A campaign in several languages seeks to reach out to veterans who have served in the United States, so that they know the housing, health and education benefits to which they can have access.
“The more than $5 million campaign, What You Earned [‘Lo que ganó’]focuses on educating veterans and their families about some of the essential and cost-saving benefits […] including free or low-cost health care, debt-free education, $0 down payments on home loans, free memorial services and burial, and much more,” the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said in documents.
The authorities make comparisons of the real costs of services and products, to demonstrate to potential beneficiaries the savings that veterans assigned to the VA system can obtain.
In addition, the VA is advancing its plans to help immigrants who served in the Army, but who for some reason ended up being deported, confirmed Tahina Montoya, strategic advisor for VA Veterans Care, in an interview with this newspaper.
“They are what we call non-citizen veterans, so we do not say illegal or legal status, it is an issue that is currently being worked on and precisely one of the reasons why we are trying to communicate more and more in different languages,” said Montoya. . “Because naturally those who are not citizens surely… prefer to receive communication in different languages.”
He added that the process to help these immigrants can take time.
“A campaign is currently being developed to ensure that those who can benefit from the resources that are available receive notification, so that they understand more about the process,” he said.
In July 2021, the Department of Homeland Security and the VA announced a plan for veterans to obtain immigration benefits, although there are no reports on how many people have achieved citizenship.
The campaign is in several languages, highlighted the Secretary of VA, Denis McDonough, it is part of the effort so that veterans know the benefits to which they have access, mainly health.
“Too often, veterans are unaware of the full scope of health care and benefits they have gained through their service to our nation,” McDonough said. “The goal of this campaign is to change that. “We want to show veterans and their families, in the most tangible terms possible, how the VA can help them stay healthy, go to school, get a job, buy a home and more.”
The PACT Act
The campaign is made possible by the PACT Act, passed by Congress in 2022 to increase funding and offer better services to veterans.
The law has allowed, according to the White House, to provide more benefits and medical care quickly, this with an investment of $163,000 million in benefits for 6.3 million veterans and survivors.
There was a record processing of 1.98 million disability claims, something that was also highlighted by Montoya, who added that the law now allows a veteran to claim health benefits only by proving that they were in service, and not by proving how their medical complications occurred.
“Basically they realized that during a certain period the veterans who served in seven countries including Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen who did serve… so instead of the veteran having to prove that he has a certain medical condition, because he served in those countries during that time, now basically one only has to prove that they were in that country during that time and that they have a medical complication,” Montoya emphasized.
VA reports indicate that in the last year it has performed 116 million health care appointments, more than 5.5 million dental procedures and provided services and assistance to more than 74,000 family caregivers, that is, people who care for veterans with complications. medical.
The campaign also seeks to reduce health care costs for veterans, including health care for those who fought in World War II.
“The Administration will also announce the launch of a new Veterans Scams and Fraud (VSAFE) campaign and task force to better protect veterans and their families from scams and predatory actors,” it stated.
Latino veterans
Montoya, who is the daughter of Colombian immigrants, serves in the Air Force, first deployed to countries like Panama, but now enlisted in the reserves.
The work she does as a VA advisor gives her satisfaction and she highlighted the importance of Latino veterans, to whom she seeks to reach the message in their own language.
“I have been given to understand that the reception was very good… being able to do it in several languages and I am not only speaking in Spanish… the Department of Veterans Affairs is really doing its part not only to communicate with the veterans and their families of different methods, electronic, say telephone, website, mobile application… but also doing it in several languages,” he highlighted. “He communicates with the veteran and his family in a respectful manner that demonstrates the gratitude we have for his service.”
He added that there are efforts that will increase, such as sending communications in Spanish.
“What strikes me is that all the communications in letters that we have made to Puerto Rico have only recently been done in Spanish,” he explained. “It is a process that we have to improve, it is definitely not perfect, but I am very proud to be able to say that, as a Latina veteran, that we are doing our part at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”