Office of Veterans Affairs Director Patrick D. Farrell was recently selected to serve on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on U.S. Outlying Areas and Freely Associated States, the agency announced.
Farrell was amongst other passionate veteran advocates from American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, The Federal States of Micronesia, The Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau, all selected to serve by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dennis McDonough, according to the press release.
This committee has been charged with providing advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on matters related to covered Veterans residing in the aforementioned geographical areas, the press release stated.
“The establishment of such a committee by Secretary McDonough is a signal to the Veterans of the affected areas that our concerns are being heard and noticed at the very highest level. Some may say it should have been implemented long before now; however, I say better late than never. It also says to us that advocates like myself and others are finally being heard; for that, we are very grateful. We pledged, as a team, to ensure that the cries for parity to Veterans on the mainland as it relates to access and quality of VA medical care, amongst other issues, will be placed on the table at a high priority,” said Farrell.
Veterans can continue to get up-to-date information by visiting the Office of Veterans Affairs website or by calling the office at 340-774-8387 and 340-773-8387 or by texting the word VIVets (no spaces) to 888-652-8387.
