Interim VA Director Miller finds Dublin community ‘friendly and very welcoming’

It has been a busy first couple of weeks for Chandra D. Miller.

“The town is a little bit larger than what I expected being a rural town,” Miller said. “The town that I was at was highly rural – Poplar Bluff, Missouri. This is much larger. Prior to (Poplar Bluff), I came came from Tuscan, Arizona, a very large city.” 

Miller is an Air Force veteran. She was the only female veteran in her family.

“But I have a long line of veterans with my dad and my uncles,” she said. “We have every service branch except for Coast Guard in my family. My husband is an Army veteran. We have five boys and one daughter. Three of my boys are still serving in the Army.”  

After getting out of the Air Force, Miller went into nursing school. She joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2007 as a valor student from the University of Arizona. She earned her Master of Science in nursing from Spring Hill College. Miller has served in roles like certified clinical nurse leader, clinical nurse manager of a cardiac telemetry unit, chief nurse of medical nursing and acting chief of surgical nursing at various VA hospitals.

Miller finds the Dublin, Laurens County community “very friendly and very welcoming.” In fact, she has already found a church she likes at Liberty.

“They have been amazing so far,” she said.

The VA likes to have the community involved in what they do, and Miller wants to continue that with several upcoming events. 

“We’ll be a part of Trunk or Treat on Oct. 28, so we’ll be inviting the community to come trunk or treat with us,” she said. “We hope we have a big attendance for that. Veterans Day is also coming up too.” 

Miller knows the VA has a large and spread out campus. 

“We have a lot to offer our veterans which is amazing,” she said. “The mission is very near and dear to my heart. We cover 49 counties, and we are looking to get veterans in our catchment area. The biggest thing is to ensure that we provide the highest quality and safest care to our veterans. I want them to be able to say that this is the facility they want to choose and trust every day. For me it’s about people, processes and partnership. We have got to focus on our veterans and staff, and looking at all of the processes to make sure they are standardized to take great care. Then, we have to make sure we are partnering with our community partners throughout the catchment area.” 

She likes what the VA’s staff has to offer when veterans pay a visit. 

“I want them to know that they are going to get the best care that they can possibly get,” Miller said. “They have served our country, and we owe it to them.”