Senator Coleman’s Office Talks About a Study of the Unified Judicial System and Justice-Involved Veterans Substituting for Senator Coleman of Pennsylvania District 16, Leo Knepper, his chief of staff, spoke to the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council on 16 October regarding SR 196 passed this June, “[a] Resolution directing the Read more…
Clinicians’ Guide Menu Military Health History How to take one Health Risks by Service Era VA/DoD Clinical Practices DBQ’s (Disability Benefits Questionnaires) Lookup Alternatives Index and Alternative Methods Afterword Bibliography Question Six Have you received medical care for this condition from any other provider, including military or VA? By asking Read more…
Long overdue, the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC), formerly reserved to only those who served during the “Global War on Terror” for improper reason, will expand sometime in October, with a launch date to be announced in mid-September.
PCAFC expansion will open up the program to eligible WWII, Korean and Vietnam Veterans. In addition, eligibility will change: veterans must have a single or combined VA service-connected disability rating of 70% or higher. This applies regardless of whether the disability is the result of an injury, illness or disease.
One welcomed addition is that family caregivers will also have access to financial planning,legal services in addition to robust educational and supportive services, such as workshops, self-care courses, a caregiver support line, psycho-educational group calls, and peer support mentoring. (more…)
The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, working with the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council and others, intends to create a formal Veterans and Military Affairs Council. More immediately, it is in the process of making a baseline assessment of those chamber of commerce initiatives most needed. It realizes it must get beyond anecdotal experiences to have informed efforts. Therefore, as part of the assessment, it must conduct a short survey to uncover what problems — if any — local employers are facing in finding, hiring and retaining veterans as employees. (more…)
Our AARP Pennsylvania delegate to the Council, Steve Narracci, has brought this subject up at a council meeting recently. AARP, together with the U.S. Postal Service, has launched “Operation Protect Veterans” to help raise awareness of common scams targeting veterans. We have written about veterans as prey for scammers many Read more…
On 19 September the Office of Veterans Affairs, Department of Miltiary and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) announced it was seeking grant applicants for 2017. Suspense for submissions is 18 November. Note that those who submit electronically have a time edge on those who submit by paper, if mailing time is considered.
Once again up to $500,000 in grants to nonprofits (defined this year as 501(c)(19) Veterans’ service organizations or 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations with a mission of serving Pennsylvania Veterans); and up to $150,000 in grants to County Directors of Veterans Affairs or the Pennsylvania Association of County Directors of Veterans Affairs. (more…)
On 8 January, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), after unexplained foot-dragging resulting from the budgetary impasse, finally announced the availability of up to $550,000 in competitive grants. It gives the Lehigh Valley community of nonprofits an opportunity to do more for its military veterans and their families. The suspense for submitting a proposal is 5 February 2016, 4 p.m.
The source of the funding is through the Veterans Trust Fund, which was created to expedite or expand services to veterans and their families using an alternate source of 
funding. Over the years, the gears of state government have ground far too slowly to be responsive to their needs. (more…)
If you have been thinking of applying, you better move quickly; if you know someone who might be entitled, inform them quickly, for the deadline to apply for Pennsylvania’s Persian Gulf War Bonus is nigh and has not been extended. The deadline is still 31 August 2015. (more…)
The partner agencies of Alliance Hall will open a Code Blue warming center this Friday, Saturday and Sunday night (31 January to 2 February) under the management of the Lehigh County Conference of Churches due to imminent dangerous weather as well as to assess our community’s need for such a facility. (more…)
To meet the demand, a reprinting of Stephanie Laite Lantham’s Veterans and Families’ Guide for Recovering from PTSD is now available upon request at no cost to those who want to learn more about PTSD and want to know how to help a loved one or a friend. The booklet has also proven unexpectedly useful to the local judiciary and municipalities as well.
“The Guide” was at one time distributed by the Military Order of Purple Heart (MOPH) to the VA Vet Centers in all 50 states. That’s how it came it first came to our attention. We believed booklet could fulfill an additional, special need in our community if tailored to it. Fortunately, the author was willing to work with us. (more…)