EPISODE 3 (PART 1) What is the Veteran’s Service Office? How they can truly advocate for you, unlike the VA.

PART 1 of 2 - Veteran’s should not need to work so hard to secure benefits that they deserve. Learn how the Veteran’s Service Office (VSO) can and will fight for you, today and forever.

Transcript

Jamie Callahan: Hi, this is Jamie Callahan with the Team Senior Podcast. Our goal is to simplify aging society, grooms us to plan for retirement, but what about life beyond retirement, where the rubber meets the road? Perhaps you've had a stroke or you've been diagnosed with cancer, or maybe you're forgetting things and now you have dementia.

That's our area of expertise and we are here to share our insight. And now the team senior podcast. Hi there. This is Jamie Callahan again from Team Senior. I have a guest in the studio today, and I'm super excited for him to introduce himself. 

Joseph Hedburg: Hi, I'm Joseph Hedberg. I am an accredited veteran service officer with the State of Oregon, and I am accredited with the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs.

Jamie Callahan: Very nice. Joseph, what qualifications or training do you have to prepare for your position? I. I work in a dual role with the Veteran Service Office.

Joseph Hedburg: I am the community program coordinator, so I work with planning outreach events so that we can get out into the community and see veterans who might be in a more rural area like Prospect or out in Applegate.

And I do work as a VSO as well. So part of that training and those requirements are. A lot of book reading, education and side-by-side trainings to learn how to fill out the forms and to learn what the process is when it comes to any type of claim. You do that for about. And in total, close to a year before the state of Oregon accredits you.

I am accredited in the state of California which in some cases has caused a little bit of problems with being in Oregon as well because C comes before o in alphabetical order. That has caused a little bit of a headache. But in California, I. Did six months of on-the-job training prior to my accreditation for that state.

Jamie Callahan: Very nice. If you know anything about Team Senior or all of the things that we do for veterans, I'm a huge fan of the Veteran Service Office and the officers that work there you've heard me say, I'm sure for years if you have met me or heard me speak at any events that. We rarely send anyone to the va.

We usually send everyone to the Veteran Service office. And I always like to mention that the veteran service officers are not actually compensated by the va. They are compensated by their county typically from the general fund, and they are a veterans. Absolute biggest cheerleaders. I have seen them get benefits for veterans that were denied year over year when applying, through other forms of exploring whether or not they would qualify for benefits.

These veteran service officers, they take pride in winning benefits for you, and it's something that I absolutely love promoting because they are doing some really good work. Joseph, can you give us an overview of the types of services and assistance that a veteran might be able to get? At through the VSO.

Joseph Hedburg: The Veteran Service Office is really a one-stop shop for most veterans. While we can assist with applying for medical benefits, that form is actually sent to a local facility, maybe like in White City or down in Yreka, or Grants Pass Roseburg. Wherever you wanna receive medical treatment at, that's where that form will be faxed to, but we can definitely help you fill it out.

We also help veterans apply for. Compensation, which is another form of service connected disability. Let's say you injured your left knee in service and it still bothers you years after service, you can apply for a service connected disability and receive a rating and monthly compensation for that.

We apply for help veterans apply for non-service connected pensions. If you're below the poverty level at a certain point or you're. On a fixed income, the VA can provide a supplemental form of income for you for spouses and widows. If a veteran dies of a service connected condition, they are eligible for DIC or if they are below a certain level of income or poverty level, the widows are eligible for a pension as well.

Jamie Callahan: What is DIC. 

Joseph Hedburg: DIC is death indemnity compensation. It basically means that the death of the veteran was related to a service connected condition and with certain areas of toxic exposure for veterans in the Vietnam era for Agent Orange, or with the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and anywhere in the Middle East with the toxic burn pit or oil fields toxic exposures.

Those are, condition, they, there are service connected conditions that can lead to life altering issues. 

Jamie Callahan: So that's a great segue. Very quickly let's just cover for a minute the PAC to ACT and all the new benefits that are available to veterans as a result of that, and what does that stand for?

Joseph Hedburg: The PACT ACT acronym is quite a long acronym, and I'm apologize that I don't know it off the top of my head, but the basis of the PACT Act is they took several toxic exposures, not just Agent Orange but even toxic burn pits oils, solvents. Chemicals, things like that, and they rolled it all into one, and it is broken up into two categories.

You have the Vietnam era for Agent Orange exposure and the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gulf War era of exposures. Now. One of the biggest changes with that piece of legislation that was passed on August 10th, 2022, was the addition of all of Thailand, because when we were in Vietnam, a lot of our air bases were operated in Thailand.

The, you had to have been on the flight line or around the flight line in order to qualify prior to pass the passing of the PACT Act. That's not the case now. If you were anywhere, boots on the ground for at least one day in Thailand, you now qualify. Another big change to that legislation also was the incorporation of veterans who served in Guam during the Vietnam War.

Or even afterwards. The PAC Act covers from 1962 all the way to 1980 for Guam. So if you were in Guam, even during peace time between 76 and 1980, and you have certain issues, maybe hypertension, maybe type two diabetes, maybe you've been diagnosed with prostate cancer or some form of lung cancer, you qualify for benefits because of Agent Orange exposure on Guam.

One claim I am working on particularly is for a. DIC claim, the veteran had type two diabetes which led to a stroke, and they were on Guam from 1958 to 1960. Now. The PACT Act honors only the start of the Vietnam War in 1962, but research has been done and the VA has already conceded that they started testing Agent Orange in Guam prior to Vietnam in 1958.

So that is a claim I've been monitoring and I'm hoping I win just because the VA has conceded it and it's not the fault of the veteran or the widow that politicians chose the dates. 

Jamie Callahan: That's a really good point. So I am familiar with quite a number of cases that pass in front of the VS o regarding the PACT Act, and I have seen a number of veterans not meet the qualifications that are on your kind of one sheeter for the PACT Act, but when it goes to hearing, they're actually winning.

So that's something that's very exciting. 

Joseph Hedburg: So some of the cases that we've seen where something gets denied at, we call it the regional level, which is every state in the nation has a regional office. Oregon's is in Portland, Washington's is in Seattle. Florida's is in St. Petersburg. Just certain examples to give there.

Nevada's is in Reno, but it could lose at the regional level. But if you file a higher level review for more experienced, I. Rating officer or even take it to the board and argue it in front of the judge, you have a better chance of winning those because they tried to do their best to weigh all evidence and review that.

And if you are doing something like a higher level review, the best part is to quote the VA law in your statement on why you're filing that higher level review. Because if you're quoting what the VA law says in criteria, which is usually listed in your letter, and you find evidence that says, Hey, you say this, but I found this that supports my claim.

You have a higher chance of getting that claim Granted, as long as your arguments and your VSOs interpretation of the law is better than that original rating. 

Jamie Callahan: And it's something that's so exciting. As I said, I cannot sing the praises of the VSO enough. So quickly, I wanna back up because I did ask what the definition of the PACT Act was, and while Joseph was talking, I looked it up.

And it is very long. It is very long. So it is the Sergeant First Class Health Robinson, honoring our promise to address. Comprehensive Toxins Act that of 2022. That is a very long way to, call out the PACT Act. But I think the part that really matters is the promise to address comprehensive toxins or Toxics Act of 2022.

Joseph Hedburg: And another thing. In regards to the PACT Act, it's not just toxic burn pits or agent orange exposure, but they all are more or less lumped into the same category. It's called terra, TERA, and that stands for toxic exposure risk activity. So your terra could be some form of asbestos exposure. It could be an exposure to certain solvents that have been known to cause life altering things.

There's another solvent that was used. By mechanics. It was the acronym is CTE, I believe, and it's been known to cause diabetes. So if you were using certain solvents or chemicals for cleaning agents or. Whatever might have been for your military occupational specialty or your MOS you could possibly receive compensation based on that.

Another big one that is covered in Tara is firefighting foams. If you were in the Navy, a lot of sailors went through some form of firefighter training if they were on the aircraft carriers and those firefighting foams have been known to cause diabetes and other, life altering issues. So yes, it's not just Agent Orange.

If you, if, and it's our job to work on it as well. If we can do the research on your behalf and find supporting evidence that, hey, this exposure led to this condition, we have a chance at winning that. 

Jamie Callahan: That's amazing. So I recently heard some things that. Have been very enlightening. So one thing I heard is that JP four or jet fuel is also something that can be a qualifier, right?

Joseph Hedburg: Yes. 

. So in JP four has been known to cause soft tissue sarcomas and other forms of skin cancer. But it has to be listed on the presumptive list and soft tissue sarcomas, not carcinomas, and not melanomas. So it has to specifically be a carcinoma. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about mountain Home, Idaho.

Jamie Callahan: What do you know about that place? 

Joseph Hedburg: I know that it's an Air Force base. I do know that there's an EPA study going on about toxins that have been found in the groundwater. But I don't know much more than that. And they would not be the first military installation with an EPA study done for toxic exposures.

Jamie Callahan: I'm very glad to hear that an investigation is happening. My own dad. Actually trained at Mountain Home and he has a number of symptoms that would be the direct result of an Agent Orange exposure. I know about that because of him. I wanna move on a little bit and talk about specific, different, specific types of benefits that are available.

So one of them, for the folks that I work with, which are typically senior veterans from Vietnam, Korean World War ii. We help them pursue aid in attendance and one of the only things I really know about that they need to have in terms of a qualifier is that they have to have served during a period of war, but they don't have to have served in the war.

They didn't have to be on the front lines, but they had to be enlisted during a period of war. Can you talk us through just at a high level, what are the things that Aiden attendance can do for someone? 

Joseph Hedburg: So Aidan attendance can help pay for in-home care. If a veteran, or in certain cases maybe a widow can qualify for Aidan attendance through DIC.

It helps pay for the in-home care. So if they can't cook for themselves, they can't monitor their own medications, they have trouble bathing that. Money is supposed to supplement their income to pay for an in-home care provider to assist them with those types of things. And in some instances aid and attendance has also benefited veterans who might be in an in unassisted living community that try saying that five times fast.

And so that helps pay for some of those needs in that facility. So what is the typical maximum amount that somebody can get through aid in attendance? It's quite I won't say it's difficult, but it's, I can't give a hard answer on that just because there are different types of special monthly compensations, so there's several different levels of what can be deemed as a special monthly compensation.

So it's based on the severity of the disability. I. In certain cases. And each level is pays a different amount. Okay. And those numbers, again, I don't make that determination. That would be a determination that the VA adjudicator would make. 

Jamie Callahan: Okay. Let's talk. 

Just briefly about other types of services that are available to senior veterans.

So we've talked about aid in attendance. We know that we can pursue additional compensation through the PACT Act and maybe comp pension and things like that. My understanding is that there are services available that provide disposable types of things like Chucks and briefs and things like that.

Talk to me about how a senior would pursue that. 

Joseph Hedburg: Some of those programs vary. You can often talk to your local VA facility or even a potential community partner. When I worked at Siskiyou County, I. Veteran service office, we had a whole storage room with wheelchairs, walkers, canes, briefs additional clothing.

And it was basically a first come first service. Someone needed something and we had it on hand. We would give it to them. Our. Veteran service office. I wish we had the room to do something like that, but unfortunately we don't. But you can always check with your local VA facility as well. One community partner that may assist with the building of handicap ramps or wheelchair ramps in the home is you can always check with prosthetics.

At most VA facilities they have. Forms to do that. But local Habitat for Humanity stores have special grants where they will build those for veterans 'cause they do have those available. So that's something to look into. 

Jamie Callahan: Yeah. That's awesome. So tell me a little bit about some of the most common challenges that a veteran would face when coming into the Veteran Service Office and they're trying to access these types of benefits.

Joseph Hedburg: One of the biggest challenges. The one thing that the VSO does for these guys is take and gals is, takes care of the hard part, and that's the paperwork. The forms themselves are incre can be incredibly confusing for folks. So we are not the, most of us aren't the type of people to say, here's the form, fill it out and then come back to us like.

We try to explain what the form is for stuff like pension, when you need three to five years of income to fill out on that form. That's one where we'll explain what we need and then provide it to them. Because I don't have three to five years of their income in front of me. They'd have to do their own research on that.

If they have those tax records. With. The senior community, I think there's a couple of stigmas within them. One of it involves with people that don't think that they deserve the benefits, and I'm here to say that you do deserve it. You served, so no one's gonna lose out on benefits because you are taking them.

You are not taking those from anybody else. The government has enough money to provide. Enough funding for all veterans for their benefits. So if you are, don't think that you deserve 'em. Come in and we will work on that. Another stigma that I've noticed in a few communities that there's, they don't want to feel like they're receiving a handout from the government, and that's not the case.

If you have a condition because of a toxic exposure like you. Get that, you know it happened to you because of that service, because you served your country. So don't look at it as a handout or a bad thing. And in some cases I. I've talked to a veteran who wanted nothing to do with benefits in the past.

We talked to him and said what about your spouse? How are you? How is she gonna be taken care of after you pass? Because if it is due to one of your service connections due to agent organ exposure in Vietnam, she will then be entitled to this much money. Even if you don't wanna spend that money yourself.

Put that away for grandkids towards a college fund or something like that. So being able to provide examples of how that can benefit someone else other than themselves has also been a winning formula for getting people into the office. 

Jamie Callahan: That's such a great point. I do hear that quite often when I'm talking with folks, and it's very interesting to me too.

How few veterans know that the veteran service. Office exists many times when I am doing a preliminary interview with someone on the phone or we're meeting with them bedside in the hospital, or maybe it's in their living room, and we share with them that we wanna help them pursue benefits through the VA or from the va.

Just like you said, many of them will pump the brakes immediately. Either they've had a bad experience or they're not interested. Sometimes it is because of taking benefits away from someone else. But when we can encourage them to go to the VSO and that it's a very different setting and they don't have to travel to the VA and that the VSO or the Veteran service offices are truly going to act like their cheerleader, it encourages them to engage and then try to get those benefits in place.

 Joseph, can you tell me when a veteran comes to your office and they want to sign up for benefits, what do they need to bring with them? 

Joseph Hedburg: One of the primary things that we like to have with them at the time they sign up is their DD two 14. Any medical documents if you're filing a claim, but the DD two 14 is especially important, especially with some veterans in certain communities.

They don't remember the exact day they enlisted or the day they got outta service. So having that on that. Form is extremely helpful. Medical information or diagnoses for any conditions you wish to file for. Now, the VA law specifically states you do not need a diagnosis to file for a condition because the VA doctors can diagnose you with that condition.

However, in recent years we've seen VA examiners be unwilling to make that diagnosis and. Be unwilling to link it to service. So then it creates an uphill battle for the VSOs part because even though there's evidence that could suggest it in medical files or based on exposures it's something to get done and you have a higher chance of winning a claim if you have it diagnosed prior to filing for it.

And in certain cases with veterans that don't know what to file for, if someone served in the infantry, one thing we will tell them is we are gonna submit a hearing loss and a tinnitus, or tinnitus, however you wanna pronounce it, claim for you. And that's ringing in the ears. The reason being is because the probability of high noise exposure can lead to hearing loss and the tinnitus with.

Weapon fire. And so we submit a basic claim like that for someone, and then once that claim is being processed, we will then have the ability to go into their VA file and check their service treatment records to see anything else because some of these. I've talked with veterans that are like, oh no, I never went to sick call.

I never reported anything. I never did that. And then I go through their file and it's you reported a back problem three times, or you had this, I talked to a veteran that didn't even remember he had knee surgery in service. And it's you're not service connected for that pal. Wow. Let's get you taken care of.

And he's oh yeah I forgot I had surgery. I know I injured it, but I didn't think it was that bad. Just oh my goodness. Yeah. That's the trauma, right? So what does a veteran do if they don't have their DD two 14? If they don't have their DD two 14? We do have ways of ordering it and we will send it into the National Personnel Record Center.

Usually we try to file it online 'cause it. Can come back a little bit faster than if we send it in direct mail. If you do it direct mail, you're probably gonna be waiting up to six months. If we do it online and they're able to find it it can be four to six weeks. 

Jamie Callahan: And what are you, what types of documentation do they need to bring in if you're gonna have to go find their DD two 14?

Joseph Hedburg: We would just need an approximate. Time of when they served. So if they, served between, January of 1962 to January of 1966, bases or locations they served at. So if they went to Fort Benning for basic training and then they were transferred to Fort. Gordon, Georgia, and then from Georgia, they went to Hawaii or wherever they can remember.

We don't need all of 'em, we just need a basis of where you went in and where you possibly came out at. But any base in between is extremely helpful as well. Very nice. And then going from there, just request that DD two 14 and hopefully we'll get something back. 

Jamie Callahan: That is great information for every veteran to have.

Joseph, I wanna say thank you for joining us this week. We are outta time, but Joseph's coming back next week, so you're gonna hear from him again in part two of our information regarding the Veteran Service Office. Thank you so much. I wanna encourage you again to remember that you don't have to remember all of this.

All you need to know is that you can reach out to the Veteran Service Office. You can also reach out to Team Senior if you have any questions ever. We look forward to chatting with you again next week. Thank you for having me. Thank you for listening to the Team Senior podcast. We're here every week sharing new and relevant information.

Remember that we're just a phone call away. Team Senior can be reached at 5 4 1 2 9 5 8 2 3 0 Again. 5 4 1 2 9 5 82 30. Until next time, this is Jamie Callahan.