Linda Chapa LaVia wants to be known as a veterans’ veteran.

“I started as Army Reserve, then I went to the ROTC program, United States commissioned Army officer, and the National Guard,” she said in an interview. “You don’t find a lot of people who have four sets of combat boots like that.”

Chapa LaVia, a longtime state representative from Aurora, is Gov. JB Pritzker’s selection to head the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. So the first question has to be: what will you do about Legionnaires’ disease?

“We have been able exemplify an amazing fortitude in finding solutions and making sure that the whole entire system comes up to certain new codes, if you will. As the temperature of the water — certain things that can prevent this from anywhere throughout the state,” she said. “But you have to realize that this happens daily in water sources across the state.” Chapa LaVia says the problem the previous administration had in addressing the deadly outbreak at the veterans’ home in Quincy was a breakdown in communication and a breakdown of standard operating procedures.

Other priorities include ramping up mental health services and freeing up federal dollars, as younger veterans come home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chapa LaVia, who jokes that the governor wants her to give up her salary because she would do the job for free, says the job of IDVA director is unique because all issues are veterans’ issues.