Could northern Michigan help pioneer a new national model for providing healthcare and other support services for veterans?

Grand Traverse County officials are seeking the endorsement of the Department of Veterans Affairs to launch a new 25-county pilot program called Project Cherry Tree. The goal of the pilot: to improve access to comprehensive healthcare, education services, and job training and placement for more than 55,000 veterans living in upper lower Michigan and the eastern Upper Peninsula, including 7,000 veterans in Grand Traverse County.

The VA has singled out northern Michigan as a region with rural veteran populations that could “benefit from continued or expanded services.” A Commission on Care report released this June calls for major overhauls in how veteran healthcare is delivered across the country in the coming years, with a specific focus on establishing “high-performing, integrated community healthcare networks.”

Officials including County Administrator Tom Menzel, County Planning & Development Director John Sych, and economic development consultant and veteran David Mikowski – in cooperation with dozens of community and state partners – are aggressively marketing northern Michigan to the VA as a test site to implement new veterans programs. A cornerstone of the project is helping veterans receive high-quality treatment through both public and private treatment facilities in their own backyard – such as Munson Medical Center and McLaren Northern Michigan – instead of traveling hundreds of miles for appointments at VA community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs).

“The goal is that you’d have a veterans card that works very much like Medicare, where you’re able to go to local institutions and get care instead of driving to Saginaw or Detroit,” says Menzel. “The VA is looking for new ways to deliver services…and we want to construct a pilot program that meets their goals and that they’d be willing to fund and commit to. The timing is right, because we’re out in front (of other communities) on the cutting edge of this.”

Project Cherry Tree identifies several priorities for improving veterans services in northern Michigan. In addition to developing a community-based healthcare network, goals include building long-term care and independent living facilities for veterans, constructing a lodging facility for veterans and family members visiting for healthcare services, boosting educational training, creating jobs for veterans in growing and emerging industries, and opening a national cemetery in northern Michigan. 

Mikowski says the county is taking a leadership role in courting the VA for the pilot, but the ultimate goal is to loop in community partners who specialize in each of the priority areas: working on education initiatives with Northwestern Michigan College, healthcare with Munson, real estate agents and developers on potential new facility sites, etc. 

Menzel says the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is “very interested and supportive of the project,” with veterans constituting an estimated 40 percent of the local Native population. The trio has also spoken with multiple high-ranking VA and military members, as well as current and former senators on possible legislation to help fund programming. One or more Project Cherry Tree representatives intend to visit Washington, D.C. this fall to meet face-to-face with VA leaders and politicians about the initiative.

If successful, officials say Project Cherry Tree will not only expand much-needed services for area veterans – potentially creating a model that can be replicated across the country – but will also strengthen and diversify Grand Traverse County’s economic base by creating new jobs and attracting more skilled workers to the area. VA spending totaled approximately $40 million in Grand Traverse County in 2015; that number climbed to $324 million in the proposed 25-county pilot region. On average, a four-year veteran has access to approximately $200,000 in benefits. And the number of post-911 veterans in the state is expected to double in the next five years, from 73,000 to nearly 150,000.

“The federal government invests a lot of money into veterans in military training and education,” explains Sych. “If we could provide these (support services) and attract veterans here, we can utilize their experience and skillsets in the workforce. Many veterans have benefits that allow them to pay for education and buy homes. They’re an important asset to our community. If we could support them, while at the same time strengthening our labor force and economy...that would be a win-win."