Prospective attendees of the BVA 78th National Convention August 14-18 are encouraged to register with both BVA itself and the hotel to secure a reservation at the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel.  Individuals and families planning to attend this year’s activities—highlighted by educational sessions, an increasingly popular and busy Exhibit Hall, and official BVA business sessions—can now register online on BVA’s national convention webpage and link from there to a hotel reservation form that will […]

The month of April is Whole Health Month. Whole Health is VA’s approach to health care. The Whole Health concept, which emphasizes “what matters to you” and not “what is the matter with you,” takes center stage throughout April. Whole Health starts with the individual and is based on advance care planning and directives according to personal values and preferences.  Advance directives help surrogates and health care teams understand what medical and mental health care […]

VA Women’s heaRT, or Health Reengagement Training, is a nationwide training initiative to share information on women’s health services available at VA. The training discusses how to apply for and use health care with the goal of increasing enrollment and utilization of VA health care services.  Women benefit from the course by gaining comprehensive knowledge of women-specific and veteran-specific health services at VA, learning the tactical actions needed to enroll in and navigate VA health […]

VA’s Office of Outreach, Transition, and Economic Development has partnered with Prudential to offer a Wellness Wednesday Educational Series that began earlier this week and will continue throughout the month in recognition of April’s Financial Literacy Month. The program’s objective is to assist service members, veterans, family members, and caregivers in building strong financial foundations. The series consists of four online classes, each of which lasts an hour. Attendees can choose between two time slots: […]

Join VetTech this Wednesday, April 12, at 2:00pm Eastern Time as we welcome Liz Whitaker, Product Manager for User Education and Research at Vispero. Whether you are checking on your Social Security Administration claim or trying to access your Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health information, federal websites have adopted the public’s one account for government, login.gov in securing their sign-in portals. Liz and the VetTech team will explore these portals and discuss solutions to […]

Although they left the United States on different days, BVA members Lonnie Bedwell and Shawn Cheshire are both now in Nepal and on the brink of their historic ascent of Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse. Climbing Everest and Lhotse on the same journey, the latter of which is the world’s fourth largest mountain, has never previously been accomplished by a blind person, let alone two at the same time. In addition, Shawn’s successful attempt at […]

BVA extends kudos to members from the Richmond Chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Group and a strongly supportive cast from VA as they commemorated Blinded Veterans Day on March 28 at the Richmond, Virginia VA Medical Center. “It was a very successful and fun-filled day,” said Richmond Chapter member Vaneada S. Harvey, Ph.D., known also as Dr. Vee. “Our chapter president, Stevie Bradley, welcomed us and expressed excitement about the event being what he called […]

BVA members Anthony Woodson of the Illinois Regional Group, Michaun Harrison of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Group, Robert Byrd, also of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Group, and Yoneka Trent of the Carolina Regional Group, all of whom are BVA Ambassadors, were among the 79 veterans with a visual impairment who attended the recent National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic (WSC) in Snowmass, Colorado. “I encourage veterans of all skill levels to attend this life-changing event,” said Anthony, […]

Prospective attendees of the BVA 78th National Convention August 14-18 are encouraged to register with both BVA itself and the hotel to secure a reservation at the Marriott St. Louis Grand.  Individuals and families planning to attend this year’s activities—highlighted by educational sessions, an increasingly popular and busy Exhibit Hall, and official BVA business sessions—can now register online on BVA’s national convention webpage and link to a hotel reservation form that will allow them to […]

BVA’s long-tenured Kathern F. Gruber scholarship program will award five $2,000 tuition scholarships to spouses, dependent children, and grandchildren of blind and low vision veterans for the 2023-24 academic year. The deadline to submit applications for the scholarships is Friday, April 28.  The deadline for BVA’s awards program is also April 28. The awards honor each year the extraordinary professional achievements of a blind or low vision veteran, the outstanding level of service of a BVA […]