This question is just as important for anyone
changing jobs, purchasing insurance, or just
looking to join a new club. The person will likely
base his or her decision largely on the answer to
this question.
This question is also popular among our
nation’s veterans. There is no doubt that
serving our country has its benefits. Those who
have fought for our country not only deserve
recognition and gratitude, but they deserve the
best in healthcare, education and assistance in
returning to society. As Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Anthony J. Principi has stated, “One of the
ways the nation shows its gratitude is by ensuring
veterans receive the benefits they deserve.” The
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) prides itself
on doing just that.
To help veterans of the operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the VA healthcare system has
many unique specialty services and special
emphasis programs. One of these specialty
programs is the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids
Service – an integrated delivery system designed
to provide medically prescribed prosthetic and
orthotic devices; sensory aids; medical supplies,
equipment and devices; assistive aids; repairs;
and services to eligible disabled individuals.
Examples of prescribed items include aids for
the visually impaired, artificial limbs, hearing aids,
eyeglasses, speech and communication devices,
home dialysis supplies, orthopedic braces and supports, orthopedic footwear, ocular prostheses,
cosmetic restorations, wheelchairs, hospital beds,
and other daily-living aids. Other services and
equipment provided by this department include – but are not limited to – in-house orthotic and
prosthetic laboratories that fabricate and provide
state-of-the-art prosthetics, home improvements
and structural alterations, automobile adaptive
equipment, and a clothing allowance.
The Home Improvements and Structural
Alterations (HISA) Program helps pay for home
improvements necessary to ensure continuation
of medical treatment or to provide access to the
home and essential lavatory and sanitary facilities.
The VA will pay a lifetime benefit up to $4,100 for
home alterations for a veteran being treated for a
service-connected disability and a lifetime benefit
up to $2,100 for other veterans. Some alterations
chargeable to the cost limitations include – but
are not limited to – roll-in showers, permanent
ramping, widening of doorways, lowering of
bathroom and kitchen counters and cabinets, and
improving entrance paths and driveways in the
immediate home area to facilitate access.
This program should not be confused with the
Specially Adaptive Home Grant in which veterans
may be entitled to a VA grant for a home specially
adapted to their needs. For this benefit, the VA
may approve a grant of not more than 50 percent
of the cost of building, buying or remodeling
adapted homes or paying debts on homes
already acquired, up to a maximum of
$50,000.
Maintaining independence is
important and to help you do that,
the VA assists in getting veterans
with disabilities back on the road
again. The VA has established more
than 40 driver rehabilitation centers
nationwide. Eligible veterans or activeduty
personnel are provided a clinical
program of primary services that include
driving assessments, patient and family
education, behind-the-wheel instruction,
and vehicle and equipment evaluation.
In conjunction with this program, certain
veterans and service members qualify
for an automobile adaptive equipment
benefit if they have a service-connected
loss of, or permanent loss of use of,
one or both hands or feet or permanent
impairment of vision in both eyes.
Veterans entitled to compensation
for ankylosis (immobility) of one or both
knees or one or both hips also qualify
for an automobile grant. There is a onetime
payment by the VA of not more
than $11,000 toward the purchase of an
automobile or other conveyance. The
VA will pay for adaptive equipment and
for repair, replacement, or reinstallation
required because of a disability and for
the safe operation of a vehicle purchased
with VA assistance. Other items, such
as van lifts, raised doors, raised roofs,
and wheelchair tie-downs for passenger
use, may be furnished as part of medical
services for all veterans as a follow-up
to VA care, provided the equipment is
medically necessary for the care and
treatment of the veteran.
Just as many of you receive yearly
compensation from your employer
for laundry or dry cleaning of uniforms
or work clothes, the VA provides an
annual monetary clothing allowance
disbursement to any veteran who is
entitled to receive compensation for a
service-connected disability for which he
or she uses a prosthetic or orthopedic
appliance that tends to wear or tear his
or her clothing. The allowance is also
available to any veteran whose serviceconnected
skin condition requires
prescribed medication that damages his
or her outer garments. This benefit could
be approved annually or as a lifetime
benefit depending on the disability
and appliance causing damage to the
clothing. The clothing allowance for this
past year was $588.
Enrollment in the VA also allows
access to comprehensive inpatient and
outpatient services, such as preventive
services (immunizations), screenings,
health education, primary healthcare,
surgery, mental health, spinal cord
injury care, physical medicine and
rehabilitation, services for the blind,
outpatient pharmacy services, home
health, emergency services, and drugs
and pharmaceuticals.
Additional benefits and programs
include home loans, life insurance,
readjustment counseling, and other
popular benefits such as vocational
rehabilitation. In this program, the VA
provides employment and independentliving
services to service-connected
veterans, vocational counseling to
service members and veterans who
have recently separated from active duty,
and vocational counseling or special
rehabilitation services to dependents
of veterans who meet certain program
eligibility requirements.
While the VA mails brochures to all
service members separating from the
military to notify them of VA benefits,
the VA also has a Web site that contains
more details about these and many
other available benefits. You can apply
for many of the benefits online at www.
va.gov or by visiting your closest VA
medical or regional office. Another good
source of information is a pamphlet
you can get at any of these locations
titled Federal Benefits for Veterans and
Dependents, which is updated and
published yearly.
The VA has brochures, Web sites,
and staff members who are ready and
waiting to answer all of your benefits
questions. The next step is yours.
—by Robert M. Baum
| Profile: Carl Brashear |
 Birthplace: Tonieville,
Kentucky.
Age: 74.
Circumstances of Amputation: 1966 – During the recovery of a
sunken hydrogen bomb, a lifting
cable snapped. The pipe to which the
mooring line had been attached then
struck Brashear’s left leg below the
knee as he pushed a sailor out of the
way. After failed attempts to save the
leg, Brashear requested that the leg be
amputated.
Branch of Service: Navy.
Past Achievements:
1970 – Qualified as the first African
American master diver in the history of
the U.S. Navy.
1979 – Retired from the U.S. Navy as
the first African American and the first
amputee to achieve the rank of master
chief petty officer and master diver.
2001 – Brashear’s life chronicled in the
movie Men of Honor.
Awards: Silver Star for Gallantry in
Action, Navy and Marine Corps Medal, Bronze Star for Meritorious Service,
Presidential Unit Citation, Good
Conduct Medal (eight awards), Navy
Meritorious Civilian Service Award.
Quote: “The good Lord changed
the Navy, not me. They look at
people through a different type of
eyes now. The Navy has changed by
not just across-the-board medically
discharging people with a disability,
because they can still be productive.” – MCBM (MDV) Carl Brashear |
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