Veterans Service Center Benefits Administration St. Petersburg

Veterans Service Center VETERANS BENEFITS St. Petersburg ADMINISTRATION VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

Regional Office Management Team VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 1

VSC Organizational Chart Veterans Service Center Organizational Chart St. Petersburg (317) Effective 04/11/2022 FRONT OFFICE - (T&L 837) Christine Moorby Betsy Fishman Charles Ellis Jennifer Mailhiot Johnny Rudolph Kelly Perillo Dale Person VSR 1 - Digits 00-09 (T&L 814) Ernest Jenkins Josh Sims VSR 2 - Digits 10-19 (T&L 867) Renee Miller Kristin Burnett VSR 3 - Digits 20-29 (T&L 820) Kelvin DeCoursey Allan Bouchard VSR 4 - Digits 30-39 (T&L 815) RVSR 1 - Digits 00-07 (T&L 864) Devona Wooten RVSR 2 - Digits 08-16 (T&L 839) Maritza Mendez RVSR 3 - Digits 17-25 (T&L 850) Veronica Collins RVSR 4 - Digits 26-33 (T&L 824) Tom Vernon RVSR 5 - Digits 34-41 (T&L 865) Joseph (Jody) Fletcher VSCM AVSCM AVSCM AVSCM AVSCM AVSCM AVSCM 7651 7822 7212 7986 7544 7639 7265 Coach Asst. Coach 7502 4820 Coach 5576 Coach 7275 Coach Asst. Coach 5949 7989 Coach 7805 Coach Asst. Coach 7372 3299 Coach 7870 Front Office Support-MA/PSA/IPC (T&L 840) Coach 7349 Ken Seguin Coach 7282 Richard Colbert Coach 4345 RVSR 6 - Digits 42-49 (T&L 847) Jeffrey Berry Tammy Holman Jeffrey Herring Jason Robinson Jose Gonzalez-Perez David Markham Lead MA MA MA MA PSA PSA 5957 5927 6087 6314 6507 7604 Donald (Will) Clark VSR 5 - Digits 40-49 (T&L 825) Lucille Hood Charron Hopson-Swift VSR 6 - Digits 50-59 (T&L 876) Melody Pavlica Kevin Danaher VSR 7 - Digits 60-69 (T&L 848) Erica Oladeji Vacant VSR 8 - Digits 70-79 (T&L 816) John Alahouzous (Acting) Michael Barfield VSR 9 - Digits 80-89 (T&L 826) Frank Trent Asst. Coach 7316 Michael Palmer RVSR 7 - Digits 50-58 (T&L 849) James (Jim) Beauchamp RVSR 8 -Digits 59-67 (T&L 880) Rafael Ovalle RVSR 9 - Digits 68-75 (T&L 873) Christopher Nadeau RVSR 10 - Digits 76-83 (T&L 842) Ulyssee McBurrough RVSR 11 - Digits 84-91 (T&L 838) Carlos Ortiz RVSR 12 - Digits 92-99 (T&L 870) Tonya Blackman Coach 7973 Coach Asst. Coach 7883 Coach 7358 6134 Coach 7827 Coach Asst. Coach 7365 6502 Coach 5872 MISCELLANEOUS Directors Office LGY Universal # VR&E Universal # SSD Main VSC Conf Rm Polycom Rm 222 NSC Mailroom PIV Room Cafeteria Jerry Harrold, Privacy Vincent Castro, Privacy 5900 7500 7902 5999 7387 5828 7744 5990 6097 5978 7019 7695 Coach Asst. Coach 6603 Coach 7313 Coach Coach Asst. Coach 7323 6577 Coach Coach Asst. Coach 7693 QRT 1 - RQRS (T&L 819) Dul'che Stewart Donald Printz QRT 2 - AQRS (T&L 872); Trainees (T&L 871) Cicily Randolph Matt Schnelting Charles (Chuck) Simms Deb Gross Coach Asst. Coach 7305 7540 Robert (Bobby) Riley VSR 10 - Digits 90-99 (T&L 812) Daniel Soto 6519 Coach Asst. Coach 7624 Coach Asst. Coach Coach Asst. Coach 407-835-5574 7223 6039 5893 Ural Kincaid 7813 PUBLIC CONTACT TEAM (T&L 808, 843, 845) April Dasher Chad Wainwright VA Police 5989 Coach Asst. Coach Asst. Coach Asst. Coach 6402 3219 Detailed Tisha Ferguson Jannet Moreira 3249 Coach 7806 Alison Weise (Acting HR Chief) VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 2

St Petersburg VSC Employees Position Claims Assistants AQRS / RQRS Legal Admin Spec Management Analysts Managers Military Services Coordinators Congressional Liasons Rating Veteran Service Rep Veteran Service Rep Program Support Clerk Program Support Assistant Training Coordinator Grand Total Count 11 50 19 4 50 9 3 225 270 5 2 1 649 VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 3

Blue Water Navy Nehmer On November 5, 2020, the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California orderedreadjudicationof disability compensation claims in which Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) previously denied compensation, on the grounds that Veterans were not entitled to the presumption of herbicide exposure, because they did not set foot on the landmass of Vietnam or serve in its inland waterways. (Nehmer, et al v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,No. C 86-06160 WHA). 14 offices were selected to process these claims. Offices started to process these claims in late April 2021. Approximately 59,000 completions Average days to complete: 161 Retroactive payments: $126 million VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 4

NDAA Presumptives On January 1, 2020, the William M. Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 was passed into law. The law added three diseases to the list of those that are presumptively associated with exposure to herbicide agents, such as Agent Orange. The new conditions are: bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and Parkinsonism, or Parkinson-like symptoms. Offices started to process these claims June 21, 2021. Approximately 44,000 completions Average days to complete: 210 Retroactive payments $411 million VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 5

Military Environmental Exposure Claims On May 27, 2021, the Secretary announced that the results of VA s review support initiation of rulemaking to address the role that particulate matter pollution plays in generating chronic respiratory conditions, which may include asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis, for Veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War, or in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Syria or Djibouti, on or after September 19, 2001. VA published an interim final rule on August 5, 2021, amending the adjudication regulations to establish a presumption of service connection for asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis. * VSC was provided additional 55 additional FTE to assist in the processing of these claims. VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 6

Military Environmental Exposure Claims Cont. On September 11, 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) released the report, Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. After receipt of this report, the Veterans Health Administration s Health Outcomes Military Exposures team began a focused review of scientific and medical evidence related to exposure to fine particulate matter and the subsequent development of rare respiratory cancers. Based upon their research and recommendation, the Secretary initiated rulemaking related to presumptive service connection for the following nine (9) rare respiratory cancers for certain Veterans: squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the larynx, SCC of the trachea, adenocarcinoma of the trachea, salivary gland-type tumors of the trachea, adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung, salivary gland type tumors of the lung, sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung and typical and atypical carcinoid of the lung. VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 7

Hearings IN PERSON HEARINGS Totals VIRTUAL Totals In Person Held 112 Virtual Held 176 Cancelled by the POA 21 Cancelled by the POA 103 Cancelled by the VSC 4 Cancelled by the VSC 7 Declined due to COVID 0 Declined due to COVID 0 Reschedule due to COVID 0 Reschedule due to COVID 0 Rescheduled 35 Rescheduled 59 Exam in lieu of Hearing 1 Exam in lieu of Hearing 17 Incarcerated 0 Incarcerated 0 Veteran No Show 10 Veteran No Show 22 Hearing Officer No Show 0 Hearing Officer No Show 2 VSO - No Show 0 VSO - No Show 2 Totals 183 Totals 388 VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 8

Printing Delay Resolved There was a delay in printing letters from July 13, 2021 through December 31, 2021. However, the Government Printing Office was able to resolve the issue and all letters released after December 31, 2021 have not been impacted. VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 9

Public Contact and Outreach RO employees participated in a Tele-Town Hall on April 21, 2022, providing outreach and assistance to Veterans and their family members in the State of Florida. Over 4,000 people logged in for this event. VSC employees participated in a Student Veterans of America event providing outreach and assistance to Veterans through an online appointment system. Using the Wait While scheduling system, Veterans were afforded the opportunity to schedule phone, video and in-person appointments. Wait While has provided Public Contact with the opportunity to reach Veterans and Service members during the Pandemic and continued to be an important tool until its sunset April 15, 2022. VA implemented Visitor Engagement Reporting Application (VERA) a self-service portal developed to allow visitors to schedule, reschedule, and cancel in-person or virtual appointments with their Regional Office (RO) on March 22, 2022, by accessing https://vets.force.com/VAVERA/s/. These systems have afforded Public Contact to serve more Veterans and their families where they are located. VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 10

Whats New in Quality? VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 11

Questions VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 12