Top 10 Hot Spot Veterans News from Around the Country – 07-18-08

1. Peake Touts Wheelchair Games In VA Press Release. 
2. War Of 1812 General Reinterred In Congressional Cemetery.  
3. VA Review May Allow 1,600 Disabled Veterans To Receive Traumatic Injury Payments.  
4. Vietnam Veterans Of America Praise VA For Accepting Online Applications.  
5. HUD/VA Vouchers To Benefit Missouri Homeless Veterans.  
6. New PTSD Clinic Opens At Texas VAMC.  
7. Texas Veteran Spreads Word About Underutilized CBOC.  
8. Washington State Veterans Seek PTSD Treatment.  
9. Tennessee Officials Say Veterans Nursing Home Funding May Not Mean New Facility.  
10. New Jersey To Honor 50 Veterans.

     1.         Peake Touts Wheelchair Games In VA Press Release.   A VA press release carried on PR Newswire (7/18) about the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Omaha quotes Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake saying, "We are proud to present this outstanding rehabilitation event, a therapeutic extension of the superior heath care veterans receive in our medical centers each day. Rehabilitation is crucial to living a full life following an injury. I applaud all of the veterans participating as they strive to achieve their goals during this week of athletic competition." 2.      War Of 1812 General Reinterred In Congressional Cemetery.   The Washington Post (7/18, B3, Ruane, 696K) reports that yesterday, Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb, a hero of the War of 1812 who was first buried in 1841 in Washington’s Congressional Cemetery, "was buried again, a month after his body was exhumed during a project to restore the monument atop his tomb. He had been mostly forgotten by posterity, except for a devoted group of descendants and a team of archeologists and anthropologists who engineered his brief resurrection after 167 years in the grave. … The events of yesterday began to take shape in November, when officials from the cemetery, the Park Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs began work to fix the elaborate Macomb monument, which was leaning six to eight inches, said Moss Rudley, an exhibits specialist with the Park Service." 

3.      VA Review May Allow 1,600 Disabled Veterans To Receive Traumatic Injury Payments.   The Air Force Times (7/17, Maze) reports, "More than 1,600 severely disabled veterans could receive retroactive traumatic injury insurance payments as a result of a newly released review of how benefits have been paid under the 3 1/2-year-old supplemental benefits program. The payments, ranging between $25,000 and $100,000, could be paid as early as this fall as a result of discussions between the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs the program, and doctors who are treating severely wounded combat veterans. The average retroactive payment would be $32,000, according to the review, dated July 2008. About 4,400 people have received traumatic injury insurance payments since the program was created in 2005. The estimated 1,640 people who would receive retroactive benefits as a result of the review include some who did not previously qualify and some who received payments but would now get more, according to VA officials."

4.      Vietnam Veterans Of America Praise VA For Accepting Online Applications.   MarketWatch (7/17) carries a press release from the Vietnam Veterans of America quoting its president John Rowan as saying that the VA’s move to begin accepting online applications was an encouraging development. "’The VA is finally waking up to the electronic age when it comes to filing for benefits,’ Rowan said. ‘By accepting the electronic application as sufficient authentication of a claimant’s application for benefits, VA officials are acknowledging that technology can be used to speed up a process that is often as convoluted as it is confusing. ‘This is a nice first step,’ Rowan said. ‘But it is only a first step.’"

5.      HUD/VA Vouchers To Benefit Missouri Homeless Veterans.   The Missourian (7/18, Barton, 17K) reports that under the expansion of the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher program, some 35 homeless veterans in the Columbia, MO, area "can obtain permanent housing." The piece notes that the program "incorporates intensive case management to reintegrate veterans into the mainstream of society. … Denise Heet, homeless veterans’ coordinator for the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, said the expansion of the program approved in 2007 by President Bush allocated $75 million for 10,000 vouchers across the country for 2008. Thirty-five of those vouchers are available for veterans in Columbia."

6.      New PTSD Clinic Opens At Texas VAMC.   The Denison (TX) Herald-Democrat (7/18, McStay) reports on a new PTSD clinic at the Sam Rayburn Memorial Veteran’s Center in Bonham, TX, with funding "from the Washington, D.C. office. As PTSD cases rise with the increased violence and military build-up in Iraq, the investment proved a beneficial one." The piece continues to note that diagnoses for PTSD are increasing, both among Vietnam veterans and among veterans of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, quoting doctors commenting that younger veterans often failed to commit to long-term therapy, though they were prone to seek care during a crisis."

7.      Texas Veteran Spreads Word About Underutilized CBOC.   The Colony (TX) Courier-Leader (6/17, Crimmins) profiles retired Col. Jim Wheeler, South Regional Outreach Director for Valor Healthcare, who is "charged with getting the word out to area veterans about available health care services. … ‘We have approximately 40,000 veterans in Denton County and we have approximately 4,000 veterans enrolled in the clinic,’ he said. ‘That number should be more like 10,000 to 12,000.’" Speaking at a local American Legion meeting, Wheeler said, "The clinic is underutilized,’ Wheeler said. ‘And to me that is a sad commentary as there are so many veterans that have a need for it but for whatever reason have not enrolled. There’s lots of people running around who need medical assistance but just don’t know about it.’ The Denton facility functions entirely as a Veterans Affairs clinic but is managed under contract by Valor Healthcare as a Community Based Outpatient Clinic. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs developed the CBOC concept in order to fill the voids that exist between existing major VA facilities, Wheeler said."

8.      Washington State Veterans Seek PTSD Treatment.   The Ellensburg (WA) Daily Record (7/17, Johnston) reports on veterans being treated for PTSD at Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health in Ellensburg, WA, profiling Vietnam War combat veteran John Prouty of Cle Elum, WA. Prouty describes his symptoms, his beginning treatment thr33 years ago, and his belief that "believes he’s made more headway in dealing with them in the last 1 1/2 years in counseling with Paul Pridmore of Wenatchee who has office hours once a week in Ellensburg. Prouty began to better understand, through counseling, why he responds the way he does to certain situations that bring out anxiety and anger." The piece continues to describe the impact of PTSD on area veterans, focusing on symptoms and signs of the condition.

9.      Tennessee Officials Say Veterans Nursing Home Funding May Not Mean New Facility.   The Clarksville (TN) Leaf Chronicle (7/17, Lowary) reports, "A recent move by Washington, D.C., lawmakers has offered a glimmer of hope that a veterans nursing home soon will be built in Clarksville. But local leaders remain realistic, saying it is unlikely a new nursing home will pop up over the next few months. Last week, Congress passed HR2764, which allocated $165 million to build new Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes across the country. Jerry Rivers, director of the local Veterans Service Organization, says it’s likely that a majority, if not all of the funds, will go to renovations and similar projects. Officials in Montgomery County realize the money will stretch only so far and say it’s more conceivable that the funding will not be allocated by lawmakers until February at the earliest."

10.    New Jersey To Honor 50 Veterans.   The Cape May County (NJ) Herald (7/18, Staff) reports, "On July 18 at the Wildwood Convention Center, East Hall, 4501 Boardwalk, 50 Cape May and Atlantic county residents will receive the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal for military service. The medals will be presented by Brig. Gen (ret.) Frank Carlini, director of veterans health service, N.J. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. … The medal was authorized as an appropriate way to honor all returning combat veterans and acknowedge the debt of the state owed them for that service."