Mom's VA Aid and Attendance was turned down with no reason given. What can be done?

And do contact one of the service organizations such as the American Legion or VFW. They have people who are experienced in filing apps for veterans and spouses and can more than likely appeal the VA's decision a lot easier than you can on your own.

They were wonderful and quick for us.

I just looked at the VA website. Your mom be automatically qualified (5/200 vision or worse) if she is blind. Are you sure the issue isn't that the dates of your dad's service don't qualify?

Please get in touch with the VA and find out what the issue is. And please come back and tell us what the result was. We learn from each other!

Birdie, another option is to see if your county or state has a veterans service department that helps veterans. We found one at the county level and had them prepare the application for service connected disability. It was done quickly, with forms that I never knew had to be filed despite a lot of research.

It was then sent electronically to the American Legion, which handled everything from there.

I found this for you:

http://floridavets.org/benefits-services/ (Florida Dept. of Veterans Affairs)

Same, Claims: http://floridavets.org/benefits-services/. Note this:

"The Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs has Claim Examiners co-located with the VA Regional Office in Bay Pine, each VA Medical Center and many VA Outpatient Clinics. Assistance with claims is free and covers all state and federal veterans’ programs. For more information, call (727) 319- 7440"

Co-located probably means the Florida employees are located in one of the VA facilities, as the VFW and American Legion are in the Ann Arbor, MI VA facility to which we go.

Another state option is:

"Information on current federal, state and local veterans’ programs, entitlements and referral services is available in Florida through a network of County Veteran Service Offices. All services are provided free of charge. Click here to find a County Veteran Service Office in your area."

These are the kinds of offices you want to contact to get help. Stay away from any others that want to charge you a fee.

If you want to check out other hits, just google "Zellwood, FL veterans assistance department".

Good luck; I hope it works out for you this time around.

As I recall from reading VA correspondence on acceptance or denial of benefits, the applicant can either call or write to the VA for explanations.

Who filed the application for you, i.e., who prepared and complete it? Sometimes it can be just an omission of necessary data that prompted a denial.

Just wondering though why is your mother so heavily medicated?

What do you mean, 4 of 5 needs? Are you referring to her ADLs? I'm going to ignore the rest of what you wrote, as you are clearly distraught.

Have you applied for Medicaid on her behalf?

Birdie, I must take issue with your conclusions. It's understandable that you're frustrated, but there could be legitimate reasons.

One issue might be that the B-52 was selected in 1946, after WWII was concluded. If the information in some of the forms you filled out had erroneous data on your father's service, that might be one reason the application was rejected. The VA would wonder how anyone could fly a B-52 in WWII when it wasn't even in production until years later. So that major error could be one of the reasons why they rejected the application.

And cut the "White female pure American" nonsense as well. Most of us aren't "pure Americans" and indigenous to America unless we're Native Americans or their predecessors. And the VA has no reason to discriminate against white females.

Take a more rational approach and find out why the application was rejected and what you need to do to correct it. Not all applications are accepted on the first try anyway.

Thanks again, I'll try to keep my cool and maybe someone will actually be of help.
Thanks again.

could you just have the plane wrong - could it have been a B-29?

I have to step in here and offer my support for the VA and its workers. I'm tired of hearing people complain about the VA. I won't deny that I had a problem with one doctor as well as with the pharmacy and withdrew my father from participation for a while. But the issues were worked out.

This time around I've met with nothing but support, help, pleasantries, assistance, and return phone calls. Cooperation, assistance and help ARE in the skill sets of VA workers. I rank them higher than some hospitals for support and assistance.

So I challenge the criticisms you've made of the VA. If you approach them with a chip on the shoulder, of course they're going to be resentful of a bad attitude; anyone would. Take a different approach and respect them, recognize that they're managing in an environment over which they have no funding control, but still trying to help the veterans.

As to someone coming to a veteran and/or spouse's home, where do you think the VA would find the time and funds for this? Their funding isn't limitless.

I can only repeat what I've written before when you were first criticizing the VA: look at the attitude you're presenting to them. Treat them with respect. Instead of finding fault, find praise. Try to understand the need for the documentation and find ways to cooperate, not criticize.

You are right and it's not usually the individual VA help, it's the system designed to be difficult to approach regardless of all the websites and such, it still isn't easy for most of those who actually need the help. Like I said, if you are disabled, you better have a support group because the system isn't designed to be helpful, only responsive.