Veterans Outreach Program - National MS Society, Greater IL Chapter

[brendan.waldoch]

Hello!

I work at the National MS Society, Greater IL Chapter. My main goal is to establish an outreach program for veterans living with multiple sclerosis in our service area (the WI-IL border south to Springfield). The goal is to inform veterans of the programs and services offered by the Society, and assess their needs to see what additional programs and services they are interested in.

If you live in Illinois and would like to be part of this effort, please register yourself as a veteran with the Society by calling 1-800-344-4867. If you have any questions about the outreach program, feel free to post a message, or email me at brendan.waldoch@nmss.org.

Thank you!

[Marco]

Brendan,
I am a veteran, but not located in your target area. I wanted to welcome you to MSWorld and to thank you for reaching out to both the MSWorld and veteran community.

It's quite refreshing to see someone proactively attempting to help out. I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you again for posting this.

Marco

[brendan.waldoch]

You're very welcome Marco! One of my goals for this program is that, pending its success, other chapters will be able to follow suit and implement something similar. Hopefully within the next couple of years you'll see a similar program at your local chapter!

That being said, if anyone at all (i.e. in or outside of Illinois) has suggestions for programs and services that you yourself would appreciate, we would very much like to hear them! While our eventual offerings wouldn't be able to assist you directly, everyone's ideas are valuable to the program's development.

[Bob698]

Needle disposal.

Its getting to be a hassle again after the VA (in Iowa) said they can't take used needles anymore. Hello, you (the VA) wrote the RX and send me this stuff.
That makes it tough to drop off sharp's containers at a pharmacy that has no clue what's in them.

The fallout will be that it's much easier to just throw this stuff in a dumpster.

[Marco]

Brendan,
I sure hope the NMSS will actively lobby on behalf of military veterans with Multiple Sclerosis. The "neurologists" at the Congressional Budget Office believe, MS is "generally neither caused nor aggravated by military service." The CBO suggests, "VA could save $20 billion, from 2015 to 2023, if it stopped compensating veterans for the following: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; arteriosclerotic heart disease; hemorrhoids; uterine fibroids; multiple sclerosis; Crohn's disease and osteoarthritis. "

http://www.military.com/benefits/201...-pay-vets.html

The military controls your diet and sleep while deployed, they administer vaccinations (anthrax and botulinum toxoid and sometimes experimental) and drugs (like pyridostigmine bromide and cipro) at greater strengths than FDA allowed, they expose you to combat stress, depleted uranium, burn pits, pesticides (Methyl carbamate organochlorine, Organophosphorus, DEET and Pyrethroid, WMD/chemical-agents (sarin gas and cyclosporine mixes), petroleum fires, smoke inhalation, endemic diseases, CARC paint and many other hazardous exposures.

Why in the world would they ever consider MS not to be caused (during your military service) or aggravated by you military service? Then again, they also listed hemorrhoids even though everyone on the face of the earth realizes that military service can be a pain in the butt.

I hope the NMSS will rally it's resources and help defend our soldiers with MS against the government (whose moral obligation and legal responsibility is to take care of our veterans).

Thank you .......

[Wilcoxg]

Budget

Marco,

I'm glad someone else saw that article. I have been getting disability for only 4 months now, I'm getting used to the money, just for some ___ to put into question the service connection. I work for the US Army overseas and see so much fraud waste and abuse that if someone puts a stop,to that, they would be able,to leave us veterans alone!

Good luck!

Greg

**Word removed by Moderator per MS World Guidelines. Guideline #4: Use of profanity/cursing/pornographic/sexual references in any language is not permitted. Disguised profanity is also prohibited.**

[Marco]

Greg,
These are the kinds of things that happen between political photo-ops on July 4th, Memorial and Veteran's Days. This isn't anything new, politicians have often lauded our military and veterans on one-hand while stabbing them in the back with the other. It's not just the CBO targeting veterans benefits, but also the Secretary of Defense and President Obama.

• Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits. One of his TOP priorities next year is to cut military pay and benefits.
  
• President Obama and his administration admitted they want to force military retirees out of Tricare and into Obamacare. The tripling of Tricare rates is the primary way they intend to force veterans into Obamacare.

Just look at Dorn in South Carolina, where up to 3 dozen veterans died while waiting for routine procedures (colonoscopy/endoscopy). The waiting list was almost 4,000 and the VA was well-aware of the problems and did NOTHING to correct the problem. Congress sent the VA an extra million dollars to curtail the Dorn backlog and the VA spend 2/3rds of the extra money elsewhere.

This is just one of many, many examples of the deplorable state of veterans healthcare. Considering the already pathetic state of the VA healthcare I cannot imagine even MORE cuts coming our way.

[gomer]

Hi & WELCOME............

I am in Michigan, the bottom of the bottom of ALL 50 states and all US territories when it comes to taking care of vets. We Vets desperately NEED help in this state.

I could write a very long book on the subject and my experiences, but you get the idea.

Gomer Sir Falls-a-lot (USN vet)

[brendan.waldoch]

Hi & WELCOME............

I am in Michigan, the bottom of the bottom of ALL 50 states and all US territories when it comes to taking care of vets. We Vets desperately NEED help in this state.

I could write a very long book on the subject and my experiences, but you get the idea.

Gomer Sir Falls-a-lot (USN vet)

Hi Gomer,

Have you reached out to the Michigan Chapter of the National MS Society for any programs that they might offer? While most likely not veteran-specific, you may be able to find some of their resources to be valuable.

Thank you,
Brendan