How much do you know about Togus or the Togus VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Augusta? Well, extracting from the VA website, the Center has seven full time outreach clinics and two part-time clinics serving over 42,500 veterans.  At the main hospital in Augusta, there are 67 operating beds with general medical, surgical, intermediate and mental health beds, as well as 100 beds including hospice, dementia, long-stay and skilled.

Originally, Togus was a summer resort called Togus Springs established in 1859 by Horace Beals, a wealthy granite merchant from Rockland, Maine. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln needed a residential place for Civil War injured veterans and chose Togus Springs Resort to be that location. The resort was thus closed in 1863 with the first veterans admitted in 1866 but rapidly grew to just under 400.  A building program began in 1868 that resulted in a residential population of more than 3,000 veterans. In 1930, with the establishment of the Veterans Administration (VA), Togus officially became a VA facility, and thus Togus was the first VA hospital; and by the end of World War II it became a full-service medical center. The question often asked is “what does ‘Togus’ mean?” The name comes from the Native American word Worromontogus, which means “mineral water.” So now you know “the rest of the story.” 

Ever wonder how the VA determines disability ratings? First, what is a disability rating? If you are a veteran and have sustained some sort of medical condition while in the service and you are still dealing with it, then you have a “service connected (SC)” disability. Doesn’t have to be combat related, in fact, it could be an injury from a car accident while on leave but still on active duty. If you have one medical issue, then whatever that disability rating is, that’s it. But, if you have more than one, then it gets complicated. If you have 40% for one thing, 20% for something else, and 10% for a third SC issue, you don’t have a 70% like you might think if you add it up. What they do is take the largest percentage first, subtract it from 100%, multiply that by the next largest and add that from the first and take that number and multiply that by the smallest percentage and add that; and then round to the nearest 10%. So, in this case the math is 40%-100%-60%. Then 60% X 20% = 12%. 12%+40%=52% and then 52%+10% = 5.2% so that would be 52%+5.2%=57.2%, or 60%, not the 70% you would think. Could it get any more complicated? OK, the challenge hypothetically is, you have a VA disability rating of 60% for PTSD, 30% for diabetes, and 10% for tinnitus, what would your VA disability be? Answer in next week’s article.    

Memorial Day is May 26. If you know a veteran that is interred in a local cemetery and doesn’t have a Legion flag holder, call the Legion 633-4487 and let us know.