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In addition to providing strategic direction to the organization, members of the PCM Advisory Committee are subject-matter experts who help provide timely information about the complexities of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Committee members also answer member questions and conduct outreach to former nuclear-industry workers and uranium miners to ensure Cold War Patriots robust and active membership.

Meet the Committee Members:

Christopher H. Hayes

Christopher H. Hayes is a Tennessee attorney practicing in the Oak Ridge/Knoxville area since 1986. He is a former Department of Energy contractor employed at the K-25 site  and the Y-12 national security complex. His primary areas of practice include workers compensation, personal injury, products liability, toxic torts and wrongful-death claims. Hayes has appellate experience before the Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Lawrence Martinez Sr.

Lawrence Martinez Sr. of Shiprock, N.M., is a member of the Navajo tribe and works for the Office of Navajo Uranium Workers. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division in the U.S. Army, he then worked as an electrician for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), as director of Navajo Housing Services, for the Navajo Nation Police Department and the Office of Navajo Uranium Workers. His primary work has been in electrical contracting. Martinez’s grandfather and two uncles, who helped supply uranium for the U.S. government, died from radiation exposure. He deals with personal tragedies daily in his position.

Sandie A. Medina

Sandie A. Medina, from northern New Mexico, was employed at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) for Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Company Inc. for 25 years. She worked in Area 12 as an administrative supervisor for underground testing.  In 1996, Medina went to work for Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, in affiliation with Boston University School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco, as a union project manager where she organized outreach and publicity for medical screening for former NTS workers.  Since May 1998, she has been a member of Laborers Local Union #872, actively involved with the Retirees Council.  Medina continues to assist former NTS workers with their RECA and EEOICPA claims.

Dr. Maureen Merritt

Maureen Merritt, MD, an occupational healthcare consultant to industry and Native American tribes, is a former nurse from Iowa. After returning to college and medical school, she obtained her medical degree from UOMHS Des Moines, Iowa. As a board-certified family practitioner, she became a private-practice physician and occupational medical director for Garlock Inc., where she was instrumental in advancing occupational safety and health programs. Merritt joined the U.S. Public Health Service and worked with various tribes as chief medical officer until her retirement. She created and lobbied for a first-in-the-nation State Office of Advocacy and Technical Assistance for Nuclear Workers in New Mexico and created the New Mexico Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocates. Merritt assists claimants with EEOICPA claims adjudication and lobbies for EEOICPA reform.

Paul Mullens

Paul Mullens, a second-generation nuclear worker with 28 years of service at the Portsmouth, STATE Gaseous Diffusion Plant, is local coordinator for the Worker Health Protection Program. It provides free medical screenings to former and current plant workers. Mullens helps them with claims for the EEOICPA of 2000 and with Ohio Workers Compensation. He’s been on the executive board of Local 1-689 of the United Steel Workers for the past 14 years and serves as chair of the Election Committee, the By-Laws Committee, and acts as the alternate benefits representative for the local union.

Dr. Randolph Soo Hoo

Randolph (Randy) Soo Hoo, MD, earned his medical degree from the University of Arizona. He also holds a master’s degree in public health from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He served as the chief medical consultant for the Arizona Disability Determination Service Administration (DDSA), where he was frequently consulted on issues related to functional capacity assessments. After leaving DDSA, Soo Hoo established a function-based medicine practice to perform independent medical evaluations and Social Security Administration consultations. He is also associate medical director for a major transportation company and the functional capacity medical review officer for a global food manufacturing and distribution company.

Faye Vlieger

Faye Vlieger, raised in southern California, worked at the Department of Energy’s Hanford, Wash., nuclear plant for three years and was disabled by chemical vapor exposure. She got involved with injured Hanford workers and is active in the struggle to get complete and accurate records of exposures, injuries and accidents. Vlieger also helps workers get consideration of EEIOCPA claims. She served in the Kansas Air National Guard from 1981to 1994 as a technical sergeant. Vlieger has an extensive educational background, concluding with a bachelor’s degree in management from Linfield College.

Janine L. Anderson (January 23, 1953 – May 02, 2009)