Latest news with #PACTAct
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Give Back: Still Serving Veterans helps navigate VA benefits
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Still Serving Veterans helps veterans and their families navigate a complicated realm once the veteran hangs up their uniform: VA benefits. Terri Womack, team lead for the veteran claims and benefits division, has worked day and night for the past six years in an effort to help every veteran or veteran spouse who comes through her office door. Call of Duty supports Still Serving Veterans with a significant annual grant 'For so many veterans, they know what they were exposed to,' Womack said. 'They know what they did, and now they have a cancer, or they have this chronic illness that nobody else in their family has. It's a sense of recognition of your service and the sacrifice, and what that has now caused in your body.' Veterans injured or exposed to harmful chemicals during their service can apply for benefits and compensation after service. The 2022 PACT Act significantly expanded the medical issues that qualify for benefits. Specifically, it allows veterans exposed to Agent Orange, burn pits and other toxic substances to enroll in VA Healthcare without needing to prove a link between their health conditions and exposure. 'He was not service-connected for high blood pressure, but because of that, high blood pressure is now a presumptive service-connected issue,' Womack said. 'So now his surviving spouse can come see me and I can apply for service-connected death due to complications from hypertension, and get her $1,600 a month.' The Give Back: Still Serving Veterans changing lives, one resumé at a time VA benefits stretch beyond just service-related medical issues. 'They can also get non-service-connected pension if they have a financial need, and served during a wartime period,' Womack said. 'By the same token, their surviving spouse is also authorized to different kinds of care. So, a service-connected death…if they died of a service-connected illness, then their surviving spouse can apply for what we call dependency and indemnity compensation. It's kind of like VA life insurance…There's lots of options to be able to get help for military families in this area.' Navigating and applying for benefits is not always easy, and that's where Still Serving Veterans comes into the picture. Claims and benefits counselors are carefully trained in nearly everything the VA has to offer. Womack said that, unlike other organizations, benefit services at SSV are completely free, and clients keep all of the compensation they receive from Veterans Affairs. She added that the veteran-to-veteran relationships cannot be duplicated. 'We're all veterans, and we want to hear your story,' Womack said. 'Just don't go into the world of VA by yourself. We like to say we're VA sherpas. It's a high mountain to climb, but we know the way. So, just give us a call and we'd love to help.' Still Serving Veterans cannot give these free services and continue changing the lives of veterans across the nation without the community's help. To learn more on getting involved and donating, visit their website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NC nurse advocates for veterans healthcare as Trump's VA cuts loom
Mildred Manning-Joy waited 45 minutes for her prescription to be filled at the Veteran Affairs Durham Health Care Facility. She watched as a single person worked to take orders, fill prescriptions and service the window. 'That's way too much to ask of anyone,' Manning-Joy said. And as the line behind her continued to grow, she worried about the people who didn't have the time to wait. Manning-Joy isn't just a patient at the Durham VA. She's a nurse of 25 years, who works at the facility and is a member of National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the country. On Tuesday, she joined a group of NNU members and Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, for a briefing held over Zoom, to discuss the impact of the Trump administration on VA healthcare. Among the chief concerns noted in Tuesday's calls was an executive order signed by President Donald Trump preventing the collective bargaining rights of federal workers, a federal hiring freeze and proposed cuts by Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to reduce the VA workforce by 70,000 to 80,000 people. The Trump administration wants to cut 15% of the Veteran Affairs work staff to bring it back down to what it was in 2019, before COVID and The PACT Act took effect. The PACT Act is a law that provides veterans care after exposure to toxic chemicals, including those at Fort Bragg, who used the base's unsafe drinking waters. Earlier this month, Collins got into a heated discussion at a Senate hearing with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, about the cuts. Collins claimed Blumenthal was trying to stir fear among veterans, and he defended the VA cuts, saying that healthcare remained a priority. Meanwhile, Takano introduced a bill this month, with 81 cosponsors, that would give VA workers back their collective bargaining rights. None of North Carolina's delegation has signed onto the bill. 'They don't want workers to organize,' Takano said, of the executive order. 'They know that there is strength in numbers, and they know that there is strength in unions. I know firsthand the power of unions, having been a member of one for many years myself. The whole idea is to either make working for VA so miserable that everyone quits, or to take away their grievance rights so they can fire dissidents without cause.' Monica Giles, a nurse from Alabama, said nurses aren't the only ones being silenced. Veterans are, too. 'We took an oath to take care of those who serve in our nation's military, and for their families, caregivers and survivors, and that is being stripped away with the stroke of a pen,' Giles said. 'But nurses aren't going anywhere, because we are afraid for our patients. We know if we leave our patients, they'll suffer.' Concerns for their patients took up the majority of the call. There was already a worker shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now with a hiring freeze and job cuts through attrition, workers are trying to fill in gaps. They talked about leaving patients for a half-hour to fill prescriptions or not having enough mental healthcare providers. 'Decades of scientific research show that when our RNs are forced to care for too many patients at one time, patients are at high risk of preventable medical errors, avoidable complications, falls and injuries, increased length of hospital stay and even death,' said Andrea Johnson, a nurse from San Diego, who spoke on the call. Patients also fear losing healthcare teams they spent years building to treat their needs. 'I ask each and every one of you to think about who ultimately is going to be impacted by the cuts of the VA: the veterans,' Giles said. 'They don't deserve to be stripped of the care they earned and have been promised.' Manning-Joy comes from a multigenerational military family and knows firsthand the importance of the specialized care veterans receive at VA facilities. That includes one-on-one time with providers as well as doctors and nurses who understand what veterans have gone through to leading technologies like prosthetics. And she said it was becoming a nurse for the VA that helped her understand why she loved her career so much. 'After just a few years working in the VA, I knew I could never go anywhere else,' Manning-Joy said. 'My coworkers and I have a deep love for our work and we want this to be the best place possible for our veteran patients.' That's why when she sees problems, she brings them up. She said her coworkers do as well. 'We are advocates for our patients, and that is why it is so important to us to have our protective rights to organize and bargain,' Manning-Joy said. 'There are times when we report things that don't get addressed. That's when we come together and collectively take action to protect our patients.' But she said over the past few months, more issues are going unaddressed. 'The hiring freeze and the firing of probationary employees have led to really severe staffing issues in our facility, and VA Secretary Doug Collins has now put forward a plan that could cut VA staff by 83,000,' Manning-Joy said. 'We have to get out in front of this. Any further cuts will lead to an unimaginable staffing crisis that will lead to worsening patients' outcomes.' Manning-Joy called Collins' plans to cut staffing 'really scary' and 'unfair to our veteran patients.' 'Veterans rely on the VA to get specialized care that comes with serving in the military,' Manning-Joy said. 'Our nurses are trained to have the experience to manage diverse needs of the population and these cuts will ultimately harm veterans. Fighting for our VA must be a top priority.'
20-05-2025
- Health
After a political career shaped by cancer, Biden faces his own grim diagnosis
WASHINGTON -- In Joe Biden's family, there's a saying that the three worst words anyone can hear are 'you have cancer.' One decade ago, his son Beau died from a brain tumor. Several years later, his wife Jill had two cancerous lesions removed in her own brush with the disease. Now it is the former president's turn. Biden's office disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis over the weekend, saying it has already spread to his bones. Although the cancer can possibly be controlled with treatment, it is no longer curable. The announcement is a bitter revelation that a disease that has brought so much tragedy to Biden's life could be what ends it. 'Cancer touches us all,' Biden wrote on social media. 'Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.' Even before the diagnosis, Biden's post-presidency was shadowed by questions about his health and whether he should have run for reelection. As questions about his fitness for office mounted, he abandoned the campaign and Donald Trump retook the presidency by defeating Kamala Harris. As the 82-year-old Biden works to safeguard his damaged political legacy, he'll also be fighting a disease that shaped the final chapters of his decades-long career. Biden was serving as Barack Obama's vice president when Beau died in 2015. He decided not to seek the Democratic nomination the following year, which helped clear a path for Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser, said Biden wanted to 'channel his grief into action and figure out how we can do better' on treating cancer to "make sure that other people didn't have to go through what he went through.' The effort was formalized as a White House task force, with Biden in charge. After a few years out of office, Biden re-entered politics to campaign against Trump in 2020. The heartache from Beau's death was never far from the surface though. His eldest son had been Delaware's attorney general and often viewed as Biden's political successor. 'Beau should be the one running for president, not me,' Biden said, a thought he echoed on many occasions. He made fighting cancer a focus for his presidency, resurrecting a 'moonshot' initiative to increase funding for research and improve treatment. He unveiled the initiative at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in 2022, echoing the Democratic icon's famous speech declaring that 'we will go to the moon' six decades earlier. "Beating cancer is something we can do together," Biden said. By this point, he had already signed legislation known as the PACT Act to expand healthcare benefits for veterans. The law guarantees treatment for chronic illnesses blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Biden left no doubt that he believed Beau's death resulted from his service with the National Guard in Iraq. 'When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same — headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer,' he said. 'My son Beau was one of them.' Denis McDonough, who led the Veterans Affairs Department under Biden, said the president didn't talk about Beau's death during policy discussions. But he said it was clear that Biden 'knew the experience that other families were having, and he was going to be damn sure that we weren't going to miss an opportunity to address that.' McDonough recalled that Biden wanted the new law to take effect as quickly as possible. 'He had an option to stretch it out," he said. "He said no way.' The following year, first lady Jill Biden had two cancerous lesions removed, one above her right eye and the other on her chest. They were both basal cell carcinoma. Learning of the diagnosis 'was a little harder than I thought,' she told The Associated Press during a trip to Africa. 'I'm lucky," she said. "Believe me, I am so lucky that they caught it, they removed it, and I'm healthy.' Biden's cancer diagnosis is not the first time that he's faced his own mortality. Months after ending his first presidential campaign in 1988, he collapsed in a New York hotel room. In his memoir 'Promises to Keep,' he described 'lightning flashing inside my head, a powerful electrical surge — and then a rip of pain like I'd never felt before.' He had suffered a brain aneurysm that required surgery. Biden wrote that 'I had no real fear of dying. I'd long since accepted the fact that life's guarantees don't include a fair shake.' McDonough imagined that Biden would feel similarly about his current situation. 'He's always on to the next fight,' he said.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
After political career shaped by cancer, Biden faces his own grim diagnosis
WASHINGTON: In Joe Biden's family, there's a saying that the three worst words anyone can hear are "you have cancer." One decade ago, his son Beau died from a brain tumour. Several years later, his wife Jill had two cancerous lesions removed in her own brush with the disease. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Now it is the former president's turn. Biden's office disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis over the weekend, saying it has already spread to his bones. Although the cancer can possibly be controlled with treatment, it is no longer curable. The announcement is a bitter revelation that a disease that has brought so much tragedy to Biden's life could be what ends it. "Cancer touches us all," Biden wrote on social media. "Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places." Even before the diagnosis, Biden's post-presidency was shadowed by questions about his health and whether he should have run for reelection. As questions about his fitness for office mounted, he abandoned the campaign, and Donald Trump retook the presidency by defeating Kamala Harris. As the 82-year-old Biden works to safeguard his damaged political legacy, he'll also be fighting a disease that shaped the final chapters of his decades-long career. Biden was serving as Barack Obama's vice president when Beau died in 2015. He decided not to seek the Democratic nomination the following year, which helped clear a path for Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser, said Biden wanted to "channel his grief into action and figure out how we can do better" on treating cancer to "make sure that other people didn't have to go through what he went through." Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The effort was formalised as a White House task force, with Biden in charge. After a few years out of office, Biden re-entered politics to campaign against Trump in 2020. The heartache from Beau's death was never far from the surface though. His eldest son had been Delaware's attorney general and often viewed as Biden's political successor. "Beau should be the one running for president, not me," Biden said, a thought he echoed on many occasions. He made fighting cancer a focus for his presidency, resurrecting a "moonshot" initiative to increase funding for research and improve treatment. He unveiled the initiative at the in 2022, echoing the Democratic icon's famous speech declaring that "we will go to the moon" six decades earlier. "Beating cancer is something we can do together," Biden said. By this point, he had already signed legislation known as the PACT Act to expand healthcare benefits for veterans. The law guarantees treatment for chronic illnesses blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Biden left no doubt that he believed Beau's death resulted from his service with the National Guard in Iraq. "When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same - headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer," he said. "My son Beau was one of them." Denis McDonough, who led the Veterans Affairs Department under Biden, said the president didn't talk about Beau's death during policy discussions. But he said it was clear that Biden "knew the experience that other families were having, and he was going to be damn sure that we weren't going to miss an opportunity to address that." McDonough recalled that Biden wanted the new law to take effect as quickly as possible. "He had an option to stretch it out," he said. "He said no way." The following year, first lady Jill Biden had two cancerous lesions removed, one above her right eye and the other on her chest. They were both basal cell carcinoma. Learning of the diagnosis "was a little harder than I thought," she told The Associated Press during a trip to Africa. "I'm lucky," she said. "Believe me, I am so lucky that they caught it, they removed it, and I'm healthy." Biden's cancer diagnosis is not the first time that he's faced his own mortality. Months after ending his first presidential campaign in 1988, he collapsed in a New York hotel room. In his memoir "Promises to Keep," he described "lightning flashing inside my head, a powerful electrical surge - and then a rip of pain like I'd never felt before." He had suffered a brain aneurysm that required surgery. Biden wrote that "I had no real fear of dying. I'd long since accepted the fact that life's guarantees don't include a fair shake." McDonough imagined that Biden would feel similarly about his current situation. "He's always on to the next fight," he said.
Yomiuri Shimbun
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yomiuri Shimbun
After a Political Career Shaped by Cancer, Biden Faces His Own Grim Diagnosis
AP file photo President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024. WASHINGTON (AP) — In Joe Biden's family, there's a saying that the three worst words anyone can hear are 'you have cancer.' One decade ago, his son Beau died from a brain tumor. Several years later, his wife Jill had two cancerous lesions removed in her own brush with the disease. Now it is the former president's turn. Biden's office disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis over the weekend, saying it has already spread to his bones. Although the cancer can possibly be controlled with treatment, it is no longer curable. The announcement is a bitter revelation that a disease that has brought so much tragedy to Biden's life could be what ends it. 'Cancer touches us all,' Biden wrote on social media. 'Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.' Even before the diagnosis, Biden's post-presidency was shadowed by questions about his health and whether he should have run for reelection. As questions about his fitness for office mounted, he abandoned the campaign and Donald Trump retook the presidency by defeating Kamala Harris. As the 82-year-old Biden works to safeguard his damaged political legacy, he'll also be fighting a disease that shaped the final chapters of his decades-long career. Biden was serving as Barack Obama's vice president when Beau died in 2015. He decided not to seek the Democratic nomination the following year, which helped clear a path for Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016. Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama adviser, said Biden wanted to 'channel his grief into action and figure out how we can do better' on treating cancer to 'make sure that other people didn't have to go through what he went through.' The effort was formalized as a White House task force, with Biden in charge. After a few years out of office, Biden re-entered politics to campaign against Trump in 2020. The heartache from Beau's death was never far from the surface though. His eldest son had been Delaware's attorney general and often viewed as Biden's political successor. 'Beau should be the one running for president, not me,' Biden said, a thought he echoed on many occasions. He made fighting cancer a focus for his presidency, resurrecting a 'moonshot' initiative to increase funding for research and improve treatment. He unveiled the initiative at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in 2022, echoing the Democratic icon's famous speech declaring that 'we will go to the moon' six decades earlier. 'Beating cancer is something we can do together,' Biden said. By this point, he had already signed legislation known as the PACT Act to expand healthcare benefits for veterans. The law guarantees treatment for chronic illnesses blamed on burn pits, which were used to dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste on military bases. Biden left no doubt that he believed Beau's death resulted from his service with the National Guard in Iraq. 'When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same — headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer,' he said. 'My son Beau was one of them.' Denis McDonough, who led the Veterans Affairs Department under Biden, said the president didn't talk about Beau's death during policy discussions. But he said it was clear that Biden 'knew the experience that other families were having, and he was going to be damn sure that we weren't going to miss an opportunity to address that.' McDonough recalled that Biden wanted the new law to take effect as quickly as possible. 'He had an option to stretch it out,' he said. 'He said no way.' The following year, first lady Jill Biden had two cancerous lesions removed, one above her right eye and the other on her chest. They were both basal cell carcinoma. Learning of the diagnosis 'was a little harder than I thought,' she told The Associated Press during a trip to Africa. 'I'm lucky,' she said. 'Believe me, I am so lucky that they caught it, they removed it, and I'm healthy.' Biden's cancer diagnosis is not the first time that he's faced his own mortality. Months after ending his first presidential campaign in 1988, he collapsed in a New York hotel room. In his memoir 'Promises to Keep,' he described 'lightning flashing inside my head, a powerful electrical surge — and then a rip of pain like I'd never felt before.' He had suffered a brain aneurysm that required surgery. Biden wrote that 'I had no real fear of dying. I'd long since accepted the fact that life's guarantees don't include a fair shake.' McDonough imagined that Biden would feel similarly about his current situation. 'He's always on to the next fight,' he said.
