Berks County Veterans Affairs

Berks County Commissioner Dante Santoni discusses the Berks Veterans Affairs Department with their Director, Jay Ostrich, and Deputy Director, Will Tobin. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello and welcome to this month's edition of County Connections. I'm your host, Berks County Commissioner Dante Santoni. And uh this week's this week's uh show, this month's show is gonna be exciting because we have two great gentlemen here from our uh Edgeburger Veterans Service Center of Berks County. We have our director, Jay Ostridge. Jay, welcome and thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Thank you for the privilege of being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Great. And we have our deputy Will Tobin. So we're really, really honored and privileged that you have here. We're gonna, you know, May being Memorial Day. We're gonna we're gonna get into uh some of the uh uh things that we can provide for our for our for our veterans in Berks County, some of the things that are happening. Uh but before we do that, Jay, why don't you start off? Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. Uh what what you what you what you your service related activities and uh how you came to Berks County.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Oh, yes, sir, Commissioner, and thanks again for having us on the show. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Jay Ostrich, uh 23-year and some change veteran uh with the United States Air Force. I'm a combat veteran, more than two decades of uh experience in service in special forces uh and uh combat veteran myself. I served in Iraq and then also did a combat tour in East Africa and uh absolutely uh privileged to be a part of the the Department of Veterans Affairs here for Berks County. Um Berks County native and uh and uh a father of my daughter Harper, who is a freshman at the University of Arizona, and uh I think that gives you a pretty good snapshot.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Thank you so much, and thank you for your service to our country and and to our county as well. So thank you. Uh Will, you're next. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I just wanted to caveat that Jay's an okay pickleball player. Is he okay? My name is uh Will Tobin. I am a retired Army Chief Warrant Officer with uh 23 years of service. I'm also a combat veteran. I grew up here in the city of Reading. I do have four children. My son is 21 years old. I got two daughters, they're Irish twins, um, just about 11 months apart to today. Um Caitlin is 18 and Emily is 17, and my youngest son is 13 years old. They all go to Mifflin.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yep, and I'm a better pickleball player.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Okay, so thank you guys. It's good to learn a little bit about the personal lives, so we appreciate that. Um let's focus on some of the things that that uh that we have. We have a great veterans office that you guys run. Um before we get into some of these, tell us like you have staff, how many people work there?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah, we have seven full-time people that work there, and the majority of them are uh veterans themselves. Uh, we have more than 120 years of uniformed experience in the office, which is is quite a lot. Uh we're really proud of that. We have members who have been a part of uh the Air Force, the Army, the Marine Corps, and uh we recently have a Coast Guard's coming up. So we're really we're we're thrilled to have a full spectrum of service in that office. Uh we are currently the number one caseload of any county office in Pennsylvania, so it's a very busy seven people who are running around uh trying to serve more than 20,000 veterans here in Berks County.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Great. Um and as we said, May, if we're focusing on veterans and the and the things that we services that we provide being Memorial Day coming up on May 25th. I know that you distribute, I I know you you sent me some notes, and you distribute 37,000 flags. It's a lot of flags. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

It really is, and I think it's important that that number seems uh huge, but uh we have a privilege that that is actually codified in Pennsylvania law to provide a flag on every single grave here in Berks County. And so that number, of course, balloons up over 37,000 now. And it it's just amazing the amount of service and sacrifice that came from our county. It is a privilege to be able to distribute those flags and the grave markers, and it's a reminder of that sacrifice that's been made since before America was even America. Berks County has been now fighting for freedom, and so it it it it is uh it's an honor to do it, it's a privilege to do it, but it's also a reminder of just the tremendous amount of sacrifice of our fellow veterans.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Absolutely is, and to me, it's also a reminder of the community that still supports the veterans. Um we obviously cannot put 37,000 flags, Jay and I ourselves. There's so many volunteers from different church or cemetery organizations that come in and pick up these flags and they lay these flags down in every single gravestone. And that re it's just a constant, I'm always constantly reminded what type of community that we have that honors our veteran cohort here in Berks County. It's truly amazing.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Well, I I think it's uh absolutely it's great that you have all those volunteers and all that help with regards to putting that those up because we we owe them our we owe them our democracy, we owe them our way of life, our freedoms. As we always say, freedom isn't free, and and many people uh fought and in some cases died for for that. So we we really appreciate that. Now I know you're you said you mentioned your office is really busy. Um rated county office in the whole state for veterans disability compensation.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I mean that's I'll tell you what, I'll kick it off quick, but I'm gonna pass it over pretty quickly. Will is very much involved, I know. He he's unbelievably involved. We call him the King of Claims. I was I know there was He is the King of Claims. Uh and the reason why we call Will that is you know, it's somewhat meant uh to make you smile, but in truth, I have never come across anyone who is such a problem solver, who is relentless in their service to others as Will Tobin. And I will tell you that he's gotten across cases uh that have been decades old of trying to roll the boulder up over the hill. He was actually able to do it and had some some breathtaking sums. I'll let him talk a little bit about it, but he really is just unbelievably awesome. Yeah, I know. I uh he's famous.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

I'm proud of him. So Will, tell us a little bit about your what you do there.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

So basically, I I I I think it's the warn officer and me. Uh, warn officers are technical experts in the in their branch of service that they serve under, right? First thing I did was looked at the law. All right. When it boils down to is when we've talked about claims, that's due to Veterans Benefit Administration. And I always say the Veterans Benefit Administration will always give you what you ask for, as long as you ask for it the right way, and that's according to the law, and then be careful how you ask for it. So there's so many Easter eggs and and that's in there that the VA would don't necessarily advertise, you just gotta read. Um, you can have two disabilities for a shoulder. Uh both shoulders are bad. Most veterans would put one line, hey, my right shoulder's messed up, and the next line, the left shoulder's messed up, and then they get a 30% rating. But if you put in one line and put bilateral, you'll get a 50% rating. And the difference is you ask the Veterans Benefit Administration to adjudicate that claim separately rather than together. They don't know that, and that's why you got to read the law. Same thing, language is very, very important. A direct claim, secondary claim, and we could go, I could go all day in my little soapbox with that. But what it boils down to is the interpretation of the law, and always say utilize the law to your benefit. So we look at everything according to law, and then we ensure that we ask the right way.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

And and I mean, some you have older veterans sometimes are intimidated by everything, everything's online today. And I know my my father had wasn't a disability, but he had an issue with a pension, and my sister had to get involved, and you guys were very helpful, by the way, and we appreciated that. But um, but you know, he's he's 95, and his experience with the computer he still has a flip phone. So um so uh that is I'm sure that's another challenge.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

It could be frustrating, and Jay, Jay, uh, Jay, I believe you wouldn't mind me saying I helped Jay out with his claim. Absolutely, I wouldn't go anywhere else. First thing I tell I always say is uh more is less and less is more. A lot of uh individuals want to provide too much information up front. Remember, you got one or two people looking at all that information. They're if they're not ready to look at it, they're gonna skip over it. And the problem is you can't use it again. So let the VA, I always say, I know the VA has their own pace, but we also can control the pace also. When they ask for something, provide it when they're ready to look at it. That's kind of that's kind of our method to our own.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Keep being the king of claims. We think it's honored. Um veterans come back from battle, have issues, uh, and and mental health is a huge issue for for our for our county, state, and and and nation's veterans. Um we're the first to provide services. Why don't you you know you can you start you in a bit?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I mean, we're we're tremendously proud of what we're gonna talk about here, and and I I I cannot, I would be remiss if I continued any further without saying thank you, Commissioner, because you are a big part of helping us get to where we are today. And today we are the only county office in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with in-house mental health care. Uh it's just absolutely fantastic. We have more than 750 clinical hours already in that program. So the demand was so high we went from having an in-house therapist one day a week to now two days a week. And quite frankly, I think we could probably do even more. Uh, we are tremendously blessed to have that program. And here's the reason why it's important. In Berks County, veterans make up about 4.5% of our total population, so roughly between 19,500 and 20,000 veterans at any one time. In 2025, and this is a sickening statistic, but in 2025 in Berks County, veterans comprise 26% of all suicides. 26%. It's a gut kick of a number. We know that we must do more when it comes to mental health, and so anytime we've come to the commissioners and we said, look, we we think we have a problem here, we think is a solution. You've been tremendously supportive. We cannot do that without you, so thank you. Um but we know uh along the line that we are not sitting on an island by ourselves in Berks County. Since 2001, we're all familiar with the global war on terror. We deployed out to Afghanistan and Iraq and other places across the globe. And we lost more than 7,800 of our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. But since that same time, 2001, in America we've lost 150,000 US troops to suicide. Daunting numbers. And no one talks about that. We talk about that because that's more combat deaths than we're in World War I, Korea, Vietnam, and the current battles combined. We are losing lives out there because a lot of veterans feel completely disconnected from their community. And so we're trying to find ways that we can creatively reconnect them, but also get them the mental health care that they need.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Sure. And and and while they have why they didn't die on the battlefield, they really they really did basically die fighting for their country because they have scars that they brought back with them. I believe that with every fiber of my body. So so I guess it's it's a huge issue, uh, and um the Board of Commissioners is really proud to that you guys are the are the are the only one in Pennsylvania. We should hopefully others can can follow your lead. Um talk about your outreach. I know I know a lot of times, yes, people will come in and ask for it, but veterans are proud. A lot of times they don't I don't have a problem. That's sort of a weakness if you're going to get help kind of thing. How do you how do you how do you get how do you punch through that?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

That's a beautiful question. Will Will deals with with a lot of these objections all the time. Will you have a beautiful way to deal with it?

SPEAKER_02 11:59

So uh absolutely. So um one of the things that if I could go back a little bit, you know, uh our office has been pretty decent with filing claims, but that's really all we did with claims. And it was just kind of when Jay took over as as director of veteran affairs, uh, one of his missions obviously was optimal well-being for the our overall veterans and our families, uh the veterans' families. And as we're looking at our numbers and as we're, you know, we're improving with claims, we're becoming number one, and we the statistics and Jay would talk about a little bit more, but the veteran cohort in Berks County makes up a tenth less than a tenth of a percent of the population, but over a quarter to suicides. Him and I sat down, it was like, hey, more has to be done. And the reason why, because we're appointed uh advocates for the veterans by the Berks County Commissioners. Our job is to represent the 18,000 plus veterans in Berks County. Are we doing everything that we need to do to ensure that we are fulfilling our office missions, which is in enhancing the overall optimal well-being of our veteran cohort? The answer is no, because there's more that needs to be done. So obviously, we got with the Lancaster Vet Center, like you mentioned, brought an in-house therapist. Well, yes, we need to do more. So, therefore, um we have an outreach coordinator, uh, Master Gunnery Sergeant Rob Sauders, United States Marine Corps, who goes out to the different veteran service organizations within Berks County and the different um community partners that uh that that handles the veteran cohort. And so he's our eyes and ears out there in office, but also our move, our move to the new Etchberger Veteran Center in Y Missing. Now we were able to capture the veterans that are rather suffer in silence than go to the city of Reading. Not only that, we have private offices now where we can have a cup of coffee and talk veteran to veteran, and we didn't have that in our old location. It was just open cubicles, and a lot of veterans uh just did not want to talk. So we call I call it pill in the onion. And 100% we love our veterans, all right? We're they're our brothers and sisters in arms, and we have an honest conversation, we look at their service, and then that's where we kind of things start opening up, we start discovering new things. So a lot of veterans they will come for one thing. Hey, my wrist is bothering me, they don't realize that they have numbness in their fingers. You can also file for that. So, but that happens with conversations. Uh, you know, the things that you know sometimes do feel sad because you know, veterans they call our office, and sometimes it takes a week or so to uh get an appointment with us, but we do dedicate every single minute to our veterans. So once they're with us in our office, if the appointment takes eight hours, takes out eight hours. That's absolutely no doubt about it.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

You you mentioned the new facility. I'm gonna get to that in a second, but before we do, I just want to uh you I know that you guys were in my old stomping grounds not that long ago. We were indeed, yes. And uh you saw the the the great legislature in in action. Um but on a serious note, I know you went before a couple committees and you talked about the the the suicide uh the suicide epidemic. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

We did. I I I will tell you I'm really proud of the efforts of our entire Pennsylvania delegation on both sides of the aisle. They have been tremendously supportive of veterans' initiatives, especially when it comes to mental health. And so we had the privilege of being called to testify to a joint uh hearing of the Intergovernmental Committee and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Committee and Emergency Management, and uh they wanted to know what is going on in the veterans world out there. And we talked about those daunting statistics. 26% of all suicides came from veterans in Berks County last year, 150,000 dead in America worldwide. And yet there are methods and treatments out there that can help relieve their suffering, but the bureaucracy is killing their opportunity to save themselves, so to speak. And uh and so we shared our journey, and our journey, uh, both Will and I are uh 100% disabled veterans, and we had suffered a lot through uh from PTSD from our involvement in in combat. Uh, and I will tell you that um I received uh fairly poor uh care when I came home from Iraq and was uh like hundreds of thousands of returning veterans placed on medication as a first go-to to to try to release some of the symptoms of PTSD anxiety and and and suicidal ideation. So uh I can tell you that that actually gave me more problems than than it solved. And we both found a treatment that finally worked for both of us. Uh it's called Stellate ganglion block. It's an outpatient treatment, it doesn't take very long. The VA itself says stellate ganglion block not only works, it's safe, effective, and it's ethical treatment. And in fact, they give that treatment at the VA, so they think they've already checked the box. But here's the problem, Commissioner. They give the treatment out at only 11 locations of their 1738 locations countrywide. And only nationwide. Correct. Wow. Only if that veteran fails at whatever they've prescribed him before. So you must fail and take all that time to fail before they'll even appraise you of this treatment. We had to get it on the open market. And we were able to do that because we had people who who knew us and we knew them, and and we were able to find treatment. But other veterans have had to literally panhandle to get money to go to a private facility at their local Walmart and VFW just to be able to travel to get the treatment. And so we let the the representatives know what's really going on out there, and we asked them to support a measure uh that would implore the United States Congress uh to take up the measure of making sure the VA puts that treatment in all of their facilities or at least expand it to the point where it's a frontline treatment and not you have to fail to get the treatment. We believe that veterans have a right to be to to try to heal, and we believe that they shouldn't become beggars or felons just to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Absolutely. So um and I want to commend both of you. I know you've you've you've had you've spoken about the issues that uh that you've had in in the past related to your service. Uh it's inspirational and it's it's something that people uh I mean I really appreciate it. When I first heard your stories, it was it was uh inspiring. So thank you for for that. And and I'm sure it's helped many, many veterans in our community. Um so you went to the hearing, they passed the what's what's the progress? I'll tell you. Um I know government works slow, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

The hearing went went beautifully. A few weeks later, it was passed out of committee unanimously. Okay. I will tell I have to say this when I tell you that I believe that that we are so well represented here in Berks County by the entire delegation on both sides of the aisle. Every single representative in our county co-sponsored that bill and and led the charge. Now it's waiting to be heard on the floor. It's been sent to the floor of the House, but they have they they don't even have it on first reading yet. Um we're waiting for the Speaker of the House to run the bill, and we certainly hope that she will do that as soon as possible because every single day in America we have more than 20 veterans take their lives. So the time's ticking.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

And ultimately, that I mean helping veterans is is not a partisan issue. I mean, that is we that's I'm glad that our delegation has done that. Is there an is there an effort in D.C. to get some to get some of the things that we have to do?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

There is. There is actually a bill, and I'll tell you it's it's gone through three sessions of Congress and hasn't even been able to get a hearing in the Armed Services Committee, which is vexing to say the least, and that's why we hope that a shot in the arm by the sixth largest state in America and you know, the Keystone State is incredibly important politically and and and financially to this country. We're hoping that shot in the arm gets heard down DC so they'll finally bring it to a hearing because we know once it gets to a hearing, they're not going to say no. It's it it the treatment works, we need to do more of it.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Good luck with that.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Um you did mention about the change in in the venue. We when I first started as a commissioner, I know you were downtown. Um talk about how what benefit it is. I know that I know that your new facility is great, it's over on Commerce Drive and Why Missing. You're able to service a lot more veterans. Yeah. Talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

So I I know Will would made uh mention of a couple things that I think he's spot on here as always. And uh one one of the things when when you're carrying around trauma, it is really hard to carry that anywhere else other than inside yourself. Whether that's physically carry it somewhere, which is to get from some part of the county down to to Cherry Street and Reading, those things can seem like monumental climbs. A 20-pound backpack can feel like 200 pounds on your back. And sometimes you just say, you know what, I'd rather not. I don't want to fight the city, I don't want to fight parking. Uh and I, if I do talk about this, I gotta have some privacy. So our whole focus is to try to solve those types of problems. And and so we move to what's called a trauma-informed care model. And that trauma-informed care model prioritizes asking a veteran to share and gives them the space, the safety, and environment to share what's what's happened to them while they were wearing that uniform. Uh, we didn't have we had open bays uh cubicles in the old place. We now have closed doors, and that closed just that that little thing, and Will sees it every day. Just shut the door, and all of a sudden people feel comfortable with it. All right. Uh and and the other thing that we did was we we made sure that all of our our veteran service officers are veterans themselves. We think that's uh ultimately very important because. No one understands what a veteran's going through more than another veteran. And most of us have been there with our own trauma to unpack. And we don't mind sharing that with our veterans if that's going to help them heal and get them to the results that they need. We do that with them in there. And so ample parking, uh handicapped parking right outside the door, beautifully lit building with closed doors, and it's sharp in there. And it it honors our veterans in there in ways where they come in, they know they're back home.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I think it's a great facility. Uh you know, I've obviously been there a number of times, and um it's it's it's great that you guys have worked from there and moved from there. And people I think I've accepted it well in the veterans. It's easier for them to get in and out of, and I think that's been very helpful. And and you also made that happen. So thanks. We appreciate that. That was a good decision we made. Um we have about five minutes left, so we want to talk about uh some more of the things that that that that the office does. I know that you talked about the disability issue, the vet the suicide. Will why don't you talk a little bit about some of the other facilities, uh other other uh services that you provide at your facilities, and and uh and and and I know that sometimes veterans don't feel like they qualify for certain things and and and talk about you reach out for that.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yes, every Tuesday at 1.30 we give uh uh educational benefits presentation because the VA has 800 programs and it's hard to keep up. Sometimes there's more than that. Um we do handle pension benefits. It's not like pension like a retirement, but any veteran that may not be necessarily be have a service connected disability, but is disabled or over 65, they qualify and they have a financial need, they qualify for pension benefits. There's deaf and burial benefits, real estate tax exemption for those 100% service connected, permanent total, um, educational and helping VA um veterans enroll into the VA educational system as well as enroll into the healthcare systems, and then whatever other ancillary things they may need. We also have a veterans temporary assistance fund. Any veteran that has a financial need that are behind on the bills, we need help keeping the lights on. We have a fund here that's funded by you know donors here in Berks County. Once again, Berks County helping Berks County veterans. And also the state has one also. We kind of matched that up. But yeah, there's so many times we kept the lights on. Something saved homes. And so uh I know we got a few minutes, but we're definitely obviously optimal well-being. We're in a hand-up business, not in the handout business. We just had a veteran recently, and I'm sure he does not, he actually wants me to plug this eventually, but I'm gonna do it now. Um Lewis um Lewis needed um needed some help, you know, with a car payment, just got behind on his car payment. He lost his job of his own because of his service connected disability. Uh Jay helped him out so you could match him up with his car payment to ensure he was uh dress right dress with that. Lewis decided uh uh go to school. Lewes, he's going to school, got a barber's license. Now he opened his second barber shop in Robasonia. Wow. So and uh now he has employees. Yes, so it took that little spark, right? You always say uh great men are fortunate and fire, but it's a privilege of a lesser man to light the flame, and we lit that flame, and that that veteran is now has employees, has his own business, all because he came to for us for a little assistance.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Well, with remaining time, I know that there's a lot of events that are occurring this month, and I know that we're taping this on the Wednesday before the Armed Forces Day Parade, so but so when this shows, it'll be actually concluded. But still, so what? Let's talk a little bit about the Armed Forces Day Parade because I'm I look forward to participating.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

It goes through West Reading and in America, absolutely, and that's something to be proud of. And and again, it's it's just another testament to the great people of Berks County who who have sent their sons and daughters in into combat and and sacrificed uh for for our county, our commonwealth, and our country. And so it's a great way to celebrate those who are still serving in the armed forces, and it is a a perfect segue into what we consider to be the holiest of holies, and that of course is Memorial Day weekend.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

So we well, um I want to thank you, I want to thank you, gentlemen, for for being so kind. Why don't you if people want to contact you, can we provide your information and and uh and uh website or in the phone?

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, pretty easy. I mean, we do any veteran in Berks County, you're welcome to come to the Etchberg Center. It's named after Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger, who was killed in action in Vietnam and and eventually received a Medal of Honor. We're really proud of the Etchberger Center, so stop in anytime at 20 Commerce Drive in Wyoming Missing, and it's uh just a great facility. We would love to meet you and just tour you around. It's your facility. It's certainly your center. Uh or they can give us a call at any time. That's at 610-378-5601. And any of our members there will be more than happy to take care of your needs.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Great. Thank you. Thanks to Jay Ostrich, the director of our Etchberger Veterans Service Center, Berks County, and Will Tobin, the Deputy Director of the Center. So we really appreciate the all the great work that you all do. Continue. And as always, if you need anything from the can from the county, from the commissioner's office, please let us know. Thank you for the first time. Thank you all for watching. This month's edition of County Connections. I'm County Commissioner Dante Santoni. Thank you very much.