Review Reduction In Force-CSR Veteran Services

I do understand the economic concerns of the county and adjustments needed to be made. However, the veteran service office and all its positions are needed and highly regarded by the veteran community. Please take a moment to consider my contribution as a member of the veteran service team.

As the veteran service representative for the Veteran Service Office, it has been my privilege to work as a veteran providing services to veterans. I bring to this position competence, organization and time management skills that I acquired years before becoming an employee of Wake County. The proficient element of handling personal information on claimants was groomed in me as a military personnel specialist for the US Army in Ft Huachuca AZ, serving my country for 3 years. An important duty of mine was to brief the Commissioned and Noncommissioned Officers when they were attending training for advancement in their job speciality. Upon completion of the training, this data needed to be reflected in their military service records. Currently I have a similar task of reviewing the awards letters received by our veteran clients and documenting the decisions for the claims.

My organization skills were honed as the transportation agent for the Raleigh Military Entrance Processing Station where I scheduled transportation for new enlistees to the US Armed Forces training installations. Currently this skill is used to navigate between three office systems, LexisNexis, Apricot and Survey Monkey. These systems store archived and current claim data in addition to surveys to help us monitor the quality of customer care given by this office. My job requires that the information from all three systems merge from the old to the new. With a budget of $250,000, I maintained an audit trail, logs and receipt of signatures for all forms and tickets. As the veteran service representative I order forms and supplies needed for the office and reconcile the Office Depot and Bank of America accounts.

As the administrative assistant for the Medicaid department, my duties were to receive clients, create files with their personal information and connect them with the case manager to assist them with their Food Stamp or Medicaid needs and schedule appointments. My duty also was to brief the clients on the criteria needed to be found eligible for the programs we offered.

As the veteran service representative for the Veteran Service Office, I am the first point of contact by phone and in the office that a potential claimant meets. I answer any questions concerning benefits and their criteria, connect them with other services that may assist them, schedule appointments, make request for their discharge information among many other duties. The service officers can focus on finding the best benefit suited for the veteran because all of the preliminary work has been completed by me. It would be very difficult for a service officer to be effective for a claimant if he is being pulled in many directions instead of focusing on the particulars of producing a strong claim to be presented to Veteran Affairs.

On average I speak with 50 claimants by phone and receive 10-15 in the office each day by appointment or walk-in. Our job is a thankless job but one that we collectively as one unit love to do because each of us are veterans and that in itself is an advantage and a statement to our success.

Again thank you for your time and assistance in this matter.

P.S. A final decision will be made by June 11th
Sonya Fedrick-Bridges