Wong asks about outreach to health clinics and Vet Centers

Veterans, like, visit health clinics, like the ones in Flushing Avenue.

Is there any outreach?

Have you done with them to identify these veterans that require health services?

Can you talk about that?

I'm going shortly going to pass this question to Donnie and Noah, but

at DVS, part of the claims team, when someone does come to DVS, oftentimes veterans go through the claims process first as they are in need, whether different types of benefits.

And when they do disclose that they need any sort of health care support, we do connect them to the VA, but also we do connect them to NYC Health and Hospitals,

Pride Health Centers, and Northwell as they provide LGBTQIA plus fertility services.

Again, this is if the individual does disclose that they need LGBTQ plus services.

However, I'm going to now pass it on to Noah that can further elaborate on the claims portion when it comes to the health care component.

Thanks, Commissioner.

I'm Noah Bray.

I'm the executive director of the support services for DDS.

Yeah, so I think that conversation that you mentioned, the difficulty just getting them to disclose a veteran status, it does go further to disclose anything, even like a name and an address.

So I think it's a testament to the claims agents is just to create that rapport and make that veteran comfortable just having a conversation.

With that comes everything else, like any kind of like medical conditions or anything that has to do with that claim that we're going to file.

So that's where we get that information.

Once we develop that relationship, it allows us to connect them to whatever benefits or whatever partnerships that we have.

And that's where that magic happens.

So that's where we overcome that hurdle.

Please feel free to continue.

Yeah, just a follow-up.

Like, we have a Queens Vet Center right at the border of my district that I see veterans go there all the time requesting medical services.

So I'm just wondering that the outreach that you have done, say, with them or other vet centers, that you may be able to identify or help them identify LGBT veterans.

That's an issue that's always in my mind when every time I drive past them, like, is DVS outreaching?

To these veterans because they go there a lot.

Right.

We do find that partnership with that vet center as well as all the other vet centers and the VAs.

Those are part of our regular circuit that we try to send our claims agents to.

So we do have usually a liaison for each one of those entities.

But it does happen organically.

We leave nobody out for partnership opportunities.

So whether it's a vet center or a nonprofit, we try to send our claims agents out as part of the outreach.

And we've had some pretty good success so far.

And I just wanted to add to that.

One of the unique aspects I had.

is that when it comes to claims and housing, one of the major needs for veterans, it is led by veterans themselves.

Noah is a Coast Guard veteran and Dinesh is also an Army vet.

So it also provides us that extra cultural competency, per se, to be able to provide that support to veterans.