Kozak settles in as new Wilbraham veterans agent

March 31, 2016 | Chris Goudreau
cgoudreau@thereminder.com

Laurie Kozak
Reminder Publications photo by Chris Goudreau

WILBRAHAM – Veterans Agent Laurie Kozak, after a month on the job, said she loves assisting Wilbraham veterans.  

Kozak said one of the most important aspects of her job is assisting veterans in filing disability claims with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

She explained the majority of veterans she’s been helping are older seniors who saw combat during war time. Some have hearing loss from explosions, while others have been exposed to hazardous chemicals such as Agent Orange.

“There’s a lot of paperwork and there’s a lot of red tape and it’s a long process,” Kozak said. “It doesn’t happen fast. Just dealing with that is the hardest … I just called on a claim and the average time for them to make a decision is 483 days.”

Kozak said she considers the amount of time the VA takes to make a decision to be “sad,” due to the fact that the claim could take more than a year just to be denied.

“And then you start the next process of, ‘Oh, then I have to appeal it,’” she explained. “It’s like this long drawn out thing where they feel hopeless.”

She added part of her job entails keeping a positive atmosphere of hope alive for veterans applying for claims.

Kozak said she’s been helping a lot of veterans sign up for eBenefits – a website that allows someone to track their VA claim.

“You can pull your claim up and look right at it,” she explained. “You can see the status of it. You can see if they need any more information. All of that stuff can be accessed [online] instead of waiting for the mail.”

She added the site also allows veterans to apply for a VA home loan guarantee as well as other benefits.

“A lot of [senior] veterans don’t have computer access or they don’t know how to use a computer if they have one,” Kozak noted. “I think right now getting them in that system has been the best help.”

Kozak, a disabled veteran who served in the U.S. Navy during the Persian Gulf War, said going through the VA application process herself allows her to connect to other veterans experiencing similar circumstances.

She added was in the Navy from 1985 to 1995 and was an air traffic controller.

“I was stationed in Texas for seven years and then in Hawaii for three years,” Kozak, a Ludlow resident, noted. “My son is an air traffic controller in the Navy stationed in Kingsville, TX. That’s where I went for my first duty station. It’s a little weird because he’s in the same building doing the same thing. He just got Sailor of the Year, a Navy achievement medal, so my mother and I flew down to surprise him for his award ceremony.”

Anyone interested in contacting Kozak can reach her at 596-8379 or by email at lkozak@wilbraham-ma.gov. Walk-ins are accepted, but appointments are preferred.

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