By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE Office of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs says it is still reaching out to over a thousand veterans in the CNMI to enlist their support for the opening of a veterans clinic here.
Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs executive officer Ruth Coleman, in an interview yesterday, said they would like at least 800 veterans to enroll in the federal health care system so that “we can sit down with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and negotiate the establishment of a clinic for CNMI veterans.”
About 85 to 90 veterans were enrolled over the past few weeks, increasing the number of those eligible for federal health care benefits to 150.
Coleman said there are 1,200 veterans in the CNMI, and most of them are in need of health care assistance but are not registered with the federal health care system for veterans.
She said her office wants to have at least 800 registered veterans.
“We need to hear the voices of all the veterans in the CNMI so that the federal government can address their health care issues,” she said.
She is calling on all veterans in the CNMI to visit her in her office on Capital Hill.