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RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Taylor Winner
Wilmington University

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

I.

Mission

The Clinton County Veteran Affairs is dedicated to serving and improving the lives of
veterans in Clinton County. Their mission statement is the obligation of this office is to make
certain that all veterans and their dependents are accorded the full benefits due them in
compliance with Federal, State, and County Law, upon proof of eligibility for said benefits
(Clinton County Veteran Affairs, n.d., para. 4). The staff, interns, and volunteers are dedicated
to making lives of veterans easier. They will assist veterans by whatever means are necessary.
During my short time interning for the department, Ive personally seen the director go out of his
way to help veterans out. On one of my interning days, an elderly veteran came into the office
and confided to the director that he was having suicidal thoughts. The director tried to contact
someone to escort this veteran to the local veteran hospital, which is an hour and fifteen minutes
away from the office. Due to this being a last minute emergency, no one was able to take this
man to the hospital. So, the director and an intern took the veteran to the hospital and personally
made sure that he was getting the assistance he needed. The director cancelled an afternoon
meeting he had, and set all his other work aside for the day to focus on this one client. Not to
mention, the director even used his own personal vehicle because the county vehicles were
already booked on this day. If this is not dedication to clients, I dont know what is!
II.

Demographics

Special attention needs to be made concerning the demographics of this agencys client
population. The department assists veterans, and then the department also assists veterans
dependents such as spouses. Most of the dependents that the office helps are females. That is
where the 40% of female clients comes from. Clinton County Veteran Affairs help many spouses

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

and widows of veterans receive benefits also. They also commonly help the widows of veterans
receive their deceased spouses death benefits. There is a very low percentage of female veterans
that our office services. Only 10% of the veterans that we help are female, leaving 90% of the
veteran clientele to be male. Due to the high volume of male veterans that the department helps,
that raises the proportions of males to be higher than females. If the Clinton County Veteran
Affairs did not assist female spouses and widows our female population of clients would be
drastically lower.
It is visible that the age group of the clientele at my placement is predominately over the age
of 50. According to the department director, 75% of clients are over the age of 50 years old. Only
25% of clients are between the ages of 18-50. A possible cause of this age trend in our
department could possibly be because younger veterans are not aware of our department and
what resources we offer.
Due to the demographics of the county, majority of our clients are of Caucasian race.
Although Clinton County is growing in terms of diversity, it is a predominately white area. The
director of Clinton County stated that he only has a handful of vets that are of African American
race, the rest are all white. I think that our client population will slowly become more diverse,
as more and more minorities are moving into our county, its only a matter of time until our
department will get the honor to serve difference races of veterans Director Bechdel stated.
III.

Policies and Procedures

Due to the uniqueness of every client and their situation, duties performed daily are multiple
and diverse, based upon what is best for the client. My placement office follows all procedures
and directives mandated by Federal, State, and County Governments for all veterans. The

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

department maintains current files for living and deceased veterans. The Clinton County Veteran
Affairs office records all transactions with any veteran or dependent utilizing the services of the
office. This is a federally mandated procedure. It is required for auditing purposes that up-to-date
record keeping and filing is kept for every client and caseload. Record keeping is a must for all
clients, living or deceased. Dependents and spouses receiving assistance and/or resources are
also closely documented by the office. At my placement office, there is a whole room dedicated
to files for each and every client the office has served, past and present.
A major policy the Clinton County Veterans Affairs upholds to is the confidentiality of all
clients and their families. It is important that even as an intern, I uphold to this. Our department
has access to countless government issued files with clients personal information, financial
information and military information, so confidentiality is a must. Many times clients will wish
to speak to a certain employee or the director due to their wish of privacy and/or comfort, and we
respect that. Whomever they feel most at ease working with is who we allow them to see. At
Clinton County Veteran Affairs, we work as a team to best accommodate the client.
The list of resources and forms of assistance is quite extensive. Options given to clients are
based on their personal need. Assistance can be given to every veteran and dependent regarding
pensions, insurances, schooling, hospitalization, medical benefits, home loans, counseling
services, grave registration, and cooperation with local funeral directors regarding burials. All of
these services, however, are based on their personal and financial need. A task my placement
office is responsible for is income assessment. Prior to receiving services and/or resources
veteran clients or their dependents have to fill out information based on their income. This allows
our department to see what they qualify for. Assistance is based upon a veteran or dependents
annual income. This is often times a difficult area for my department. As much as our office

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

would like to help vets, if their income is too high for certain services or assistance funds, they
do not qualify for them. If they do not qualify for the assistance financially, they do not receive
it. Although they may not be able to afford whatever service they are trying to get out of pocket,
if their income is too high, it is determined that their financial need is not high enough to receive
these benefits. The departments hands are tied, these guidelines and income requirements are
federal sanctions created by the federal branch of Veteran Affairs, not the county office. Ive
seen the difficulty and hardships created by these income requirements, it is very disheartening
telling a veteran they are not applicable for help that they need, but cannot afford on their own.
Other practice the Clinton County Veteran Affairs takes part in is providing flags for
veterans gravesites. They provide flags to agencies such as the VFW organization and the
American Legion organization year round. The department also takes part in cemetery clean ups
around Memorial Day. This is a community outreach event that is done to honor deceased
veterans and pay respect to them for their service to our country. The Clinton County Veteran
Affairs hosts community events such as a tribute for September 11th and an expo for Veterans
Day. The department also holds fundraisers for local veterans who display any additional needs.
My placement also organizes and sets up transportation for any veteran who needs transportation
to and/or from appointments. This is an important aspect of our procedures because without this
service, many clients would be unable to make it to their very important appointments.
IV.

Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of my practicum placement is very informal and democratic.

The director is open to ideas and suggestions presented to him by his employees. Even though he
is the boss of the department, he is so down to earth and approachable. My supervisor, the

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Veteran Service Officer of the department is directly under the Director. She often acts as his
assistant. Clerical employees, interns and volunteers answer directly to my supervisor, the
Veteran Service Officer. Often times the department director is too busy doing his duties, so the
Veterans Service Officer delegates what interns are in charge of doing. My supervisor is very
easy going and laid back. She has done everything in her power to help me learn and grown from
my interning experience thus far.
V.

Governance

The Clinton County Veterans Affairs department is governed by the commissioners of

Clinton County. The countys commissioners are the department directors supervisor, he
answers to them in regards to the department. Although this organization is primarily county ran,
federal sanctions must be followed as well. The department must adhere to certain rules,
regulations and guidelines implemented by the federal department of Veteran Affairs since
federal funds are used to operate the department.
VI.

Funding

Clinton County Veteran Affairs is considered a public agency and government program.
According to the director of Clinton County Veteran Affairs, the federal government requires
every county to have a local Veteran Affairs office. Therefore, resources are given to help sustain
the department with federal funding. Although the department is given federal money to help
with operational fees and services, the department is primarily supported by county tax dollars.
VII.

Relationship to Other Agencies

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Since this department is part of the county, networking and working with other county
departments is essential. The Clinton County Veteran Affairs maintains close ties with agencies
that can be of help to veterans such as welfare and housing offices. This office works closely
with veteran organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) and the American Legion
to spread awareness of resources for veterans. The office works closely with a wide variety of
organizations due to their active involvement in community outreach projects. In the past my
placement has worked with community businesses, local schools and sports teams to
successfully complete projects for veterans.
VIII.

Strengths, Trends and Challenges

A notable strength for my agency is the awareness that is being made for veteran affairs and
issues. Veteran Affairs are being made a priority, perhaps more so now than ever. With this
awareness, come more programs being made to help veterans. Additional funds are also being
made to assist veterans, which is another strength the department is seeing. A challenge that my
internship office has seen is the increasing numbers of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosed
clients. This creates numerous challenges for veterans trying to adapt to civilian life. Another
trend that our department deals with is health disorders being caused by Agent Orange. This is
common among veterans who have served in the Vietnam era. The decrease of the Korean War
Veterans population is also noted by my internship director as a current trend. This is causing an
increase in the need for death benefits among widows. Challenges my internship placement faces
are stigmas attached to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health disorders among
veteran populations. This makes the treatment process for veterans more difficult. Waiting
periods and delays from the federal Department of Veteran Affairs is also a challenge my office
sees daily. Federal guidelines and stipulations for veteran benefits is an added challenge for my

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

office. Many clients expect our office to have the solution and/or answer to their questions and
problems, as much as we would like to provide solutions, a lot of the time, the answers lie in the
larger branches of Veteran Affairs.
IX.

Intern Roles

As an intern, at Clinton County Veteran Affairs, my main focus is to observe my supervisor

and learn from watching her manage this human service organization. I am responsible for
communicating with clients; and most importantly, work with supervisor to ensure they receive
their benefits. I also try to assist my supervisor in any tasks in the office, she is always busy
doing something, so whatever I can do to help I do. Although I cannot help clients alone, I get
exposure to assisting clients alongside of my supervisor. When I began my internship, I decided
that I wanted to learn how to orchestrate community outreach events and become more familiar
with presenting on behalf of my office. I have been assigned to event planning for outreach
projects just as the Veterans Day expo, in which I am currently working with my supervisor to
produce a presentation. As an intern, I also get the opportunity to attend meetings with my
supervisor and director on the departments behalf. In addition to completing tasks, it is
important that my role of an intern is a positive addition to the office. Displaying teamwork
skills, when working with other employees and interns on various department projects is also an
important key to my role as an intern. It is important that I work as a cohesive part of this team.

RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Work Cited
Bechdel, B. (2015, October 7). [Personal interview].
Clinton County Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2015, from
http://www.clintoncountypa.com/VeteransAffairs/

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RUNNING HEAD: Clinton County Veteran Affairs

Appendix A

Figure 1. The organization chart of Clinton County Veteran Affairs for the year 2015.