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Kentucky Veterans! Do You Have Health and Benefits Questions? Need Peer Support? Ask Questions Now!
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On May 19th, 2-3 PM ET, VA and community experts will be here to answer your questions on benefits, claims, and peer-to-peer support services. Type your questions in now!
You can ask questions to the following people:
» SGT Lauren Augustine - Vice President Government Affairs, SVA
» Coleton Whitaker - Senior Director of Programs, Elizabeth Dole Foundation
» SFC Travis Rahill - Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, Veterans’ Club, Inc
» Jay Gorman - Psychologist, VA
» Melissa Comeau - Director, American Red Cross Military Veteran Caregiver Network
» Sgt Ed McEvoy - National Outreach Specialist, VA
» PO1 Amanda Davis - Administrative Services Manager, VA
» Anyah Hoang - Associate VP of Veteran Services, Volunteers of America Mid-States
» 1SG Zelda Davis - Management Analyst, VA
Student Veterans of America (SVA):
Student Veterans of America is a Chapter-based organization with about 1,500 locations on college campuses nationwide. We represent about 750,000 student veterans and work on personal and professional development, leadership training, and advocacy at the federal level.
Volunteers of America Mid-States:
Supportive Services for Veteran Families - housing/employment support for unhoused Veterans and their families or those imminently at risk of being unhoused. Mental health, substance use support and services
You can ask questions to the following people:
» SGT Lauren Augustine - Vice President Government Affairs, SVA
» Coleton Whitaker - Senior Director of Programs, Elizabeth Dole Foundation
» SFC Travis Rahill - Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, Veterans’ Club, Inc
» Jay Gorman - Psychologist, VA
» Melissa Comeau - Director, American Red Cross Military Veteran Caregiver Network
» Sgt Ed McEvoy - National Outreach Specialist, VA
» PO1 Amanda Davis - Administrative Services Manager, VA
» Anyah Hoang - Associate VP of Veteran Services, Volunteers of America Mid-States
» 1SG Zelda Davis - Management Analyst, VA
Student Veterans of America (SVA):
Student Veterans of America is a Chapter-based organization with about 1,500 locations on college campuses nationwide. We represent about 750,000 student veterans and work on personal and professional development, leadership training, and advocacy at the federal level.
Volunteers of America Mid-States:
Supportive Services for Veteran Families - housing/employment support for unhoused Veterans and their families or those imminently at risk of being unhoused. Mental health, substance use support and services
Posted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Louisville
Lexington
Bowling GreenKentucky ARNG
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Louisville Lexington Bowling GreenKentucky ARNG
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I seldom say the VA has done a good job but the folks in Lexington KY. saved my left eye. The pressure in my left eye had jumped to 65 and from the moment I hit the ER they were treating my condition. The eye surgeon arrived, did emergency surgery thus saving my left eye. Couldn't be more happier with their actions because as a Transgender Veteran that's not the response I've come to expect from any medical provider.
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MSG Thomas Currie
I very rarely have any problems with medical treatment from VAMC Louisville -- the quality of medical care is almost always top notch, all the issues I have encountered with the VA have been either administrative, billing, or the occasional ridiculous policy with a complete inability for anyone to do what they admit they know would be the right solution.
A classic example was the time that a provider at VAMC Louisville called in a lab order for a follow up blood test to the Army lab at Fort Knox. This is the lab that did all the lab tests for the VA Clinic at Fort Knox, billing the VA - and in fact this was the lab that had done the lab test that this was a follow-up for. The Army lab at Fort Knox accepted the order with no problems when it was called in. They performed the test with no problems. Then they billed me instead of the VA. Why? Because the test was ordered by a VA doctor at VAMC Louisville, not one of the VA doctors working at the VA clinic on Fort Knox. No sweat, I sent the bill to the VAMC who said they would take care of it. HA! Fat Chance! VAMC Louisville could not figure out how to pay the Army without receiving a bill to the VA from the Army. The Army refused to bill the VA because their agreement only covered the VA doctors listed as working at the VA clinic on Fort Knox. Over six months of each blaming the other, with the Army saying that the VA in Louisville wasn't authorized to order the test, and the VA saying that the Army lab should not have accepted the order if they weren't authorized to order the test. Twice the problem was supposed to have been "handled" by the VA Patient Advocate's office (both times they just sent a copy of the bill to the VA billing department and forgot about it). A Congressional Inquiry eventually got the VA billing department to actually pay the bill. Just the people who I know spent time working on this totaled at least a hundred times the amount of money that the Army and the VA were fighting about, because the charge had only been $10.
At least THAT problem won't happen again, because instead of finding a better way for the VA and the Army to work together, the solution has been for the VA to build an entire new building and hire more people to move the clinic out of the Army hospital and to have their own building and their own lab.
A classic example was the time that a provider at VAMC Louisville called in a lab order for a follow up blood test to the Army lab at Fort Knox. This is the lab that did all the lab tests for the VA Clinic at Fort Knox, billing the VA - and in fact this was the lab that had done the lab test that this was a follow-up for. The Army lab at Fort Knox accepted the order with no problems when it was called in. They performed the test with no problems. Then they billed me instead of the VA. Why? Because the test was ordered by a VA doctor at VAMC Louisville, not one of the VA doctors working at the VA clinic on Fort Knox. No sweat, I sent the bill to the VAMC who said they would take care of it. HA! Fat Chance! VAMC Louisville could not figure out how to pay the Army without receiving a bill to the VA from the Army. The Army refused to bill the VA because their agreement only covered the VA doctors listed as working at the VA clinic on Fort Knox. Over six months of each blaming the other, with the Army saying that the VA in Louisville wasn't authorized to order the test, and the VA saying that the Army lab should not have accepted the order if they weren't authorized to order the test. Twice the problem was supposed to have been "handled" by the VA Patient Advocate's office (both times they just sent a copy of the bill to the VA billing department and forgot about it). A Congressional Inquiry eventually got the VA billing department to actually pay the bill. Just the people who I know spent time working on this totaled at least a hundred times the amount of money that the Army and the VA were fighting about, because the charge had only been $10.
At least THAT problem won't happen again, because instead of finding a better way for the VA and the Army to work together, the solution has been for the VA to build an entire new building and hire more people to move the clinic out of the Army hospital and to have their own building and their own lab.
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/11/05/ [login to see] /after-a-concussion-the-brain-may-no-longer-make-sense-of-sounds
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/ [login to see] /concussions-how-a-mild-brain-injury-can-alter-our-perception-of-sound
Is the VA moving forward with recognizing and testing for this type of hearing loss?
When I did my exit exam, I was told my inability to pick conversation out of background noise was "normal" and that "there was nothing wrong with my hearing" because I passed the audiology tests. But science is proving what I - and many other veterans - know to be true. There is a very real problem, here. And that problem is caused by our exposure to blasts. I wasn't even rated a 0%, I was flat out denied on that particular claim.
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/ [login to see] /concussions-how-a-mild-brain-injury-can-alter-our-perception-of-sound
Is the VA moving forward with recognizing and testing for this type of hearing loss?
When I did my exit exam, I was told my inability to pick conversation out of background noise was "normal" and that "there was nothing wrong with my hearing" because I passed the audiology tests. But science is proving what I - and many other veterans - know to be true. There is a very real problem, here. And that problem is caused by our exposure to blasts. I wasn't even rated a 0%, I was flat out denied on that particular claim.
After a concussion, the brain may no longer make sense of sounds
A concussion can make it difficult to converse in a noisy room. Scientists say that's because the injury has impaired the brain's ability to process sounds.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
MSG Thomas Currie I do have SOME loss in the very high frequencies - and in the very low ones. But the loss is minimal.
I more or less ace the standard audiology "hit the button when you hear a beep" tests. Because those are done in a noiseless booth. But ask me to track a conversation - especially if I am not directly facing the individual and can see their mouth - in a crowded room? Not so much.
I absolutely ABHOR "business lunches" because I am pretty much completely lost the entire time. I try to catch a snippet here and there, but mostly just live in my own world of confused noise.
I more or less ace the standard audiology "hit the button when you hear a beep" tests. Because those are done in a noiseless booth. But ask me to track a conversation - especially if I am not directly facing the individual and can see their mouth - in a crowded room? Not so much.
I absolutely ABHOR "business lunches" because I am pretty much completely lost the entire time. I try to catch a snippet here and there, but mostly just live in my own world of confused noise.
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SGT (Join to see)
The VA said my heating was just fine. Its not my hearing that's bad its that everyone in the world mumbles.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
Leesa Bartley I don't remember having one with VA. They used my final audiology test which was completed just prior to retirement.
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