'I can see the light at the end of the tunnel'

Jeff Lyons retired from the U.S. Army in 2012 after more than 21 years of service and immediately filed for Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits as part of his out processing from the service. In February of 2013, Lyons received a letter from VA stating he’d been awarded an 80-percent service connection retroactive to October of 2012.

But over the next nearly two years, Lyons never received a single disability payment. Unable to get the VA to release his checks, Lyons turned to The American Legion’s town hall meeting in Madeira Beach, Fla., on Jan. 12 and then come to the organization’s Veterans Benefits Center (VBC) days later at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center in Bay Pines, Fla.

Lyons left his name and phone number with Legion staff during the town hall meeting and received a phone call the next day. He said he felt “passion” from the Legion reps he talked to over the course of the two days. “They weren’t just up there giving me a speech just because they were sent there,” said Lyons, a member of Florida’s headquarters Legion post. “They were actually concerned about trying to resolve my issue and issues of the other veterans.”

After talking with Legion reps and then VA staff, Lyons was assured he’d be receiving his payments – including retroactive pay – within the next week.

“I didn’t expect a resolution (that was) basically within 48 hours,” Lyons said. “The responsiveness was a real blessing. To be able to stand here and say after two-plus years that I can see the end of my problem, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s very rewarding.”

Lyons was one of 175 veterans who came to the VBC seeking help Jan. 14-15. Legion staff – including those specializing in VA benefits, veterans homelessness and women veterans – set up shop next to VA health-care and benefits staff. They were able to meet one-on-one with people whose sole focus was to provide help.

“It felt like I … generally wasn’t just a number or an issue,” said U.S. Army veteran Jene Adeoye, who came to the VBC to see about benefits she may be entitled to after struggling to get answers on her own. “I felt like I got the honest truth, and not only truth, but compassion. It’s so much more important to be face to face, due to the fact that you do feel the compassion.

“When people are hurting, or they feel they have laid their life on the line for this country, it just feels good to have someone to understand, to care, instead of just a computer where you’re submitting (information) and it’s very impersonal. (Now) I don’t feel like I’m just lost and my case is just out there. I felt like I got help. Someone listened.”

That same kind of personal contact made an impact on 40-year-old George Ervin, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2001-2004. Ervin came to the center to find out about a claim he’d filed relating to a VA Compensation & Pension Exam he underwent last summer. He left the center feeling he’d taken positive steps toward resolving the claim.

“It had been frustrating not being able to see someone about my condition in a timely manner and address the issues that I have,” Ervin said. “It’s great to actually have that personal contact (at the VBC): to sit down and speak to someone and for someone to seem concerned about your issues that you’re having … and actually wanting to do something about it. It was like I hit the lottery: ‘I can talk to somebody.’”

Providing that setting is important, said Suzanne M. Klinker, director of the C.W. Bill Young VAMC. “This experience this week in partnership with the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System and The American Legion has opened the door even more for veterans to come in for patient advocacy, whether it be about their health-care claims, perhaps about cemetery administrations – it’s really a wonderful way to partner with an important stakeholder,” she said. “Both organizations are all about the veteran. They want to do what’s right for the veteran and honor their service by providing them with the care and benefits they deserve.”

For Michael Rose, a U.S. Navy veteran, those benefits include what will be a service connection he’s been trying to get since having two replacement surgeries on the same knee. After meeting with Legion service officer Louis George, he was able to get an immediate temporary disability rating of 100 percent.

“(It means) everything,” Rose said. “I’ve been without for quite a long time now, so this is going to help me a lot. I was laid up for quite awhile. I had to be in a wheelchair for about nine months.”

The service he got at the center changed Rose’s view of The American Legion. “I never had any idea that this is what (the Legion does),” he said. “I’ve been thinking about trying to (join the Legion). Now I know I’m going to.”

The help being delivered at the VBC was a bit of déjà vu for Lyons."It almost feels like I’m back in the military where you have brothers trying to help brothers, sisters trying to help sisters,” he said. “I felt (the Legion staff’s) compassion and concern. Receiving help such as I did ... it reassures the fact that people care and that The American Legion is truly out … to be an organization of help and to be an organization of change for fellow Americans.”