The Waco VA Regional Office partnered with North Texas VA in Garland, Texas, for a PACT Act Summer VetFest. The event offered toxic exposure screenings (TES), face-to-face appointments with VBA compensation specialists, battlefield acupuncture, CPR training and whole health education.
The 8-hour event, attended by 750 North Texas Veterans, family members and caregivers, screened 280 Veterans for toxic exposures and connected 400 others with PACT Act-related benefits through new claims or intent to file. The event also enrolled 22 Veterans in VA health care who had never stepped foot in any VA facility and thought they were not eligible for such care.
Pictured above, Angela Austin, Waco Veteran Service Center coach, discusses the process for submitting a PACT Act-related intent-to-file with a North Texas Veteran.
“There are thousands of North Texas Veterans and survivors who are now eligible for new health care and benefits,” said Michael Crouse, executive director, WACO VA regional office. “Joint VBA and VHA events like Summer VetFest where my team of compensation and benefits specialists can partner with VA medical center staff to screen and educate on available health care services is how we’re successfully reaching this critical group of Veterans.”
Getting Vets connected with PACT Act health care and benefits is our priority
North Texas VA has screened over 95,000 Veterans for toxic exposures and educated 315,000 Veterans in 40 Texas and Oklahoma counties on PACT Act benefits through in-person outreach events, virtual townhalls, community TES events and stakeholder-led event support.
In December 2022, North Texas VA brought over 1,000 Veterans, family members and caregivers to its Dallas campus for its inaugural PACT Act and TES community event.
“Our Veterans have earned their health care and benefits through service and sacrifice, so every time we can reach them though PACT Act and TES events, we are pulling out all of the stops and ensuring our engagement is massive and beneficial,” said Jason Cave, North Texas VA director. “We owe our Veterans much and getting them connected with PACT Act-related health care and benefits is our priority.”
VA encourages all eligible Veterans and survivors to file a claim or submit their intent to file a claim for PACT Act-related benefits now.
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A Few Win, many more continue to Lose, even After POTUS “promise” less than two weeks ago. My most recent Claim, now Appeal, certified to 2011 is still Not-Finalized! My VLJ found massive error from The VA!
The PACT ACT is a joke and a waste of time. My rate/job was a fire fighter and have told I don’t qualify. So it gets appealed again and more hoops to jump thru.
We need help here in las vegas n.m. with the pact act.i myself suffer from COPD I also have a nodule on my left lung that hasn’t been screened and also some service connections haven’t been documented
As the first, and loudest critic of the PACT act Ive been screaming the last year now about the many failings of this law. Toxic Exposure screening is the biggest going. If your lucky you spend 10 minutes on the phone with a VAMC nurse asking you generalized deployment questions. There is damn sure no real EXAM to this, and nothing advanced. There is no pathology type work up or tissue resection collection to study for any compounds.
In fact, this is all tied to Environmental Health registries. You go there to kick this off. Only, I did all that from start to finish in one year – during 2022. Gulf war registry – they didnt even take my vitals. WRIISC exam, fixated on psychology the whole time. Burn Pit Registry – 10 minute exam and then a Pulmonary Function test / X-ray I pushed for. Toxic exposure screening – 10 minutes on the phone with very generalized questions. PACT act exams, 0% benefits rating. On and on, I ran the full gambit over a year.
Until we build and operate a Toxic Exposure Pathology Center to do specialty work this will fail to find any real evidence. These registries do nothing for us. Burn Pit Registry had 317,000 participants over 8 years but only 30,000 got rudimentary exams. Its in a NIH report in 2021. No one wants to do invasive tissue resection to look for hard evidence in our body fat.
At each step I wrote a email to Sec of VA Denis McDonough, and for 18 months he himself has completely dodged me. Even after my show down the with VA RAC in February 2023 that ended up in Stars and Stripes. Man is a total coward. His staff would write back, just not him. Never mind Ive been doing this 26 years and once served on a VA advisory committee. World famous in 2003.
This is designed to fail, and I said that by this fall the rejections would be huge. VA isnt talking about that is it. Just the few that got help. The very few. PACT act needs revision, repair the loop holes.
Great analysis my Brother. We have similar experiences with VA. All talk, little action or results.
I’m wondering if I can get a chance to be discharged properly I didn’t get to be discharged properly from two terms. I have 6 unverified yrs of service and I want the record to be amended . My number came up for the draft In 1973 I was 17 and still a junior in high school I have a lot of stuff to be done with It has been long enough to have suffered through it all Proud to have 2 honorable terms but not sure how come I have been lied to all these years
How do I put in for a va mortgage.
Tell your finance company you are a veteran. They do all the work.
I was diagnosed with cancer nodual in right lung. Broward and the Miami VA were all over it. Post surgery and before I was discharged my rating is from 0% to 100%. Lots of preop pet/ct scans, biopsy. And while under my 5th national recognized surgeon took 20 other nodules, sent for biopsy while I was under and all came back negative….cancer free for now. Gulf war/Somali/Afghanistan. If your not documented your not going to be rated, pretty simple and dummy proof. Semper Fi.
As a Vietnam veteran I’m grateful to read these stories. I am a patient in the Cincinnati Ohio regional VA. Thanks for what you do
Those-nameless SOB’s! The VA will shaft faster than fix your problems.
Thank you for the miracle in this news. I am eager to be more mulch in the big helpful federal machine. Please keep it well greased with political intension. America needs you as much as you need us.
Only to be denied , makes great news but only to be let down
You can always appeal. If you have any medical information that validates your injury(ies) we’re incurred while in service, you can always (and should) appeal.
Marie, with all respect, The Number of Waiting Vets with issues and needing benefits is now More than
400,000! Before PACT, was about 245,000! You can File albeit System is backed up perpetually.