Program off ers struggling vets help, not jail Published Nov. 18, 2015 By Argen Duncan Nucleus writer KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers have a new program aimed at getting veterans help instead of jail time. The local nonprofit has added a jail diversion program to its transitional housing program. Fermin Ortega, transitional housing manager and Army veteran, said VIC received money from the New Mexico Department of Health to serve veterans referred by judges or seeking help after incarceration. Although the jail diversion program is in its first year, Ortega said it's growing. Of the 42 veterans in VIC transitional housing, 11 are part of the jail diversion program. The two programs are similar, Ortega said, except that if jail-diversion participants violate the rules, staff members will tell their probation or parole officer. "We really leave it up to the veterans to see if they're committed to walking the straightaway, and we give them an opportunity," he said. As with the transitional housing program, Ortega said, veterans can stay for up to two years, work on their goals and get help accessing health and legal services and finding a job. They must pass drug and alcohol screenings. If a drug test comes back positive, Ortega said, the probation or parole officer decides whether to send the individual to jail or back to the diversion program. If VIC managers believe the veteran is committed to getting help to stop substance abuse, they'll allow him or her to come back with restrictions. "We definitely don't want to miss an opportunity to get the help they need," Ortega said. U.S. Army veteran Delmar Eldridge, who served in the mid- 1990s, entered the jail diversion program in September. Eldridge had moved to Albuquerque from Grants with his wife and two daughters. "But my marriage prematurely ended, and that's when my life became unmanageable for a few months," he said. "But now I'm back on my feet and ready to pursue goals I'd originally intended." A substance-abuse counselor at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center referred Eldridge to VIC. The nonprofit is providing a hotel room and a case manager to guide him. He's getting help from New Mexico Legal Aid in his custody dispute, from the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in finding a career path and from SCORE business mentoring organization in starting a medical transportation company. He's also continuing substance abuse treatment. Eldridge has been accepted to the University of New Mexico for the spring semester to study exercise science, probably to eventually become a physician assistant. Eldridge said he never thought he'd be homeless. "But through it all, it made me realize I'm stronger and more resilient than I thought I was," he said. Eldridge said he doesn't think he would have made it without the resources and the people who care in the assistance organizations. For the jail diversion program, VIC has hired a case manager and a peer support specialist. "Our population isn't just centralized in Albuquerque," Ortega said. The jail diversion program has a success rate of about 70 percent of participants moving on to stable housing and income. After veterans leave the program, VIC staff members continue to check with them to see if they need more help. Ortega will review an application from any veteran, as long as that person hasn't been dishonorably discharged. Some may be referred or sentenced to the program, while others may come on their own. The jail diversion program serves men and women of any age. Only two types of charges will keep veterans out of the residential jail diversion program: sexual assault or arson, Ortega said. However, VIC would still help a veteran with those charges get into an apartment and pay rent. Ortega doesn't expect anyone convicted of homicide to be sent to VIC instead of jail, but he has accepted a veteran who had already served a sentence for homicide. "He actually did very, very well and was pretty much a model resident," Ortega said. That veteran went on to become a peer mentor. "You have to take it case to case," Ortega said. "I wouldn't expect the same result for everybody."