Nebraska’s Local Health Departments were acknowledged last
week for their unique position as community conveners as well as for the expertise
they bring to communities across our state.
The Veterans Administration
announced that the Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors (NALHD) will
receive $2,000,000 for a 2-year project. NALHD’s project is one of only 5 pilots funded
nationally. These funds will provide
resources to Local Health Departments to assure that Veterans returning to their homes in rural Nebraska can access
the support they need to successfully reintegrate into their families and
communities. Rural Veterans have an
array of unique needs, many tied to challenges in accessing VA services. NALHD believes that many of these issues
could be improved with investments in existing rural community systems that serve
Veterans and their families.
Locally, veterans will have the opportunity to participate, as a portion
of these funds will be awarded to the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health
Department (ELVPHD). ELVPHD has always served Veterans and their families as
part of a broad range of valuable services they provide in Burt, Cuming,
Stanton and Madison counties. This grant
will allow ELVPHD to focus on building their capacity to meet the distinctive
needs of Veterans. It also provides
Veteran-specific training and support for rural health and service providers. This funding will cover 71 of
Nebraska’s 93 counties.
Gina Uhing, Director
of the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department states, “This is an exciting expansion of services
for our department. We are looking forward to this great opportunity to serve
our veterans and service members through this outreach program. This is our way
of giving back to those that graciously served our country.”