Correcting Errors, Getting Records, Will it Improve? WHEN?

If you applied for benefits or service from the Veterans Administration anytime in the pass and you are still waiting, for the next second fill good about it, because you are a Veteran, treated like all the rest of us. Just to cover one person, I have two Honorable Discharges and volunteered for combat with the 187th Airborne, in the Korean War, yet for the last five years, the VA (Veterans Administrations) has sometime treated me like a dog. In fact, when I discuss with my associates, the treatment veterans receive, compare  it with animals, there is more restriction and delays in treating veterans than treating pets. When I look at my personal records, the only branch I give an A+, to, is all the nurses and doctors in the examination and  treatment process.  And yes, I include all the supporting staff involved in the treatment process. Why such high rating? When I receive yeoman treatment, I am not afraid to report it!
When I took my stress test ordered by my private doctor, the doctor overseeing the test told me he had given a couple of the Cleveland Brown players the same test. About two years later I took my stress test at the VA Medical Center. Both, the private and the VA Test show that I am in good health.
Where I have suffered, and I do mean suffered, is getting my records, and application for benefits being delayed or denied because I cannot get my  records, both personal and medical. More than fifty years ago I asked for my medical records and  they told me, they didn’t exist. About two years ago someone working on my claim read from a copy of my Army Medical Records. I applied for a copy and receive a form to fill out that would help in conducting a search for my Army Medical Records. I ask for my Navel Reserve records received them in two weeks. Now I have a medical record that proves I had no problem with my eyes when I enlisted in the Army Airborne and served three years and four days.
As I lived my life, seeing  my doctors and using the hospital when needed, things begin to go wrong. Someone, or some group or team of persons has decided to ether do me harm or cost me money by making sure I do not receive my benefits.
Examples, I had to pay $500. for three nights’ stay in the hospital because someone changed my records or send in incorrect information to Atlanta, GA. Before I could get that corrected, someone changed or deleted information from my records, that showed that I had served in the Naval Reserve two years, and the Army three years including combat in the Korean War. All this information on a copy of my DD-214 that everyone must send before they can receive treatment at a VA hospital.
When I reported for my follow-up, after my stay in the hospital, they told me I was not eligible to receive treatment at that hospital. I immediately went to the Eligibility Officer’s office and she told me to talk with Patient Representative. At the Stokes VA Medical Center, everyone including the Veteran Organizations told me that this woman is the Apex, and knows what a veteran should do to get medical service they need. Next, I went to see a Patient Representative and immediately, he started the process to get my files back in the systems. Twice, I have met with a Patient Representative and they prove that they are ready to help a veteran. My hospital medical records have been restored, and again, I can go to a VA medical facility any place in the world and receive treatment for my health needs.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING:

If its Ok with your doctor.  You have my permission to over eat today.

Enjoy, with Family and Friends

Work Loads, Business Tasks and Progress

The last twelve months have been time-consuming, leaving very little time for writing  and posting  content.  In the last six months, my job has been to transfer three years of a company’s accounts from paper too electronic, without any changes in the account names or amounts. Since the accounting records needed for the funding application is important,  each day is consume working on the accounts, leaving no time for posting or pleasure.
With the accounting work complete, I loaded my car and transported myself to Ohio. Once here, I went to work on the landscaping required to get the yard back in shape, after the County of Lake, installed a new water line and used my parking space on the side of the garage as off-street parking with the promise they would do all  needed repairs, to make it whole again. That work is still pending, but I spoke to Lake County’s Project Engineer, and agreed that I will write a letter to the contractor and let them know that I expect them to keep the agreement.
All the business concerns, health matters requiring care, and the house and yard needing much care, consumed every hour in the day.  Add  the time getting my computer repaired, and working with my Grand kids  parents to get the girls started in swimming and playing Soccer, seem to exceed the hours in a day!
Now we are back, ready to write posts and pages, telling every business effort we engaged in, successes and failures. Yes, I mean tell-all, in some detail. Always making sure, I honor all NDA agreements. (Non Disclosures Agreements). Why tell-all? We are in business, starting, expanding and growing businesses. They asked to come on board because my associates got burned on three large contracts.  You can see why, people in this business dislike dishonesty and will help each other avoid getting burned by someone trying to get enough information by talking to you, and get a contract with a buddy or friend because now they can do it themselves. “ Proceed with caution.  This stuff occurs every day.”

Stimulus, Business and Funding

We were funded by an associate. The operation costs were billed and paid each month. When the economy went bad, we were told that we had to get a bridge loan, they could no longer afford the payments. With a $1.5 million bridge loan, we can complete the work necessary to get the information to the Investment Bankers so they can market the stocks and bonds and provide the operation capital and pay the balance on the land. The employees are not working because we cannot pay them! Two are working with the promise that we are going to secure funds for expenses and salaries.

As I read this legislation about the Stimulus funds, it seems a business short on operation funds like ours will fall through the cracks! We have $2 billion account we are well into securing commitments for the architect to design the buildings. Tiger Wood is considering designing  the golf courses. The project is out of country, but seven workers are in the US and one is in the UK. The other project is here in the United States, a Native American casino and education Center.

I called SBA and she could not give me the person I could meet within my area because my phone area code is not listed! “She said.” I ask the person that order the phone and he said “it is because I have a New York area code,” I have no problem using the phone so I was not aware that (646) is an NY area code. I registered on line, and email it to the SBA, I will follow up next week! If you are seeking funds via federal, state, county and other local government entities, here is where I started: first I went on line and completed everything I could for federal funds, grants and other benefits. Next, I contact the state, and apply for the right to bid on set-asides and funds ear marked for small businesses, and in my case the states ask me what county I was in and gave the number to call so I could apply for funds to keep the business going until we can complete our funding efforts.

Will I post my progress in this effort? Yes. Will I give the governmental agency that funds our business efforts? Yes. Why? Because that is what we do, we work hard daily to get businesses up and running because I believe: A Small American Business is The Only American Business!

Not Judging Not Urging: Just Observing

When visiting the VA Medical Centers for treatment and other reasons you notice the many health problems the veterans are faced with daily in the United States. You see the smiles, hellos alone with the pains, and with “I can just make it one day at a time looks” I start to think about, how did that person get in that condition? Was it the war or his or her life style that left them in that condition? As I visit various departments, I see signs and posters urging us to exercise and keep fit. Once when I was waiting for my medicine at the Pharmacist I saw a poster for Viagra. When you are picking up your medication they tell you, and show you how to take it, or how to use it correctly. It seems everything is being done to aid the veterans in their efforts to return to and remain as normal as possible. During the last two and a half year I have been going to the VA Medical Centers I have become aware that it is my responsibility to use my medications correctly and maintain a healthy eating habit, while I get the proper exercise needed to maintain a healthy life style. Personally, I get that hard to define feeling when I see the many veterans that have achieved and are maintaining their health, so they can enjoy life with family and friends.

Yet every time I go to a VA Health Care facility and it’s a nice sunny day, I see patience outside walking, in Wheel Chairs, or on their beds smoking cigarettes. When I visit with them for a chat about the things, happening now, and about days gone by, some time the smoke is so bad I have to get upwind or leave the area. Smoking is bad for you at any stage of life. You suddenly would be better of without smoking when you are ill or hurt. I am sure, the need to puff on a cigarette decrease when you are a patience in the hospital. This, it seems, would be the best time to quit smoking. During my three nights stay in the Stokes VA Hospital someone asked me, at least, once a day if I smoked and my answer was no. Someone has to make the decision to let the patience smoke outside away from the building and outside the no-smoking-area, which are clearly marked for all to see and heed. Smoking is a difficult habit to break, so I can understand a bedridden patience craving a cigarette. But in the hospital when I was sick for ten days I did not smoke or drink, I took my medicine and strived to get well enough to go home. I started smoking at age twelve. (Smoking rabbit tobacco, rolled in brown paper) yes, I am aware that most of you, have no ideal what rabbit tobacco look like, it would not help if I described it to you now, so I’ll just tell you, we rolled it into a cigarette, lite it with a match and smoked it. Every once in a blue moon we would encounter someone with a bag of Bull Durham tobacco and the cigarette paper to roll it in, we would bum a cigarette and a few sheets of paper for our rabbit tobacco. In those days you would ask a person, friend or relative if they had a cigarette, if the answer was yes, you would ask if they had a “hard roll” (rolled at the factory) or a “home-made-twist” (rolled by the smoker) I quit smoking at age 36 and five months later I had to go to the doctor for my annual physical, at that time in life, you got a chest X-ray with your physical and the doctor turned the X-ray machine around so I could see it and said “look at how your Chest has cleared up in just five months.”

For some people, it takes more effort to break a habit, then it does for others. For me it was easy, my three children lined up in the livingroom, at age 12, 11 and 10, (once every year they are a year apart in age.) And asked, “dad can we ask you to do something? And I said “yes what is it?” and they said “will you quit smoking?” and I said “I will stop right now” and never smoke cigarettes again. I can stop a habit over night, stop eating potato pie for months at a time, walk pass banana pudding and refuse to tasted it. And I am well aware, that many people cannot do that, they just have very little self control, therefore cannot resist things they are addicted too. As a people and as a nation, we should start teaching children at age one to stay away from habits that’s bad for them as juveniles and destroy them as adults.

Medical Records, Benefits:Hard to Get!

Two days ago the electricity shut down blanketing the North East area of Ohio. Power was off for at least five hours and was back on at 2.27pm as promised. Neighbors on this street, including me, first surmised it was just the house where they lived.  With both a Desktop and a Laptop computer, I was not able to get on the internet. I could not go on line and look up information, nor could I look for information about Record Retention and stored medical records from decease doctors and hospitals and clinics that have long since closed their doors.

With no place to look I made a list of offices to call and ask them who I should talk with to find the medical records that the VA or Veterans Administration asked me to submit to support my claims. First, I wanted  to go to the Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland OH because there I would find the VSO or Veterans Service Office offices that deal with this problem every day.  When I got started on this quest for medical records today, I decided to call the Ohio Medical Board and went to the web site to get a name or number and contact someone about records retention and medical records’ storage. On that site I did not see a number to call so I move to the site of the Attorney General of Ohio where I found a number, dial it and talked to a lady she said the Ohio Medical Board would be my best bet, that is when I knew I should go to the Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio and talk with some VSO officers, a person that deals with these problems daily.  There I will get help with my problem. My concern now, what if I fail to locate the records, will my claims be denied for like of support? Where do I go from here, I will ask for the answers to this question Monday?

Yesterday I called the Department of Veterans Affairs to make sure I am represented by The American Legion as my Clamant’s Representative, at first she said it is not on the screen, but later it appeared on the screen. In the conversation she stated with emphasis that it takes from six months to a year to get your pension or compensation started and that’s from the time it is received in that office. Which do not include the time it takes to receive it and get it in the hands of the responsible person? Now I understand why it takes up to twenty-four months (some times more) for some veterans to receive any benefits. Then I told her that my claims were processed by The Tiger Team and she said “I am noting that on here now, they are working on your claim!”Another point, the VA tells you that you can receive Compensation or a Pension, but not both at the same time. You will receive the one that pays more to the veteran, but I told her that I had to make sure I am qualified for both, or that in my case is not true. Further more, if you are receiving a pension you have no way of knowing how much you will receive in Compensation unil you are Rated by the Rating Board, only then they know which will pay the most. My point, make sure you are claiming everything you are qualified for so you can be paid the highs benefits of the two plans.

A judge is banding: WordPress.com?

These countries and special interest groups seem to be willing to use a broad brush to correct or stop things they consider to be offensive or illegal, but call it unfair when the same rules are used to judge or correct their action or statements. Actions that endanger the life of citizens in this country when goods are shipped here that contain lead in the finished product or foods that have harmful substance in it because the people preparing it had little regards for our health and well being.
For instance, I am told that I cannot send email to China if I want to converse with one of the residents about the trafficking in body parts where the body parts come from a person in that country that is still alive and are not ready to die! In many countries I cannot assemble a group of willing people in a park and discuss the removal of the present elected officials from office without having someone question my right to do it, or tell me the penalty if I fail to stop. The fact that I have done it many times, for many years in this country means nothing to the people in other counties that is determine to diner rights and freedoms to the people living in those countries.
Because I am aware of the things listed above, I am not shocked, when I read in Lorelle’s Blog that WordPress.com is or will be banded by a judge in Brazil because one person published something that the officials object to, or is offended by a nude picture published in someone blog! Well, I will never tell another country how to enforce its laws as long as those laws pertain to the citizens in that country. However, if the enforcement of those laws attempts to cut off or shut down my rights or freedoms I will take action base on my rights as a citizen in the United States of America, be it boycotting your products imported to my country, find another country to vacation in, and open a dialog with you about justice and punishment. All ways leaving the meeting with the promise that I will never remain silent if speaking will help and I will always act when action is required. Within the last weeks, Charleston Heston, one of the best actors I have seen, died. And I will paraphrase him here, when he said he was “quoting a die white man.” I will do the same by paraphrasing Patrick Henry “give me liberty, or give me death”

Responding to: Rating Board!

The last month has been spent working on a response to the report from the Rating Board at the Tiger Team, a VA Special Processing Unit localed in Cleveland,OH in the Department of Veterans Affairs. When I called the local VA Office here in New Jersey they told me that the Tiger Team was established because “you are so old,” you; meaning the Korean Veterans, so they could speed up the effort to determine the qualification of the claims submitted by the Veterans. He said that this special unit has cut waiting time from over a year, down to less than six months. I received my Rating within four months from the mailing date with mixed results. First the good news is they refer to my Army medical records as if they have truly found a copy and can now compare the treatment I received on the Front Lines in Korea with doctors visits and treatment I have received since the date of my discharge. The denied claim made in 1954 is now reopened because the last eyes examination show that I have the problem with my eyes that I was evacuated for, but the evident submitted to date fail to show that it is service connected. That made no sense to me until I discovered that all the list of doctors that provide eye care and treatment was not contacted when I first applied for Compensation in April 2006. Once those doctor reports are in coupled with my medical records and the visit to the VA doctors (I was checked by five doctors) in East Orange, NJ on the 24th March 2008, or this week, my claim will receive more support.

Looking back to 1954, at age 24, I was very young, but far from being consider an unwise fool by any means. Therefore every time I went to see a doctor about any health condition I would tell them about my stay in the hospital in Youngdung po, Korea and returning to combat with the ointment for my eyes and going on night raids while using the ointment doing the day. All the doctors that treated me for problems with my eyes in the last 20 years were listed on VA Form 21-526 yet no one at the VA contacted them for the information from my medical records. This is a bad case of one department thinking that the other department completed all work required on that application. If that is the case why didn’t they ask for the files from the other department?

Remember, my reason for filing a claim for Compensation is to be classified as a combat related disabled veteran. When I called the VA or Veteran Administrations’ 800 number and talked to the person answering the phone he told me “You will be a disabled veteran even if you are paid 0 percent.” Later I talked with the local VA office and he told me that I needed to be classified as 10 percent disable to qualify for Disable Status for Government contracts. With this classification I will be eligible for support in obtaining contracts with the VA and companies during business with the Federal Government. So if it is decided that the Government owes me money that will be a bonus. It is clear to me now that nothing is going to happen, unless I stay focused on my goals, to make sure the doctors, hospitals and clinics send the files that related to the treatments we are concern about. And I can assure you that your efforts will be the same or worst! You are the only one concern about the benefits and the treatment provided in your health care. Just keep that in mind as you shepherd this procedure to a conclusion that benefit you and your love ones.

Completed Apps: in the hands of Rating Board

My application for Compensation, Pension and Disability is in the hands of the Rating Board. The Tiger Team said that all the medical reports are in and was forwarded with the applications. While I wait, I keep considering the things that could delay the process, like a letter to my home address telling me to go and get a physical on that part of my body that sustained an injury or a wound doing my service in the military. Since I am out of town and no one is home the letter would stay in the Post Office until I returned, so I called and told them my new phone number and will give them this address if needed. Hopefully the exams I took when in the hospital will answer any questions about the ailments we are concern with, in this rating.

The good news, even if I am rated zero disability as far as compensation is concern I will still be a disabled veteran and can apply for any benefit in a business operation that any other vet. Qualify for, if all other requirements are met. This was confirmed in a phone talk when I call the toll-free line to the Veterans Administration or VA and told the person answering the phone that I wanted to register as a disabled veteran so I could get help with contracts for the business that I will become the owner of 51 percent. And he said you cannot declare yourself disabled the VA has to do that, so just wait until they have finished the rating. Well I find that easy to do because one thing about the Tiger Team they don’t foot-drag or half-step when they work on an application. He (the man on the phone) said that the Tiger Team sometime have a turn-around-time less than sixty days. When the average application take from six months to a year.

Now that I have all the benefits applied for I will make sure we have the proper business model for the services we provide and the markets we will pursue. To accomplish this, I am answer question on the software program then I will give it to a lawyer to review and make sure it will travel from state to state. The forms that I completed and the sources for the information to complete them will be posted on Veterans: Business, Benefits and Burial, in detail so you will be working from a correct and completed application. I will include every step I took to avoid delays and to try and prove that I should be awarded the benefits I applied for because the proof is in the submitted forms.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2008

First I want to wish you a happy new year and I mean all year long!

Last year I used the twelve months reading and observing the things that are good about this country and the things that should be improved or changed. This year I will spend all year making an effort to effect those changes, starting with me.