The American Legion is stepping up to help the many veterans
who are struggling to get treatment, help, or benefits from the VA by setting
up temporary Veterans Crisis Command Centers in cities around the country.
These Crisis Centers are staffed with American Legion national
staff members as well as local members, VA staff, and local volunteers from
other organizations. Veterans can receive assistance in enrolling in the VA system, scheduling appointments, filing claims, and accessing their VA Disability Benefits. The VA is working closely with the American Legion, providing these
Crisis Centers with trained VA specialists, including nurses and counselors.
The Crisis Centers are set up at local American Legion
posts, usually for a period of 4 days. The first day, they hold a town hall
meeting where veterans can ask questions and get information. The remainder of
the time, veterans receive one-on-one attention from counselors who determine
how best to meet their needs, channeling them to staffers who can help
them.
So far, the American Legion has conducted these Veterans
Crisis Command Centers in Phoenix, El Paso and Fayetteville, NC, providing much
needed assistance to over 1800 veterans or family members. In El Paso, 74
veterans were told that they qualified for over $460,000 in benefits they’d
never received!
Verna Jones, Director of the American Legion’s Veterans’
Affairs and Rehabilitation Division, said of the El Paso experience, “The VA
did an outstanding job. Their employees were genuinely happy to be there and
they took a lot of time to make sure veterans were getting the help they
needed.”
The next two Veterans’ Crisis Command Centers will open
Monday, July 14 (today!) in Ft. Collins, CO, and St. Louis, MO, and run through
July 18 in both locations.
Future locations will include Clarksburg, W VA; Harlingen,
TX; and White City, OR.
To check on dates and locations, go to the American Legion
website at http://www.legion.org, or
contact your local American Legion post.
Thanks to the American Legion for providing
outstanding service to our veterans!
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