Friday, April 19, 2024
VETERANS VOICE
Linda Mallon, a retired Army master sgt., found her niche working with veterans and their families in Granbury. She is a former claims administrator for Blue Shield of New Jersey and later senior personnel sergeant taking care of soldiers’ careers for more than 20 years.
I recently received information about an excellent local nonprofit organization right here in our great state called VA Dogs of Texas. This organization provides trained service dogs to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, Military Sexual Trauma and physical disabilities.
Trained service dogs provide companionship, freedom and peace of mind to veterans and their families. These dogs are trained to pull wheelchairs, retrieve items, help individuals who have fallen, provide a brace to help their handler sit or stand and many other important life-enhancing services.
If you need a service dog or would like to donate to help this organization, you can reach them at 830-253-5141 or check out their webpage at https://vadogs.org/.
Some veterans who have filed an appeal on their claims are getting letters stating that they have a hearing scheduled in Waco at the VA Regional Office but suggests that they contact the Regional Office to see if they are opened. I can tell you Waco is not holding hearings at this time, but veterans have an option to elect a virtual tele-hearing from any location including their home if they have “a computer, tablet or mobile device, reliable internet connection, a camera and microphone.“
To request a virtual hearing, go to www.bva.va.gov and if you prefer, we can schedule that at my office so we can address questions you may have about your appeal. So far the BVA has successfully held over 13000 tele-hearings and this technology has allowed the Board of Veterans Appeals to adjudicate claims much more efficiently.
On the initial and supplemental claims side though we are seeing some errors so I urge veterans who receive a rating decision to contact me immediately so we can review it with the evidence we submitted and make sure the rating decision accurately reflects what the medical evidence shows.
I contacted James Grisham, our TVC Veterans Career Advisor at the Workforce Center in Weatherford, about his schedule for seeing veterans in person now that things appear to be slowly returning to normal.
TVC has been working from home since the COVID restrictions but James is back in the office Monday Wednesday and Friday. Veterans wanting a face to face counseling with James can schedule an appointment at the Workforce Center meeting room — which for safety purposes has a Plexiglas wall.
If the Veteran has access to a computer, he can also conduct a TEAM meeting and do a video conference. For now, TVC Career Advisors are not meeting face to face with any Employers nor Community Partners; all of those meetings are to be done virtually.
You can reach James Grisham at 817-579-0049 X 3510, email james.grisham@tvc.texas.gov or his cell number (214) 771-1284.
National Archives is back to work and filling requests for DD 214’s and other military records. If you have an emergency request, please contact my office. I can request service records from the North Texas VA Health Care System for veterans who are enrolled but do not have a copy of their DD 214. It may not be the actual DD 214 but they can provide me with what’s called an HINQ, which shows the veterans branch, dates of service and character of service and can be used as proof of service to file for VA benefits or emergency assistance in the absence of a DD 214.
