1st District Congressman Roger Marshall told a legislative coffee audience in Junction City on Saturday that the President and Congress are dedicated to helping veterans. “We have 200,000 veterans across the state of Kansas. This last congress we appropriated almost a billion dollars toward opioid treatment and suicide prevention.”

Marshall said there are 11 clinics across the state and groundbreaking is just now occurring on a new inpatient mental health center at the Robert Dole VA Center in Wichita. “I want to make sure we’re connecting all the dots and that we’re using telemedicine to help our veterans.”

On the issue of addressing veterans suicide the Congressman said the most important thing can be done is to make veterans part of the team. “When people are in the military And when they leave that team they sometimes get lost in society. I think there are some warning signs we ought to be looking out for. ” he pointed to people who have nothing that makes them smile any more as one symptom. “So we need to be aware of it, but I think an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.”

Marshall said veterans need to be hired and need to be in our jobs and communities.

The legislative coffee sponsored by the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce was held at the 12th Street Community Center. Other speakers included Kendall Schoenrock from the Quality Play for All Committee on the improvements for Fifth Street Park project, plus State Senator Jeff Longbine and State Representative Dave Baker.