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VA SNAFU FOR COLORADO VETERAN -- Because of

paperwork problems he keeps getting medical bills and

he must call the VA each time to explain his situation.

 

 

Story here... http://www.longmontfyi.com/
Local-Story.asp?id=15646

Story below:

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Paperwork snafu

Injured Longmont soldier hasn’t had therapy in three months

By Susan Glairon
The Daily Times-Call

LONGMONT — He recently moved to Colorado, but he has no plans to visit the mountains. Not now; maybe never.

It would be too painful, Jonathan “Chase” Gean said.

From the Front Range, the view of the Rockies reminds him too much of Afghanistan, where Gean, a sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, was shot in August. The bullet paralyzed the 26-year-old Kansas native from the waist down.

He keeps the bullet, which surgeons removed from his back, in a plastic cup. He plans to frame it.

“I can’t go out to the mountains,” Gean said from his north Longmont apartment, where he lives with his fiancee and a new puppy, Ben, named after an Army buddy he credits with saving his life. “I like to look at them from this far away, but I can’t go into them.”

Because of a paperwork snafu, he also hasn’t been able to get his Army discharge papers and is still listed as an active-duty soldier, even though he received a 100 percent disability rating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in August. Without discharge papers, he receives soldier’s pay, which is a lot less than he would receive from the Department of Veterans Affairs, he said.

“I have a house and a fiancee and bills,” Gean said.

Because of paperwork problems, he keeps getting medical bills, and he must call the VA hospital in Denver each time to explain his situation.

On March 29, Gean found out he’ll get discharge orders April 16 and should be able to apply for veteran’s benefits after that. He credits his Paralyzed Veterans of America representative for getting the paperwork through.

“This guy has been a miracle worker for me,” Gean said.

But he won’t receive any back pay, said David Autry, deputy national director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Disabled American Veterans. Autry said VA payments begin from the date a claim is filed, but a soldier can’t file for disability compensation until after he’s released from the military.

Gean still suffers from severe pain in his hips, but it’s getting better, he said. Every day, he takes 35 pills, including four painkillers, anti-spasm medication and multivitamins.

He hasn’t worked with a physical therapist in three months. Although VA representatives in Denver have been trying to help him, he’s had a hard time figuring out where to go for therapy and how to get authorization for it, he said.

Gean said representatives from the Paralyzed Veterans of America have been in touch with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., on his behalf, because Gean did his rehabilitation in Boston and his Paralyzed Veterans of America representative was from that area, he said.

Phil Williams, commander of Chapter 434 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of combat-wounded veterans, said he is impressed by Gean’s upbeat attitude.

“If I had been paralyzed, my outlook on life might not be so cheerful,” Williams said. “He has a good outlook on life.”

Gean has the paperwork for the Purple Heart he’s due for being wounded, but he doesn’t want anyone to pin the medal on him unless it’s someone from his platoon, which remains in Afghanistan.

“There’s a lot going on there,” Gean said. “A lot of people getting killed. A lot getting injured.”

From Afghanistan to home in Longmont

Gean grew up in Protection, Kan., a town of 500 people. Several months after graduating from high school in 1999, he entered basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.

He spent a year stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, followed by a stint in South Korea. At the end of his three-year tour, he re-
enlisted to be stationed in Germany. But in March 2003, he received orders to deploy to Iraq, where he remained for 16 months, though he and his division were packed and ready to leave at the end of their original 12-month assignment.

He re-enlisted one more time, spending time in Germany and Fort Drum, N.Y. There, he met his fiancee, Shannon Kalwarov-
ski, 24.

Later, he was deployed to Afghanistan and became a squad leader.

In Afghanistan, Gean and his fellow soldiers risked being shot every time they left their compound, which he described as “living in dirt.” There was no electricity, and they had to use generators used to run computers. There was no running water. Showers consisted of buckets of cold water poured over the head. The base was accessible only by helicopter, as the only road was too dangerous, he said. The soldiers never ate hot meals, just ready-to-eat food.

On an August day in 2006, Gean was on a mission with 13 fellow soldiers and about eight from the Afghan National Army to search a village for a terrorist group. About four hours after starting on foot, the Afghan soldiers became afraid and refused to go any farther. Gean and the other soldiers created an observation post on a hill, planning to spend the night there. Just after the sun slipped behind the mountains, they were hit by enemy fire from three directions, Gean said.

During the 45-minute firefight, Gean was shot in the back. He also was hit in the arm by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.

His buddy Ben pulled him behind cover. Gean believes he would have died if not for Ben, who was shot behind the knee during the maneuver.

“It’s lucky I am alive,” Gean said.

After a medic administered first aid, Gean was evaluated at a local aid station, then flown to Landstuhl, Germany, where doctors removed the bullet from his back. A few days later, he was sent to Walter Reed for about 10 days, where doctors closed the wound and he received physical therapy. He said he was treated well at the medical center, which came under fire in recent weeks for shoddy conditions and inadequate care.

From the end of August until October, he lived at West Roxbury VA Medical Center near Boston, where he learned to use a wheelchair.

Gean always wanted to live near Denver, so he and Kalwarovski moved to Longmont after finding a wheelchair-accessible apartment.

His first priority is rehabilitation. He hopes to be able to walk with crutches someday. Though he’s paralyzed, the bullet did not hit his spinal cord, so there is hope that he could regain some function, he said.

Gean plans to race his wheelchair along with other disabled veterans in Milwaukee in June. Before he was injured, he enjoyed snowboarding, basketball, kneeboarding and running.

Gean also hopes to complete a degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder and become a high school history teacher.

And he plans to get married next year.

Of his five closest Army buddies, four are back in the States because of injuries, and one is still in Afghanistan.

“(Americans) need to be more aware of Afghanistan, because that is where 9/11 was planned,” Gean said. “People don’t really think about it. There are a lot of soldiers over there putting their lives at risk every day.

“Everyone needs to come home.”

Susan Glairon can be contacted at 303-684-5224 or sglairon@times-call.com.

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Larry Scott  --