VISTS Offer Moving Hints
VIST Coordinators Peggy Christian, Margie Donovan, Candace Rapczak, and Michelle U’Ren of Northern California recently offered some helpful hints for blinded veterans who plan to move in the near future.
The source of the information is their Winter 2006 VIST Newsletter. Their advice includes contacting VA, especially the VIST Coordinator, regarding the move so that a smooth transition can occur. This is particularly important if the veteran is moving outside the current catchment area.
Veterans are also encouraged to contact their VA Regional Office with the new address so that monetary benefits will continue uninterrupted. To notify a regional office, call 800-827-1000. Be prepared to provide a claim number over the telephone (the number found on the original award letter beginning with C and followed by a dash and a string of numbers that may be a social security number).
New Foundation for Veterans’ Widows
The Widows of Deceased Veterans Foundation has recently formed as a nonprofit organization to serve widows in all 50 states.
According to Daisy H. Walden, founder and CEO, the Foundation began and is now headquartered in South Carolina out of a critical need to inform widows regarding VA benefits for which they may be eligible but totally unaware.
For more information, call 843-678-9830, fax to 843-678-9825, or send an email to waft@bellsouth.net. The organization also has a website, www.widowsofdeceasedveterans.com. .
Elaine Powers Gets Buffalo Spotlight
Elaine Powers, VIST Coordinator at the Buffalo, New York, VA Medical Center and a major force behind the planning of the upcoming BVA 61st National Convention and corresponding VIST/BROS meetings, was one of nine individuals from the Buffalo community recognized April 6 by The Buffalo News and WNED-TV.
The Jefferson Awards, named for Thomas Jefferson and founded in 1973 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Senator Robert Taft, Jr., of Ohio, seek to honor previously unsung heroes for their selfless community service beyond the cameras, microphones, and headlines.
“Some of the criteria used in nominating and selecting me for the award were things that even I had kind of forgotten about or put at the back of my mind,” she said. “I’m honored that I have been able to do a few important things and that others have recognized them to be significant.”
Elaine was nominated by Suzanne Swanson, a previous co-worker at an organization formerly known as the Blind Association of Western New York.
Elaine’s volunteerism has included an appointment by the Governor to the Board of Visitors of the New York State School for the Blind. Her tenure on the Board extends nearly 20 years, five of which were spent as President of the Board.
Elaine has also served on the Board of Directors of the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service since 1990. She is a member of the American Council of the Blind and has been a member of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) since the late 1970s. She is a former recipient of a meritorious achievement award from the New York State Chapter of AER. In 1990, she was co-chair of the host committee for the Blind Bowler Association national tournament in Buffalo.
Among Elaine’s other service is her involvement in the Girl Scouts and an after-hours VA program entitled No One Dies Alone (NODA) at the Buffalo VA Medical Center. The program consists of sitting and interacting with terminally ill patients for several hours at a time so that they are never left alone.
VA Announces New BRS Director
Stan Poel, Chief of Blind Rehabilitation Service at the Waco Blind Rehabilitation Center and most recently the Acting National Director of Blind Rehabilitation Services, was named the permanent director on April 13.
Poel’s last day of work in the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System was April 14. He was scheduled to report to his new position at the VA Central Office in Washington, DC, on April 30. |
