Poplar Bluff is now only the second city in Missouri to earn a veteran-friendly community designation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
It is also the first rural area to be recognized, public information officer Angela Smith of John J. Pershing VA Medical Center said Friday morning.
The designation identifies key metrics that make Poplar Bluff a good community for veterans to live, Smith said. This includes economic factors, employment, housing, transportation, education, mental health services and businesses that offer special discounts or other promotions directed at veterans.
A ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Nov. 9 at the Black River Coliseum in honor of the recognition. The event will take place in front of the Veterans Wall. It will include remarks by veterans and city officials, as well as a presentation by Jim Warski, executive director of community engagement for the VA Central Office of Washington D.C.
"Nov. 9, will be a special day," said Dr. Patricia Hall, VA medical center director and a retired Army colonel. "I can think of few communities to rival Poplar Bluff when it comes to honoring veterans, and I am proud to be a part of this partnership."
Poplar Bluff has always been a veteran-friendly community, said city council member Ed DeGaris, who helped research the program and worked with the VA to complete the application process.
"When I first learned about the program, I said 'we're that, without a doubt in my mind,'" said DeGaris. "It's just the way our community is, they appreciate and recognize everything the veterans have done for us.
"The veterans are the reason we're here."
DeGaris hopes Poplar Bluff will help inspire other communities to seek the designation and offer similar resources and programs for veterans.
DeGaris is a member of the Southern Missouri Community Veterans Engagement Board, which has worked toward this designation. The board consists of community and business leaders who provide feedback to the VA about the needs of local veterans, and help identify resources to meet needs the VA is unable to address through its health care system, according to a press release.
Co-chairs of the board are John Fuller, field specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, and Dr. Wesley Payne, president of Three Rivers College.
"The Friday before Veterans Day is a fitting time for our city to receive this honor," said Hall. "Our Community Veterans Engagement Board has been working hard to meet the goals for this designation."
A list of military appreciation participants will be posted at a later date on the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce website, said Smith. It includes lodging, restaurants, and other businesses that offer discounts to veterans and military personnel.
A report compiled by the community veterans engagement board notes Poplar Bluff has a lower cost of living, has seen positive population growth and is expected to see a 3 percent growth in jobs in the next five years.
It found unemployment rates for veterans are less than 2 percent, with a goal for a veteran-friendly community set at 5 percent or less.
Poplar Bluff has "robust" services to assist with chronic homeless placement, as well as emergency and transitional housing available. Construction is underway for housing that would accommodate special circumstances, such as families and pets, according to the report.
Higher education discounts for veterans and adult education are also available.
Health care was also considered as a key metric. A goal of primary, specialty and mental health care wait times of less than 14 days was set for a veteran-friendly community. Poplar Bluff had primary care wait times of approximately three days, specialty care wait times of 5.5 days and mental health wait times of just over 10 days, according to a VA access report from September 2018.
Two area dentists also provide services free of charge to veterans, the report from the community veterans engagement board found.
St. Louis is the only other officially designated city in the state.