Disabled American Veterans
Blind Veterans National Chapter
#1
WEB SITE:
http://www.davbvnc1.com/contents.htm
March/April 2015 Newsletter
Editor: Dennis O’Connell
Email address: bvnc1@optonline.net
"IF I CANNOT SPEAK GOOD
OF MY COMRADE,
I WILL NOT SPEAK
OFFICERS OF THE BLIND CHAPTER
Commander Carroll Prosser
(SC), Phone (843) 997-1981
Email: heypops43@gmail.com
Senior vice Commander James
Hogan (CA)
1st Junior vice Commander
Terry Livingston (FL)
2nd Junior vice Commander
3rd Vice Commander Ron Lester (AZ)
4th Junior vice
Commander William Burgess (FL)
Judge Advocate Dennis
O’Connell (NY)
Chaplain Rev. Tony Martino (IL), Phone 847 736 2111,
email: deaconmartino@gmail.com
Adjutant/Treasurer Paul Kaminsky (FL) (also
webmaster),
Phone 904 291-0576, email: pkjax@kaminsky.com
Immediate Past Commander
Richard Bugbee (AZ)
PLEASE, if you know of any
member who is sick or deceased inform one of the officers whose contact
information is listed above ASAPP.
R I
P
Robert
Dawson, Wichita KS
Lindinburge Emery, Hot Springs AR
James Hogan Recognized as Male Volunteer of the Year
James
Hogan, Senior Vice Commander of the Blind Veterans National Chapter #1 (BVNC1)
of the DAV, a longtime member of the Southern California Regional Group of the
Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and a volunteer with the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System for the past 12
years, has been recognized as VA’s National Male Volunteer of the Year.
The official award presentation
will occur during the 69th Annual VA Voluntary Service National Advisory
Committee Meeting and Conference held April 22-24, 2015 in Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
James Hogan, a resident of Canyon
Country, California, has logged more than 2,800 hours of voluntary service
during his tenure. He is one of 260 BVA volunteers nationwide performing 34,177
hours of service during BVA’s Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1, 2013-June 30, 2014).
James’
dedicated service has also involved his wife, Pam, who volunteers with him. In
addition, his guide dog of nine years, Atticus, has worked as a therapy dog for
VA Healthcare System patients.
James performs a multitude of
volunteer tasks as a VA volunteer, serving blind and visually impaired veterans
who are enrolled in the Visual Impairment Service Team (VIST) program. As such,
he helps veterans attend fishing trips by arranging transportation and for
them. He also helps organize monthly VIST Support Group activities. One of his
specialties is also outreach to younger Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and their families regarding benefits,
adjustment to disability, and educational opportunities. He also actively
serves his fellow blinded veterans within his BVA regional group, and is active
as Senior Vice Commander of the BVNC1 of the DAV.
James
visits regularly with veterans at the Sepulveda VA Community Living Center and
Hospice and mobilizes the local Disabled American Veterans chapter to bring
food goodies and cheer to hospitalized patients. Accompanied by Pam and
Atticus, he visits veterans at the California State Veterans Homes in the
Cities of Lancaster, Ventura, Barstow, and West Los Angeles.
James,
Pam, and Atticus work with Vietnam Veterans of America on their annual Homeless
Stand Downs in Ventura and Antelope Valley, California. They help the Elks
raise funds for their annual veterans’ luncheon at their lodge and drive Boy
Scouts to place more than 6,000 flags on veterans’ graves on Memorial Day.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, James
Hogan was diagnosed with hearing loss as a young boy and quickly began utilizing
hearing devices. Determined to fulfill his dream of serving his country, he
enlisted in the Navy following graduation from high school in 1966. After
serving 4½ years in Vietnam combat areas, he re-entered civilian life in 1973.
Ten years later, he was diagnosed with Ushers II, a degenerative disease that
causes both vision and hearing loss.
Despite
his setbacks, James has worked relentlessly to maintain his active lifestyle.
He, Pam, and Atticus are often seen riding through town on a Lightfoot Duo Recumbent
Cycle, a side-by-side, two-seat quadracycle they obtained after a refresher
course James took at the Palo Alto VA Blind Rehabilitation Center in 2012. He
has also been an avid spokesman on behalf of those with hearing loss for the
Hear Strong Foundation. Last year he was proclaimed as a Hear Strong champion
by the organization.
FYI
Certain
veterans with service-connected disabilities that result in the veteran being
Total & Permanent Disabled may be entitled to a complete discharge of all
student loans.
A
total and permanent disability (TPD) discharge relieves you from having to
repay a William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loan, Federal
Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan, and/or Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins
Loan) Program loan or complete a TEACH Grant service obligation on the basis of
your total and permanent disability. Before your federal student loans or TEACH
Grant service obligation can be discharged, you must provide information to the
U.S. Department of Education (ED) to show that you are totally and permanently
disabled. ED will evaluate the information and determine if you qualify for a
TPD discharge.
The Most GERMS Laden Item In A Restaurant
Who
would have guessed?!
It's
something you touch every time you go in a restaurant. And you
handle
it first, so it's sort of like a germ-laden appetizer. And I'm
not
talking about week-old sushi, either. It's a bacteria magnet
that's
apt to have far more microbes on it than a toilet seat!
Give
up?
It's
the menu...
If
you were planning to make a germ-transfer device, you couldn't do
better
than a restaurant menu. Everyone touches it, and it's almost
never
cleaned.
Dr.
Chuck Gerba, a researcher from the University of Arizona, went
undercover
in three different states taking swab samples from
frequently
touched restaurant areas and items such as salt and pepper
shakers,
chairs, lemon slices and menus. And menus won the first
prize,
with a typical bacteria count of 185,000. To put that in
perspective,
Dr. Gerba said that's "about 100 times more bacteria"
than
is found on a typical toilet seat.
Other
testing done by the New York University Microbiology Department
found
germy menus as well, but other results may surprise you. Ketchup
bottles
were relatively clean. But half the salt and pepper shakers
tested
were contaminated. And the bathroom faucets and door knobs
turned
out to be the cleanest surface of all the places tested.
But
the award goes to the lemon wedge. Believe it or not, half of the
ones
examined were contaminated with fecal matter. That might make
iced
tea the most dangerous thing on the menu!
Experts
advise the same thing your mom said before EVERY SINGLE meal.
"Go
wash your hands before you eat!" and I would add -- and after you
read
the menu!
To
Your Good Health !!!
MORE
FYI
The
Department of Veterans Affairs evolved from the first federal Veterans’
facility established for Civil War soldiers and sailors of the Union Army,
known initially as the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
On
March 3, 1865, a month before the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln
signed a law to establish a national soldiers and sailor’s asylum. Renamed the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in 1873, it was the first
government institution in the world created specifically for honorably
discharged volunteer soldiers.
The
first National Home, known as the Eastern Branch of the National Asylum for
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, opened November 1, 1866, near Augusta, Maine.
As
the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Congress established new benefits for
World War I Veterans that included programs for life insurance, disability
compensation, prosthetics, vocational rehabilitation, and hospitalization,
along with new federal agencies to administer them. Federal Veterans medical
care shifted from lifelong residential care to short-term treatment in general
or specialized hospitals, supplemented by job re-training or disability
pensions.
General
Omar Bradley took the reins at VA in August 1945 and steered its transformation
into a modern organization. In January 1946, Public Law 293 established VA’s
Department of Medicine and Surgery, along with numerous other programs like the
VA Voluntary Service to provide better services to Veterans. The law enabled VA
to recruit and retain top medical personnel by modifying the civil service
system, establishing medical research, and affiliating VA hospitals with
medical schools to place Veterans’ medicine on par with the private sector.
VA
continues to meet Veterans’ changing medical, surgical and quality-of-life
needs.
President
Reagan signed the document that elevated VA to Cabinet Level
App that I use
Google
Maps
Description:
Comprehensive, accurate maps in 200 countries. This is a voice-guided GPS
navigation app for driving, biking and walking. It has information on more than
100 million places. The app has Street View and indoor imagery for restaurants,
museums and more.
It
also checks for traffic problems and suggests an alternate route.