National Service Officers - Belton Smith Followed by David Ray

Responsibility for this year was to increase the number of Power of Attorney (POA) for The North Florida, (Gainesville/ Lake City area)

In April, as I have done the past 4 years, an out-reach booth was set up at the annual ALS Walk and visited the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Each quarter, I have attended MAC meeting with the Director, Mr. Cappello and all the County Services Officers. The latest meeting was Tuesday afternoon December 13, 2011.
During that meeting, an update was given about the status of the construction for new
VA Clinics in the North Florida, the under construction new clinic in Jacksonville, FL., which is scheduled to open September 2012 and the Tallahassee clinic, that has been approved for construction to begin in 2012.

Every Thursday morning, I meet with Dr. Hoffman, who is a Neurologist, to discuss patient issues and request medical evidence to support veterans’ claims.

As my office is located in the Lake City VHA, every other Tuesday, I travel to
Gainesville VHA to perform medical monitoring. I also have been visiting the Shands Medical Center Neurology Department seeking any new veterans that have been diagnosed with ALS or MS. The reason is to help the veteran get enrolled into VA Healthcare System and file claims for their benefits. Shands is located across the street from the Gainesville VHA.

Belton Smith

Our second service officer:

This year has been a year of learning and growth for me as your National Service Officer. I began the year knowing very little of my role, but throughout the year I have learned a tremendous amount. The year began with a Site Visit of the Orlando VA OPC and has not slowed since. I have been responsible for learning how to advocate for our members’ benefits and learning how to monitor the clinic to ensure that we all receive optimal service for our medical needs as Spinal Cord Injured Veterans.

A new directive governing the administration of SCI services has been adapted and the Hospital Liaison Officer and I have shared the responsibility of insuring that the directive has been followed properly. The HLO, like me, was new at his position. The journey we have shared has not been free of turbulence for we have had communication issues both between each other and with the VA at times. Overall, we have worked together and I think we have made some notable changes. We have established a good working relationship with everyone from the SCI Coordinator, who was also new to her position, to the Chief of Staff at the clinic. We have worked tirelessly to stop the clinic from pulling our SCI provider and other SCI dedicated staff to cover other areas of the clinic. We have established SCI parking at the Viera clinic and got the Orlando clinic to enforce the SCI parking regulations. We will continue to advocate at the clinics to ensure that our members receive optimal care from the VA.

I have not been as accessible for chapter events throughout the year as either the chapter or I would like, but my goal in life is to continue to improve. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the chapter and I look forward to another year of service and growth as your National Service Officer.

Semper Fi,
David Ray

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