All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
And now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
And you are listening to Veterans Radio.
Today is our benefits program.
So we encourage you to give us a call.
If you get a chance, the number is 734-822-1600.
That's 734-822-1600.
We are all on Zoom.
We've got four or five people here on Zoom today.
And evidently, Zoom wanted updates for everybody.
So it's been an adventure to get ourselves on the air.
But we are here.
And again, as I was introduced, my name is Dale Throneberry.
I was a CW-2 helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1969.
And we wanted, again, welcoming you to our benefits program.
Joining me today is, thankfully, is number one.
Number one is our legal health for veterans guru.
That is retired Brigadier General, Carol Ann Falzone,
formerly an Air Force nurse, still a nurse, I think, in reality.
But anyway, Carol Ann, welcome to the program.
Thank you, Dale, and still Air Force.
So thank you so much.
It's good to have you here.
We're also joined today by another VSO.
His name is Joe Battisforpe.
I'm missing pronouncing that, I'm sure.
Nope, that's it.
Oh, I got it.
Cool.
Joe is from Houghton, Michigan.
And there's a VSO for Houghton County.
He's the director up there.
So Joe, welcome to Veterans Radio.
And thanks for having me.
We've also got another good friend of ours.
And that is Nick McBrien.
And Nick is a board member of Warrior and Caregiver United.
And a recent veteran, you're always a veteran.
What am I saying?
A younger veteran.
Let's put it that way.
So I brought Nick on to talk a little bit about what's going on with
the Warriors and Caregivers and also to participate in our discussion
about VA, you know, healthcare and disability benefits since he is
starting to utilize those.
And so Nick, welcome.
Hey, thank you for having me.
And my defense, this is the oldest I've ever been.
Yeah.
Well, it's all relative, Nick.
You know, the rest of us.
And let's see.
Last but not least is Brian Hayes, who is the communications director
for the Charles S. Kettles VA hospital here in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Welcome, Brian.
Thanks, Dale.
Also a Navy veteran.
Yes, he's a Navy veteran.
Yeah, he got Navy.
We got pretty much everybody here except for the Coast Guard.
And the officer second class.
Patty officer second class. There you go.
What is that an E five?
He bought.
I knew, you know, I need to have one of those charts right in front of me.
That's got listening.
You know, what a petty officer is in regards to, you know,
a gunnery sergeant in regards to.
Master tech sergeant in the Air Force versus just a plain old buck private.
Well, Navy computers everybody because it's got its own system and it's all very traditionally nautical.
Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
So I am happy to have everybody here today. And of course, we're here to answer your questions.
If you have any, and again, the number is 7348221600.
Before we start talking about a little bit about what's going on out there. Let me make sure that we thank our sponsors because we can't do this program without them.
Starting off as Caroline knows is legal help for veterans.
Legal help for veterans has been a sponsor of veterans radio. I'm thinking probably pretty close to the entire 20 years.
That we've been on the air and we're very grateful for their support.
They specialize in veterans disability claims. For more information, you can call them at legal help for veterans.
Their number is 800-693-4800.
The National Veterans Business Development Council, better known as NVB DC is the nation's leading third party authority for certification of a veteran owned business.
For more information, you can go to their website. That's NVBDC.org or give them a call at 888-237-8433.
If you want to do business with the federal government and you are a true veteran owned business, you need to become certified in order to do business with them.
And knowing how we've gotten some support from the Ann Arbor VA, there are many hoops you have to go through just to get approved to receive.
Receive funding from the organization, speaking of which, the Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor is a sponsor of veterans radio as well.
And for more information, you can go to va.gov slash Ann Arbor health care.
Finally, we want to thank our local veteran service organizations for their longtime support.
And that's the Erwin Press Corps and American Legion post-46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Well, it's nice to get all that taken care of.
All right. So normally we start this off with Brian to talk about what's happening and on the health care side of the VA.
So Brian, what have you got to say here?
Well, we've got a lot of stuff going on, you know, particularly in Ann Arbor. Of course, this today actually kicks off National Nurses Week, which is actually a really big deal for the whole country, but especially for the VA,
knowing that about 25% of all VA employees are nurses. And it's a pretty big deal for us. We like to celebrate our nurses and what they do for us.
And not only, you know, in the, you know, patient care settings, but, you know, many nurses go on to executive careers and running hospitals and running departments and they do such a great job for us.
So let's celebrate our nurses this weekend. Actually, as part of National Nurses Month, really.
So what we're doing, as part of National Nurses Month is just really getting the word out about nursing careers with VA and you can go to USAJobs.gov. If you're interested in nursing careers, we provide the training.
We help you pay for college and there's so many great things out there. If you want to become a nurse at the VA, you can, you know, practically do it without having to pay any tuition, which I think is pretty cool.
That is pretty cool.
Also, coming up later this week, we'll be kicking off National Police Week. And that's a national celebration, but we celebrate our VA police officers. They do tremendous work in keeping our VA employee population and veteran population safe every day.
So that you know, when you come to the hospital here in Ann Arbor or any VA, that you are going to be protected and secure. So we celebrate our police officers during National Police Week.
Also, coming up something near and dear to us. Coming up on May 21st, we'll finally be dedicating the women's clinic at the Charles S. Kettles VA hospital. It will officially become the Brigadier General Carol Ann Falcone women's clinic.
And that's a really big deal for us. Carol Ann, I'm so honored to be able to put your name on this clinic. You've done so many things. You know, even as an Air Force nurse working your way up as an executive nurse in the Air Force, all the way through to all the work that you do for veterans.
You've spent your entire life doing things for veterans. We couldn't think of anybody better to put the name on this clinic.
I have to say I was at the VA the other day and I was walking down the hall and I said, wait a minute, I know that name. What is this doing on the wall here? So congratulations, General.
It's a, it is a distinct honor. That's for sure to have the clinic named after you and not to repeat all of Brian's words, but all of the work that you put in supporting veterans, your entire career.
Even after you're in your second or third career now, it's still supporting the veterans. And so I wanted to add our kudos to that as well from everybody here at Veterans Radio.
Thank you so much, Dale. And thank you, Brian, so much. I'm very honored by the selection of the Ann Arbor VA. You know, my heart goes out to the Ann Arbor VA.
And I think you're one of the best in the entire country. And so it is a great honor to represent our women and veterans and what a better month. And thank you for honoring our nurses.
What a great career I've been. I couldn't have selected a better career. So thank you.
And then the last thing I just wanted to mention, just kind of keeping everybody's radar, you know, we do have another C. Bach opening up as part of the VA Ann Arbor healthcare system.
We'll bring us up to 11 locations of care in the healthcare system. And this one is coming to Ohio and it will be in Findlay.
Okay, Flag City. Yep. And that'll be opening up in late summer, early fall. So we're really happy to be bringing that new C. Bach online so that our Ohio veterans can, you know, save a little time driving to Toledo.
We can get into where they live a little bit more south of Toledo. So, you know, that whole area of Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio, that area.
Yeah, that's going to be able to serve many thousands of veterans that we'd be able to help out. And so they won't have to make that long drive up to Toledo every time they just need a primary care appointment.
So I know you don't know all 11 off the top of your head.
But I know it.
All right, go.
Well, we have the medical center. We have Green Road in Ann Arbor. We have Packard Road in Ann Arbor.
We have Jackson, Michigan, Flint, Michigan, Canton, Michigan, and we have Toledo, and we have the Fisher House and Adrian, Michigan, and Hollow, Michigan.
I hope that all of them.
I know. I know that was right. I was very impressed by that. So I am hoping that, you know, as we, as we, as this program goes out across the country that, you know, people at other VA medical centers around the country can, you know, call up and find out if they've got these
C-box elsewhere. I mean, I know we're not, you know, obviously we're not the only ones that have these. Yeah, we call them C-box. That's kind of a government word. It means community based outpatient clinic.
But it's really just a clinic. That's all it is. Yeah, but it's someplace where you don't, you know, you don't have to go. That's right. You know, all the way into the VA to get, you know, you know, what would you call that outpatient care, Carol Ann?
You know, it'd be an outpatient clinic and, you know, you get your primary care. We all from mental health will be doing some labs there.
Some social work there, a few dieticians, some things, things like that. You're obviously not going to get your big specialty cares in these smaller clinics. They're kind of like just a regular doctor's office that you would go to.
You know, you don't need to go to a hospital every time you need a shot. You know what I mean?
No, I think that's cool. I think that is cool. We're really happy to be able to kind of get the medical center, get the healthcare system rather, really out into where veterans are so that they don't have to be inconvenienced by a long drive for basic appointments like primary care, mental health, stuff like that.
There was an article that I got where they get this from. Military. Military.com. And they're talking about veterans now, not all of them, but more veterans can get cancer treatment closer to home as the VA expands their close to me program.
Are you familiar with that?
I'm not familiar with the close to me program, but I know, you know, the work that we're doing with cancer treatment, precision lung cancer treatment, the Ann Arbor VA is actually at the forefront of that world.
Well, evidently, it says more than I'm just reading from this. This is from military.com April 30 for our listeners out there. And it says more than 9,000 veterans will have access to advanced oncology treatment and monitoring in locations closer to their homes under an expansion of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Excuse me, closer to me cancer care program. What it does is it's sort of like when you have to go to a hospital because you can't go to the VA and you have to get permission for the VA to pay for your things.
But if you go to, you know, University of so and so cancer treatment and they call into the VA that you may be able to get your treatment there.
Instead of having to go into your local VA.
Yeah, that's a new program. I haven't read up on it, but I appreciate you bringing it up. Something I need to check.
I thought I thought it was kind of cool when I saw it. And it just says, you know, they get their diagnostics treatment and service rather than the veteran having to travel to a VA medical center.
It just brings to mind there are so many services that VA offers that that, you know, it's possible. It's, you know, it'd be a bibliography of stuff. That's why it's important. You know, if you're thinking about VA or thinking about some care that you might need, go to va.gov and start
tooling around in there. You'll see you'll find so much information about programs and services that VA offers well beyond healthcare. I mean, that's already there.
And there are there are news feeds on everything there and every clinic is mentioned there and everything else.
Yeah. And so I think you'll find that to be very cool.
The idea being that.
Oops, give me just tied myself up.
That's what happens when the home phone rings.
After I thought I thought I turned it off.
Welcome to live radio folks. So here we are. The other thing that I was mentioning that I found and this was on the VA website was that the VA expands access for care and benefits for some former service members who did not receive an honorable or general discharge.
I thought this was really big news and I know it's probably older news.
But it's something that I wanted to bring out today.
Yeah, and that's part of the expanded compact act. You've heard a lot about the packed act, but this is called the compact act.
And it really focuses on mental health. And so veterans who maybe didn't get that honorable discharge for.
Many that could happen for many, many, there was a lot of reasons.
And, and, and oftentimes that's been kind of a qualifying feature of being a VA, you know, patient.
But with the compact act, if you're, if you're in mental health crisis, and you're a veteran, no matter what the nature of your discharge was, you can present yourself to a VA and you will get care.
That goes along with our promoting the 988 number.
That's right. Again, suicide prevention.
That's which we have talked about before. Yeah. So, yeah, that's two pretty big things, I think.
And as you mentioned, each time every month, the VA is continually upgrading their services from the health standpoint and more facilities, more, more, more.
And the news just broke last week, Dale, that the VA has opened up eligibility to all World War 2 veterans who are still with us, no matter what is going on with them, what their discharge was, no matter why they weren't qualified to begin with.
That now has opened up to all World War 2 veterans.
Wow.
So, that's great. They've been denied in the past for reasons.
There can be several reasons that can happen. They should apply again because they're probably leaving benefits on the table at a time in their life when they could really use them.
Right. And we, yeah, I've been referring every World War 2 veteran I've found. I've seen, you know, do you use the VA? No.
Well, you know, healthcare guys, you can go in there. In addition, in talking with Carol Ann and Legal Health for Veterans, we've found a couple of older veterans that suddenly find out that they're entitled to benefits that they never knew about.
Yeah, a lot of stuff.
Especially when they're, you know, they're needing help. Home health care at this time.
So, well, Brian, thank you very much.
I encourage everybody out there that's listening, you know, is to go to the VA.gov and just as Brian says, just root around in there. You're going to find all kinds of information of different types of benefits that you may be eligible for.
And also, if you are utilizing the VA for your healthcare, all of your records are right there at your fingertips.
If you want to find out what happened in that blood test yesterday, you can look at it even though you don't know what it says, it's all there.
Yeah.
Brian, I have a question for you because I'm hearing, and we're getting more and more calls on this decision that came out last week about World War 2 veterans getting care, no matter what the issue and applying for benefits.
How do you read this if you're a widow or a spouse of a World War 2 veteran, and you need, say, the aid and attendance assistance.
Do you think that's applicable for that widow to go in and try to get those benefits? It might be a little easier to get care or will it still be based on income?
I'm not sure, Caroline. That's a great question. That's a real specific question that we could probably find, you know, maybe for next episode to bring to the table next time, Dale, to talk about that.
But, you know, when they open up eligibility, they don't, it's not limited eligibility, it's eligibility. So if that is available to eligible veterans, aid and attendance to their widows, then it's available to World War 2 widows as well.
Excellent.
And I've been directing those individuals when they're like, where do we go to the VA, you know, to apply? And I'm telling them, go to eligibility because that's the stoppings, you know, that's the start of it.
Go in. Walk in the building and turn right.
Yeah.
About 100 feet.
Yep.
Oh, right. Yes.
And to the circle there.
That's right. It's right in the front. We moved it there on purpose. We didn't want people having, you know, people that have to do day to day business with the VA to have to traverse multiple floors that just take care of a form or something. Right.
So we moved all of that sort of, you know, business office kind of functions right to the front door.
And I've also told them the great County counselors in the, in the, you know, the County counselors could help you. VSOs could help you in your communities.
So that's also a great place to start with this eligibility.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and I beat this drum before I'm sorry to say this one more thing. I beat this drum before and I think I do it every month. If you've applied before and been denied.
Please continue to apply again eligibility as we've talked about for half of this episode so far eligibility changes on a regular basis.
And, you know, your denial may now be perfectly fine for you to become eligible for healthcare at VA. So, you know, just keep applying and try to get in that things change all the time.
They do. They do. Once you're in, you're in. That's right. That's what we keep telling people. You don't have to utilize it. But if you're on the list and you've got your card, you can just walk in anytime.
You should utilize it. It's excellent care. I leave, you know, I can speak for Ann Arbor specifically Ann Arbor. So I get my care there. It's amazing.
And I, you know, I had a health issue last year is a bit of a scare and man that they really take care of me. So I have nothing but great things to say about the VA Ann Arbor healthcare teams.
We hope that the rest of the country has the same type of care and treatment that we are fortunate to get here.
And Ann Arbor saying, Brian, thanks Brian communication director for the Ann Arbor VA.
All right.
Where's I going to go? All right. So, as I was mentioning earlier on, we have two other people joining us today along with Carol Ann Fauston.
We've got Joe Battis for who is the director of the veteran service officer in Houghton County, Michigan, which is a little up north for those of you that could hold out your hand and look in the middle of the state and you're pretty close to where it is.
So Joe, I wanted to welcome you again to a veterans radio and tell me a little bit about what's going on up in Houghton County.
Sure.
I got to correct you though. I'm actually from Houghton County, not Houghton Lake.
Okay, sorry. That's on the other side. Nope, it's in the UP.
So we're about 500 miles away from Lansing. Oh, Jesus Christ, I'm sorry.
You have to have your other hand. You got to put your other hand up there. There you go. And where your thumb is on your other hand sticking straight up, we're in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
So a lot of people confuse us with Wisconsin. We are quite a ways up there.
All right. That's my geography lesson for the day.
Yep. Yep. So we're all known as Upers in the UP and proud of it.
Well, that's understandable. So tell me real quickly for our audience that you told me that you just, that you recently, well, not recently, you retired about eight or nine years ago.
Yeah, I re I served in the United States Army for 28 years. I retired as a master sergeant in 2016. And then about a year later, I started working for the County of Houghton as a service officer and have been able to help grow this office.
Since that time, we have two full time veteran service officers that are accredited. And then we have a part time accredited veteran service officer slash receptionist that works in our office.
All right. That's great. So what's going on up in Houghton County?
Well, I got to give a plug. We have our second annual vet fest. So it's a veteran resource fair. We had a really successful one last year. We had about 750 people attending it, which is a lot considering we're in a very rural area here in the UP.
But this year, we're expecting over 1000 veterans and family members. It's going to be held in Houghton at the Michigan Technological University student development complex on Wednesday, June 5 from one to five p.m.
We've got about 60 vendors or service providers that will be there, a free meal for veterans music, a free $20 fuel card.
And we're doing a number of things. We've got the Michigan Secretary of State's going to have a mobile office there to help veterans. We've got the National Park Service, which is going to be issuing those park passes that are free to veterans.
Just just a just a big deal of fun time for veterans get them connected with their benefits and and get information out there.
Right. So that's the vet fest 2024. It says Wednesday, June 5 from one to five p.m. They're still in our time zone. Aren't they out there?
We are. We are but parts of the upper peninsula aren't but we are.
Yep. So, you know, it's it's it's put on by our county, but that's open to all veterans. We had veterans from who are happened to be visiting our area for tourists stop in we've had people from all over the upper peninsula and Wisconsin stop in and yeah, it's just a good time.
I think that's it. I mean, I've been we have a vet test coming up here in August in our local area. And they're just great opportunity for veterans out there to find out what's going on in their local area.
There's always somebody there from the VA or some, you know, some VSO there to answer questions and all kinds of different organizations that are out there to help veterans. So I do appreciate that very much as well.
So the vet fest. I'll have to remember where that is.
Right on my thumb.
So I can get up there and find it.
So, let me let me talk to Nick because I know he's got something coming up coming up to so Nick McBrien is a wait a second you're not army are you.
I'm army veteran. Okay. Okay. That's the other guy. He's a marine.
So you were in the army for how long?
I was in for just over seven years. So I was medically discharged after giving me an ID exposure and that's all she wrote but I was a medic and I've served with 10th Mountain and second calf.
Oh, and I do want to say Joe kind of understates his vet fest. He's actually got one of the largest in the state arguably the largest. So if you get a chance to make that track I highly suggest it.
The vet fest is huge.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got golf carts shuttling people around. Don't you Joe.
Yeah, yeah, we well you know we did it for the first time last year and we had a lot of the VA rep from the Detroit regional office say it's the largest he's been to a lot of the veterans health administration people said it's the largest so I don't know.
You know part of it is free stuff but we we just put on a good show.
And so yeah, everyone's welcome.
Well, speaking of a good show. I see you know as I mentioned earlier that Nick is on the board of warriors and caregivers United.
And this is a, well it started off being a local organization here in in Washington County. But so Nick can you tell me a little bit about what we call it here finally call way to here.
Yeah, so we're warrior and caregiver United we are an encompassing group. We really focus on the entire picture of it so it's not just, you know, the veteran and his immediate family we're caregivers that's anyone that can involve you back into your community so that could be a good neighbor, family friend,
whoever you need, whoever's that support for you, we're going to make sure that we get you taken care of we provide venues and event spaces. So this way you can connect and have that conversation. Ultimately, our goal is to give you a safe place and help people that
don't understand PTSD understand how we affect our loved ones and how how it affects us. So this way we all leave a little bit smarter.
And I know when it first started. When John case started this organization quite a while ago now it's during that the height of Iraq and Afghanistan and so forth. And it was a lot for the caregivers that were left at home.
And how can they support their veteran and vice versa and how can they help each other out. And it's a great organization and you have a fundraiser coming up. So I'll let you talk a little bit about that or I can do it for you if you don't have the sheet in front of you.
Yeah, I got the sheet in front of me. And so yeah, so if you're in the Ypsilanti and Arbor area definitely come down meet meet down with the Deepa town freight house. It's on May 17th from six to 9pm. We're going to have a live auction of music and some testimonials all proceeds are going to go to Warrior
United as we attempt to save one more. Now the nice thing is if you pre purchase your ticket for $20 and you can do that with John Kinsinger will put his information out there for you. Or he wants to he gave me his personal number I'm going to give you his email.
That's going to be John Alva that's going to be J-O-H-N-A-L-V-A at AOL dot com. And so go ahead and email him with your information he'll reach out to you and help you get that pre purchase ticket for $20. And the benefit is is that at the sidetrack bar and grill, your meal will be half off.
But that does not include drinks. But if you want to buy tickets at the door, they're $15 which doesn't give you that same discount. And we've got a few events coming out there. We got a couple of musical entertainments. We have former Miss Michigan musicians, Melissa Bernard and Stacy Mason and singer and songwriter Kelly Trudell.
So definitely come out and show your support for Warrior and Kierkeve United.
Very well done. Good. Yes, that's Friday, May 17 from 69 and Ipsiline, Michigan and Depot town at the Freight House. Oh, good. They're using that again.
So it's $15 at the door $20 in advance. And we'll get this information up on our website for you as well to make sure that you go to this and we've had Kelly on our program. She's an incredibly talented musician.
And write some beautiful songs. So if you get the opportunity, head on out there.
It's like those warriors and caregivers in supporting connecting and helping one another.
All right. So, lots of things going on in the world. We're going to take a real quick break here. We're next coming up next. We're going to be talking about disability benefits.
And so if you have any questions on those, give us a call. The number is 734-822-1600. You're listening to Veterans Radio. We will be right back.
If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800.
They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800.
Why do I serve in the U.S. Navy?
For freedom.
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What America stands for.
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Everybody. And watch out for everybody.
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My little brother.
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The United States Navy.
It's not for ourselves alone that we serve.
Kilmer's company was defending a vitally important Korean-hilled position well forward of the main line of resistance during an assault by large concentrations of hostile troops.
Kilmer repeatedly braved intense enemy mortar, artillery, and sniper fire to move from one position to another, administering aid to the wounded and expediting their evacuation.
Painfully wounded himself when struck by mortar fragments while moving to the aid of a casualty, he persisted in his efforts and inched his way to the side of the stricken marine through a hail of enemy shells falling around him.
Undaunted by the devastating hostile fire, he skillfully administered first aid to his comrade, and as another mounting barrage of enemy fire shattered the immediate area, unhesitatingly shielded the wounded man with his body.
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Okay, we are back here on Veterans Radio and it's, it's benefits time.
We can talk a little bit about benefits and so Carol Ann, Carol Ann Faustone is from Legal Help for Veterans and we've got Joe Battisforve from Houghton County, Michigan as a VSO up there and at the Veterans Services up there.
So if you have any questions that you'd like answered about benefits or questions about benefits in general, give us a call at 734-822-1600.
So Carol Ann, what have you been hearing lately?
Well, there's a couple themes that have been coming across lately and I don't know if Joe and hearing from Nick, it's kind of interesting, but the caregivers, we've been having a lot of individuals, veterans, and their families calling in trying to get the caregivers
benefits for their families and that's been increasing very rapidly and I think there's some really important facts about that, that the veteran needs to make sure that he is 100% and that he really needs the activities of daily living.
And that, you know, there's somebody, depending on which of the three, there's three different caregiver programs that the VA offers all through the social work and you need approval from your primary care team at the VA.
So that's also really important, but a lot of families and clients have been calling in. I did a podcast on it. I did an e-book on it. All of those are available on Legal Help for Veterans, all free.
And I'm going to look at, become more aware of the program, but that's been a hot topic lately. And then getting back to the question I asked to Brian, the DIC, the death and dignity claim, the benefit for a widow after their spouse has passed away.
So that's been a call lately, quite a bit of calls as to the timeframe, and that does not have a limit, a one year limit after death, you could get that benefit, it's timeless.
So those are a couple of the things that have been more calls lately that we've been seeing. I don't know if you get some of those same issues, Joe, up in the UP, and I didn't want to correct our host right away out of the chute,
but when I was in Veterans Affairs, I would love to go to the UP and we had the Marquette, we had in Marquette, we had the Veterans Home, and I would love to travel in the UP.
And so I knew how far away Houghton was when I'd go to Escanaba, and so we'll have to get Dale up there to see how far Houghton is.
Yeah, we'll have to do that. You know, I always have to travel downstate for conferences and so forth, and people just, it's hard to believe that you can travel in the state of Michigan for 12 hours and still be in the state of Michigan.
And, you know, from one end to the other, it takes us the same amount of time to drive to Detroit from Houghton as it would take somebody from Detroit to drive to Washington DC, which that just blows people's minds, but it is, it is a long distance, but it's a wonderful place.
You'll have to come up here and see us. I do, we do see a lot of inquiries and issues with the caregiver program, and there's a lot of misconceptions on that. You do have to be 70%, the veteran has to be rated 70% or greater.
And I think, I think what you said about the having a need for activities of daily living, that's a big deal. I mean, a lot of people may have their caregiver prepare meals for them, but an activity of daily living is actually feeding, dressing,
toileting, and several other things like that. It can also be helped to ensure that you're not harming yourself or others. That's another one.
But there are people that may be on the border of that and apply and get discouraged. One of the biggest things I see with that is that the veteran may actually be getting help with activities of daily living,
but it's been a while since they visited their VA caregiver. So that information is not in their medical records. So when the VA, so when we do an application or help someone do an application for caregiver, and it is the fastest thing you can do in the VA,
you can go online and do it in about three minutes. It is, it is incredibly fast. You don't need an account, you could just do it, it's just electronically. But it goes to the nearest VA hospital, and they will review that veteran's files.
And when they do that, they'll give a phone call too, but predominantly they look in the files and if they don't see notes in there about needing help with activities of daily living, a lot of times they get denied.
So it gets people frustrated when they see that denial letter and it says, hey, you don't qualify. And so we work with them to say, look, you know, go in, talk to your primary caregiver, maybe they're getting all most of their care outside of the VA.
And I said, look, get those medical files, get them into the VA hospital, update them, let them understand where you are. And, and then you have a couple of options when you get denied.
You can do a higher level, just like with a claim, you can do a higher level review or a supplemental claim. But you can actually reapply at the same time.
So you may want to do a supplemental and turn some more information in but that may take a year right now or more.
But you can actually also simultaneously just put a new application in. And so your supplemental might affect the back pay or something if it ever goes through or higher level review but but just reapplying is the fastest way to get back in the game and maybe get that benefit rolling.
And the other the other issue with that program, like you mentioned, there's a couple of different parts of it. There's the caregiver support side of it that's not a doesn't provide a monetary benefit but it provides support for the caregiver regardless of how much care they're providing, you know,
and then there's the paid part, which can provide actual pay separate from the veterans compensation. And actually, if the caregiver has no other health care, it can provide health care under the chant VA program for that caregiver.
So it's a pretty good deal.
It's it's that's great Joe. Yeah, we, you know, with the three different programs and you just have to know what's going on we.
I just dealt with a veteran who had 24 hours of care per week, but his, his wife got hired with another program and he wanted to drop that and he wanted to go with his wife's home care company.
And I said, you need to be careful because if you drop your 24 hours of care, there's nothing saying that that you know you're going to go in and be able to do the direct program and how quickly that's going to be picked up so you, you know, you're out there,
you're trying to help them and you're trying to give them guidance, but sometimes they don't understand how much time it takes to the leapfrog. I'll use that word from one program to another to get it approved.
And it's really hard to explain sometimes to say, you know, don't drop this program you're getting 24 hours of care. And it's really helps you with this program so, you know, I just sometimes it's just like patients but this program is a good program.
And I know it gets complicated for them to understand, but I've been seeing a lot of denials lately.
And, and I think some of the denials are because the veteran is at a higher level of independence and I've had to explain if they're still driving and they're still doing some of those activities that other veterans do not have they're going to continue to be denied.
But once you lose that, and if you do have a stroke, or your, your health diminishes, you got to get it into your record so that was an excellent point and you do have to communicate that.
Yeah, I agree general it's, it's sometimes it's just communicating it's explaining the program to people and, and we put a high value on on all of the stuff that we do here is explaining it.
Yes, how is that factored why did that decision and, and then we then we'll take a look and see was it an accurate, you know, decision is there evidence that that's not, you know that you do need that extra help or is it like you said something that maybe, maybe it will come in the future if if you're, if you need more help with ADL.
Now, as Dale, as you know, we're talking benefits, but this health, health care issue that we're talking about the, the caregivers. This is a program out of the VHA out of the hospital side, the health care side, but we work really well with that with the benefit side because I think it's hard to separate,
you know, one of your clients who needs care, you know, you get them the benefits, but everything is delivered through the health care side, you know, the hospital side as we were talking to Brian.
And so you got to go back to your team. And this is a social worker problem. Social worker program. And so, you know, if you have a good communication with your social worker and your team, your, your physicians, your nurses, and the social workers.
I know at the VA in Ann Arbor, it's on the third floor and I direct people exactly where to go, go sit and talk to them and they will help you with this program.
Well, I think it's, you know, it's, it's the information, the educational aspects of, you know, what people need to know and that's, that's what you and Joe and, you know, all of us are trying to do out here is to just get the word out.
Because, you know, so many veterans are unaware of what they're entitled to it's surprising and discouraging sometimes I'm sure to to realize that they don't understand what they are entitled to, or even this the smallest thing I was, it was very
I talked with with Joe before we went on the air and I was complaining of whining a little bit about, you know, you know, we worked real hard about I've been working with Carolina and legal help for things, you know, and you finally get that 10%
you know, approval and your your benefit doesn't go up. I mean, the cash doesn't go up. But I learned from Joe that actually your percentage of disability does go up in the VA's mind.
Was that is that am I explaining that right Joe. So, so if I'm 40% and I got another 10%, but I didn't get bumped up.
So, 43%. Well, if you if you were, if you're at 40%, you got 10%, you would have been buffed up, but but I know what you're saying so when you when you the VA calculates, they apply, they start with your highest percentage to track that from your whole person, and it leaves a remainder
of the time. Each time you get a percentage, they apply that to what's left so the it's like a diminishing return. But but as to what you were saying is I often, well, you actually, I often calculate the actual rating that the veteran has and explain it to
you. So, in your case, you say, hey, I'm at 80%. I got this 10% and I didn't move. Well, you know, that I explained it show the veteran what their actual calculated percentages and that that really could mean you might have been anywhere from 75% to 80.
And you move somewhere between 75% to 84%. And that's why you stayed at the 80% as far as compensation pay. And so, again, it's all about explaining things and you moved. If you did move. Yes, that that's kind of a disappointment that like hey I didn't move up to the next
time. But you did actually move up and then if you do have other conditions that increase or new conditions, another 10% say after that, you're that much closer and you may actually go over the at the next threshold.
So, that's waning it. Yep. It sounds like my grading process. I think I think I should get rounded up for just attendance purposes.
You have to help your students Dale get some extra credit so yeah, that's what I'm looking at it now I'm trying to think of it. Another project I can come up with that shows that what that sounds like some of your officer crumpy right
now. The other thing and I was thinking of Nick but with the caregivers is kind of neat if you get approved with the comprehensive. You could have anywhere from one to three caregivers and you could all get paid.
The more caregivers in there, the better because as we all know, it's hard to be only one caregiver, your back poor caregiver is going to go down hill pretty quickly. And it's, it's pretty sad when if you know if you only do have one, because they're
going to need the support, they're going to need respite care, they're going to need some help out there so it's really great to have programs like yours out there to to give our veterans and their family support.
I appreciate that yeah, the nice thing about us is like we host multiple parties a year, you know the Easter Christmas party and a few others in between, and a few camping events because, you know, as a disabled veteran sometimes it's hard just to find one a location that's
accommodating and two that you're going to be able to feel comfortable in. So making sure that we have those opportunities and what we're looking to do in the future is eventually start bringing in VA representatives or VSOs in the area.
It's something that we need to explore a little bit. It's that's something that we're jumping down because you know, if you're out there for respite, we don't want to talk about benefits, we want to talk about how we're transitioning what we're doing, you know, so a little bit of that respite.
And then, you know, we have one hand washes the other so if we can get some if we get more veterans involved that are in the VSO roles, like let's just do that. So they have something that they feel comfortable to ask questions with.
Now, Joe, I did have a question for you. So you said between 75 and 84 of your example before you got bumped up. So what's the magic number once you get bumped up into the next bracket?
Well, it's just like, and most math. So, so if you're going to be paid at the 80% rate, that means that your actual calculated rating is is either 75% and up to 84%. So once you hit 85, then you'll bump up, you'll start your,
you'll hit the night you'll be paid at the 90% rate. And then of course, then that would be 85% up to 94. And once you get to 95%, you'll actually be paid at the 100% rate.
It makes sense. It makes sense. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And I said here, it's okay, 94, 90, 95 to 100 is an A 91 to 94 is a B, a minus all those other things. And it's just something to take into consideration.
And as a veteran has, you know, been through that myself, it's frustrating.
Of course, you know, but I think that I'm explaining it that way Joe is hopefully will be helpful for other people. As we're coming up, we're coming up toward the end of the hour here.
And I wanted to find out what, and I'm going to go to the UP first with Joe and say, you know, what type of claims are you running into right now?
Well, we're still doing a lot of claims, having to do with toxic exposures. But we're seeing a lot more appeals. So we're my when I first started, we do very few appeals, of course, we kind of pride ourselves on and doing really good claims up front so
we don't get into that situation. But now we're seeing the VA make a lot more mis just flat out errors, crazy errors. And just to throw it out there, there is a program called the claim accuracy request that if you file within 30 days and it's a no brainer mistake on the
VA's part, it's a very fast turnaround. I my last one took three days, and the VA corrected it. So it was, it was a really what you would call clear and unistakable error, but it was just a situation where the rating decision said, we denied you because you didn't do
it. And then right below it is said, you did this, you know, I mean, it gave me it was absolutely contradictory. And, and so it went very fast. So we're doing a lot of a lot of appeals, a lot more appeals.
But yeah, that and like I said, toxic exposure claims.
And what's what what are you running into? I agree with Joe. The other thing is talking about funny math. If a veteran truly is 70% or greater, let's say that 80%, 90%. You're not working.
I think sometimes they don't even realize about the TDIU, the temporary unemployment ability, where you could go back in, you're unable to work. We could go after the 100%. You haven't been able to be unemployed, employed, and we we've been going after that a lot.
And I also agree, the airs have been coming through like, unbelievably, and we've been recognizing those putting those back in and moving those very rapidly. So, being really attentive to what's coming in.
I think it's very critical.
And I think that's one of the reasons that we always we encourage our veterans and our audience to go through a VSO and not try to do it on your own.
Well, the other quickie that Joe said is on getting back to the VA with mail delivery, we've been seeing mail delivery being really slow lately.
So, we were able to go back in and fight an issue because we weren't notified. The veteran didn't get the letter. We, Legal Health for Veterans, didn't get the letter. It was beyond 30 days.
It was, let's say, like 45 days. So we were able to go back in, not call it a queue, but make a correction beyond that 30 day and make and get a quick decision for our veteran. So there's different ways to argue that.
So just a point.
Okay. So that's, that's, that's what's going on. This is why, again, why we're encouraging all of you out there that are listening to contact the VSO and we've got two examples here. We've got a countywide VSO here in Joe Bates for from Houghton County.
And we've got Carol Ann Faustonis with Legal Health for Veterans. But she's also a VSO. And the idea is that help is out there for you. I mean, you know, wake who could refer you to a VSO that they might utilize all these different veterans organizations.
We strongly encourage you to contact them and, you know, go to the vet fest. There's usually a representative from the VA right there to answer your questions. You may say, well, you know, I did this and, you know, I broke my hand when I was in basic training and, you know, I hadn't done anything about it for 20 years.
Well, here's your opportunity to get that. So I want to make sure that I thank all of you for being on Veterans Radio, especially our new guys. Joe, thank you very much for coming all the way down here through the magic of zoom.
Thank you for having me. Thank you.
And Nick, thank you very much for filling us in on what wake who is up to and thank you for the lead and putting me in touch with Joe. It's greatly appreciated.
My pleasure.
And I encourage everybody to, you know, take out the legal help for veterans website because there's some great information in there. All Carolans, ebooks that are there. It's all it's great reading very easily read information that I think would really help you out.
And finally, I have to remind everybody that Veterans Radio is having its own fundraiser at the Carlisle Grill on Sunday, May 26. That is a check out our website.
We got to go. You are dismissed.