Veterans

United Spinal’s VetsFirst Program Assists Dedicated Caregiver in Achieving Financial Security

Tina Walker
Tina Walker

Tina Walker worked hard for more than two decades as a photography/video expert at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

She dedicated 20 years of her life to helping her Vietnam Veteran husband Holley Joe Walker battle severe PTSD and the demons that came with it. Sent to the heart of the battle for two excruciating tours of duty starting at age 19, he came home with fears and mental wounds that never healed.

Later in life, Walker cared for her mother – who used a wheelchair for mobility for roughly a quarter of a century fouling brain surgery. Her mother Patricia Godbehere Mantzel died at age 93 this year.

Walker also developed a blood disorder and had to take full disability retirement and live on a household with two fixed incomes based on disability. Her husband was on Veterans Administration benefits for more than a decade until he took his life at age 60 in 2007.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston with a fury and washed away all of Walker’s prized possessions – including some of her husband’s military records. The home was damaged and the insurance settlement didn’t begin to cover all of her losses.

Walker, 70, had lived within her means all of her life, but the combination of challenges and loss brought on financial hard times.

“I was afraid to walk out on the back deck – it was rotted and I was afraid I’d fall through,” she said. “I’ve had a good life, but between supporting some of my mom’s needs and the cost of daily living – when you’re on Social Security, things get tight.”

Walker had joined a Facebook group for military spouses and was aware of VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (VA DIC). It provides a tax-free monetary benefit to a surviving spouse, child, or parent of a service member who died in the line of duty, or the survivor of a Veteran who died from a service-related injury or illness.

Walker’s husband’s mental illness and ultimate suicide was certainly directly related to the combat, killing and horrors he saw as a young Marine. She contacted the VA in 2020, filled out forms, made online requests for her husband’s records – but was hitting a brick wall.

Then she learned about VetsFirst, a service of the United Spinal Association.

“On December 7, 2021, I reached out to Christine Golden, the national service director for VetsFirst, by email. She emailed back the same day and it wasn’t a form email. On December 8, she was steering me through the process to recover copies of documents lost in Hurricane Harvey. On December 9, I contacted benefits.gov, got the paperwork and emailed Ms. Golden. On Dec 10, she gave me her direct phone umber and confirmation of a direct upload of the VA case she filed for me,” Walker said.

Although Walker receives a monthly survivor’s pension; VetsFirst uncovered that the VA has been incorrectly paying her since the death of her spouse in 2007. VetsFirst filed a Notice of Disagreement, on her behalf, advising VA to correct it’s 2007 decision and grant Ms. Walker the additional benefit retroactive effective 12/2007.

On Jan. 11, 2022, Walker received forms from the VA, immediately filled them out and returned them. On February 1, 2022, she received 15 years of back pay deposited directly to her bank account as well as notice that she will receive $305 per month for life, in addition to her basic Dependency Indemnity Compensation ¬-– a monthly benefit paid to eligible survivors of eligible veterans.

“I had tried every VA program and contact – and I know how to do it – plus AmVets and was getting nothing. In a very short time, this person with VetsFirst got everything done. I was shocked – why is United Spinal doing this when I’m not even a person with a spinal cord injury or the family member of someone with one. In about two and half days, Ms. Golden did what no one else could or would in almost 2 years. This was because she listened to what I was trying to say and she cared.”

Walker noted that her house is paid off, her church got 10 percent of her lump sum from the VA and she feels financially secure to live out her days.

  • Steve Wright

    Steve Wright posts disability advocacy and Universal Design ideas daily at his blog: Urban Travel, Sustainability & Accessibility.