Increasing Entry to Care for Veterans in North Carolina

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) immediately introduced prolonged hours for NCServes and the launch of AskMeNC, two initiatives that broaden entry to take care of North Carolina’s veterans and their households. These efforts strengthen the state’s coordinated community of help and underscore NCDHHS’s dedication to making sure the greater than 600,000 veterans who reside in North Carolina have well timed entry to psychological well being care, housing, employment, and peer help providers.

“North Carolina’s veterans have given of themselves selflessly in service to our country. When you’ve spent all of your career helping, it can be challenging to ask for help,” mentioned Governor Josh Stein. “I applaud these initiatives, which will better connect veterans to health care, peer support, and more.”  

“Veterans deserve care and wellness that are coordinated and streamlined – anything else would be unfair,” mentioned NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. “By better aligning mental health, primary care, housing, employment, and peer supports, we are building a stronger, more compassionate network of care for those who served and those who continue to serve.”  

“Increasing access to care is a critical part of honoring our veterans beyond words of gratitude,” mentioned North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Secretary Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette. “When state agencies, community partners, and care providers work together, we build a network that meets veterans and their families where they are – ensuring that no one who has served this nation has to navigate life’s challenges alone.”

“North Carolina has the fourth-largest veteran population in the country and the second-largest rural veteran population,” mentioned Debra Farrington, NCDHHS Deputy Secretary for Health. “We have a responsibility to ensure they have access to the care and support they deserve.”  

Since its launch in 2014 because the nation’s first statewide coordinated care community, NCServes has delivered greater than 150,000 providers to almost 70,000 veteran households throughout North Carolina. The program integrates with NCCARE360 to make sure each veteran and their household has entry to complete, whole-person care. With its expanded hours, the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s (ABCCM) Veterans Services of the Carolinas program, which manages NC Serves, anticipates serving an extra 2,000 veterans within the first yr.  

“Our goal is to make it easier for veterans, service members, and their families to ask for help and to ensure help is always available when they do,” mentioned Kelly Crosbie, Director of the NCDHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services. “Expanding access to care is critical to our mission of developing a continuum of care that serves all North Carolinians.”

“This marks another milestone in the evolution of NCServes and how North Carolina continues to raise the standard in serving our veterans and their families,” mentioned Brandon Wilson, Chief Operating Officer of ABCCM. “This expansion reflects what’s possible when more than 5,000 community-based organizations work together with support from our state with purpose. This is intentional community in action and a powerful example of how coordination and compassion can directly transform lives across our state.”

Beginning November 11, Veteran’s Day, the NCServes name line and coordination middle, managed by ABCCM and in partnership with Vaya Health, will supply prolonged hours to satisfy veterans the place they’re and cut back limitations to care. These expanded hours, together with evenings and weekends, make it simpler for veterans and their households to hook up with care after they want it most.  

NCServes is the primary statewide coordinated care system within the nation for veterans and their households. Veterans, service members, and their households in want of housing, transportation, bodily and psychological well being care, employment providers, and different sources are inspired to name 855-962-8387 or go to www.ncserves.org to attach with the care coordination groups.

The AskMeNC initiative and web site present a single level of entry for providers together with well being care, housing, advantages navigation, employment, training providers, and household help which may be accessible to veterans and their households. The initiative makes use of the present NCServes coordination system to attach customers with trusted, community-based suppliers throughout the state. While it leverages NCServes as a key useful resource for service members, veterans, and their households, AskMeNC additionally serves as a digital hub for a variety of further helps. The web site hyperlinks customers to a number of state and group sources which can be accessible and encourages connection to care throughout numerous wants.  

These new initiatives come at a pivotal time, because the 2023 VA Community Care Network Review and HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) exhibits veterans typically face hardship due to disconnected programs. Nearly one in three veterans experiencing homelessness reported being unable to entry providers as a consequence of lengthy wait instances or lack of coordination. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2024 National Suicide Prevention Annual Report, almost two-thirds of veterans who die by suicide weren’t actively engaged in VA care.

Coordinated networks like NCServes and AskMeNC assist bridge these gaps, offering veterans with a trusted pathway to a number of sources by one entry level. The National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans (2024) reported that veterans engaged in coordinated programs are 40% extra more likely to safe steady housing and 50% extra more likely to maintain employment inside 12 months in comparison with these navigating providers independently.

“As we celebrate Veterans Day, we’re reminded that service to our veterans must extend beyond a single day of recognition. It’s an ongoing commitment,” mentioned Tracy Hayes, Area Director and CEO of Vaya Health. “By expanding hours for the NCServes call line and coordination center, we’re ensuring that North Carolina’s veterans and their families can reach help and hope whenever they need it. This partnership reflects our shared dedication to whole-person care – addressing not only health needs but the full spectrum of supports that honor their service and strengthen their well-being.”

Complementing these efforts, NCDHHS lately launched the Connections app in partnership with CHESS Health, a free, digital useful resource designed to help veterans’ psychological well being and restoration by entry to educated friends, moderated on-line communities, every day check-ins, and confirmed coping instruments.

NCDHHS can be sponsoring the North Carolina Institute of Medicine’s Task Force on Veterans’ Health, which focuses on supporting the supply and navigation of care, growing the well being workforce, and addressing the behavioral well being care wants of veterans.  

If you or somebody you already know is fighting their psychological well being or want somebody to speak to, you aren’t alone. For these in a psychological well being disaster, NCDHHS supplies someplace to go, somebody to speak with, and somebody to reply. The 988 Lifeline Chat and Text – 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential, and accessible to everybody 24/7 by name, textual content, or chat. Targeted sources can be found for veterans.

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About ABCCM

Founded in 1969, Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) is North Carolina’s largest faith-based nonprofit serving communities statewide by disaster help, housing, well being care, and veteran help. Backed by greater than 300 church buildings and hundreds of volunteers, ABCCM’s mission is to satisfy rapid wants, restore lives, and create pathways to stability. ABCCM additionally supplies a sturdy portfolio for veterans throughout North Carolina.

About Vaya Health

Vaya Health is a specialty managed care group and native authorities company that oversees publicly funded well being care providers throughout a 32-county area of North Carolina for folks with vital behavioral well being wants, mental/developmental disabilities, and traumatic mind accidents. Vaya manages Medicaid and federal, state, and native funding to satisfy member and group wants whereas advancing whole-person well being. Vaya works with members, contracted suppliers, and native companions to help a more healthy North Carolina.