The BVA Beacon
VOL. 10, NO. 7 Winter, 2010
Editor & Web Master: Dennis J. O'Connell
Regional Group Web Site: http://www.nyrgbva.org
OFFICERS OF THE NEW YORK REGIONAL GROUP
President Frederick Knapp Vice President John Morrall, Jr.
Secretary Dennis O’Connell Treasurer Jack Shapiro
GOOD NEWS ON ANNUITY CHECKS
I was informed that starting with the January 2010 check the Blind Veterans New York Annuity check will be increased to $101.73. With no COLA from the Federal Government on our checks from them in 2010, it is a nice change that New York State increases our annuity checks by 4%.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The House of Representatives has a bill HR 3485 which will eliminate this annuity being counted as income. Meaning, if this bill eventually becomes law the veterans annuity checks will not be subtracted from the VA pension income. We really need either Senator Schumer or Senator Gillibrand to introduce a Senate bill saying the same thing the House bill HR 3485 says. Now it’s up to you, your family and your friends to contact your 2 Senate offices and House Representative to introduce a bill in the Senate or co-sponsor HR 3485 respectively. The toll free number to contact these individuals offices is 866 727 4894. Even if this bill does not affect you, make that call to help another blinded veteran.
VA Blue Water Claims Update
The VA is currently building their list of Blue Water Navy ships (which include Coast Guard vessels) that performed duties on inland waterways. The Washington office at VA Headquarters is spearheading this effort and they have notified all the Regional Offices that whenever they get information regarding Blue Water Navy ships that sailed on inland waters and/or BWN ships that docked in Vietnamese ports or harbors, they are to submit that information to the DC offices for verification. Information from Deck Logs and other sources will be investigated for credibility. In filing a claim based on presumptive exposure to herbicides if your ship was in port or on inland waters, the best thing you can do is present the Regional Office (RO) along with your claim submission certified copies of the information you are using to prove this situation. In many cases, information from a Cruise Book is ideal. Information from your ship's history from Internet sites is also good. Send a copy of that portion of the Cruise book, ship's history and/or photos that show river service or docking, along with a request for the Regional VA Office to obtain the deck logs for that time period to substantiate your claim. Statements attesting to the fact that what you are submitting is true to the best of your knowledge should also be sent. You should have a VSO or the RO itself certify that the copies being submitted are true copies of the original documents which you need to show, but retain in your possession. The ROs will submit the certified copies of this information to the Comp & Pen Division in Washington, and the database of these inland water services will be created after verification of this information. The ultimate goal of this will be a database searchable by the Regional Offices that will validate your claims for presumptive exposure if the ship, for your specified timeframe, is in the database already from someone else's claim. Otherwise, your submission will create the first entry into the database. You will not have to bear the cost of obtaining the Deck Logs under this scenario. That will be the responsibility of the VA. Include a copy of the 19 OCT 09 letter from Secretary Shinseki to Senator Akaka which mentions the development of this searchable database of BWN ships serving in Vietnam. To download a copy of that letter refer to www.bluewaternavy.org/10-19-09-VA-Shinseki-response.pdf .
VA Outside Medical Claims
Occasionally veterans go to or are transported to non-VA civilian health care facilities for "emergent" treatment of their particular medical condition. To obtain VA payment for this care certain procedures must be followed to file a claim for payment for these services. Beginning with dates of service on and after 1 MAR 09 you must submit claims for VA payment consideration for emergency care not previously authorized to: Department of Veterans Affairs, Financial Services Center (FSC), Non-VA Emergency Claims, P.O. Box 149364, Austin, TX 78714-9364. All claims with dates of service before 1 MAR 09 must be mailed to your local VA Medical Center. To expedite claims processing, be sure that each claim is complete and filed within 90 days following the episode of care. Incomplete claims will be returned. Do not forget to include documentation of any communication
with the VA regarding patient treatment or disposition. A call center at FSC is available to assist you with payment and claims processing inquiries. You may contact the customer call center at 1(866) 372-1144, M-F 08-1630 (CST) excluding Federal holidays. A claim file is complete if it has the following documentation:
a. Complete UB-04 or CMS-1500 claim form to include the National Provider Identification (NPI) number
b. Supporting medical documentation for the following services is needed for claims adjudication:
• Inpatient: Admission sheet, discharge summary, operation reports, daily progress notes, and doctor orders.
• Outpatient: Emergency room treatment notes (including chief complaint, and examination/evaluation results), applicable observation notes, any consultation reports, and diagnostic findings.
• Emergency Transportation: Transportation notes indicating location the episode of emergency care took place and facility and address the patient was transported to. The transportation notes should include the chief complaint, examination/evaluation results, applicable observation notes, and any diagnostic findings.
VA Tinnitus Care Update
An 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, it’s related to an acoustic insult or gunfire. However, there may be no obvious cause for the tinnitus for many sufferers. It’s 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 it’s 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 patient’s 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. Don’t worry about the tinnitus, don’t keep a log, and don’t 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 participant’s 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 patient’s 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, Calif.; 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, Calif.; 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 University’s 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.
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Washington, Tuesday November 10, 2009
Hon. Christopher S. Murphy, of Connecticut in the House of Representatives
Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of Old Farms Convalescent Hospital in Avon, CT.
After World War II, Old Farms Convalescent Hospital offered the only rehabilitation program in the United States for visually impaired veterans returning from battle.
This year on Veterans’ Day, the Avon Historical Society and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3272 will be sponsoring a celebration to honor the impressive work of the hospital and its impact on the lives of the veterans who received treatment there.
Old Farms Convalescent Hospital opened on July 1, 1944 when Mrs. Theodate Pope Riddle, the founder of Avon’s Old Farms School, loaned the school for use as a veterans’ hospital. She graciously and patriotically closed the private boys’ school and rented the space to the U.S. Army for $1 per year. For three years, the school treated more than 800 veterans who had either sustained damage or complete loss of their vision as a result of their action overseas.
On March 28, 1945, the Blinded Veterans Association of America was founded at the Old Farms Convalescent Hospital when a group of patients banded together to advocate for themselves and other visually impaired veterans. Since the end of World War II, the organization has expanded to a membership of over 11,000 veterans nationwide.
The celebration of the 65th anniversary of Old Farms Convalescent Hospital helps us remember the veterans who received treatment there, as well as the community in Avon who rose to the occasion to provide much-needed services to veterans who lost their sight in combat.
We can never fully repay the debt we owe to our nation’s heroes for the sacrifices they made to preserve our freedoms. Mrs. Riddle and the other community members who made Old Farms Convalescent Hospital available to help rehabilitate hundreds of veterans did their part to show their gratitude for their service. I am proud to represent the Old Farms Convalescent Hospital and the community of Avon. I hope that we can all learn from their example and thank all those who served our nation in the armed forces.
Social Security told to modernize for the blind
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Social Security Administration must give the nation's 3 million blind or visually impaired recipients the option
of receiving benefit notices in Braille or by audio computer disc, a federal judge in San Francisco said.
Ruling in a nationwide class-action suit, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that by sending notices only by mail and phone calls, the agency is violating a law that guarantees the disabled equal access to its programs. He ordered the government to make the additional choices available by April 15, 2010.
The case involves some of the 100 million notices the Social Security
Administration sends each year to its 61 million beneficiaries, advising them of scheduled appointments, program changes, tax filings and possible benefit cuts.
About 250,000 Americans receive benefits because of blindness, and another 2.7 million blind or sight-impaired people get Social Security for other reasons.
Under rules authorized by Congress in 1988 and 1990, they can choose to be notified of agency actions by mail, with a follow-up phone call, or by certified mail with a return receipt. Those who make no choice are contacted by mail without a phone call.
Alsup said the current system may have been effective 20 years ago, but no longer provides the "meaningful access" the law requires, in light of advanced technology.
Little evidence was presented that blind people had lost benefits because of inadequate notice, Alsup said, but the current system is ineffective for at least some recipients.
For example, he said, a blind person who needs to respond to a written notice must wait until someone is available to read it aloud, and may have problems meeting government deadlines.
Alsup said the Social Security Administration refused to acknowledge that it was even covered by the anti-discrimination law until after the suit was filed in 2005, and "has been quick to find lame excuses for noncompliance."
The agency must inform all blind and visually impaired recipients by Dec. 31 that they will have the choice of getting notices in Braille or by Microsoft Word CD in mid-April, Alsup said. He said those who want another option, such as notification by e-mail, must be allowed to request it and show why they need it.
"This is a huge benefit," said attorney Silvia Yee of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in Berkeley, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. She said the ruling will allow many recipients "to have an independence in working with the (Social Security Administration) that they've never had before."
Many sight-impaired recipients, particularly the young and those who become blind later in life, can't read Braille, Yee said, "but for people who do Braille, it's their first choice." She said the CD option would particularly help younger recipients.
Lowell Kepke, spokesman for the Social Security Administration's regional office in Richmond, said the agency "will review the order and take whatever actions are appropriate."
LOCAL NEWS IN SYRACUSE
Katie McCormick, a rehabilitation outpatient specialist for the blind at the Syracuse VA Medical Center, shows U.S. Navy veteran Jim Corcoran, of Fairmount, how to use a closed-circuit camera to view the printed word, objects and photographs. His wife, Loretta, says that his vision has been reduced to 3 percent, which is similar to looking at the world through a straw.
A degenerative eye disease forced Navy veteran Jim Corcoran to end his career as a photographer in 1991. But after visiting his local VA, Corcoran learned to cope with his diminishing eyesight and has moved on.
“Losing your sight is an emotional thing." said Corcoran, of Syracuse. '"But it has really just been a challenge for me to overcome."
Corcoran was one of about two dozen veterans and health officials who came to the Syracuse VA Medical Center on Friday to celebrate national White Cane Day.
The remembrance began in 1964 as a way to raise awareness of the needs of the blind and celebrate the aid that has helped them be more independent.
Improvements in magnification devices, such as portable closed-caption televisions, have enabled people with visual impairments to maintain their independence, said Nancy Chaffee, coordinator of the Syracuse VA's visual impairment service team.
In Central and Upstate New York, about 23,500 veterans will visit Veterans hospitals next year seeking visual rehabilitation to learn more
about the options available to them.
At his job at AHEPA Management Co., which provides housing options for the elderly, Corcoran uses a magnification device to read documents and computer software that talks to him.
"Nobody wants to be sitting at home, totally dependent on others for basic needs," he said. '"I couldn't do my job without the technology. It's something
I am thankful for."
Joseph Martone, 84, of Syracuse, lost his vision just two weeks before World War II ended when a tank explosion took both of his eyes. As time has passed, Martone has learned to use a computer that dictates his letters and a scanner that reads his printed mail.
“It's amazing the things technology can do," Martone said.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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