Top 10 News For Veterans from Around the Country 07-30-08

Today’s Local News for Veterans from around the Country

What’s Inside:  A Summary  

1. Officials Say Suicide Prevention Hotline Has Been A Success. 
2. Research Indicates Group Exposure Therapy Helps With Combat Stress.  
3. Special VA Teams Managing Care Of Recent Vets.  
4. VA Facilities In Wyoming Adding Staff, Programs.  
5. Palo Alto VA Holds "Appreciation Coffee" For Vets, Military Families.  
6. Ceremony Will Mark Opening Of VA Clinic In North Carolina.  
7. Family Urges VA To Increase Outreach Efforts To Older Vets.  
8. VA Judge Agrees To Review Widow’s Claim.  
9. Certificate Of Citizenship Presented To Sister Of Famous WWII Vet.  
10. WWII Vet Dies Hours After Receiving Apology From Army.

     1.      Officials Say Suicide Prevention Hotline Has Been A Success.   In continuing coverage, Stars And Stripes (7/30, Shane) reports a government suicide prevention hotline launched last summer by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration "fielded more than 22,000 calls from former servicemembers and another 30,000 from concerned family members in its first year." Officials behind the hotline "called those figures an indicator that veterans are getting much-needed help, and said they hope to expand the resources available to them through the service in coming months." Star and Stripes adds that if veterans are the ones calling the hotline, they "are…routed to a VA center" in Canandaigua, New York, "where mental health staff…speak" with them.
      Lawmaker Says Hotline Has Prevented Over 1,200 Suicides.   The Tucson (AZ) Citizen (7/30, Kornman) reports US Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, "said 1,221 suicides ‘have been averted’" by the hotline. In June, Mitchell "asked the VA to reconsider why it would not use TV advertising to reach out to veterans at risk for suicide. Subsequently, VA Secretary James Peake said he would lift the ban on TV advertising in order to reach veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who may be at risk for suicide."
      Hotline Activity Greeted As "Good News."   A related editorial in the Fayetteville (NC) Observer (7/29) said, "The week’s good news" is that the VA’s "new suicide help line is fielding twice as many calls as it was at startup." The Observer added, "Suicide cannot be eliminated," but the "nearest thing to a solution is timing: early screening, early reporting, early intervention and early treatment," things which can be provided in part by the hotline.
      An editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/29, 127K) commended "the efforts of those who got" the hotline "up and running." The paper adds that it hopes "to see more solutions aimed at catching" veterans and active duty troops "earlier in the timelines of their mental anguish." 

2.      Research Indicates Group Exposure Therapy Helps With Combat Stress.   The Army Times (7/29, Kennedy) reported, "Three new studies looking at combat stress," two of which were conducted by Veterans Affairs researchers, "have found group exposure therapy seems to work, that troops with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have" PTSD, "and that stress debriefings held after traumatic events don’t appear to prevent PTSD." The research comes as the VA "works to find the best treatment methods for combat veterans." It also "follows a report by Rand Corp. that showed only one treatment method – exposure therapy – has been proven to help PTSD in studies by objective researchers."
      Vet Center Opens In New York.   The Middletown (NY) Times Herald Record (7/30, Kelly) reported, "Nearly 200 people attended" a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for the Middletown Vet Center, "which will provide free counseling, outreach and referral services to wartime veterans and their families." Although the event marked the center’s official opening, staff there have "already…assisted about 80 veterans since" first beginning to see clients in May. New York’s Mid-Hudson News Network (7/29) published a similar story.

3.      Special VA Teams Managing Care Of Recent Vets.   On its website, KPBS-TV San Diego (7/29, G) reported, "It’s not easy for people in the armed forces," especially "those who’ve been injured in the wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, "to shift from combat duty back to civilian life." But a "special team" in the San Diego VA’s medical system "helps veterans make the transition." KPBS added that the VA has "created special teams at all of its hospitals to manage recent veterans’ care."

4.      VA Facilities In Wyoming Adding Staff, Programs.   The Casper (WY) Star-Tribune (7/29, Miller) reported, "The return of hundreds of Wyoming veterans" from Iraq and Afghanistan "is adding to the workload at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics around the state. VA medical centers in Sheridan and Cheyenne, as well as five outreach clinics around the state, are responding with increased staffing and new programs to accommodate the new generation of returning warriors." The Star-Tribune added that it spoke to the directors of the hospitals — Debra Hirschman in Sheridan and Dr. David Kilpatrick in Cheyenne – about criticism that the national VA system "has faced…over lost paperwork, breaches of confidentiality, a shortage of caseworkers and long waits for initial appointments." Hirschman said Sheridan has not been affected by those problems, while Kilpatrick said Cheyenne had veterans whose personal information was compromised because of incidents that made national headlines.

5.      Palo Alto VA Holds "Appreciation Coffee" For Vets, Military Families.   The Gustine (CA) Press-Standard (7/29) reported, "West Side veterans and service personnel, their families and community members were invited to an ‘appreciation coffee’ Saturday, July 26, hosted by the Veterans Administration Palo Alto Health Care System." The event "was…designed to welcome those who are returning from deployment, connect military families with one another and offer information to veterans about the services to which they are entitled. ‘We are trying to build a support network for veterans and those with family members currently serving,’ explained Sue Scott, a voluntary service specialist with the Department of Veterans Affairs."

6.      Ceremony Will Mark Opening Of VA Clinic In North Carolina.   The Franklin (NC) Press (7/29, McCandless) reported, "For area veterans needing primary care services closer to home, the waiting…is finally over. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Franklin Community-based Outpatient Clinic…will be held" on Monday, August 18th, "at the site’s location on 647 Wayah Street in Franklin. The clinic, "which will serve the six westernmost counties, is slated to start seeing patients on Wednesday, Aug. 20, according to Gene Morris, public affairs officer" with the Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Asheville. Daniel F. Hoffmann, the director of the VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, VISN-6, "will be the keynote speaker at the Aug. 18 ceremony."

7.      Family Urges VA To Increase Outreach Efforts To Older Vets.   The Flint (MI) Journal (7/29) reported, "Months after filing paperwork to get help with medical costs," a process that was delayed when the Veterans Administration "lost his information in Detroit," World War II veteran William Jones died July 9. For most of the past six decades, however, Jones did not even "know he was eligible for…veteran benefits." It is "a common story — many veterans unaware" of the state or federal benefits they are entitled to. The Journal said Jones’ family is now "urging the VA to invest in more outreach to people like their father."

8.      VA Judge Agrees To Review Widow’s Claim.   The Mobile (AL) Press-Register (7/29, Werneth) reported Theresa Orrell "says she was encouraged recently when a Department of Veterans Affairs appeals judge agreed to review a claim involving her late husband, who believed that his Army exposure to radiation" from an encounter with depleted uranium in Kuwait "triggered his deadly cancer." Orrell "said she has been struggling with the VA…for nine years, seeking acknowledgement of the dangers" her husband faced, as well as compensation for her family. A ruling on Orrell’s case "is expected in six to nine months."

9.      Certificate Of Citizenship Presented To Sister Of Famous WWII Vet.   The Washington Post (7/30, B3, Hubbard, 696K) reports that on Tuesday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services presented a certificate of citizenship to 75-year-old Mary Pero, the younger sister of World War II vet Michael Strank, a Marine who appeared in a famous 1945 photograph of the US flag being raised over Iwo Jima. Until this year, the US Marine Corps "wasn’t aware" that Strank was born in Czechoslovakia.

10.    WWII Vet Dies Hours After Receiving Apology From Army.   The New York Times (7/30, A10, Yardley, 1.12M) reports World War II veteran Samuel Snow "died early Sunday, 64 years after he was wrongly convicted in connection with the death of a prisoner of war at a military post" in Seattle, Washington. At a ceremony "on the old post hours before Mr. Snow’s death, a top Army official formally apologized to him and to the families of 27 other soldiers who had been involved in the case." The "soldiers were stationed in Seattle at Fort Lawton on Aug. 15, 1944," when an Italian prisoner of war "was found dead by hanging after a night of fighting between American soldiers and Italian prisoners." The Los Angeles Times (7/29, Murphy, 833K), which published a similar story, said the soldiers had been "convicted on rioting charges" in connection with the fighting.