In Brief

State News

Veterans Mental Health Act of 2021 Unveiled

Would Expand Rural Services

WASHINGTON D.C. — Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) have unveiled legislation to expand access to mental health care for rural veterans. 

The Senators’ Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans’ Mental Health Act of 2021 would establish three new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Rural Access Network for Growth Enhancement (RANGE) program centers to provide community-based care and services for rural veterans diagnosed with serious mental health issues, and support additional research on rural veterans’ mental health care needs and treatment options.

“Veterans living in rural states like Montana face many barriers to mental health care that often come at too high a cost,” said Chairman Tester. “Our bipartisan bill will increase access to life-saving care with additional resources proven to meet the unique needs of rural veterans. And, it’ll help treat invisible wounds of war to prevent at-risk veterans from falling through the cracks.”  

In 2016, Sgt. Brandon Ketchum of Davenport died by suicide after he was denied access to mental health services related to his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder at a VA facility in Iowa.

Scholarship Recipients Announced

Glasgow High School Makes List

HELENA — In partnership with Reach Higher Montana and Montana Campus Compact, ServeMontana has announced the recipients of the 2021 Youth ServeMontana Scholarship. High school seniors from across Montana – including Glasgow – were selected to receive the $1,000 scholarship in recognition of their community volunteerism and service leadership. Each of the 91 recipients dedicated a minimum of 50 hours to community service in the past 12 months.“Faced with the struggles of COVID-19, these young Montanans decided to create hope for their neighbors through a phenomenal 11,946 collective service hours,” said Sarah R. Sadowski, Executive Director of ServeMontana and two term AmeriCorps VISTA Alumna. “They sought creative avenues of service to meet a broad scope of community needs and foster connections during a challenging year.”Many recipients served in direct response to COVID-19, delivering meals for their quarantined neighbors, spearheading socially distant Halloween trunk-or-treats, sewing CDC-approved masks, and providing virtual tutoring. Service projects also included peer health education, coaching elementary and middle school sports, maintaining the graves of veterans, highway clean up, and teen substance use prevention.

The Youth ServeMontana Scholarship was created to promote volunteerism among high school students, encourage young leaders to further their learning, and provide tuition assistance for Montana students who wish to attend college in-state.