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by Stuart Nelson
The following feature is being reprinted in the Bulletin upon request of BVA National President Larry Belote. A few changes were made to conform to the Bulletin’s style and space limitations. A sidebar consisting of significant facts about BVA and its history was distributed with the feature but could not be included here.
Newly blinded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are drawing inspiration and practical support from Vietnam War veterans who are repeating an act of service that was performed for them nearly 40 years ago.
Just as World War II veterans came to their aid after they were newly blinded in Vietnam, five purple-heart recipients—Tom Miller, Mike Lewis, Buddy Spivey, Sid Ordway, and Roy Kekahuna— and other members of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) have seized the opportunity to assist a new generation of veterans who have met the same fate. The men are now helping a group of several dozen young men and women who have suffered eye casualties in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). They are living up to their organization’s motto, “Blinded Veterans Helping Blinded Veterans.”
The Vietnam veterans are counseling, encouraging, inspiring, and providing the practical assistance necessary to help the newly blinded sort through the range of emotions that affect them on a daily basis.
“We are talking, in many cases, about kids of 20-21 years of age who have lost their sight from contact with an Improvised Explosive Device, or from any incident in which shrapnel has entered the eye,” said Tom Miller, who was blinded by a landmine explosion in 1967. “We hope to help these veterans and their families, who have sacrificed so much, meet the challenges of blindness and access the services that will allow them to lead productive lives, both in the short and long-term.”
Tom has served as BVA’s Executive Director in Washington, DC, since 1994 and has served the organization in a number of other staff and National Board of Director capacities, including national president, since 1979.
The effort to support veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in early 2004 with a series of conference calls facilitated by VA. The calls involved newly blinded veterans, their families, and the blinded veterans from the Vietnam era. Participants also included VA blind rehabilitation professionals and psychologists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and Social Security benefits administrators.
The telephone meetings have, in many cases, resulted in additional one-on-one conversations and personal visits to the OEF/OIF veterans from Vietnam-era BVA members such as Tom, Mike, Buddy, Sid, and Roy. Because Tom’s office is a short distance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Washington, DC, and Bethesda, Md., respectively, he has made personal visits to a number of blinded veterans.
“The originator of the pre-arranged conference calls was Bob Kozel, a VA blind rehabilitation outpatient specialist in the South Texas Health Care System,” said Tom. “Bob knew that we older guys could perhaps communicate and highlight the importance of the rehabilitation process better than anyone else because we have lived through it ourselves.”
According to Tom, many of the dozens of blinded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered multiple injuries, including traumatic brain injury, other facial injuries, hearing loss, and loss of limbs.
“Understandably, the attention of the recovering veterans and the attention of their families must be focused mostly on surviving, healing and getting well physically,” he said. “Mike, Buddy, Sid, Roy, I, and many of our other BVA members hope to help them look a little further down the road to the bright future that can still be theirs, which often starts with world-class VA residential or outpatient blind rehabilitation programs.”
Tom is referring to residential programs at 10 different VA medical centers nationwide, including West Haven, Ct.; Augusta, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Hines, Ill.; Waco, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Tacoma, Wash. VA blind rehabilitation also includes an increasing number of outpatient programs and computer access training opportunities for blinded veterans.
“Once these young vets have undergone much of their recovery and spent so much time doing so, the last thing they want to do is return to a hospital for several more weeks,” he said. “I think we are making a difference in helping them understand that these programs, although conducted at VA hospitals, are centered on life skills and can open doors to the future.”
The interaction among blinded veterans from Vietnam and OEF/OIF has already generated at least one success story. Shortly after one conference call, VA Visual Impairment Services Team (VIST) Coordinator Pamela Newton called Tom from her Colorado office and asked him to, in turn, call one of her veterans, a 20-year-old Marine, who was hesitant to attend a residential rehab program.
“This young man had some facial injuries, had spent considerable time healing, and had a devoted mother who was taking good care of him, and who didn’t particularly want him leaving home again so soon,” said Tom. “Pam helped him access some state services, and then Mike Lewis eventually talked him into going to the blind center in Birmingham, after which he got married and now appears to have a wide range of opportunities available to him.”
Tom said that, as helpful as the conference calls are in providing information and orientation to veterans and their families, the dialogue that occurs during a personal call provides an even greater opportunity to lend encouragement, share personal experiences, and offer hope.
“It’s a way to connect our experiences to theirs and, with greater emotion, describe what we have been through in more depth and detail,” he explained.
BVA is not a government entity and is funded through the generous contributions of countless Americans who remember the sacrifices of our nation’s blinded veterans. BVA is currently seeking the more than 100,000 men and women in the United States who are unaware of their eligibility for services and benefits. For more information, call 800-669-7079, or visit www.bva.org.
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