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ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE REPORTS
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HELP FOR VETERANS
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- Updated: August 20th, 2009
- Gulf War Registry
( Formerly Persian Gulf Registry )
-
- As of September 2002 the combined programs
of the VA and
- DoD Gulf War clinical evaluation programs
had seen more than
- 100,339 Gulf War veterans. The program that
lead to this was both
- called the Persian Gulf Registry and the
Clinical Comprehensive
- Evaluation Program. This was from the
initial 697,000 troops that
- had deployed during Operation Desert Shield
/ Desert Storm.
-
- The program had three phases, and in the old
days you would be
- sent to a Gulf War Referral Clinic if you
were sick enough. That
- changed with Operation Iraqi Freedom, and
now the whole issue
- falls under Gulf War Era. So now the Persian
Gulf Coordinator you
- would have walked into see in 1994 is now
the Environmental Health
- Coordinator who would send you to the War
Related Illness and
- Injury Clinic in Washington DC or East
Orange, New Jersey.
-
- Quote from Deployment Health website:
- The Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf War
Registry offers a free,
- complete physical examination with basic
laboratory studies to every
- veteran who served in the Gulf War. The VA
has named a physician
- at every VA medical center to coordinate the
special examination
- program, which elicits information about
symptoms and exposures
- and directs baseline laboratory studies. The
VA is also inviting
- spouses and children of Gulf War Veterans
who have received a
- Registry examination to take advantage of
the special health
- examinations. To schedule an examination you
should contact the
- VA at 800-PGW-VETS (800-749-8387).
- http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/
-
- The
VA Persian Gulf War Health Examination Registry, was
- authorized
in November 1992 by the “Persian Gulf War Veterans
- Health
Status Act” (Public Law 102-585).
-
- The
U.S. began deploying troops to the Gulf region in late 2002.
- As
of May 19, 2004, among 139,778 veterans of OIF who have
- separated
from active military duty, 15 percent (21,021) have
- sought
health care from VA.
-
- VA
must provide a GWR examination to veterans who request the
- examination
and who served on active military duty in Southwest
- Asia
during the GW which began in 1990, and continues to the
- present
{per 38 U.S.C. § 101(33)} including OIF. There is a new
- location
for the GW Registry web page information.
- http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/registry_exam.asp
-
- Now
this is where things get sticky. You walk into the lobby of a
- local
Veteran Affairs Medical Center, and your having health
- problems
you think are related to the war. You walk around the
- lobby,
and its just full of veterans. What do you do, where do you
- go
or ask questions?
-
- Its
starts with contacting the Environmental Agents Coordinator at
- that
facility. But, without signs or literature in the lobby - how do you
- find
them. Well, they are now part of the Compensation and Pension
- exam
room at that facility. Here are the phone list for them and the
- doctor
who will perform the phase I exam:
- Gulf
War Coordinators ( update again July 2009 )
-
- In the case of Iraqi Freedom troops, St. Louis
may refer
- you to a Iraqi Freedom Coordinator. Not
all VAMC's will
- have one, so you may very well be dealing with
a standard
- Environmental Health Coordinator or Primary
Care clinician
- in VHA handbook 1303.2 under Gulf War
Registry.
-
- You will be asked to fill out a 10-9009a
(RS) Gulf War Registry form,
- that is at this location:
- Gulf War Codesheet 10-9009a
-
- The first examination is a phase I, so don't
expect much from it.
- The really sick vets didn't get far until
they made into phase II,
- and the more advanced labs explained in the
Gulf War Manual:
- VHA Handbook 1303.2:
- Handbook
- Gulf War Health Registry Program
-
- For those that are really sick, you should
ask for the doctor to
- send a referral to the WRIISC clinic.
- http://www.va.gov/WRIISC-DC/
-
- WRIISC provides a second opinion for
veterans with difficult-
- to-diagnose war-related illnesses and
injuries. WRIISC-DC
- provides an in-depth examination and
evaluation of the medical
- problems of combat veterans with
debilitating symptoms that
- remain unexplained after medical
examinations by the local
- VA medical center. Combat veterans with
medically unexplained
- illnesses may request a referral from their
VA physician to
- the center. This is the VHA manual of what
needs to be done:
- http://www.gulflink.org/gwr/WRIISCHandbook.pdf
- It has VA Form 10-0417 in it, your prescreen
form now.
-
- So far only a handful have made it in, but
that will change as we
- push this program to do what it was designed
to do under
- Public Law 105-368.
- I finally had my WRIISC exam in April, and Dr. Li
made promises
- to me that the program was going to improve.
Even though its
- seen 58 veterans nation wide in three years,
the WRIISC staff
- wanted to improve their image. The exam went
well, and everything
- went smooth other than the ticklish point of
the lobby still did not
- reflect the changes that the WRIISC staff said
they would correct
- in their correspondence with me.
- WRIISC
response letter
-
- Progress is on the horizon, we at DSBR got the
WRIISC VHA
- handbook, and VA
Form 10-0417 posted publicly. The EA
- Coordinators list updated to April 2005 an
published publicly,
- and the WRIISC program added to the VA EA, and
Gulf War
- web pages. WRIISC says they will work harder
at outreach,
- and correct not putting literature in the
Washington DC lobby.
-
- After two letters to the Whitehouse, I got
back two
- responses from Susan Mathers at VA on the
program.
- Neither answered my questions, of how to
change the
- problems in the program. So I had this
information entered
- into the record at the July 19th 2005
Government Reform
- hearing that Susan testified at. Discussion is
taking place
- at the House and Senate on this, and will
spell this out in
- more detail a little later.
-
- Letter one:
- My
letter to the Whitehouse
- Response
letter from Whitehouse
-
- Letter two:
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gulflink/message/8585
-
-
Sincerely
-
Kirt P. Love
-
Director, DSBR
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