District 3 Veteran of the Month: Gretchen Wilson BVA’s District 3 comprising much of the southeastern states, has selected loyal and longtime BVA member Gretchen Wilson of the South Carolina Regional Group as its July 2020 Member of the Month. Read more about Gretchen’s commitment to serving her fellow veterans. READ MORE
BVA Taps Jim Vale as New National Service Director Blinded Veterans Association has selected a National Service Director to oversee Veterans Benefits and Policy. Learn more about the appointment and background of blinded veteran Jim Vale, BVA’s newest staff member. READ MORE
BRS Program Office Wellness Check Article Ella Hart, VA Blind Rehabilitation Service National Program Consultant, describes an important VA initiative with a human touch designed to check on our veterans with vision loss during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Ella is both a Certified Low Vision Therapist and a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Read Ella’s article, which includes BVA Executive Director Donald Overton’s personal experience with the initiative. READ MORE
BVA Continues To Urge House Vote on H.R. 3504 Together with support from Representative Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, and Representative Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), and other Veterans Service Organizations, the Blinded Veterans Association again today expressed support for passage of critical legislation that would assist blinded veterans and other service-connected veterans in adapting their homes for greater independence in daily life. Read more, including a comment from […]
Important Adaptive Housing Grant Bill Stalled in House BVA has joined with other Veterans Service Organizations in calling on Congress to pass a bill that will expand grants available to blinded veterans and their families to modify their homes to better meet their needs . Read Executive Director Donald Overton’s quote and more in a July 1 Stars and Stripes article.
VA Rolls Out Simplified Travel Reimbursement System for Veterans, Beneficiaries The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is beginning a roll-out of an innovative new system beginning July 1 for veterans and eligible beneficiaries to submit and track transportation reimbursement claims. The process will use VA’s secure, web-based portal, Access VA. It will be accessible 24/7, 365 days a year. Implementation will run across Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) in phases from July until November. Read […]
BVA’s Resilient Wellness Project Blinded Veteran Brothers and Sisters: When I became legally blind about ten years ago, I began asking if the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had anything written about coping skills that would help blinded veterans. When I received no answer for five years, I began to believe that if there were to be anything like that, maybe we should be the ones to create a guidebook. It took me several years […]
Contemplating the Meaning behind What We Have Missed The months of May and June are filled with meaningful dates to American patriots, historians, and sentimentalists— Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May, Memorial Day on the fourth Monday, D-Day (the allied liberation of Western Europe in 1944) June 6, Flag Day June 14, and Father’s Day the third Sunday in June, which in 2020 will be June 21. These are unprecedented times for carrying […]
BVA / BVUK Pursue Joint Ocular Trauma Task Force The Blinded Veterans Association and Blind Veterans UK, already partners for some nine years in a series of initiatives that include residential and recreational rehabilitation, mentorship, and adaptive technology through Project Gemini, are now joining forces in an effort to gain support for a United States-United Kingdom Joint Ocular Trauma Task Force (JOTTF)that could move eye and vision research to even greater heights within the two […]
The Royal Society Formally the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is the United Kingdom’s version of the national academy of sciences. Promoting excellence in science since 1660, it is the world’s oldest independent scientific academy. Left to right, Ginger Zampieri, Dr. Tom Zampieri, Dr. Renata Gomes, and James Jorkasky.
