Allegany County

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs www.va.gov  
Benefits:1-800-827-1000 
Crisis 1-800-273-8255 press 1
Health Care: 1-877-222-VETS (8387)
VA Inspector General: 1-800-488-8244
Combat Call Center: 1-877-WAR-VETS (1-877-927-8387)
Homeless Veteran Services: 1-877-4AID-VET (1-877-424-3838)
Disabled Veterans Directory https://www.dav.org/wp-content/uploads/HSCDirectory.pdf  
Disabled Veterans Free transportation to medical facilities www.dav.org/veterans/i-need-a-ride  
Disabled Veterans Resources https://www.dav.org/veterans/resources/  
Veterans of Foreign Wars www.vfw.org No fee. Service Officer Toll Free 1-800-VFW-1899
Counsels veterans, dependents and survivors about entitlements from all agencies.

Veterans Affairs Dental Insurance (VADIP)
Phone: 877-222-8387 Address: 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420
Website: www.va.gov/healthbenefits/vadip/  
Service: The Veterans Affairs had implemented a comprehensive national VA Dental Insurance Program (VADIP) to give enrolled Veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries the opportunity to purchase dental insurance through Delta Dental or MetLife at a reduced cost. Participation is voluntary. Purchasing a dental plan does not affect Veterans’ eligibility for VA dental services and treatment.

Delta Dental 855-370-3303 www.deltadentalvadip.org 

MetLife Dental 888-310-1681 www.metlife.com/VADIP  

The Women Veterans Call Center Phone: 855-829-6636 www.womenshealth.va.gov 
810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420
Service: Provides an incoming call center that receives and responds to questions from women veterans, their families and caregivers across the nation about available VA services and resources. Agents are also trained to respond to crisis situations such as suicide behavior, homelessness, sexual trauma, and domestic violence.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
LGB Servicemembers and Veterans http://www.benefits.va.gov/persona/lgb.asp  
Information for lesbian, gay, bisexual service members/veterans.

DAV: Disabled American Veterans http://www.dav.org/ (877) 426-2838
DAV is an organization of disabled veterans who are focused on building better lives for disabled veterans and their families. The organization accomplishes this goal by providing free assistance to veterans in obtaining benefits and services earned through their military service. It is fully funded through its membership dues and public contributions. It is not a government agency and receives no government funds.

Military OneSource http://www.militaryonesource.mil/ 800-342-647
is a free service provided by the Department of Defense to service members and their families to help with a broad range of concerns including money management, spouse employment and education, parenting and child care, relocation, deployment, reunion, and the particular concerns of families with special-needs members. They can also include more complex issues like relationships, stress, and grief. Services are available 24 hours a day by telephone and online. Many Military OneSource staff members have military experience (veterans, spouses, Guardsmen, Reservists), and all receive ongoing training on military matters and military lifestyle. The program can be especially helpful to service members and their families who live at a distance from installations.

Maryland Operation Military Kids Program (301) 405-2833 www.operationmilitarykids.org/maryland/ 
Address: 8020 Greenmead Drive, College Park, MD 20740
State Coordinator (via 4-H)(301) 405-2833 aslaton@terpmail.umd.edu and jefitz@umd.edu 
The Maryland Operation Military Kids program provides support to geographically dispersed military youth that are affected by the global war on terrorism. With community partners and statewide volunteers, the program strives to build infrastructure and sustainable programs for reserve, guard and off base military families. Statewide partners of the Maryland, Operation: Military Kids Program include Maryland Cooperative Extension System, Maryland National Guard Family Readiness Program, Army Reserve Child, Youth and School Services, Columbia Association, D.C. National Guard Family Readiness Program, Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, the American Legion Auxiliary and Baltimore Area Council Boy Scouts. Partners of the Maryland, "OMK" State team come together to coordinate local and statewide events, resources, and community donations.

1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) Domestic Violence 24/7 Hotline TTY 800-787-3224

1-800-999-9999 Covenant House Nineline Hotline Hours: 7 days a week 1pm-5pm http://covenanthouse.org/  Crisis hotline for youth and parents. Shelter, referrals, information, crisis intervention and health clinic. Referrals throughout the U.S. Bilingual. It’s free, it’s confidential.

1-888-880-7884 House of Ruth Domestic Violence Hotline  https://hruth.org/about-us/ The House of Ruth Maryland leads the fight to end violence against women and their children by confronting the attitudes, behaviors and systems that perpetuate it, and by providing victims with the services necessary to rebuild their lives safely and free of fear. FYI: Johns Hopkins Medical Institute presents a benefit for V-Day to raise funds for the House of Ruth. V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls*. https://www.vday.org/about.html  and https://jhuvday.wixsite.com/vaginamonologues/about  

410-749-HELP (4357) Life Crisis Center Hotline Provides counseling for victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, suicide prevention, support groups, emergency shelter, shelter referral, medical care, and assistance with the process of prosecution.

1-800-422-0009 Maryland Crisis Hotline Crisis intervention, support and referrals. 

Maryland Crisis Online Chat www.Help4MDYouth.org  Available Monday – Friday, 4pm - 9pm. 

1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Break the Cycle: http://www.breakthecycle.org/ Break the Cycle is a leading non-profit that works with youth, educators, service providers, and lawmakers to prevent and end dating violence. This national organization develops and operates programs designed to ensure that no young person is excluded from receiving the help, tools and information they need to live free from violence.

Preventing Dating Violence - a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. Download the guide to start planning your It's Time To Talk Day event for Teen DV Month! https://www.breakthecycle.org/sites/default/files/ITTD%20How%20to%20Guide_2018.pdf Parents and caregivers play a critical role in preventing and responding to dating violence. Parents and caregivers can model and instill values that promote healthy dating relationships as well as observe signs of dating abuse or perpetration and seek appropriate help for their children. The documents included in this section provide information to parents and caregivers on helping their children build healthy relationships, identifying if their children are experiencing or perpetrating dating abuse, initiating conversations about dating violence with their children, helping their children navigate dangerous relationships, and learning more about the dynamics of TDV.

Futures Without Violence: The RESPECT! Campaign addresses dating violence. Through work with coaches, teachers, and parents, and public service campaigns aimed at youth, the organization strives to keep teens safe and stop violence before it begins. http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/children-youth-teens/ The RESPECT! Challenge Action Toolkit offers resources and tools for parents, including tips for talking to youth about respectful relationships, guidelines on how to navigate their digital dating world, and information on modeling respect at home.  
Respectful Relationships: http://d3vc4vygg8dc62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Conversation-Starters-Respectful-Relationships.pdf  
Digital Dating Abuse: http://d3vc4vygg8dc62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Conversation-Starters-Digital-Dating-Abuse.pdf  
Are you Modeling Respect at Home? http://d3vc4vygg8dc62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Quiz-Are-you-modeling-respect-at-home.pdf  

Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project: http://www.gmdvp.org/  The Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project is grassroots, non-profit organization founded by a gay male survivor of domestic violence and developed through the strength, contributions and participation of the community.

Hear My Voice Campaign: http://www.breakthecycle.org/press-release-break-cycle-expands-lgbtq-efforts Break the Cycle’s Hear My Voice is the first national campaign specifically designed to educate LGBTQ youth about dating violence. Since its launch in 2009, the campaign has distributed resources to nearly 10,000 young people and advocates in the Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Jennifer Ann's Group: http://www.jenniferann.org/  Nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing teen dating violence through awareness, education, and advocacy. “Our award winning video games are an evidence-based approach to helping save adolescents from abusive relationships. Visit JAGga.me to play + learn + share.”

Let’s Be Real (LBR): https://www.breakthecycle.org/lets-be-real An initiative of Break the Cycle, LBR is a movement for young people created by young people. “Under 24 year olds lead the way to truly young people-informed violence prevention with real, unedited conversations about dating and hookups, friends and crushes, boundaries, and #relationshipgoals.” 

Love Is Not Abuse: http://www.breakthecycle.org/join-love-not-abuse-coalition  The Love Is Not Abuse (LINA) Coalition is a growing national grassroots coalition of parents, teachers and ANYONE advocating for teen dating abuse education in every middle school and high school in the country. Break the Cycle is proud to be organizing the LINA Coalition, having been granted the program from Fifth & Pacific Companies (formerly Liz Claiborne Inc.).

National Online Resource Center for Violence Against Women https://vawnet.org/ For over 2 decades, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated VAWnet, an online network focused on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. VAWnet.org has long been identified as an unparalleled, comprehensive, go-to source of information and resources for anti-violence advocates, human service professionals, educators, faith leaders, and others interested in ending domestic and sexual violence.

One Love: http://www.joinonelove.org/  One Love was founded in 2010 to honor Yeardley Love, a UVA student who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just weeks before their graduation. After her death, Yeardley’s friends and family were shocked to learn the statistics about relationship violence and to realize that no one knew how at risk Yeardley really was. Today, One Love honors Yeardley by working with young people across the country to raise awareness about the warning signs of abuse and activate communities to work to change the statistics around relationship violence.

The Network/La Red: http://tnlr.org/en/  The Network/La Red was formed to address battering in lesbian, bisexual women's, and transgender communities through a) the formation of a community-based multi-cultural organization in which battered/formerly battered lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender folks hold leadership roles; b) community organizing, education, and the provision of support services; and c) coalition-building with other movements for social change and social justice.

Things Aren't Always What You See Campaign: https://www.breakthecycle.org/what-you-see  Created by Break the Cycle, the purpose of this campaign is to provide information to young people who are going through unhealthy and abusive situations in their relationships that they self-describe as “drama.” The goal of the campaign is to provide awareness and intervention information in private spaces like fitting rooms, lockers, changing rooms and even restrooms about the subtle forms of abuse or warning signs.

American Foundation for the Blind https://www.afb.org P: 202-469-6831 Another site for resources- local/career/technology etc.

Eye Care America https://www.aao.org/eyecare-america 877-887-6327 8am-noon, Mon–Fri (Pacific Time)
Qualifications: To determine qualifications for a SEP referral call 800.222.EYES (3937) toll-free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
To be eligible, the patient must: Be US citizen or legal resident, age 65 or older, have not seen an ophthalmologist in at least three years cannot belong to an HM0 or receive benefits through Veterans Administration. One of the country’s leading public service programs - provides eye care through a pool of nearly 6,000 volunteer ophthalmologists. Ninety percent of the care provided is at no out-of-pocket cost to the patient.
Program #1: The Seniors program connects eligible seniors 65 and older with local volunteer ophthalmologists who provide a medical eye exam at no out-of-pocket cost, and up to one year of follow up care for any condition diagnosed during the initial exam, for the physician services.
Program #2: The Glaucoma program provides a glaucoma eye exam at no cost to those who are eligible and uninsured. Those who are eligible, and insured are billed normal office procedure, and responsible for any co-payments. (This is an awareness program to provide a baseline glaucoma eye exam to those who may not be aware they are at increased risk).

iCanConnect http://www.icanconnect.org/how-to-apply/maryland National program with local contacts to help people stay connected with friends, family, their community, and the world. iCanConnect provides free equipment and training to people with both significant vision and hearing loss who meet disability and income guidelines. 

Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic) http://www.learningally.org/ provides information on over 80,000 recorded textbooks and other classroom materials, from 4th grade through postgraduate levels, available for loan. Individuals with learning disabilities are eligible to participate but must complete the certification requirements.

New Eyes for the Needy https://www.new-eyes.org 973-376-4903
Individuals cannot apply for themselves. The online application is only accessible to social service agencies who apply on their clients’ behalf. New Eyes provides a basic pair of single or lined bifocal lenses. Special requests including upgrades such as tinted, progressive or Transition lenses are beyond the scope of New Eyes' program. A New Eyes voucher is for individuals who have no other resources with which to obtain a basic pair of eyeglasses. Applicants must have an eye exam including their pupillary distance (PD) measurement before applying.

National Federation of the Blind: Baltimore, Maryland Headquarters https://www.nfb.org/ Phone 1-866-504-7300 “What We Do: Through our network of blind members, we coordinate many programs, services, and resources to defend the rights of blind Americans, provide information and support to blind children and adults, and build a community that creates a future full of opportunities.”
Cool Tools: Those who cannot read regular newsprint can now, at no charge, access daily newspapers and magazines using a toll-free centralized call-in center which provides service without delay to any subscriber. On NFB-NEWSLINE®, the user can easily choose which newspaper, section, and article to read using a standard touch-tone telephone. The federation also maintains an extensive literature collection on many subjects, large print and audio cassettes free of charge.

National Organization of Parents of Blind Children: Baltimore, Maryland Headquarters
(A Division of the National Federation of the Blind) https://nopbc.org/
Maryland Contact: Melissa Riccobono, President, Maryland Parents of Blind Children 443-803-0266
Find out more by watching the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/gN0eaygOrXA 
“Founded in 1983, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children is a national membership organization of parents and friends of blind children reaching out to each other to give vital support, encouragement, and information. We have over 3,000 members in all 50 states and divisions and parent contacts in about 30 states plus Puerto Rico.”

Foundation for Fighting Blindness: Columbia, Maryland http://www.blindness.org/  and http://www.blindness.org/related-links
7168 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 100, Columbia, MD 21046
Guide Dogs: multiple resources including information on guide dogs 410-568-0150 or l-800-683-5555
Offers information and referral services for affected individuals and their families as well as doctors and eye care professionals. Provides comprehensive information kits on Retinitis Pigmentosa, Macular Degeneration, and Usher Syndrome. The Foundation’s newsletter, In Focus published 3 times a year and presents articles on coping research updates, and Foundation news.

Five main gynecologic cancers: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar.
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/gynecologic/index.htm 

DOWNLOAD THESE TOOLS FOR MEMBERS
1. Cervical Cancer Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/pdf/cervical_facts.pdf 
2. Ovarian Cancer Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/pdf/ovarian_facts.pdf
3. Uterine Cancer Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uterine/pdf/uterine_facts.pdf 
4. Vaginal/Vulvar Cancer Fact Sheet https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/vagvulv/pdf/vagvulv_facts.pdf
5. Family History https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/gynecologic/pdf/family-history-factsheet-508.pdf
6. Booklet https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/knowledge/pdf/cdc_gyn_comprehensive_brochure.pdf
7. Gynecological Cancer Symptoms Diary 
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/knowledge/pdf/cdc_gyn_symptomsdiary.pdf 
8. Gynecological Cancer Symptoms Diary 2 
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/knowledge/pdf/symptoms_diary_wallet_card.pdf 

1. Cervical Cancer
Rates of cervical cancer have gone down in the United States. 
- CDC https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/index.htm 
- Symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/basic_info/symptoms.htm 
- Treatment https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/basic_info/diagnosis_treatment.htm 
- National Cervical Cancer Coalition http://www.nccc-online.org/

2. Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer causes more deaths each year than any other gynecologic cancer in the U.S. 
- CDC https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/index.htm 
- Symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/basic_info/symptoms.htm
- Treatment https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/basic_info/treatment.htm 
- National Ovarian Cancer Coalition http://www.ovarian.org/
- Ovarian Cancer National Alliance http://www.ovariancancer.org/
- Conversations! (Ovarian Cancer Newsletter) http://www.ovarian-news.org/ 

3. Uterine Cancer
Uterine cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States.
- CDC https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uterine/ 
- Symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/basic_info/symptoms.htm 
- Treatment https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uterine/basic_info/treatment.htm 

4. Vaginal and Vulvar Cancer Survivor Stories
Vaginal and vulvar cancers are rare in the United States.
- CDC https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/vagvulv/stories/
- Symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/vagvulv/basic_info/symptoms.htm
 
Facing our Risk of Cancer Empowered http://www.facingourrisk.org/index.php

Foundation for Women's Cancer http://www.foundationforwomenscancer.org/

Tamika and Friends http://www.tamikaandfriends.org/

Find a Screening Program Near You https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/screenings.htm 
Español (Spanish) https://www.cdc.gov/spanish/cancer/nbccedp/screenings.htm
Search for free or low-cost screenings in your state https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/nbccedp/screenings.htm#map_state 
CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) provides breast and cervical cancer screenings and diagnostic services to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women across the United States.

Are You Eligible for Free or Low-Cost Screenings?
You may be eligible for free or low-cost screenings if you meet these qualifications—
You have no insurance, or your insurance does not cover screening exams.
Your yearly income is at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.
You are between 40 and 64 years of age for breast cancer screening.
You are between 21 and 64 years of age for cervical cancer screening.
Certain women who are younger or older may qualify for screening services.