Health care, rent payments, utilities, food and provisions, and transportation are just some of the issues with which county assistance can help local veterans. Sue Rich is the Washington County Veterans Service Officer. She works to connect veterans and their families with federal benefits and aid, including disability compensation, health care, surviving spouse pension, military records, and headstones. This includes federal assistance in applying for VA pensions, including widow’s pension, which is based on income. There’s also VA compensation if a veteran has an injury or illness that occurred during service or was aggravated by service, including Vietnam veterans who served who have any of the presumptive illnesses associated with exposure to Agent Orange.

At Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting Commissioner Terry Philips praised Rich for the work she’s done, “The numbers are really low, first quarter is less than $4,500 and there’s a couple reasons for that. One is Sue is doing an excellent job of getting people to apply for their federal benefits and get those benefits that they so deserve, so she’s been very successful with that.” He adds the other reason is that Rich has been attending training so she knows best how to connect veterans with the state and federal programs available to them. Rich’s office is at the Orchard Hill Complex in Washington and she can be reached by phone at 653-7768.