The Chilkat Valley’s nearly 180 veterans will have some extra help navigating the complex world of healthcare and retirement benefits soon.
Veteran Service Officers from the American Legion and the Veteran of Foreign Wars, VFW, will be traveling in Southeast Alaska throughout April. They’ll be in Haines at the American Legion Post on:
- Monday, April 1 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It’s been years since they visited town, according to American Legion Lynn Canal Post 12 Commander Chuck Mittman.
Air Force veteran Jessica Gutierrez moved to town last year. She learned firsthand how difficult it can be to get access to healthcare in town after she slipped and fell on the ice and injured her shoulder.
“That was a wormhole of finding different numbers and it’s super challenging to navigate if you don’t have an advocate or you aren’t super techsavvy and stay completely up to date on every change that’s happening in the VA system,”she said.
Gutierrez described a month and a half of waiting for calls to be returned or referrals to the right doctors.
“Oh, it was rough,” she said. “I learned to live with it but I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even write. I couldn’t lift my arm. I didn’t know if it was broken.”
Meanwhile, she was trying to navigate a labyrinth of getting her benefits transferred from Texas to Alaska.
“That was talking to a lot of people, a lot of people helping me get different numbers, a lot of the numbers were disconnected that I got from VA representatives that were just giving me the runaround,” she said.
That’s where a Veteran Service Officer could have been helpful.
“They have the experience. They have the resources available to help you and get you in the right direction,” Gutierrez said.
She said she hopes a lot of the borough’s veterans get a chance to stop by the American Legion Post and get their questions answered.
“I think that there might be a lot of vets in the community – even though it’s small – that are discouraged from seeking healthcare here for a number of things because … it’s so overwhelming and intimidating,” she said. “It’s a way to get facetime and discuss what you’re actually going through in this remote community.”