Advocating for Napa's veterans

Napa Valley Register

Patrick Jolly is so dedicated to helping veterans, he even started opening a claim for one he happened to meet while standing in line during a vacation at Disneyland.

Jolly, a Vietnam Navy vet, has been Napa County's Veteran Services Officer (VSO) since 2006, when he came to Napa from years spent doing the same job in Sonoma County.

Today, 11,000 Napa veterans of various wars as far back as World War II â€" or 25,000 people, if you include veterans' family members â€" rely on Jolly to get the straight scoop about filing claims, getting benefits approved and learning what they're entitled to.

“We're very lucky to have him,” said Carol Sanders, senior office assistant with Napa's Comprehensive Services for Older Adults, who is herself a six-year veteran of the Air Force. “He cares so much about his clientele,” she says, adding, “As a veteran myself, I appreciate that he's here for county veterans.”

Jolly arrives in his office before 7 a.m. most mornings to respond to the many needs of local veterans. He gets an average of 300 phone calls a month â€" just transcribing the messages veterans and their families leave on his voicemail takes up multiple pages of a legal pad daily. The best way to get in touch with Jolly is actually by email â€" vets@napavets.com â€" because he can't pick up the phone when he's with a client, or when he's researching a veteran's claim.

Jolly spends the bulk of his time in the office, but sometimes he goes to convalescent homes to meet with veterans, or even makes house calls to consult with those who aren't able to make it into his office in downtown Napa. He also heads to the Veterans Home in Yountville frequently. There's a memorial service there every month for the often eight to 12 veterans who have died the month before. Jolly is such a treasured friend that periodically he's asked to do a veteran's eulogy, or present the memorial flag to the family member.

“It's a huge honor,” he said.

Jolly jokes that he speaks two languages: “English and bureau-crap,” and he needs both to help veterans file their claims effectively, both for compensation and benefits.

“Some of what I do is quantifiable,” he said, adding that since arriving in the job in late 2006, he has brought nearly $3 million to county veterans and their dependants. Still, “an awful lot of what I do can't be quantified. ... I help translate what the veteran needs to say, to what the VA needs to hear.”

Jolly is the single point-person for county veterans. He initially turned down the idea of getting an assistant, until he saw how swamped his office is with needs and requests for assistance. If the economy improves he now looks forward to getting one, but in the meantime it's just Jolly, shouldering the workload.

In fact, Jolly says, every time he goes to speak to a local group he's deluged with even more phone calls and requests than usual. But Jolly doesn't resist, adding, “I get paid to help veterans â€" they have earned these benefits. Just think of the sacrifices they have made.”

He consults with veterans and their families in three main areas: wartime pensions, compensation and the VA health care system. He's a knowledgeable expert on various home loan programs, both federal and state; California's remarkable college-fee waiver program for veterans and their families; and the GI bill. He even helps veterans file those notoriously difficult claims for service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Jolly, for any successful compensation by the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans need three things: to show evidence of a disability, to prove that the veteran's military service caused the disability and to produce some connection between those two. Those are the all-important “three legs of the stool,” Jolly said.

Jolly works with veterans from World War II, the Vietnam war, Korea, peacetime veterans, and Gulf War veterans, in roughly that order. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have yet to show up in large numbers in the pipeline, perhaps because they're more likely to be dealing with employment issues currently, or “trying to return to an old life as a new person,” back from war, he said.

“The best thing about my job is being able to help veterans and widows or widowers of veterans get the benefits that change their lives â€" often allowing them to continue living at home instead of going into a (nursing) home,” he said.

Not all the veterans who are eligible for Jolly's help, though, even ask for or receive it. “It's amazing how humble veterans actually are,” he said, adding that he's “frustrated” by the general level of ignorance about what those benefits are, “and the pride that sometimes prevents vets from accessing them.”

“Wartime or peacetime,” he said. “They served their country with honor and sacrifice.”

On top of his other duties, Jolly also finds time to chair a roundtable group he started. It includes other county VSOs from Northern California, along with representatives from U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson's office, State Senator Pat Wiggin's office, the VA, the VA Medical Center, the California Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Home in Yountville. The group's purpose is to keep the lines of communication open among the various offices that work with veterans, and to share ideas and contacts.

Jolly â€" himself a veteran with 20 years' service â€" fairly gushes when he talks about his work. “Every day I get a chance to change someone's life,” he said.

But he said his wife is still shaking her head about his opening a claim while in line at Disneyland.