Ohio veterans director outlines homes, workforce and mental-health priorities before House veterans committee

Director Ashenhurst of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services told the Ohio House Veterans and Military Development Committee that the department is working to expand and renovate veterans homes, boost veteran workforce pipelines and coordinate behavioral-health services across the state.

The presentation Wednesday by Director Ashenhurst — introduced to the panel as a retired general and the department director — laid out the agency's budget figures, renovation plans for the Sandusky and Georgetown veterans homes, and programs aimed at connecting transitioning service members and veterans with careers and culturally competent mental-health care.

Ashenhurst said the department received about $65,000,000 in the last biennium for construction and renovation work that will be matched by federal Department of Veterans Affairs funding when those federal resources arrive. “When those federal resources roll in, we're ready to break ground and go,” Ashenhurst said. She described the Sandusky facility as the largest veterans nursing home in Ohio, with about 600 beds, and Georgetown as a smaller facility with about 68 beds; the agency plans to add roughly 88 beds at Georgetown as part of renovations.

Why it matters: Ohio has an estimated 700,000 veterans…