Top 10 News For Veterans from Around the Country 08-06-08

1. Green Bay To Get Vet Center In 2009.  
2. VA Considering Proposal To Open New Clinic In Iowa.  
3. After Five Months, VA Gives Final Approval To Homeless Veterans Facility In Texas.  
4. VA Dementia Treatment Program In Florida Senn As Potential Model.  
5. Private Hospital, VA Involved With Unobtrusive Monitoring System.  
6. VA Doctor Skeptical Of Non-Referral Health Screenings. 
7. Battle Creek VAMC Offering On-Site Social Security Services.  
8. Vet Sentenced To Prison For Defrauding VA.  
9. Mississippi Man Sentenced In Military Fraud Case.  
10. Bush Could Sign Sole Survivor Legislation This Week.  

     1.       Green Bay To Get Vet Center In 2009.   On its website, WBAY-TV Green Bay, WI (8/5, Arnold) reported, "For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder," or PTSD, "there are only two vet centers in Wisconsin that treat their condition." But the Department of Veterans Affairs "says that’s about to change," because the federal government has decided to establish a Vet Center in Green Bay next year.
      VA Doctor Stresses That There Is Help Available To Vets Suffering From PTSD.   On its website, KFYI-AM Phoenix, AZ (8/5) reported, "As politicians talk of success in Iraq and Afghanistan, some returning veterans are finding it difficult coping with their war experiences." In fact, it is "estimated that 20 percent of these newly returned vets suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, while about 18 veterans commit suicide every day." But Dr. Adriana Terazon with the Phoenix VA Hospital "said she actively helps veterans adjust to life back home, adding that there is help out there for them."

2.      VA Considering Proposal To Open New Clinic In Iowa.   In continuing coverage, the Decorah (IA) News (8/5) reported that because veterans "living in Northeast Iowa often have to drive to Iowa City to get services from the Veterans Administration," local veterans groups have been working to get the VA to offer medical care in Decorah. Winneshiek County Veterans Affairs Commission member Glen Larson "says the campaign is showing some signs of success," because a proposal to put a clinic in Decorah "has been approved" by a regional VA official in the Twin Cities and sent on to the VA’s national offices. The "proposal has the support" of US Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), whose office "is continuing to solicit comments from the public about the issue, hoping to show the proposal…has public support."

3.      After Five Months, VA Gives Final Approval To Homeless Veterans Facility In Texas.   The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram (8/6, Branch) reports, "Five months after a dedication ceremony for the Presbyterian Night Shelter’s Patriot House, homeless veterans will finally get to live there." Officials at the shelter "say they were ready to open the 5,200-square-foot transitional housing center in April but waited for final approval from the project partner, the Veterans Affairs Department. The Star-Telegram inquired about the delay Monday, and a VA spokeswoman said the program was still under review by the department’s legal staff." But VA officials "signed off on the program Tuesday morning, said Lyndsay Hoover, a shelter spokeswoman." Susan Poff, "a VA spokeswoman in Dallas, said she didn’t consider the delay unusual."

4.      VA Dementia Treatment Program In Florida Senn As Potential Model.   On its website, WMNF-FM Tampa, FL (8/5, Morgan) reported, "According the Alzheimer’s Association, five million people in the country have some form of dementia, and that number will only grow as the population" gets older. But even though "there is no cure for cognitive impairments, research has shown mental stimulation offered at dementia day treatment centers prolongs the time a patient can live functionally outside of a long term care facility." Pinellas County’s Bay Pines Veterans Affairs "center offers such a program, and may be a model for the state — and nation — to follow." WMNF added, "Several Florida Senators, including Tampa’s Victor Crist, toured Bay Pines in January to see if the Bay Pines model could be expanded out into the state."

5.      Private Hospital, VA Involved With Unobtrusive Monitoring System.   The Honolulu Advertiser (8/5, Wiles) reported, "Hoana Medical Inc., a Hawai’i-based medical technology company, said The Queen’s Medical Center," a private hospital, "will equip 100 more beds with its LifeBed Patient Vigilance Systems, bringing to about 150 the number of beds using the monitoring system." The Queen’s contract "is the latest…good news for Hoana, which has spent more than a decade developing the system that allows patients’ vital signs to be monitored at all times without intrusive wires or devices being hooked up to their bodies." The Advertiser noted that Hoana also has a US Department of Veterans Affairs contract "to market and sell the system to more than 240 federal medical facilities and Department of Defense hospitals."

6.      VA Doctor Skeptical Of Non-Referral Health Screenings.   The Austin (TX) American-Statesman (8/5, Roser) reported, "For about $200, anyone curious about his or her risk of heart attack or stroke can undergo a series of tests without a doctor’s referral now that at least two companies operating mobile clinics in Central Texas are offering ultrasound of the heart and arteries along with other tests to people willing to pay out-of-pocket." Some doctors, however, "are skeptical of the elective screenings and worried about ‘false positives’ (finding disease when there is none), the lack of a patient-doctor relationship and the value of the information produced. ‘I think it’s a bad idea,’ said Dr. Blase Carabello," chief of medicine at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston.

7.      Battle Creek VAMC Offering On-Site Social Security Services.   The fourth story in the Battle Creek (MI) Enquirer’s (8/6) "In the Neighborhood" column reports the Social Security Administration "last week began offering enrollment and application assistance to veterans Tuesday afternoons at the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center." The Enquirer added that Battle Creek VAMC spokesman Todd Greenman said his is the first veterans hospital in Michigan to offer on-site Social Security services.

8.      Vet Sentenced To Prison For Defrauding VA.   The AP (8/5) reported, "A federal judge in East St. Louis says" 45-year-old Air Force veteran Randall Timmons must spend 10 months in prison for defrauding the US government of benefits. Timmons "pleaded guilty in March to concealing material information from the Social Security Administration and making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs." The Bellville (IL) News-Democrat (8/6, Bowen) publishes a similar story.

9.      Mississippi Man Sentenced In Military Fraud Case.   On its website, WLOX-TV Biloxi, MS (8/5) reported a Federal judge has "handed down the punishment" for Frank Thayer, a resident of Pass Christian, Mississippi, "who lied about his military record." In April 2008, Thayer "admitted in court that he’d lied" about being a Vietnam veteran and a Purple Heart recipient, and on Monday, he was "sentenced…to one year of probation, 50 hours of community service, and a $2,000 fine. Court officials say the proceeds of that fine will go" to the Biloxi Veterans Affairs Hospital for the care of real Purple Heart recipients. The AP (8/5) published a similar story.

10.    Bush Could Sign Sole Survivor Legislation This Week.   McClatchy (8/6, Doyle) reports President Bush "will sign the so-called Hubbard Act as early as this week." The bill, which was approved by the Senate on Friday, "protects the pay and benefits of sole survivors," veterans "who accept an early discharge after they lose a parent or sibling also serving in the military, even if other siblings remain alive. The honorable discharges are a long-standing humanitarian option, but until now they have exacted a steep price." For example, the Army required Jason Hubbard, the Iraq veteran for whom the act is named, "to repay one-third of his enlistment bonus when he took an early discharge following the deaths of his brothers Jared and Nathan." Hubbard was "also denied standard health and education benefits."