Disabled American Veterans
Blind
Veterans National Chapter #1
March-April, 2010 Newsletter
Commander
Dennis OConnell
Phone 516 328-3438
Email: bvnc1@verizon.net
Senior
Vice Commander Richard Bugbee
1st Junior Vice Commander Joe Wallace
Judge Advocate Dave May
Chaplain Tony Martino
Phone
847 736 2111
email: Deaconmart@wi.rr.com
Adjutant/Treasurer
Paul Kaminsky
Phone
904 291-0576
email: pkjax@kaminsky.com
Immediate Past Commander Eddie Humphrey
If
you know of any member who is sick or deceased please inform one of the officers whose
contact information is listed above.
MESSAGE
FROM THE COMMANDER
Ill
make this message short. Between February 27 and March 2 Paul Kaminsky and I attended our
first DAV Mid Winter meetings. It was very informative with meetings and workshops through
the time we were there. Paul has promised to write an article about it for the next issue
of our newsletter. We have gone through the process of ordering a DAV van through the
Columbia Trust for the Tucson VAMC at a cost of $24,687.72
and will most likely be shipped this Spring. This van will primarily be used by the Blind
Rehabilitation Center at that facility.
Marilyn
and I wish all of you a Joyous Easter or a Sweet Passover, whatever your religious beliefs
are.
REST
IN PEACE
Ralph
G. Barrett, our 2nd Junior Vice, Newburyport
MA
David
D. Bottiggi. Euclid OH
William
Craft, Hutchinson, KS
James
Harris, San Antonio, TX
HAVE
YOU ORDERED AN A CCESSIBLE CREDIT REPORT RECENTLY?
As
a result of ACB's structured negotiations efforts, credit reports are currently available
in accessible formats from all three credit reporting companies in the United States.
Everyone is entitled to one free report from each company every 12 months, for a total of
three free reports per 12-month period.
You
can order your credit report in Braille, large print, or audio CD formats by calling
toll-free 1-877-322-8228. This is an
automated system. You will need to speak or use your telephone keypad to provide your
name, mailing address, Social Security number and date of birth. If you call from your
home telephone number, they will already have some of this information and ask you to
confirm their records.
After
providing the identifying information, you will be asked "if you require your free
annual credit report in a format accessible to the visually impaired, press or say
1." You will then hear the following: "To certify that you are a person who is
blind or visually impaired within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
press or say 1."
Everyone
who certifies that they are blind or visually impaired will next hear "Please chose
the format you would like to receive your credit report in. For large print, press or say
1. For braille, press or say 2. For audio, press or say 3." Then, after
choosing the company you want to get your first report from, you will be finished. You may
order all three reports at the same time, or you may spread your requests over the 12
months.
You
can also get your free credit report on-line by going to the official credit report web
site at www.annualcreditreport.com. On-line reports available through this web site have
been designed to meet the standards set forth in Priorities 1 and 2 of the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
By
ordering your free accessible credit report, you are telling the credit reporting
companies that the blind community cares about accessibility and will use accessible
services and information if provided. You help ACB monitor the agreement and make sure all
systems are working properly.
Lainey
Feingold and Linda Dardarian continue to monitor the accessible credit report settlement
agreement for ACB and CCB. If you encounter any problems obtaining an accessible credit
report, or want to let Lainey and Linda know about your experience, please contact them by
e-mail at LF@LFLegal.com, or through the toll-free telephone number at Linda's office,
1-800-822-5000. You can read more about ACB's accessible credit report agreement on
Lainey's web site at www.lflegal.com/2008/12/credit-announce/.
WE
DID IT!
The
following is a letter received from DAV National by our Chapter.
Dear
Commander:
It
is with a great sense of pride, that I congratulate you and the members of BLIND VETERANS
NATIONAL CHAPTER #1 for successfully answering the call of duty by reaching your 2009-2010
membership goal.
The
outstanding recruitment effort exhibited by your Chapter on behalf of our entire
organization is commendable and we applaud your dedication and commitment towards disabled
veterans and their families.
The
use of battle streamers had its beginning in antiquity when various emblems were carried
into combat. This ancient tradition of honoring military battles with streamers was
adopted by our nations military and recognizes branches of the service and units for
exceptional service and battle campaigns.
It
is my pleasure to bestow the enclosed streamer in honor of your Chapters
undertakings. We hope you will proudly display this streamer on your Chapters
colors. You have helped secure the legacy of our organization and for decades to come this
streamer will remind future generations of your accomplishments.
Sincerely,
Roberto
Barrera
National
Commander
Wounded
Warrior: Blind Soldier Becomes Company Commander
By
Tommy Gilligan, Special
to American Forces Press Service
West
Point, N.Y., Feb. 2, 2010 -
Soldier,
infantryman, Airborne Ranger, combat diver, mountain climber, skier, tri-athlete, surfer,
husband and father are just a few
words
to describe Army Capt. Scott M. Smiley.
The
title of company commander was added to Smiley's distinctive
resume,
as he became the first blind officer to lead a company as he assumed command of the
Warrior Transition Unit at the U.S.
Military
Academy here at West Point.
Smiley
was wounded and permanently lost his vision during his 2005 deployment to Iraq. He
attributes his strength and drive
during
his recovery to his family, faith and friends.
"It
was my wife, my family and friends who were in my hospital room singing songs and reading
the Bible that gave me the
strength
during my recovery," said Smiley, a member of the USMA Class of 2003.
"It
was all of this which allowed me to put one foot in front of the other," he
continued, "and has allowed me to accomplish
everything
that I have done to get to where I am today."
Over
the past six months, Smiley had been an instructor with the academy's Behavioral Sciences
and Leadership
department,
teaching a leadership course to third-year cadets.
Smiley's
"endurable spirit and character are traits that the cadets can just relate to,"
said West Point instructor Lt.
Col.
Eric Kail. "He has overcome so much, through his attitude and desire to excel in
life. Scott is a great teacher."
After
receiving medical attention following his tour in Iraq, Smiley was
transferred
to the Ft. Lewis, WA, Warrior Transition Unit, where he began his recovery and journey to
return to active status.
"There
were some very long dark days, physically and mentally, but I just had to keep pushing
on," Smiley said.
Smiley
said he'd looked at what had happened to him in Iraq and made the decision that he was not
going down the same path as
the
character Gary Sinise played in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. Sinese's character of Army
Lt. Dan had been grievously wounded in
Vietnam
and was initially portrayed as bitter and self-destructive.
"The
decisions that Lt. Dan made after his injuries never came into my mind. I wanted to take
care of myself -- physically,
mentally
and spiritually," Smiley said. "I just did not want to give up because of
something that negatively happened to me."
Smiley
transitioned back to active duty, working at the U.S. Army Accessions Command at Ft.
Monroe, VA. After being there
for
some time, Smiley's commander told him he had been selected to go to graduate school.
"I
thought he was kidding me. I was absolutely shocked," Smiley recalled. "Then,
they are going to let me go teach -- that was
awesome."
Smiley
attended Duke University where he received his Masters of Business Administration. While
there, he cultivated a
friendship
during the summer of 2007 with legendary Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski,
a 1969 graduate of the
Military
Academy.
This
was just before the men's basketball world championships and Olympics, Smiley recalled,
noting his brigade commander
had
approached him and asked if he'd like to speak to the premier U.S. men's basketball squad.
"Why
would the national basketball team want me to talk to them?" Smiley said he wondered
to himself at the time.
"The
first time I met him, he spoke to the Olympic team in Las Vegas. We were trying to teach
the team about selfless service,"
Krzyzewski
said. "They not only heard what Scott had to say, but they truly felt what he had to
say.
"When
I think of Scotty, I think of ultimate service, especially selfless
service,"
Krzyzewski added.
After
completing his master's degree, Smiley returned to start a new chapter of his life at West
Point, where his military career
began
in the summer of 1999.
Smiley's
former commander at Accessions Command and present U.S. Army Chief of Engineers and
commanding general of the U.S.
Army
Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, shared his thoughts on the occasion.
"Scott
brings a whole new dimension to soldiering and leadership," said Van Antwerp, a 1972
graduate of the Military Academy.
"When
you are around him, you can't help but want to do your best -- without complaining --
because he gives his best every day."
About
Smiley being the second Wounded Warrior to hold a command position, Van Antwerp said,
"Scotty will be a great
commander.
He will lead from the front like he has always done. I am proud of him and proud of our
Army for giving him this
opportunity."
Krzyzewski seconded Van Antwerp's pride and confidence in Smiley.
"He
may not have the eyes to see, but he sees more things than most leaders could ever
see," he said of Smiley's leadership
abilities.
At
West Point, Smiley now takes command of a company that he personally understands.
"I
know what they are going through. I understand the dynamics of the company, how it works
and areas of concern that need to be
improved,"
Smiley said.
With
only half of his command based on West Point's grounds, Smiley will travel from the rocky
shorelines of Maine to the rolling
hills
of Pennsylvania to ensure his troops are being taken care of and doing what they need to
do to recover.
"It
is now my responsibility to inspire them and to continue to help them get the job
done," Smiley said.
PET
CARE
Did
we think about our Military Personnel being deployed have no one to care their pets and
are in need of help finding a temporary
home
for them until their return? Check out the following website:
http://www.fostermilitarypets.com/
VA
Tinnitus Care Update
A
University of Alabama researcher is embarking on a $5.6 million phase-three, randomized,
controlled clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative treatment that
uses a noise-generating device, along with counseling, to alleviate the debilitating
effects of tinnitus - that ringing in the ears that drives some people to distraction. The
non-medical habituation-based treatment being studied is known as Tinnitus Retraining
Therapy or TRT. The investigational study of TRT will involve tinnitus sufferers drawn
from the U.S. Navy, Marines and Air Force, and will be conducted in Navy and Air Force
flagship hospitals in California, Texas, Maryland and Virginia. Researchers expect to
recruit 228 participants for the study. Dr. Craig Formby, UA distinguished graduate
research professor in the department of communicative disorders, leads the NIH-sponsored
study. Formby's team at UA leads the clinical part of the study, which is funded by a $3.2
million award from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have received a $2.4 million award to manage and
analyze the study data. The project will be spread over five years, including four years
for recruiting study participants and conducting the treatment and follow-up measurements.
Tinnitus
is the No. 1 service-connected disability among veterans returning from the Middle East
conflicts. In 2008, compensation for tinnitus disability in the VA medical system alone
exceeded $500 million and is projected to exceed $1.1 billion and affect more that 800,000
veterans by 2011. "Tinnitus is a noise inside the ear or head in the absence of any
sound that could account for it," Formby says. "We don't know what happens. In
some cases, its related to an acoustic insult or gunfire. However, there may be no
obvious cause for the tinnitus for many sufferers. Its some sort of over-stimulation
of the auditory system that produces hyperactivity either at a peripheral or central
level. Most people who have tinnitus ignore it, Formby says, but for some its
torture. As many as 50 million Americans experience tinnitus. Estimates are that for about
2 to 5 million people, the problem is incapacitating. We know of reports of
sufferers who have chronic debilitating tinnitus that is so troublesome that they would
elect to cut the auditory nerve to get rid of the persistent ringing, Formby says.
The current standard of care involves counseling people with debilitating tinnitus. The
counselors typically try to help the tinnitus sufferer to manage the problem by suggesting
coping strategies and by providing information about tinnitus. The standard of care
historically has included reassurance that the patients condition is not life
threatening nor an indicator of imminent hearing loss, he says.
Formby
will compare the current standard of care for management of tinnitus in the military with
TRT and with a placebo condition that will control for the treatment effects of the
noise-generator component of the TRT treatment. After specialized TRT counseling to start
the habituation process, each of the affected military personnel will use a pair of
ear-worn noise-generator devices produced by General Hearing Instruments that produce a
soft seashell-like noise, which blends with the tinnitus. In TRT theory,
the soft noise throughout the day from the noise generators helps to facilitate the
habituation process, which is initiated by the counseling, Formby says.
Patients are encouraged to use their devices from the time they start their day
until the end of the day or at least for eight hours a day. The patients are told to
forget the devices are on. Dont worry about the tinnitus, dont keep a log, and
dont worry about how bad their tinnitus is from hour to hour or day to day; just go
on with their lives. They are also taught about their auditory system and how it is
believed to work together with parts of the brain and central nervous system to give rise
to their debilitating tinnitus conditions.
In
the clinical trial, Formby and his co-researchers will measure treatment-related changes
in the impact of the tinnitus on each participants daily activities. They also will
track measures of perception, awareness, and annoyance of the tinnitus for each
participant in the study. The questionnaire responses for participants who are assigned to
the TRT treatment group will be compared with the responses of tinnitus patients given the
current standard-of- care treatment for tinnitus in the military and with a third
treatment group who are assigned to the placebo noise-generator control. If
successful, then most patients receiving the full TRT treatment will likely report the
tinnitus is no longer troublesome for them at the conclusion of the study, Formby
says. If you make a measurement of the tinnitus in terms of its pitch and loudness
characteristics at the start of the study and at the end of the study, then the perceived
tinnitus properties will likely be similar. But the patients perception of the
annoyance and awareness of the tinnitus will be reduced, and the tinnitus will not be
bothersome to them in the way it was at the start of the study. The other treatment groups
are not expected to benefit appreciably from their interventions.
Formby
has been working with the U.S. military since 1999, to develop the study protocol for this
pioneering investigation, which is the first definitive phase-three clinical trial of TRT
sponsored by NIH. The clinical trial will take place at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton
in Irvine, CA; the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD; the Portsmouth Naval
Hospital in Portsmouth, VA; the San Diego Naval Hospital; the David Grant Medical Center
at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, CA; and the Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland
Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The department of communicative disorders is part of
UA s College of Arts and Sciences, the Universitys largest division and the
largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous
national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on
the USA Today Academic All American Team.
SUGGESTIONS
FROM THE VA
VA
Benefits Assistance: If you need
help learning about VA programs or with a VA application process, recommend you work with
an approved Veterans Service Organization (VSO). It's their job to help you at no cost. To
find a VSO go to VA's Directory of Veterans Service Organizations at
http://www1.va.gov/vso/index.cfm. You can
also check with your state VA department and your state's network of county veteran
service officers. Most are listed at www.va.gov/statedva.htm. If someone approaches you to help with a VA
application, claim, or appeal, check to see if they are a VSO. Chances are they won't be because VSOs don't
solicit for your business, you have to find them.
There are a few organizations which use the front of helping with VA benefits as a
way to meet prospective customers. These groups solicit for your business. They offer to
get you money from the VA for long term care cost, assisted living, or survivor benefits.
Tread lightly around these offers. On the surface, they appear legitimate but if not, it
could wind up costing you time and money in the long run. Some things to look for are:
Organizations
having at their base, a financial services firm.
Organization
that are not an official Veteran Service Organization (VSO). VSOs are chartered by the VA
to act as an official VA representative for members on VA matters.
Organizations
wanting to help in an area that is not their core business.
Inability
to get a satisfactory answer about how they make their money.
The motive
behind a financial service firm's interest in helping you with issues that get them
nothing in return. The process, bureaucracy and time involved in helping vets with VA
programs is substantial. Also, helping
with some VA programs provides access to a veteran's complete financial information.
(My
suggestion is to contact your DAV VSO-the Editor)
February 3, 2010
Chairman of the
Senate VA Committee released this press announcement today regarding legislation that was
just signed into law.
PRESIDENT
SIGNS VETERANS EMERGENCY CARE FAIRNESS ACT
Chairman
Akaka introduced Senate bill to cover gaps in emergency care for veterans with limited
insurance
WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) today praised
President Barack Obamas signing of the Veterans Emergency Care Fairness Act
of 2009.
For
veterans with limited insurance, a trip to the emergency room should not result in
financial ruin, said Chairman Akaka, who introduced
the bill in the Senate last year. With this new law, VA will be positioned
to help veterans who are enrolled in VA care whose insurance does not cover the full cost
of emergency treatment.
The
Veterans Emergency Care Fairness Act, signed into law by President Obama last night,
will enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to reimburse veterans enrolled in VA health
care for the remaining cost of emergency treatment if the veteran has outside insurance
that only covers part of the cost. Previously, VA could reimburse veterans or pay
outside hospitals directly only if a veteran has no outside health
insurance.
In
addition to reimbursing veterans for emergency care in the future, the bill allows the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide retroactive reimbursements for care received
prior to the passage of this bill. Akaka has received correspondence from veterans
who were unable to receive financial assistance under the previous rules, and plans to
share their information with Secretary Shinseki.
The
Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will cover approximately 700
future claims per year and as many as 2,000 veterans retroactively.
This will help
veterans who need emergency care and previously would have been hit with the bills
associated with that emergency care.
GOD
BLESS AMERICA!