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9000 Seek Agent Orange Testing: Minnesota Outreach

By VVAW

In Minnesota, VVAW, along with the Vietnam Veterans Civic Council, initiated an outreach program to identify potential Agent Orange exposure victims. The program has resulted in over 9,000 veterans requesting a screening by the VA Medical Center.

VVAW and VVCC decided to undertake this massive outreach program because the VMAC was refusing to do any kind of survey of Vietnam veterans and their exposure to Agent Orange. The VA contended that only 70 veterans had presented themselves for screening. Thus, said the VA, there is no problem.

There are 51,325 Vietnam era vets in Minnesota. The task was huge, but the veterans refused to give up. They knew that the only reason that vets were not going into the VA was because they had no information. Veterans had not been informed that the herbicides used in Vietnam could cause health problems. So, that became the purpose of the outreach—to inform vets of the potential health problems that exited as a result of their exposure, and to encourage them to demand a screening at the VA.

Many people and organizations helped in the effort. They started with the State Dept. of Vets Affairs, and found cooperation. They were able to use the computer list of Minnesota vets who had applied for the Vietnam Veterans Bonus Program. The grass roots contacting of vets was done by County Veterans Service Officers, and service officers from American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Veterans Resource Center. Computer time was donated by a local firm to the tune of $32,000!

As a result, the outreach program reached over 25,000 vets. Out of that, over 9,000 have demanded a screening by the VA.

Needless to say, the VAMC in Minnesota has fallen way behind in their "screening" program. Even if they were keeping up, the screening is nothing more than a sloppy physical, and a four page form that the vets have to fill out. None of the results of the screening are available to the vets themselves, or to the vets organizations who worked on the program. But, it forced the VA to admit that there is a problem—even though they still won't admit that the problems are from Agent Orange.