Latest / Brian Thomas / CCVS Steve Balczo - Veteran's Services

Transcript

CCVS Steve Balczo - Veteran's Services · Brian Thomas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Steve Bells up from the Climate County Veteran Services Returns.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Have we got some good once again? Once again? I
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: always love having you in here. Man. I was telling you,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'm really making a very hard, concerted effort to embrace
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the holidays, embrace the holiday spirit, enjoy it, live in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the moment. And so far, so good. It's been a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: challenge of me for the last several longer than I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: care to remember.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: But I think there's a there's a there's a transitional
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: shift that happens as we hit fifties sixties where you
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: realize it's not about the crazy wrapping that we have
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to do. It's more about the friendships and rightlessness of
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a community.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm trying to focus on that somewhere along
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the way. I think it's the it's it's the content
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that I work with day in and day out. That
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: bait turned me into this jaded, cynical grinch of a
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: human being. And I don't mean to be that way.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: And I miss I miss feeling like a child around
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Christmas time. So this year I'm giving it a good
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: go and good for you. Yeah. Been cooking a lot lately,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and my wife put tree up I did the lights.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't complain about that for the first time in
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: a long time. So I'm wow, but I'm excited about you.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: You got some highlights from the Clamont County Veteran Service.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: There's another reason to put a big smile on my face,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: because you know, I love helping you out, and I
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: love helping the American veterans that you help quite a
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: few veterans this year, Steve oh Brian. The numbers are great.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: The numbers are wonderful. And it's even if it's just one, right,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I know, if it's just one, it's kind of the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: sea urchin kid throws it back as the guy says,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: you see all these he goes made a difference to
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: that one, Right, it's that whole whole story. It's it's
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: not about the volume. It's about one by one picking
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: somebody up and setting them back on sturdy ground.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the benefits of being the host of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the morning show, like if I'll have a you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a charity on and they'll get back and say, oh
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: my god, it's a consequence of beyond your show. We
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: got a contribution from this or some business reached out
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: to us. We established a relationship with them, talk about
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: making my day just one, even just one. It was
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: worth the time and to spread the information about the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: good that's going on or out in the world. Yeah,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: very rewarded.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what if if I wouldn't rush your microphone,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I would come in here with a list of unique
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: things that we have shored veterans and or veterans spouses
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: up for a better life. Just it's it's.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: It's a great it's a giving job. It really is.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: And I've asked you before. It's an easy job to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: get up and go to every day for you.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: It is. Actually it's harder for me to go home
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: and my wife has to put confines all that. I
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: expect you home by this time, right, because I know
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: you won't quit.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Dinner will be cold. I'm not going to keep it
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: heated for you. So I buddy, you got a curfew, man,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you better make it. But you helped over twenty five
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: hundred veterans in their families with service related claims and
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: other issues this year. That's a great accomplishment. It is
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days in the year. You
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: got twenty five hundred to show for right, Right, so
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: we're gonna bring.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: When you consider twenty five hundred, that's roughly twenty percent
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of the veterans in Claremont County. Holy cow, we run
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: and a half thousand letter on Claremont County.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think that was better than the voter turnout in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the seventh district for that election. Hold on a second,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: we'll bring, We'll bring Steve Belzo back. We got more
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: details to talk about Claremont County Veteran Services Steve Belzo. First,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a word for talk station see here fifty five cars
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: de talk station Brian Thomas with Clema County Veteran of
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Services Steve Belzo. Lots and lots and lots to be
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: thankful for, as I'm learning off air, not just beyond
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the clamor or just that's Claremont County Veteran Services, but
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: everything's going on. Steve's life truly one of God's miracles.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into the details, but wow,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: what you have lived through over the past short period
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of time is amazing. And you know what a God's
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: miracle without questions?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So question, yeah, that's intervention, right, it was it was favor.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: You got to look for little miracles they're all around you.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I know you just got to identify them, be observe
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: itt and be thankful exactly. All right. So you've added
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: some new services over time, my County Veteran services this year,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: so let's talk about that.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I want to mention to miss Bozo
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: twenty two and three would be a great Christmas present
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: for mister Bozol. I just just listening to your commercial.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: I just thought, wow, that's pretty.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: You got something in mine you want.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: It's within the doors, darling head inside so the well.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I got my forty five to seventy elever action rifle
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: last year. You have a Henry. Yeah no, not a Henry.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: You didn't get Henry.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, I didn't get that.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: We'll go down a rabbit trail here.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Let's let's okay. I got the Marlin. But it's the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: new Marlin, not the old version that had some problems.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: It's the brand new, redesigned Marlin. Things my god, so awesome.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: You shot it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I went Actually I went through a whole
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: box at the range that you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Went to the whole box.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I have a pad on the back of that. Did
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you thank you? I love that Thing's a donkey it is.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I love handing it to people who are less experienced
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: with shooting rifles. But I'll squeeze off a few rounds here.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Try this. Oh okay, yeah, this this is when you
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: figure out you have not mounted your gun properly. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I laughed my butt off like I handed it back.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I know I got more rounds in there is there's
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: five more inside. Enjoy that though, all right, moving back
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to the Veterans Services anyways.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so twenty five hundred veterans there, we talk about
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the three three legged stool in how we underpinn veterans
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in the counties with transportation, emergency financial assistance, and filing
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: for benefits and claims for the VA. And the majority
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: of the twenty five hundred you're seeing right there is
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: predominantly just the filing for benefits and claims, as well
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: as potentially some just overlap with emergency financial assistance.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that one up. I would like
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to bring that aspect of what you're doing for veterans
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: on emergency financial service.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: It's yeah, when you get to underpinning, you get to
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: hear some of these stories are just you got to
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: be kidding me.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: This fallout right, right.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: But you still get to reach down, grab someone's hand
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and pull them up. It's not a handout, it's not welfare.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: It's a benefit for serving your country that we're able
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: to put you back on solid ground as a veteran
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: if you meet the parameter. So it's a great program,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: it really is.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Well, you've got more appointments ready for them, more readily
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: available appointments. The quality is obviously always superior, claimate aunty
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: veteran services. But you've decreased the wait time by twenty
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: five percent. I understand.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you, Brian, We've done so much
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: attack on We were about a six months lag time for appointments,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: especially when we came out with the Packed Act, oh
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Shreact Act, And so I took their calendars, looked at them,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: massaged them and not only was I able to increase
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I say I we's a team able to increase the
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: throughput by additional appointments, but we're also able to create
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: a day of administrative time that they can look at
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the claims that they're filing to make sure their quality
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: complete claims. That's great, right, So it improves the quality,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: it enhances the return rate for the approvals when they
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: go to be adjudicated. So it's really been a great
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: year twenty twenty five and so increasing throughput twenty five percent,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: more appointment times available to help these veterans move their
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: claims forward. Well.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: And it's one thing. You sign up and you qualify
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and you're eligible for your VA benefits, you got to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: get to the appointment. A lot of veterans struggle with that.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: You've helped out that too.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: That is how many veterans miss It's called a CMP exam.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Miss it, and the VA is cranky. When you miss
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: a CMP exam, they are cranky. So the fact that
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: great Uncle Joe, or it might just be your cousin
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Jimmy that's of good health but does not want to
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: drive to downtown Cincinnati. Secondly, the parking at the VA
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: is extremely extremely tight. I did hear, Dad, And when
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: you have someone that's willing to take a veteran down
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: and take them back home, that you're not stuck in
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: a parking lott somewhere, it is a great benefit. We've
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: moved over a thousand veterans to and from their VA
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: appointments through October.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: This year and again three hundred and sixty five days
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: in the counter year. You can see the volume they're doing.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: That is awesome. So you hire, you have a new
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: vehicle and that's number five, and you also hired some
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: additional drivers.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: We did the task was so heavy. Over one hundred
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: and thirty a month for the past three to four
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: months we were transporting to and from. Now we do
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: door to door. It's not a local pickup area. We
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: frag a vehicle, We send a vehicle. Get all my
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: military talk. We send a vehicle to your door, pick
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: you up, take you to your VA appointment, and then
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: take you back home.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: It's like an uber, except it's the Cincinnati or the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Klemert County Veteran Services handling this without having what you
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: don't need an app for that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Do you just make it just simple phone call and
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: then five one three seventh three, two seventh, three sixty
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: three the transportation line where you will be greeted, uh
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: to push one for the transportation. All of my drivers
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: are veterans. That's great, every single one of them.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: And they are your employees. So you sure quality in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: terms of absolutely the ability of them to drive and
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: their competence and all of that.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: We own the vehicles, they're marked. You know, it's us
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: pulling up in your drive. It's not a lift or
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: uber that's going to drop you off somewhere you don't belong.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: They're going to get you to and from your appointment
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: and back home.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: And although we are running painfully out of time, if
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: do you have some new software that helps increase the
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: efficiency and the quality of filing benefit claims on behalf
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: of veterans as well, an improvement that was needed. I'm
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: glad you've addressed that very much.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: So it's been a good transition. It's been long and
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: migrating all the information over that you do obviously in
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: a lift and shift for an IT program. But it's up,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: it's running, and it greatly enhances what we do.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Claremont County Veterans as a site for the Clarmont County
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Veteran Services, all the services right there, they're there to
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: help you. You're not taking advantage, you're utilizing what has
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: been created for you my veteran friends in Claremont County.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Steve Belzo, you are such a wonderful representative for the
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Veteran Service Commission. I thank you for the work that
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you do throughout the year. I appreciate the joy that
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: you get from that work, and I wish you another
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: extraordinarily successful year next year. I know you're gonna work
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: as hard as you can to make it so well.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you, But you know we don't do it without
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: the team behind us. I know everyone there, I really do,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: so shout out to the whole team out there.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Amen to that, brother, and a merry Christmas and happy holidays,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you and yours and all of the Claremont County Veteran
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Services again