Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs spoke recently at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. He spoke of the need to make sure that our VA facilities are ready to address the needs of 100 percent of all veterans.

Currently, there are 144 VA hospitals. There are only 8 community based centers that have been given grants by the VA to help accommodate homeless women veterans who have children. Women veterans are at least twice as likely to become homeless as civilian women, and their numbers on the rise, even as the number of homeless veterans seems to be decreasing. This number makes these facilities by and far inaccessible to those women who may be vulnerable due to the disability such as PTSD or annexed by geography.

We need to help remind the VA that part of being 100 percent ready means being accessible to the most vulnerable veterans. To those who may need them the most. Women with children who may be too worried about how to feed and shelter their children than how to travel to a far away state to seek medical care.

Please remind them that this is an important part of meeting their goals of ending homelessness among veterans in 5 years, and to helping the VA meet the needs of all of their veterans.