VA Summary

By: Dan Meyer

The office hours for the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office are 7:30 am – 4:00 pm Monday through Friday. My office phone number is (320) 839-6398.

As promised in my October 12th newspaper article, here are the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office statistics through my first year of employment. Please keep in mind that the statistics are for only new (first time not previously submitted) disability compensation claims or existing disability compensation claims that were granted an increase.

I will begin this week’s article with the definitions of retro payments, monthly payments, and future pro-rated annual monthly dollars.

The retro payments are the back monthly payments when a veteran is granted service-connected disability compensation and/or requests an increase percentage to his/her disability(s) due to the condition(s) getting worse in severity.

The future annual dollars are defined as the monthly payments received over the first 12 months after the claim was granted.

The number of veterans who were granted service-connected VA disability compensation claims (new or increased) was 129.

Of the 129 approved claims, 88 are veterans who live in Big Stone County.

- One time retro payment dollars received by all Big Stone County veterans was $153,464.00.

- One time retro payment dollars received by all assisted veterans was $238,291.00.

- Future pro-rated annual dollars over the first 12 months by all Big Stone County veterans is $341,352.00.

- Future pro-rated annual dollars over the first 12 months by all assisted veterans is $550,341.00.

The number of office contacts or those who came into the office by either a scheduled appointment or walk-in was 1321 .

The number of home/outreach visits to veterans or their families was 149.

Until next week, take care and “Fair Winds and Following Seas!”