Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 09-11-08

     1.      VA Lifts Ban On Voter Registration Drives.   In continuing coverage, the New Haven (CT) Register (9/10, McLoughlin) reported, "Some veterans hospitalized" in US Veterans Affairs facilities "have long been kept from voting as in-patients because of a ban on voter registration drives at federal facilities. But that changed nationally, it was announced Tuesday, after Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, with the help of Congress, successfully got" the VA to end its ban. Blumenthal and Bysiewicz "said the federal agency surrendered under threat of litigation and mounting public pressure." But in a statement, VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake said the VA "has always been committed to helping veterans exercise their constitutional right to vote," and the agency has "now established a uniform approach" to doing so.
      Connecticut’s The Day (9/10, Grogan) reported that on Monday, the VA "said…it ‘welcomes’ help from state and local election officials and nonpartisan groups in helping patients register to vote," so "long as that assistance is coordinated with the facility to avoid disruptions."

2.      Montgomery VAMC Weight Loss Program Labeled A Success.   Get Fit Mississippi (9/10, Chaffins) reported that through its "Managing Overweight and/or Obesity in Veterans Everywhere, or MOVE, program," officials at the GV (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Affairs Hospital "are doing what they can to tackle" the obesity problem among veterans. Susie Brown, program coordinator, said MOVE has been a success, with a "large number" of program patients losing "at least 10% of their starting weight." Get Fit Mississippi added, "All Veterans Hospitals in the country provide the MOVE program for their patients, since it is a national weight management program designed by the VA National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The VA also assists its employees on keeping up healthy lifestyles."

3.      VA Grant Provided Almost All Funding For Montana State Cemetery.   Montana’s Missoulian (9/11, Moy) reports, "A seven-year journey…will come to an end Thursday with the dedication of a state veterans cemetery in western Montana." Nearly "all funding for the project" comes from a US Department of Veterans Affairs grant. The AP (9/11), which publishes a similar story, notes that the cemetery cost $4.1 million to construct, as does the Billings (MT) Gazette (9/11).
      Meanwhile, a related editorial in Montana’s Missoulian (9/11), which also notes the VA’s contribution to the cost of constructing the cemetery, says, "This day, Sept. 11, is now known as Patriot Day," so it "seems an appropriate day to congratulate those patriots who have worked together for so long…in order to give" western Montana’s "veterans and their spouses a final resting place with the honor and dignity befitting their service to the people of this country."

4.      VA Data Reveals High Number Of Vet Suicides.   In continuing coverage, the CBS News (9/10, Malbran) website reported, "Last year, at about this time," officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs "claimed veterans were not at an increased risk for suicide but now, after facing a series of investigative stories by CBS News, a massive lawsuit and several Congressional hearings, the agency has changed its stance." On Tuesday, the VA "announced new suicide figures…that reveal veterans are killing themselves in record numbers and, as CBS News first discovered and reported last November, young male vets in their 20’s are the most at risk. The new data was generated by a panel of mental health experts who were brought together by the VA, after pressure from Washington lawmakers, to help analyze the true" scope of the problem. CBS added that the VA plans "to take several steps in the coming months to beef up its already growing suicide prevention efforts. The panel made several recommendations on how the agency can do that including having more staff training, more community outreach and starting a gun-safety program for vets who have children." In a related story, the KTBS-TV Shreveport, LA (9/10) website reported that on Tuesday, the Overton Brooks VA Hospital "held an informational meeting" on suicide prevention.
      Schoomaker Says Army Is Looking To Outside Agencies For Help In Reducing Suicides.   The AP (9/11, Elliott) reports, "The Army’s top medical officer says commanders are looking to their counterparts in the Air Force and in civilian agencies for ways to cope with an alarming increase in suicides." In a telephone interview Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army’s surgeon general, said, "We work real closely" with the VA, which "for many years" has "taken the lead in this." Schoomaker added, "We’ve also looked across the services and at other models that have been more successful than our own."

5.      VA Hospital, Cited For Violations, Agrees To Pay Fine.   On its website, KLIV-AM San Jose, CA (9/10) reported the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto has agreed to pay a "fine of more than $32,000" after inspectors "from the Federal and county Environmental Protection Agency found various violations," including open hazardous waste containers. Quentin Seiter, who helped conduct the inspection, "said he found no evidence that anyone was sickened or hurt by the violations."

6.      Birmingham VAMC Upgrading Hot Water System.   The Birmingham (AL) News (9/10, Gordon) reported, "The escalating demand for veterans’ medical care has taxed" the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In particular, the increased demand "has stretched an essential service — the building’s hot-water system — beyond capacity." Officials however, say that the hot water problem should be solved in October, after crews finish installing new piping and two new generators.

7.      Women Benefits Workshop To Be Held At VA Hospital In Louisiana.   The Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (9/11) reports, "The 2008 Women Veterans Benefits Workshop is set for 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Building 8 auditorium at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville." Treslian Ward of the Veterans Benefits Regional Office in New Orleans will present the workshop, which "is designed to keep women veterans informed of benefit entitlements and the benefit application process."

8.      Hurricane Ike Evacuees Transported To Dallas VAMC.   In a story on efforts "to help Hurricane Ike evacuees," the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (9/11, Baird) reports National Guard C-130 aircraft "transported about 50 evacuees throughout the day" to the Veterans Affairs medical center "in Dallas, coordinators said late Wednesday." 

9.      Coastal Texas Residents Urged To Move Inland As Ike Draws Closer.  The AP (9/10, Rhor) reports, "The frail and elderly were put aboard buses Wednesday and authorities warned 1 million others to flee inland" as Ike "steamed toward a swath of the Texas coast that includes the nation’s largest concentration of refineries and chemical plants." The Wall Street Journal (9/11, A3, Simon, Campoy, 2.07M) reports, "Weather conditions in the Gulf gave Ike ‘a perfect environment to grow,’ said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. ‘It’s a big storm and it’s creeping along,’ he said. ‘It looks like a large portion of the Texas coast will feel this.’"
      USA Today (9/11, Hortobagyi, Hampson, 2.28M) says "millions from Houston to the Mexican border followed storm track reports, trying to decide whether to stay or go, and — if the latter — when." The Houston Chronicle (9/11, 512K) reports Sen. John Cornyn "aid he was worried that some might be tempted to ignore evacuation instructions because the mayor of New Orleans overstated last week’s threat from Hurricane Gustav." Cornyn said, "My greatest fear is that because Ray Nagin said that Hurricane Gustav was the ‘storm of the century’ and then it sort of petered out, that people may sort of get the sense that,,,maybe we don’t need to leave this time."

10.    California Man Happy To Have Participated In Golden Age Games.   The Sacramento (CA) Bee (9/11, Nix) profiles 63-year-old California resident Reuben Navarec, who "recently returned from the 22nd National Veterans Golden Age Games, held Aug. 20-24 in Indianapolis. ‘I was really quite excited about going and was not disappointed,’ said Navarec," who has diabetes and "recently had his left leg amputated below the knee. He said he first learned of the games while at the Martinez Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic." The "VA funded" Navarec’s trip, and Navarec said that while he was there, he came close to winning a medal in billiards.