With veterans making up 17.6% of the population in Island County — compared to the state average of 8.1% — providing resources to those who have served is a priority for county leaders.

Bill Larsen, deputy director of Island County Human Services, gave a presentation to the Board of Health last month, and to Oak Harbor City Council this week, demonstrating that the county’s two main veteran service programs, Veteran Service Officers and the Veterans Assistance Fund, are indeed making a difference.

Each year, Larsen said, about 75% of all veterans’ initial self-filed disability claims are denied, delaying access to the help they need.

“The veteran can double down their efforts and try it again,” he said. “But more often than not, they give up. They figure, ‘I applied, I was denied and that’s the end of the story.’”

The county’s Veteran Services Officers, however, can help. The two officers primarily work to aid veterans in filing disability compensation claims, but they also assist with veteran documentation support, help with elderly programs and more. Officers are equipped to help individuals complete, file, track, then sometimes re-submit benefits claims, and can also represent them in Department of Veterans Affairs hearings if necessary.

So far in 2025, Veterans Service Officers have processed 176 claims. Receiving approval and reaping said benefits can take anywhere between a couple months to over a year, Larsen explained. Given that only 25% of self-filed claims are accepted, the Veterans Service officers’ 86% success rate with applications for new and increased benefits is impressive.

Getting initial applications approved is important in of itself, but also because of the access to secondary benefits doing so creates, like employment programs, health care and education.

Quantifying the monetary value of these benefits can be done by adding together “back pay,” or the one-time lump sum allocated to individuals for the time spent awaiting approval, and the payments received throughout the first year.

“That is, by far, not what the benefit is. The benefit is over the lifetime of that veteran,” Larsen explained. “But we’re not gonna extrapolate and look at average lifetimes. This gives us a snapshot of just that immediate improvement of that first year.”

Back pay and first-year benefits totaled $2.4 million in 2024 and $5.134 million so far this year.

“That’s money that goes directly back into our veterans’ pockets,” Larsen explained. “And since all of our veterans are Island County residents, that’s money that comes right back into Island County.”

While the addition of a second Veteran Service Officer keeps things running smoothly on the county’s end of things, the government shutdown has slowed the process of receiving claim approvals.

Additionally, the Veterans Assistance Fund provides emergency assistance, such as food and fuel vouchers, utility and emergency home expense assistance and burial assistance to income-eligible veterans, as well as the spouses and dependent children of veterans living and deceased.

“This is a program that is not meant to be long-term,” Larsen said. “This is to get (veterans) back to a self-sustaining position.”

So far this year, the Veterans Assistance Fund has issued 630 vouchers of over $91,000 in assistance, and helped 122 veterans and their families. Ninety-seven individuals have been referred to Island County Veteran Services Officers and 87 to other community partners.

“One of the things that we talk about is a measure of success for this program is when someone is no longer eligible for the program,” Larsen said.

In the presentation to the commissioners, Larsen thanked them for supporting the programs that do so much to assist veterans. Commissioner Janet St. Clair noted how much the programs have grown in recent years.

Staff of both programs have office hours, but also travel to meet with veterans in need of these services.

Veteran Services Officer Zack Commet can be reached at 360-632-2496, and David McInnis at 360-632-0133. The office is located at 1791 NE First Avenue. Visit islandcountywa.gov/200/Veterans-Assistance to learn more.