Donations pay for several Franklin school programs
byFranklin, MA
Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
George Ferguson wasn't surprised when he read about the newly recognized presumptive illnesses related to his time served in Vietnam.
The Franklin resident already collects benefits for type II diabetes, and now, like thousands of Vietnam veterans across the country, Ferguson is waiting to see if the Department of Veterans Affairs will officially recognize the heart disease he's been suffering from since 2005.
"Now I'm just waiting to find out if they will give me disability for my heart disease, and at what rate," he said.
Last year, the VA added three diseases to an existing list of conditions presumed to be the result of exposure to Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant used to destroy jungle foliage in Vietnam and expose the enemy.
B Cell leukemia, ischemic heart disease and Parkinson's disease were added to a list that includes type II diabetes, prostate and lung cancers, Hodgkin's disease and other conditions.
The conditions were officially published in the VA's Federal Registrar last month, and are subject to congressional review until Oct. 31.Read more about the change in veterans benefits in the Milford Daily News here:
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here |
The United Regional Chamber of Commerce | 42 Union Street | Attleboro | MA | 02703 |
I direct your attention to these three points because in spite of our efforts over the years, we continue to come up short. Why, for instance, in the richest nation in the world do we have 38 million of our brothers and sisters frequently wondering where their next meal will come from? Why has organic and locally grown food become such a craze – organic constituting the fastest growing segment of the U.S. food industry – while high calorie, low nutrient, so-called cheap food, constitutes such a large segment of lower income families’ diets? And why do so many of us have before us an unprecedented abundance of accessible and diversified retail food outlets to choose from while a significant segment of our citizens live in what can only be called food deserts?Read the full posting here