In a strong show of support, more than 500 Veterans, family members and survivors attended the PACT Act Summer VetFest held at the San Antonio Northwest Health Care Center. South Texas VA collaborated with the San Antonio Northwest Health Care Center and the Veterans Benefits Administration team for this successful event.
“The PACT Act is one of the most significant laws that expands health care and benefits for Veterans who have been exposed to toxic exposure,” said Rob Worley, executive director for the VBA Houston regional office.
Dr. Julianne Flynn, executive director, South Texas VA, was boots on the ground at the event, helping Veterans and their families navigate the best methods for obtaining health care and benefits.
“We want to ensure every eligible Veteran and survivor gets the PACT Act-related health care and benefits they’ve earned, and we won’t rest until we’ve done exactly that. Every employee at South Texas is vital to ensuring the success of the Summer VetFest and encouraging Veterans to apply before the Aug. 9 deadline,” she said. “When Veterans served our country overseas, many of them were exposed to toxic hazards, burn pits, Agent Orange and other hazards that led them to develop health conditions long after they came home. For too long, these Veterans weren’t able to get the benefits and health care they deserved. But now, those days are over.”
Texas is home to the largest Veteran population in the nation. More than 75,500 toxic exposure screenings have been completed by South Texas alone.
A PACT Act teletownhall was hosted the previous night, inviting more than 10,000 Veterans to learn more about health care and benefits claims. A PACT Act overview was provided, in addition to primary care and benefits claims updates from VBA.
Veterans were able to ask questions on air to Flynn and subject matter experts, learning how the PACT Act directly impacted their health care and benefits. VBA was also present to answer PACT Act claims questions.
While South Texas has more than 111,000 Veterans enrolled in its system, Flynn and her team are committed to helping Veterans obtain what they so rightfully deserve, one event and one teletownhall at a time.
South Texas hosted another PACT Act Event Aug. 4 at the San Antonio Northwest Health Care Center. Human resources was available during the event to discuss job openings with potential applicants. To learn more about PACT Act, visit www.va.gov/PACT.
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That’s all fine and good. But how about those deceased veterans who passed over twenty years ago from cancers and the like……how long do we wait? 20 more years? Let’s hope not .. .
My family called the VA hotline at 1 800 827 1000 to get help filling out an intent to file.
The Toxic Exposure screening is a bad joke in VA circles. It’s barely 10 minutes of self reporting to a nurse asking generalized questions.
There is no real exam, tissue collection, or any specialized analysis. This is rudimentary at best. No follow up.
Vets need a Toxic Exposure Pathology Center to do far more detailed analysis to find evidence. Like adipose fatty tissue spectrochemical break down for any possible anomalies. Which VA considers invasive and wont do.
This article is heavily pro VA and is meant to give false hope that the PACT act is more than it is. It’s lip service at best. The use of the EH registry exams does not lead to hard evidence in support of most claims. Like the Burn Pit which is also 10 minutes and might do a chest xray. Maybe PFT if pushed.
Gulf war veterans are largely excluded in this program, and it’s filled with loopholes. As even the timeline, if your before 2003 this ignores you unless your terminal.
For a year now the PACT act has been filled with false hopes as tens of thousands fall through the cracks. It’s designed to fail until cfr 38 ss3.317 is modified to change the UDX clause.
Where is the justice in all this?