Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 08-12-08

1. Advisory Committee Member To Emcee Symposium.
2. Some Disabled Vets May Be Eligible For Clothing Allowances.
3. UCLA Conducts Entrepreneurship Bootcamp For Disabled Vets.  
4. VA Said To Be Making Progress On IT Changes.  
5. VA Holds Event For Homeless Vets In California.  
6. VA To Celebrate Grand Opening Of New Clinic In California.  
7. Tuscaloosa VAMC Opens New Rehab Clinic.  
8. Commission Approves Application For Clinic In Oregon.
9. Veterans Raise $10,000 For St. Louis Fisher House.  
10. American Airlines Charging Troops Baggage Fees.

     1.                1.      Advisory Committee Member To Emcee Symposium.   In its "Newsmaker" column, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/12, Smith) profiles Rory A. Cooper, the "Director and Veterans Affairs senior research career scientist of the Center for Wheelchairs and Associated Rehabilitation Engineering." Cooper, an "Army veteran with a spinal cord injury," is also a member of the US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Special Disability Advisory Committee. The Tribune-Review adds that this coming Thursday, Cooper will "emcee and speak…at the third annual Community Response Symposium at the Hiram G. Andrews Center" in Johnstown. Pennsylvania. The symposium "will identify best practices for meeting the needs of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan."2.      Some Disabled Vets May Be Eligible For Clothing Allowances.   In the third story in an Athens (AL) News Courier (8/12) guest column, Mike Davis reports, "Disabled veterans who are entitled to receive VA service-connected disability compensation for using prosthetic or orthopedic appliances that caused damage through wear and tear may receive an annual VA clothing allowance." The allowance "is also available to service-connected skin conditions that require medication that can damage clothing."
   3.      UCLA Conducts Entrepreneurship Bootcamp For Disabled Vets.   The Los Angeles Times (8/11, Hsu) reported that from Aug. 2 until a graduation ceremony held this past Saturday, 15 men attended an "all-expenses-paid Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities at UCLA. Offered for the first time by the UCLA Anderson School of Management," the program is modeled on one "launched by Syracuse University last year and replicated this year at Texas A&M University, Florida State University and Syracuse University." The Times adds, "To fund the boot camp," UCLA’s Anderson School "raised $250,000 from the business community."

4.      VA Said To Be Making Progress On IT Changes.   In its "Ask the CIO" column, Federal News Radio (8/11, Miller) reported, "The Department of Veterans Affairs has completely changed how it manages information technology," but now, "the hard part begins" as the VA tries to implement those changes and make the department "run more smoothly." Robert Howard, the VA’s "Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and the Chief Information Officer, is trying to control spending while making sure he estimates the right budget, manages staff shortages and implements systems to serve a growing population in need of the VA’s services. Howard says the VA is making progress in a number of areas, including cybersecurity." Howard "says all of this has helped VA become a better agency…but they still have far to go."   

5.      VA Holds Event For Homeless Vets In California.   On its website, KCBS-TV San Francisco (8/11) reported that hundreds "of Bay Area veterans turned out this weekend at the Alameda County Fairgrounds to take advantage of a variety of services available as part of ‘Stand Down 2008.’" The Department of Veterans Affairs "is holding 100 such events from coast to coast through the end of the year." The Contra Costa (CA) Times (8/12, Groshans) also notes the Bay Area Stand Down.
      VA’s Efforts To Help Homeless Vets Defended.   In a related letter to the editor of the Springfield (MA) Republican (8/12), Northampton VA Medical Center Director Mary A. Dowling writes, "I would like to comment on a statement in the article ‘Partnership to aid veterans’ (The Republican, July 22) that stated, ‘Homeless veterans are not served by Veterans Affairs and the federal government.’" Dowling says according "to a news release from" the VA on July 14, the agency "has the largest integrated network of homeless assistance programs in the country." And locally, Northampton VA Medical Center has "hired a team of social workers and other clinicians dedicated to provide case management and clinical services to homeless veterans." Dowling adds, "Our efforts…continue until all are able to live as self-sufficiently and independently as possible."

6.      VA To Celebrate Grand Opening Of New Clinic In California.   The Orange County (CA) Register (7/12, Walker) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs is hosting the Grand Opening of its new clinic, 24292 McIntyre Street, Laguna Hills at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12 in the clinic’s parking lot." Tours "of the facility and refreshments will follow the ceremony. The clinic is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m."

7.      Tuscaloosa VAMC Opens New Rehab Clinic.   In the second story in an Athens (AL) News Courier (8/12) guest column, Mike Davis reports, "The Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 1 for a new rehabilitation clinic serving disabled veterans." Tuscaloosa’s Valor Center "will accommodate up to 16 veterans who are recovering from recent loss of limbs and mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries or strokes" 

8.      Commission Approves Application For Clinic In Oregon.   The Dalles (OR) Chronicle (8/12, King) reports, "Veterans in the Mid-Columbia soon may not have to make the trip to Portland for some of their medical care," because last Thursday night, the Dalles City Planning Commission "approved an application to add a 1,200-plus square foot facility at the Oregon Veterans Home for use as an outpatient clinic. Two representatives of the Department of Veterans Affairs testified in favor of the application, while two others from that agency were in the audience but did not testify."

9.    Veterans Raise $10,000 For St. Louis Fisher House.   The Park Hills (MO) Daily Journal (8/12, Ressel) reports, "Local veterans have raised $10,000 for a Fisher House to be built in St. Louis." John Dominick, a member of several local veterans organizations, including the American Legion, "said there are 40 Fisher Houses and the closest one now is in Fort Campbell, Kentucky." The new Fisher House "will be built" on the Jefferson Barracks Veterans Affairs Medical Center campus in south St. Louis. The "VA Medical Center in St. Louis helps all veterans and it is designated as a Polytrauma Center for treating veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. They hope to break ground in September and open a year later." The hospital "will donate the site and staff it but government funds can’t be used for construction. Half of the $5 million cost of construction must be raised by the Fisher House of St. Louis group and the remainder will be provided by the National Fisher House Foundation."

10.    American Airlines Charging Troops Baggage Fees.   The Washington Times (8/12, Hudson, 83K) reports American Airlines "is charging troops for their extra baggage, a practice that forces soldiers heading for a war zone in Iraq to try to get reimbursement from the military. One of the country’s largest veterans groups is asking the aviation industry to drop the practice immediately." American, which "recently charged two soldiers from Texas $100 and $300 for their extra duffel bags, said it gives the military a break on the cost for excess luggage and that the soldiers who incur the fees are reimbursed." Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) spokesman Joseph Davis "said service members destined for Iraq should not have to spend the money out of pocket and should not have to worry about filing expense forms in a war zone."