Question: My father is an Air Force veteran who recently received a motorized chair through the VA because of a disability. He’s unable to use it in his home because there is no ramp to neither get it into the house nor space to maneuver it within his living quarters – especially the bathroom. Can the VA help him?

Answer: The VA provides up to $4,100 lifetime benefit for service-connected veterans and up to $1,200 for non-service-connected veterans to make home improvements necessary for the continuation of treatment or for disability access to the home and essential lavatory and sanitary facilities, according to the 2010 edition of “Federal Benefits for Veterans.”

Grants are available for medically necessary improvements and/or structural changes for veterans’ homes in need of the following:

• Entering or exiting the resident
• Adequate lavatory and sanitary facilities
• Making kitchen, bathroom sinks or counters accessible
• Home’s immediate paths and driveways upgraded to allow easy entrance or exit
• Use of dialysis equipment requiring enhanced plumbing or electrical systems

For more information, contact a prosthetic representative at your nearest VA health care facility.

NOTE: The House of Representatives passed the bill, H. R. 1293, on July 28, 2009, that would provide up to $6,800 lifetime benefit for service-connected veterans and up to $2,000 for non-service-connected veterans. However, when the bill was received in the Senate on July 29, it was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. I lost track of it there.

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Russell Davis has spent the last few years aggressively seeking answers to his own veterans’ benefit questions. He’ll be taking over the Taking on Life blog every Friday to tell you what he’s learned and to help honorable military discharged women and men, their spouses, partners and others to find answers. Click here to read his previous questions and answers, or to ask him a question.

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