Referral service helps veterans, hopes to generate more feedback

A referral service for veterans started here last year has connected about 1,000 veterans and their families to housing, financial aid and family support but has more work to do to track their satisfaction and make the network more efficient.

That was the conclusion Thursday of PAServes: Greater Pittsburgh, an outreach network launched last October to make sure vets are receiving services they need.

The group, administered through Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and consisting of some 40 organizations such as the Department of Veterans Affairs, Heinz Endowments and Operation Troop Appreciation, met at a McKees Rocks community center to celebrate its first year.

“I think our first year instills a lot of confidence,” said Mark Schiemer, supervisor of the initiative and a Pennsylvania National Guard veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We’re seeing really good network growth.”

As of October, the network had served 933 veterans and their families by making 1,615 referrals. The number of individuals is up to 1,000 now, most from Allegheny County but some from Butler and Westmoreland counties.

Most have sought help finding housing, family support services and employment.

One surprise was the number of women who have responded: 18 percent. No one was sure why, but the percentage is much higher than that of other outreach efforts around the country.

One challenge has been to figure out how well veterans are saying they’ve been helped. Between July and mid-September, only 15 people responded to a survey about how PAServes did. Six said the group met their needs, four said it didn’t. The others said “somewhat” or they didn’t know.

“Fifteen people,” Mr. Schiemer said. “We’ve got to do better.”

Plans for the following year include generating more responses and following up on any negative ones.

PAServes started with $300,000 from the Heinz Endowments to the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families to create the network. It was the second such program in the country, following the pilot project in New York City. There are now eight others in the U.S., including in Seattle; Charlotte, NC.; Charleston, S.C.; and upstate New York.