OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — A brand new vision for veteran care is coming to Ottawa County.
The county recently created a new department for those who served; now, its new director is ready to work.
Jason Schenkel has been on the job for just six weeks.
"I love to serve, I want to continue to serve, and it was a great opportunity for me to do that," Ottawa County Veteran Affairs Director Jason Schenkel told FOX 17.
He went from serving our country to county.
"I actually enlisted in the Army in 1992. I served for 23 years," Schenkel said. "Right now, the services we provide are really more about quality of life and helping with funding for needs."
Over the past few weeks, Schenkel has worked to set the department up for success.
"It's to provide the best quality of service we can to our veterans and their families in the community," he added.
Last year, the majority of the board of commissioners approved creating this department. That happened despite the county having a contract with a team of four veterans at a significantly lower amount.
Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea has shared the need to do more, and Schenkel agrees.
"We're looking to expand a little bit more into really two areas, employment, and education," he explained.
The new director says as they look at expanding services, he's also looking at expanding the county's reach as he looks to move the base operations outside the Public Health building in Holland.
"We're really trying to stay within the facilities we already have, you know, I mean, we're trying to really be fiscally sound and responsible with our spending," Schenkel said. "I just want to be able to provide a space that our veterans feel comfortable coming to, that they feel comfortable having conversations about their needs."
As the new director looks to the future, his department is still providing state-mandated services for veterans including:
- Burial allowance
- Financial relief
- Transportation to medical appointments
"We want to be able to assist folks here as well. So, we'll branch out a little bit more into the employment and the education piece," he said.
Schenkel says he's looking to hire new staff for the expansion.
He says he wants to hire a full-time veteran service officer to help vets with federal benefits.
