to reach her."
What's going to happen when the state office closes down?
"Much, much longer waits," said Harvin-Ravin. "Both my office and the state office are already scheduling people at the end of August. If they move, you're talking about someone could take as long as three or four months to get an appointment. That's not the way we should operate. That's not the way we should be providing to our nation's veterans."
Part of the problem, said Harvin-Ravin, is the fact the military is downsizing.
"Not just at Fort Bragg," she said. "Across the state and across the country, our branches are downsizing and those service members are going to become veterans in our community."
Harvin-Ravin said she's seen this play out before. A few years ago, the state closed its office in Garner, and Harvin-Ravin said so many veterans started coming through her doors that she had to turn people away.
"I could not accommodate those veterans," she said. "I'd feel really bad that they were showing up coming through my door, coming all the way from another county, and we could not service them."
A spokesperson for the state Division of Veteran's Affairs offered this statement from Chief Ilario Pantano on the closure of its Durham office:
"We are progressing through a transformation that is integrating state-of-the-art technology to new high-visibility and high-traffic locations such as the VA medical centers. Today, NCDVA is delivering more services to more veterans, better, faster and cheaper. After all, very few people can find our state NCDVA offices, but just about every veteran can find their local VA Medical center, which is why we are shifting our staff to these high traffic high need areas. It makes sense for veterans and for tax payers."
