 Adams with Voice of a Veteran. I am zooming in from St. Cloud, Florida. How exciting is that? Land of Disney, Mickey Mouse. So here I am here today to help you guys understand a little bit about changing your mindset from the military way of thinking like I used to be like to the new way of thinking dealing with the VA, the civilian way. First slide, please. So how many of you have ever had problems dealing with the VA? I know that I did when I first got out. I didn't know I was even entitled to anything. I was a dental lab tech and a dental assistant and all I had was my education benefits. So my thought process was just go to school, start my life and get on with it. Well, life had a different path for me because I got introduced to the number one obstacle that all of us face is our mindset, our military mindset. So one of the things I'd like to share with you, the first side is the military mindset and then the second part is the component to how to combat that on the VA side. So how many of you heard no pain, no gain? Work through that pain. How about you're going to be punished, right? If you go to sick call, you're going to be labeled, you're going to be teased by your unit. Sometimes you might find that you don't, you're persuaded not to even go because you are feeling bad about things or you might get held back. What if you were negatively viewed by your peers that you're slacking? How about, what if you pre-judged yourself? There's nothing wrong with me. I'm young, I don't need help. And the worst one that I see a lot of, I don't need the VA's help. Other people need it more than me. So what I have found is the VA mindset is totally different. So you have to learn how to self-advocate for yourself, okay? When you go to the exams, the law says to the point of pain, the examiners cannot push you through that pain cycle. You can stop and say stop. You can advocate and be honest and open to your providers. Don't hold anything back. Talk about your worst days, not your best days. You're not there to impress anybody. Document, document, document. If you're still active duty, please make sure that it's recorded in your records. It's really important. So people ask me all the time, well, how do I document something that, basically, how do I show them what I have? And I'm like, that's easy. If you can visually take pictures of things that are problematic, take a picture, do a journal, do a calendar. How often does this happen to you? How long does it last? Anything and everything to substantiate your claim. And finally, use a buddy statement. Did you tell anybody about what was going on? Did you reach out to your higher command? Is there records of that? Your buddies, your peers can do statements. Hey, I was there, I saw. I know this person before they got injured and now this is what I'm seeing. So help each other out and do statements for each other. They're called lay statements or buddy statements. You can write your own. You can have your spouse write one for you. Because I tell you, I'm not the same person I was when I was 18 years old and joined the Army, even only serving four years I got out. I had tons of medical issues. Next slide. I want you to know the most important thing. You are not alone in this process. I'm here to help you navigate and understand through three basic E components. We're gonna educate you, okay? Using the law that governs the VA, Title 38. We're gonna use forms that are used on you when you go for your compensation pension exams. They're called disability benefits questionnaires, DBQs. You're entering a world with a whole new set of acronyms. Once you get out of the military, you gotta learn a whole new language and a whole new system of navigation. We're gonna engage you, okay? We're gonna keep you engaged with the VA. Don't walk away due to red tape. And if you go to the VA and you're told you make too much money, there's a second component there. That's called the means test. But if you become 10% disabled vet, that goes out the door. So make sure you know your rights. Using a veteran's advocacy service is your number one way to stay engaged, okay? You go to veteran service organization meetings. When I was in Fairbanks, Alaska, I used DAV. Hawaii has DAV. Other organizations, check them out. That's how I started when I was 24 years old and didn't know anything. There certainly isn't a class that teaches you this. Even the TAP classes don't teach you how to navigate the VA. They tell you that they're there and it's up to you to figure this out. Well, not anymore. You're not alone, I promise. Empower yourself, okay? Advocate for yourself. Build your case, learn how to organize everything. Become intimately knowledgeable about your records. And definitely, please change your military mindset. This is the number one struggle every active duty has as they transition to the VA healthcare system and benefits system. Next slide, please. Okay. You versus the VA. Now, let me help you understand this. If you upload your documents into eBenefits or any electronic VA.gov or any electronic VA document system uploading, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Please utilize accredited representatives such as disabled American veterans. Here in Florida, I use a lot of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs but use these accredited representatives and on that slide you can hit the hyperlink and find the persons that you are interested in working with. If they are not accredited through the VA, usually it's a scam. I can tell you that ahead of time. There are a lot of agencies that are not being managed by the VA to look out for you. These accredited representatives for initial claims do not charge a dime. It's only when you get denied a claim then they can charge you and it's a contract and it's all pre-approved by the VA so that you don't get ripped off, right? Well, because of COVID and because of the PACDAC, the new law that we'll talk about a little bit, there has been tremendous problems with the veterans being scammed by these organizations that claim to help you but they want upfront money. Please do due diligence. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Do not upload your documents into the VA system. You're not represented it. You're not represented. You need a veterans advocacy agency to help you. Please, please do that. Next slide. Now, a lot of times people don't even understand the basic components that the VA is, Department of Veterans Affairs. Next to the DOD, they are the second most funded agency in the US government. They have a cabinet position with the president and there are four components of the VA that you need to understand and understand this. They don't talk to each other. So if you change your information in one, you need to let the others know. If you, especially in healthcare and in benefits. So if you upload or change anything, please make sure it's on both sides of the house. Now there's the Veterans Benefits Administration. They deal with everything other than your healthcare. Here's a link to them and a phone number. Please use that. The other one is the Veterans Healthcare Administration. They are fantastic. They do everything concerning what? Healthcare, exactly. And the National Cemetery Administration, they deal with everything concerning burials at national cemeteries, reimbursement for burial expenses. And they have a change recently that you can predeterminate and make yourself eligible. If you want to be buried in a national cemetery, you can set all that up ahead of time. How fantastic is that? And last but not least certainly is the Vet Center. They're a readjustment counseling center that's there for combat vets and for veterans suffering from military sexual trauma. I was a work study at a Vet Center and it is a very different mindset. Their whole office is different, how they treat veterans is different and they do not share your information with big VA with VHA unless you allow them to. So it's a great opportunity to diffuse and learn benefits and get counseling sooner than if you were to use the VA, the big VA. Next slide. Know the law that governs you and the VA. The law that governs the VA is title 38, chapter one. Okay, here's a site for it. And under chapter one, part four, there's regulations, right? Subpart A and the key things that people don't know that is if they get a rating officer that is rude to you or is disrespectful, you have the right to get a new rating officer. Nobody knows that, they just accept what is given to them. Military mindset strikes again, don't make waves, get what you get, suck it up, move on, stuff like that. I'm telling you right now, the law has protective rights in there and one of them that people don't usually utilize is the attitude of the rating officer. They have to show you respect and they cannot be disrespectful or rude to you or try to hurt you in any way. People go, hey, VA math doesn't add up. Here's the combined ratings table on how they do the VA math. And when you look at it, there's instructions on how to read your combined table and convalescent ratings. If you are safe, for instance, you need crutches for months on end or a month and you're immobile for 30 days or more, you can request if your service connected for that knee and you have to have surgery, you can request that you get convalescent rating at the 100% rate. That's, you have to apply. So the second part is subpart B, the schedule ratings. Every part B has the major muscle groups or the major body components. And then at the very bottom, it's called sub, excuse me, schedule of disability ratings. That is phenomenal because it tells you from zero to 100 what you can get for those symptoms. So you can use that to your advantage and tell the VA basically what's going on with you. Please think of the VA as someone that you're trying to paint a picture about your military service. A lot of veterans go in for their exams and they go, hey, this is what happened to me in military service. And after I got out, I did ABC and D. No, you're there to tell them what happened to you in military service. That's it. How did this hurt you? How did this impact you? That's what you're there for. Don't go into great detail about after your military service. VA doesn't give you compensation for that only for what is service connected while you were active duty. Understand that. Next slide please. The PACT Act is the newest law in 83 years for us veterans and it's phenomenal. Check it out. A lot of Vietnam veterans are being affected by the PACT Act. Go for veterans. Please, please, please look at this. Be very familiar. If you have questions, contact me because the PACT Act, one of the things that changed was hypertension. So a lot of veterans have heart attack, hypertension. They served in Vietnam. They expanded the duty of service exposure to Agent Orange, to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Johnson Atoll. My own husband was affected by that. He served in Johnson Atoll in the 90s and we found out under the PACT Act that, guess what? He was exposed to Agent Orange and he filed a claim because he is diabetic. Diabetes is a presumptive issue concerned with exposure to Agent Orange. So there's all these laws and all these things. If you get complicated, don't worry. You just contact me and I will help you, okay? Next slide. Everything that we do is for one purpose in my mind. We don't want to lose another brother or sister to suicide. 22 a day has been reported. I personally feel like it's a lot more than just 22. I deal with this a lot, especially with combat veterans. Please, they have changed the new crisis line number. It is so much easier to call now and I want to talk a little bit about mental health and crisis line because mental health, a lot of people try to avoid mental health. We can talk about anything and everything when it concerns body issues, but the minute I start talking to veterans about mental health, they want to clam up. Well, to me, as you all know, it's mind, body, spirit. And so if we deal with the body, we're missing out on taking care of our mind and our mind is so critical to help us with our body. And it's a holistic approach. When I lived in Hawaii, I was fortunate to use the VA there and they have wonderful mental health programs there with art therapy and writing and all these things transitioning. So check them out if you're in Hawaii at that VA there. And I was fortunate because that's not everywhere. There are times when you go to the doctor, especially down here, a lot of the VA mental health providers want to prescribe medication, medication, medication. And if you need it, I'm all about it. I was on a lot of medication for a long time, but what I found is I do better through talk therapy. And I encourage all of my veterans to use talk therapy and talk to their providers and say, hey, I want a voice in my care plan and really be adamant. If you don't want to take medication, they cannot force you to do so. There are other methods to help you in the mental health field. Dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, prolonged exposure, it just goes on and on and on. And so utilize those and see how that helps you. I'm not a doctor. I'm just telling you from my own personal experience what has worked for me and what I tried to help navigate and advocate for other veterans. The crisis line, everybody thinks the only way you can contact them is if you are suicidal or homicidal. That is not the truth, okay? When you're in crisis, what does that mean? I know what it means for me. Let me give you a good example. I was in Walmart shopping and I don't do well with the self-checkout thing, right? I like people actually to interact with. And I was stuck that day. They didn't have any tellers. I had to go through the self-checkout. I freaked. I left my buggy in the middle of Walmart, went to my car crying because now I'm frustrated and angry. I call crisis line. And they're your number one advocate. They are your best friend. They will sit by you and help diffuse the situation. And they will ask you always, are you suicidal or homicidal? And if you are, we need to get you to a safe place into a hospital. And that leads me to a number two thing about the newest law changes. There's a new law called the Compact Act. Any veteran that is in crisis, in suicidal crisis, can go to any emergency room and say I'm a veteran. And if they have to inpatient new, VA will pay. We do not want to lose another veteran to suicide. We wanna do everything we can. And I encourage you in your communities to start having that dialogue on how to best serve our nation's veterans and their families, right? Because families are impacted too. And a lot of times we focus a lot on the veterans and the families are kinda left to the wayside. While families, I'm an Army brat. So families, military families are amazing. The spouses that stay behind and run everything and take care of the children and the finances while the service member goes off and gets deployed. My hats are off to you. My dad did 22 years Army and I was moved around every two years. I understand that the children and the spouses desperately need help. And there's a lot of mechanisms if you're a combat vet for family therapy through the vet center or through the VA. If you lose a veteran, there's bereavement counseling. I have sent many people to bereavement counseling because they don't know what to do when their veteran passes. They don't know how to navigate anything. And some of them, due to income, are eligible for pension or for DIC if the veteran passed for a service-connected disability. There's a lot out there. This is huge. VA knowledge is huge. But what I'm here to tell you is you contact me. I will help you navigate through all of this and answer questions and share screen with you and talk story. I'm all about that. Do not suffer in silence anymore. I see that all the time. I see people that have not told their story in 20, 30 years. Myself, I did not talk about my own traumas in the military. I had instances of MST, which is military sexual trauma. And I thought that was just normal behavior back in the 80s in the military. Who know? I suffered with that for 30 years before I even spoke out. And I don't want anybody out there to ever sit in silence and suffer. We're here to help each other. All the traumas, all the stuff that we all went through, we are here for one purpose in my mind. It is just to reach out and help each other. And I'm here, I started my own nonprofit called Connecting the Dots for Veterans. And you can reach me through this link tree account, link.tree slash connecting the dots for veterans. And this will help you navigate and understand. If anything, please, please talk to somebody. Okay, I'm here to help navigate and educate you. We do that, like I said, through a couple methods. I hope the slides help you. Please feel free once again to reach out to me. It has been an honor and a privilege just so that all of you know. This is a continuation of Voice of the Veteran. I want to thank Jay Fidel and the ThinkTech family for allowing me to restart this. This started in 2017 and I had to leave the island due to my own health issues and moved to Florida. I had triple bypass in Honolulu and I needed more care. And so I had to move down to Florida to get it. And it's been an amazing journey. But I just wanted to thank the ThinkTech family. This is really critical. Our veterans in Hawaii face a unique situation. Their resources are very limited, especially if they live off of Oahu. Even on Oahu, I was looking at the reports. In 2018 to 2019, the number of veterans that asked for care jumped up over 600%. And it's only gonna get more and more. And the resources are still less and less. So they try to do community care. They try to help as much as possible, but there's only so many doctors that can go around. And just please don't give up hope. Don't give up being your self advocate. If you don't like your own doctor, guess what? One piece of paper and you can ask for a new doctor and they will make that happen. It may take a little bit of time, but that's okay. You're worth it. I wanna thank all of you, active duty that are out there serving today, all those that came before me and all those that are serving now and are coming after me. My son is active duty Air Force station at Lackland. And I just, all of you that are deployed have a safe trip home. And I just wanna say Mahalo and well wishes to all of you and your families. And I wish nothing but good things and safety for all of you. This is Helen Dotty Adams signing out. Mahalo and God bless. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.