Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 08-20-08

1. Golden Age Games Set To Begin.
2. VA Says It Providing Needed Amount Of Mental Health Services.
3. VA To Take Over Old Naval Hospital In South Carolina.  
4. Local Officials Get Update On New VA Clinic In Oklahoma.  
5. VA To Open Resource Center In Iowa.  
6. Ceremony Will Mark Opening Of New VA Clinic In New York.  
7. VA Clinic In Virginia To Open Early Next Month.  
8. Location Chosen For VA Clinic In South Dakota.  
9. VA Rehab Center Developing Technologies For Blind Patients.  
10. Website Unveils Hospital Death Rates.  

     1.                Golden Age Games Set To Begin.   In an article provided by Jose Llamas of Veterans Affairs National Programs & Special Events, the Indianapolis Star (8/20) reports, "More than 700 veterans from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to compete in the largest sports and recreational competition for senior veterans in the world — the 22nd National Veterans Golden Age Games — which begins Wednesday." In a press release, VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake commented on the games, saying the "record number of veterans competing in this year’s" event "is a testament to the competitive spirit of our nation’s heroes." The Star notes that the games are hosted this year by the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center.
      In a separate article, the Indianapolis Star (8/20, Belz) reports that beginning with Wednesday night’s opening ceremony and continuing "through Sunday evening, 730 veterans ages 55 and older will compete" in the games, the "largest in the event’s 22-year history." Jenny Ballou, spokeswoman for the VA, "which is one sponsor of the games," said her agency chose to stage the event in Indianapolis because of its central location and because of residents’ strong patriotism. 

2.      VA Says It Providing Needed Amount Of Mental Health Services.   Medill Reports (8/20, Moon), which is written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill School, reports, "About 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer symptoms" of post-traumatic stress disorder, "according to a Rand Corporation study. Veterans say a lack of mental health services needs immediate attention, but the Department of Veterans Affairs says it’s providing veterans with the care they need." And, since 2004, VA funding "and its number of mental health staff have increased significantly." Medill Reports adds that Dr. Antonette Zeiss, the deputy chief consultant of mental health services at the agency, "says the VA is prepared to help all veterans who need it."
      Politicians Urged To End VA Backlog.   In a related editorial, the Tennessean (8/20) criticizes the VA for sometimes making Iraq and Afghanistan veterans wait months before receiving medical attention. This "problem is rapidly worsening," even though former VA Secretary Jim Nicholson stepped down in 2007 as "part of a move to bring" in "fresh leadership." The Tennessean adds, "Our former service members need help…now." That "means putting database creation on a fast track, and hiring and training thousands of new employees to process claims. The politicians court veterans in this election year; why not show their concern by ending the backlog?"

3.      VA To Take Over Old Naval Hospital In South Carolina.   The AP (8/20) reports, "The Navy hospital at the old Charleston Naval Base is changing hands and will eventually be run" by the Department of Veterans Affairs. This week, VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake "approved allowing the Johnson VA Medical Center in downtown Charleston to acquire the hospital. The Navy will be moving out" in 2009. The Navy medical services "are being moved to a new consolidated Department of Defense-Veterans Administration Clinic at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek. The old Navy hospital will then be used as a VA outpatient center." In the fourth story in its "State Briefs" column, the Aiken (SC) Standard (8/20) publishes the same story, while the Charleston (SC) Post And Courier (8/20, Coley) publishes a similar story. 

4.      Local Officials Get Update On New VA Clinic In Oklahoma.   The Enid (OK) News And Eagle (8/20, Barron) reports a Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic planned for Enid "will serve a patient load of more than 2,260 veterans and have 13,000 patient visits its first year." On Tuesday, "Enid city commissioners heard an update on the clinic…from retired Navy Capt. Craig Vance," a member of the National Association of Uniformed Services and Garfield County Veterans Council. The clinic, announced June 26 by Veterans Affairs James B. Peake, "will be one of 44 new community-based clinics opened across the country. Four will be in Oklahoma."

5.      VA To Open Resource Center In Iowa.   The Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette (8/20, Hadish) reports, "Health care issues specific to veterans living in Iowa and other rural areas will be addressed with help from a new resource center." The Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center was awarded a $10 million, five-year "grant to open a new Midwest Rural Health Resource Center, one of only three such centers in the country. Other centers are in Vermont and Salt Lake City." The Iowa City Press-Citizen (8/20) reports the new "facility will open Oct. 1."

6.      Ceremony Will Mark Opening Of New VA Clinic In New York.   The Niagara (NY) Gazette (8/20, Olenick) reports, "The Lockport Veterans Affairs health clinic will celebrate the opening of its new location at 5883 Snyder Drive with a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. Wednesday." The facility "moved to 5883 Snyder Drive under a contract with CR Associates, who will operate the clinic for veterans at this site." The Buffalo News (8/20), which also notes the ribbon cutting ceremony, reports the clinic "will offer primary care and specialty services, behavioral health care, weight loss and laboratory services, smoking cessation and prescription processing."

7.      VA Clinic In Virginia To Open Early Next Month.   The Lynchburg (VA) News And Advance (8/20, Nance) reports, "The long-awaited opening of a Lynchburg Veterans Affairs clinic is fast approaching." Services "at Lynchburg’s Community Based Outpatient Clinic will begin Sept. 2, and will make obtaining basic care easier for veterans who now travel to Salem or Richmond VA facilities." The new clinic "will be staffed and managed by the Salem VA, which also will be the site for specialty referrals."

8.      Location Chosen For VA Clinic In South Dakota.   South Dakota’s The Announcer (8/20, Wepking) reports a new Veterans Affairs clinic in South Dakota "is within weeks of being finalized, according to Shirley Redmond of the Sioux Falls VA office." Redmond said, "Once everything is signed we will hold a ceremony in Wagner to announce the clinic, which will be located south of Indian Health Services (IHS) parking lot by Highway 46 — on the south east corner." The Announcer added that the VA will also host a groundbreaking ceremony for the facility "when the construction process begins." 

9.      VA Rehab Center Developing Technologies For Blind Patients.   The Palo Alto (CA) Weekly (8/20, Dremann) profiles the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System’s Western Blind Rehabilitation Center, the first US hospital "to have a vision board, rehabilitation specialists said." The board, which used a series of lights to help the visually impaired learn to scan their environment, "is part of a litany of technologies being developed or adapted by researchers at the center," which used to serve an aging population of veterans. Now, however, the "wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have brought in new, young soldiers whose injuries are changing the way the center treats blindness."

10.    Website Unveils Hospital Death Rates.   USA Today (8/20, Sternberg and Anthony DeBarros) reports the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania "boasts the lowest heart attack death rate in the country, 11.6%, in a new government analysis obtained by USA TODAY." Until "today, hospital death rates were closely guarded secrets, discussed in board rooms but beyond the reach of patients whose lives are on the line. That changed this morning when USA TODAY posted on its website the government’s best estimates of heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia death rates for every" US hospital for two years. John Rumsfeld of the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "says the method" used to rank the hospitals makes it hard for hospitals to complain that they have been misjudged. Rumsfeld stated, "When your numbers aren’t what you like them to be, it’s not because you didn’t have the same patients as the hospital across the street." It is "because you didn’t do as well as you could with the hand you were dealt."