Cold War Patriots hosting ‘town hall’ meetings to explain bene ts
Cold War Patriots (CWP), a community resource organization that is the nation’s strongest and most sustained voice advocating for worker bene ts, will host free town hall meetings for nuclear weapons workers at 1 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day on the following dates:
March 19, 20, 21 and 22.
With a new meeting format this year, CWP is making it easier for workers to get the speci c information they need about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).
Meeting locations are: • Monday, March 19 Noah’s Event Venue 1200 Ladd Landing Kingston
• Tuesday, March 20 Double Tree by Hilton Oak Ridge
215 S. Illinois Ave. Oak Ridge
• Wednesday, March 21 Clinton Community Center
101 S. Hicks St. Clinton
• Thursday, March 22
The Venue at Lenoir City
7690 Creekwood Park Blvd. Lenoir City
The morning sessions, starting at 10 a.m., will be customized for people who have already applied for EEOICPA bene ts and have either been awarded a U.S. Department of Labor white medical beneits card or have a pending claim. At the morning session, participants will learn:
• How to le for medical expense reimbursement
• How impairment ratings can get them more monetary compensation
• Why they should add conditions to a claim
• Why in-home care might be right for them
The 2 p.m. afternoon sessions are for workers who
haven’t yet applied for their bene ts or those who have applied but whose claims have been denied. The afternoon session participants will learn:
• If they qualify for up to $400,000 in monetary compensation and free healthcare
• How to apply for bene ts
• What bene ts are included
• How to reopen denied claims
“Our goal at CWP is to ensure the workers who helped keep America free by building the nation’s nuclear arsenal and are now suffering illness because of their sacri ce and service are connected with the monetary compensation and health bene ts they have earned,” says Tim Lerew, CWP Chairperson.
“By segmenting our presentations in this way, we can better help the workers with
their individual situations, which can be overwhelming to navigate on their own.”
Lerew says anyone who worked at the Oak Ridge facilities or any other nuclear weapons facility is invited to attend a presentation. Resources will be on hand to help workers understand the nancial and medical bene ts available to them – including home healthcare – and to guide them through the process of proving the connection between their workplace exposure and their illness.
The EEOICPA program is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and offers monetary compensation and healthcare bene ts to workers who participated in the nuclear weapons program from 1942 until the present day and became sick because of radiation exposure. Learn more at https:// www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/.
