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County honors veteran service staff, Johnson City Vet Center highlights outreach and referrals
Summary
Washington County recognized veteran service staff with a CSO Impact Award; Veteran Service Office staff reported outreach figures and Andrea Diaz of Johnson City Vet Center described expanded counseling referrals and free outpatient services for eligible veterans.
Washington County leaders used the meeting’s officials’ reports to recognize local veteran‑service work and to highlight partnerships with the Johnson City Vet Center.
Mayor Beth introduced Dawn and acknowledged the work of Anne Bishop and Andrea (with ETSU and Vet Center ties) and presented a CSO Impact Award for 2025 in recognition of outreach to veterans and their families. County staff said the county partners with ETSU and Volunteers of America on community outreach, homelessness prevention and suicide‑prevention efforts.
A Veteran Service Office staff member provided a summary of claimed outreach and economic figures: the speaker said the office had brought significant dollars into the county in recent years (the packet referenced $281,000,000 for the past year and $4,240,000,000 in VA home loans in 2023), and they said Washington County currently serves about 9,400 veterans. These figures were presented by the service officer and left on the record in a packet provided to commissioners; the numbers were not independently verified in the meeting.
Andrea Diaz, director of the Johnson City Vet Center, told the board the center provides free outpatient mental‑health counseling to eligible veterans (primarily those who served in areas of hostility or who meet other eligibility criteria). Diaz said the Vet Center has increasingly accepted referrals from the Veteran Service Office and that expanded eligibility over time has allowed more veterans to access counseling.
What happens next: County staff will continue coordinating outreach and scheduled recognition events; commissioners encouraged continued collaboration between the Veteran Service Office and regional veteran service providers.
