Secretary McDonald

By 2020, Americans aged 65 and over will have grown from 15% to 22% of the population. The population of Americans 85 and older will grow from about 6 million to nearly 12 million by 2035.

Seven years ago, VA named ending Veterans homelessness as one of its three main objectives.

A lot has changed over the last 150 years. Today, VA provides benefits and services for about 11 million Veterans. We have over 350,000 people serving them. A third of our employees are Veterans themselves.

Over the last two years, we’ve partnered with local leaders to help build a new national network of 76 Community Veterans Engagement Boards—CVEBs.

It’s VA research that helped pioneer the implantable cardiac pacemaker. VA researchers conducted the first successful liver transplants. VA researchers are credited with the nicotine patch to help smokers quit. VA researchers designed artificial limbs that move naturally when stimulated by electrical brain impulses.

You’ve heard many times that VA is broken. So I’ll answer one question: Can the Department of Veterans Affairs be fixed, can it be transformed? The answer is yes. Absolutely. It’s important you know that.

Veterans are the only ones who really know what it means to stand on that dangerous ground between freedom and tyranny. Some people miss that, but it’s the heart of the matter.

Indomitable courage. Resilience and resolve. Grit. Veterans are the only ones who really know what it means to stand on that dangerous ground between freedom and tyranny. People miss that point, but it’s the heart of the matter. Our nation owes Veterans so much.

The number of Veterans receiving mental health care from VA has increased by 80 percent since 2005 to over 1.6 million Veterans. And the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) is part of keeping our sacred trust to help Veterans in need.

I want to start by answering the question asked today: “Can the Department of Veterans Affairs be modernized?” The answer is—ABSOLUTELY YES.

To the members of the Daughters of American Revolution: Your enduring commitment to our military and our Veterans for over 125 years now is remarkable and inspiring. On behalf of all Veterans, thank you for your hard work, for your compassion and devotion, and for joining VA in honoring those who have served our Nation.

Let me acknowledge our Veterans Service Organizations and their leaders who help bring the challenges of Veterans mental health needs to national attention, the diverse group of researchers and leaders gathered here to discuss quality care for Americans suffering from mental health conditions, and all of the other stakeholders in the fight for better mental health care.