'They've given me hope'

For six years, World War II Navy veteran Robert Freeman and his wife, Rosalyn, have been frustrated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. It took more than four months for the Oregon couple to get replacement hearing aids and four more months for glasses for Robert, 90.

A heart condition that is going to require surgery will force the couple to travel to the Portland VA Medical Center – unless they want to pay $50,000 to have the operation locally in the private sector, since VA’s Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center & Clinics (SORCC) in nearby White City, Ore., can’t do the procedure. Rosalyn said her husband’s cardiologist warned against making the trip to Portland, saying Robert likely wouldn’t survive the more than four-hour drive.

And for more than three straight months, Rosalyn said she and Robert went to SORCC every day to see Robert’s primary care doctor. Not once were they successful.

“He wouldn’t have been disabled if it wasn’t for VA,” Rosalyn said of her husband. “They were supposed to take care of him.”

An American Legion service officer at the Legion’s Veterans Crisis Command Center (VCCC) in Medford, Ore., agreed. After meeting Rosalyn and Robert met with the service officer and a Veterans Benefits Administration rep, the couple was able to file, on the spot, VA Form 1151 – which allows VA to pay compensation for “injuries incurred or aggravated while receiving VA-sponsored medical treatment.”

Rosalyn also was encouraged by VA staff to apply for help through VA’s Caregiver Program after saying she previously had been told she needed to work part-time in order to qualify. The couple left the VCCC with their outlook changed.

"All this time I've been with the VA trying to get something done and nothing ever happened,” Robert said. “Suddenly we find out all these things can happen because you had the resource people here to do that. It was fabulous."

Robert and Rosalyn were among 87 veterans or veterans’ family members who came to the VCCC, Sept. 23-24, set up at Legion Post 15 in Medford. At the center, department and national American Legion service officers were on hand to guide veterans through the VA claims process. Veterans Benefits Administration and Veterans Health Administration staff were there to review claims and enroll patients into the VA health-care system. And VA medical personnel were there to give more than 60 flu shots during the two days.

Seeing the constant stream of people coming in and out of Post 15 drew a smile from Post Commander Tom Fitzgerald. So did the results achieved at the center.

“It’s been a little overwhelming for me talking to a number of people who have come out of (the center) because it was my hope that we could help them move forward – not really answer all their questions, but move forward – and almost every one of them have come forward and said, ‘Yes, I’ve moved forward,’” Fitzgerald said. “One of the guys came and told me, “I just finally got movement (on a claim) after six years. To me that’s absolutely awesome.”

That type of response was common among veterans who came to the center. Lewis Myer, a Vietnam War Air Force veteran, has to use a cane because of pain in his hip; shoulder pain keeps him from lifting an ice tray to eye level. He was given a 30-percent disability rating but feels it should be much higher.

“I played the macho dude when I got evaluated (by VA),” Myer said. “I overdid it. We were trained that way: Don’t be weak. I shot myself in the foot, and now we’re trying to correct it to get (the disability rating) where it should be.”

Myer felt he took a step in that direction by coming to the center. “They listened to what I had to say,” he said. “They rewrote what my conditions were. They’re trying to get me (rated for) PTSD. Because I did the same thing with the macho bull, I didn’t mention that things were keeping me up at night. I wasn’t informed enough to bring those things up. But between (rewriting) my conditions and adding the PTSD, they’ve given me hope. And hope is a magic word.

“It’s sad that we had this kind of a change so dramatically, with all the deaths and everything, but it’s certainly put us in a better position of getting what we feel is fair.”

Post 15 member Hugh Crawford, a Vietnam War Army veteran, recently found out that VA has reduced his service connection from 60 to 10 percent. Crawford said he has a heart condition due to exposure to Agent Orange and the condition isn’t going to go away or improve.

“I’ve had heart diseases, heart attacks and bypasses,” Crawford said. “My local cardiologist said once you’ve got that, you’ve always got that … and you’ll likely have another problem. I’m on high risk the rest of my life. I did OK on the treadmill test, and (VA says) ‘you’re all better now.’ They’re trying to take it away from me, and I’m trying to fight it.”

Crawford was glad he stopped by the center. “It was worth my time coming in,” he said. “I’m getting help from a state VA officer up in Portland, but two heads are better than one. I talked to a VA representative here, and he had some input. Maybe we can do some good.”

Past Department Commander Bob Huff, a member of Post 15, was at the center both days from opening to close. He said the VCCC was much-needed in the area. “We have a large VA presence here, but the VA here is a rehabilitation center,” he said. “It’s a mental health facility and it’s a detox facility, and they do a good job.

“On the side of VA, there’s a clinic, and it’s not even a CBOC (community-based outpatient clinic). And if you do need an appointment here, you can’t get it. It has to go through Roseburg, it has to go through Portland. So (this center) is good for the people. That seems to be the big issue: getting people into the VA system, because they’re very limited here. They’re not staffed for the population they have.”

Post 15 member Mike Whitfield, who was homeless seven years ago but now works for non-profit Rogue Valley Veterans and Community Outreach, also stopped at the VCCC several times. He said the center provides something that all veterans need: a voice.

“This is critical because (the veterans’) voices need to be heard on an individual level,” Whitfield said. “To be able to address each person, you’ve got to hear their whole spectrum of what’s going on. They’re so unique in their own individual cases, and they have to be heard individually.”

Not all those who stopped had health or claims questions. A week earlier, Josh Schatz was finishing up his final day after a six-year enlistment in the U.S. Army. Looking at the next stage of his life, the 29-year-old returned to his home state with the intention of going to college.

At the center, he was able to get information on the GI Bill – helping provide a bit of order in an otherwise chaotic period of his life. “I am in complete disarray,” Schatz said with a laugh. “No matter how organized I thought I was … I’m not.”

Though hosting the two-day center meant some long hours for Post 15 volunteers, it was worth it, Fitzgerald said. “It’s a great honor for us in two ways: No. 1 in that we can even be in the position to be offered the opportunity, but even more so, it’s the opportunity to be able to help the vets who so desperately need it,” he said.