ateeter – Page 52 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

Commander’s Corner (May 2022)

I will forgo one of my typical messages and give you the following instead:

First, as some of you know, my wife Laura and I just returned from a week in the Caribbean on a Fitzgerald Family Cruise. And you also may have heard that I tested positive for Covid upon my return. I did. But the good news is that Laura did not, and also that I have been asymptomatic. My doctor, and particularly the medical staff at Swedish who treat old goats like me who get Covid, attributes my having no Covid issues or even symptoms other than pollen allergies, to having been vaccinated and twice boosted to a point that I have built up some good immunity. Because of my age it was recommended that I receive the Monoclonal Antibodies IV. So I did that. I think I am seriously covered now. I have 7 days of quarantine which ends Sunday. So the Tuesday before our business meeting I will no longer be in quarantine, and no masking required – I will be done with all of it just in time for Thursday’s meeting.

The point of all this though, is full disclosure, and to let you all know that I am proof of how effective vaccinations and boosters can be to minimize the effects of Covid on an individual. This is why it is so important to be vaccinated. I turned 81 at this writing. I have a congestive heart condition, I have Afib, and two faulty heart valves, along with a host of other old age related issues! Although I try, it is impossible for me to workout like I used to not so very long ago. Given all that, contracting Covid could have been a very critical if not disastrous issue for me. But I have no worries!

On to post business… At this Thursday’s business meeting, we will be installing next year’s slate of officers. I hope that all of you can make it so that you can welcome the incoming leadership. You should all be very excited about who your next Commander will be, as well as the rest of the post command staff. Promises to be exceptional!

On Thursday our Post Auxiliary will be electing new leadership at the Post as well.

So, some big changes are coming. Please come and be a part of it!

Commander Joe Fitzgerald

Post 3063 Day of Service

Members of Post 3063 will be join the Inaugural VFW Day of Service by hosting a Ballard Food Bank Drive at the post through May 21, 2022. On May 21, the post volunteers will also pick up litter in the neighborhood, give out buddy poppies and collect donations for the food drive. May 21 is also Seattle’s Day of Service. If you’d like to participate, contact [email protected].

From the Desk of the Post Service Officer: VA Benefits Update

By Joseph Mesa

Here’s a VA benefits update courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Regarding Burn Pits: VA intends to propose 9 rare respiratory cancers as presumed service-connected conditions. When the proposal becomes final and rule making is complete, VA will conduct outreach to impacted Veterans and survivors to inform them about potential eligibility. VA intends to focus its rule on the rare respiratory cancers in Veterans who served any amount of time in the Southwest Asia theater of operations and other locations. The Southwest Asia theater of operations refers to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the airspace above these locations.

Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing changes to the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities specifically pertaining to the respiratory, auditory and mental disorders body systems. The proposed updates to the rating schedule for these conditions will enable VA to incorporate modern medical data and terminology to provide Veterans with more accurate and consistent decisions.

Veterans who currently receive compensation for a service-connected condition in these body systems will not have their disability rating impacted when the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities is updated. Updating the rating schedule allows Veterans to receive decisions based on the most current medical knowledge relating to their condition. By incorporating modern medical data in the assessment of disabilities and how they impact earning capacity, Veterans will receive evaluations which more accurately compensate them for their service-connected disabilities. Proposed updates include:

Modernizing the evaluative rating criteria for sleep apnea, using developments in medical knowledge to evaluate it based on its responsiveness to treatment, bringing the rating criteria for sleep apnea more closely in line with the stated purpose of the rating schedule.
Evaluating tinnitus (ringing in the ears) as a symptom of the underlying disease which causes it, rather than as a stand-alone disability.
Evaluating mental health conditions based on a more robust and holistic approach that assesses how impactful the disability is to cognition, interpersonal relationships, task completion, life activities and self-care. Additionally, the proposed evaluation criteria include a 10% minimum evaluation for having one or more service-connected mental health conditions and will no longer require “total occupational and social impairment” to attain a 100% evaluation.

No change to a veteran’s current rating would occur due to these proposed changes. If the proposed changes are finalized, Veterans who currently receive compensation for a service-connected condition can apply for increased compensation, but no reductions shall be made unless an improvement in the Veteran’s disability is shown to have occurred.

If you need any help with your VA claim or benefits, contact me at [email protected].