Jenkins’ office looking into Maxwelton clinic delays
The Pocahontas Times contacted Congressman Evan Jenkins’ office to request information on the re-opening of the VA Community Clinic in Maxwelton. The clinic has been closed for several months due to air quality issues. Jenkins staff member Rebecca Neal said she would look into the issue.
Jenkins issued a press release on February 11 in response to a VA announcement that a new VA clinic will open in Princeton this summer.
“Veterans across southern West Virginia often face many obstacles – transportation and rural roads among them – in obtaining medical care. Driving to the Beckley VA Medical Center may be difficult for some veterans in southern West Virginia, which is why I welcome today’s announcement,” Jenkins said in the release.
The Maxwelton clinic is located in a building owned by the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC). GVEDC Executive Director Steve Weir told the Beckley Register-Herald on January 30 that he expected repairs to the clinic’s HVAC system to be completed in early February.
Cancer grants available for VFW Ladies Auxiliary
Membership in national veterans organizations like the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) confers benefits to the veteran and also to family members. A little known but generous benefit is available to members of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary.
Women eligible for membership in the VFW are eligible for dual membership in the Ladies Auxiliary. Female family members of VFW members are also eligible for Auxiliary membership, including wives, widows, mothers, foster and stepmothers (who have performed the duties of a parent), grandmothers, daughters, granddaughters, foster and stepdaughters (who attained that status prior to the age of sixteen and for whom the duties of parent were performed), sisters, half-sisters, and foster and stepsisters (who attained that status prior to the age of sixteen).
There is no cap on the cancer grant amount. After one year of continuous membership, Auxiliary members who must undergo chemotherapy and other procedures to fight cancer are eligible for the grant to help cover expenses. There is a limit of two grants per lifetime and the grants must be at least 12 months apart.
VFW Post 4595 Quartermaster Barry Sharp applied for the grant when his mother was undergoing cancer treatment, but ultimately did not use the grant because other insurance paid all expenses.
“It does away with the family’s hardship of having a bill left over at the end of the cancer treatments, from whatever insurance doesn’t pay,” he said. “The Auxiliary picks up what’s left over.”
Sharp said the Auxiliary made the grant money available without a lot of “red tape.”
“What I liked about the program, even though I didn’t have to use the funds, was how quick and easy it was,” he said. “It wasn’t like I had to go beg for the money.”
Sharp said he keeps all of his female family members up-to-date with their Auxiliary dues just because of the cancer grant program.
“There’s no way you can get cancer insurance cheaper,” he said.
See www.ladiesauxvfw.org for more information on VFW Auxiliary membership and the cancer grant program.
