As a result of the recent storm, roof damage has occurred at the Allentown VA Clinic, which necessitates a change of location of VALOR Clinic Foundation’s Mini-Stand Down on 15 February. Site has been moved to 1660 Cedar Crest Boulevard, Read 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…)
One Way You Can Help Your Homeless Veterans Locally – Find Them, Gather Them
Not all who are homeless deserve their circumstance. Good families are affected nowadays. We of the Lehigh Valley are a hardy people, but living on the streets or in pioneer camps should not be our final option. It is an unfortunate reality nonetheless.
It seems doubly a shame for our community when one who has honorably served and actually fought for his or her country is found in such a condition. Whether it is this veteran’s pride or behavior, or a combination of both, that has led to the situation should not matter to us – we can always find a plausible excuse for inaction.
As the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council (LVMAC) activates its new Lehigh Valley Homeless Veterans Action Committee to attack veteran’s homelessness as a regional problem, one of its participants is already trying to get those in the most extreme of circumstances in from the “cold.” VALOR Clinic Foundation, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit now working its way down from the Bangor area into the wider Lehigh Valley, has taken up the mission of establishing routine stand downs in the Lehigh Valley. (more…)
Effective 16 January, a new regulation affecting those veterans living with Traumatic Brain Injury who also have Parkinson’s disease, certain types of dementia, depression, unprovoked seizures or certain diseases of the hypothalamus and pituitary glands takes effect.
From a recent VA news release, “If certain Veterans with service-connected TBI also have one of the five illnesses, then the second illness will also be considered as service connected for the calculation of VA disability compensation.” The Institute of Medicine has concluded there is sufficient correlation to link these diseases with moderate or severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Servicemembers who are within 180 days of discharge may also file a pre-discharge claim for TBI and these secondary conditions.
Others have reported this ruling as establishing five new presumptive conditions. This is incorrect. (more…)
Walk-in Service to TRICARE Service Centers within the United States is ending 1 April, this year. TRICARE service centers overseas are not affected. Joint Base Dix-Maguire-Lakehurst’s service center is among the 189 facilities affected. (more…)
Interested in Aid and Attendance because you face or are in a nursing or personal care home in Pennsylvania? Beware, financial advisement predators may not be far behind, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appears to regulate them poorly — or this subject would not be continually coming up. (more…)
See our Street Sheet Section and other resources on this Answers Desk page: Local Homeless Veterans Resources. ### As of 12 December 2013
Protect your VA Card (Veterans Identification Card, aka VIC, which has been issued since 2004) against identity theft like you would your Social Security card. Leave home without it if you do not need it for an appointment. Don’t hand it to anyone but a VA employee. If you are using it for a purchase discount, be careful it is not scanned. The reason? (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…)
Tis the season to deceive veterans … We thought you might want to know about this one because it is particularly devious in the way it is done. We wish to thank our Navy Club brothers from the Reading area for putting us onto it. (more…)