Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 09-16-08

Today’s Local News for Veterans

What’s Inside

1. Peake Attends Grand Opening Of Florida Facility. 
2. VA Planning To Open Outreach Clinics In Utah, Other States.  
3. VA Nurse To Discuss TBI During Forum.  
4. Program Offers Peer Support To Veterans.  
5. Hospital Offering PTS Training Seminar For Clergy.  
6. Some VA Facilities In Texas Reopening.  
7. VA Breaks Ground On New Clinic In Oregon.  
8. VA Program Gave Blind Veteran "His Life Back."  
9. GSA Panel Being Formed To Aid Service-Disabled Vets.
10. Man Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Defrauding VA.

1.      Peake Attends Grand Opening Of Florida Facility.   The Pensacola (FL) News Journal (9/16, Allen) reports, "The Joint Ambulatory Care Center, adjacent to Pensacola Naval Hospital, opened its doors to veterans and active military personnel Monday morning. The grand opening was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the 200,000-square-foot facility," which "will replace the current Pensacola Veterans Affairs outpatient and mental-health clinics." The new center, which is a "joint operation" of the VA and the Department of Defense Pensacola, "will offer primary, dental, vision and mental-health care in addition to rehabilitation services, a women’s clinic and various other specialty clinics." VA Secretary Dr. James Peake, who attended Monday’s opening, called the facility "a ‘one-stop shop’ for easy-access diagnosis."
      While In Florida, Peake Inspects Potential VA Site.   The Northwest Florida Daily News (9/16, Moore) reports Peake and US Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) "took an aerial tour of the potential site for a new $54.5 million VA inpatient center Monday afternoon." The two men "were in the panhandle for a ribbon-cutting ceremony" for Pensacola’s VA Super Clinic, but before returning to Washington DC, they flew over the Eglin Air Force Base Hospital. Last September, Miller "introduced the Northwest Florida Veterans Health Care Improvement Act," which "included language that authorized $54 million for the construction of a wing at Eglin…that would provide medical and surgical services to veterans. Miller got the money approved for the inpatient center earlier this year but the money still must be appropriated."

2.      VA Planning To Open Outreach Clinics In Utah, Other States.   The Deseret (UT) Morning News (9/16) reports, "Montezuma Creek in far southeastern Utah will be the site for one of 10 new rural outreach clinics that the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to open around the country by August 2009, department officials said Friday. VA Secretary James Peake "said his agency has pledged to increase access to care for thousands of veterans living in rural areas. The new clinics in Utah and nine other states will provide primary care, case management and mental-health services." Utah’s VA Executive Director Terry Schow, who "is on Peake’s new 13-member Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee," called the Montezuma Creek clinic "a step in the right direction."
      Federal Daily (9/16) reports the VA "announced…that it is in the process of opening 10 new rural outreach clinics over the next 12 months in an effort to enhance delivery of services to veterans living in rural areas." Facilities "scheduled to begin operation this October are in: Houston County, Ga.; Juneau County, Alaska; and Wasco County, Ore. Clinics to be operational by August 2009 are in: Winnemucca, Nev.; Yreka, Calif.; Utuado, P.R.; Lagrange, Texas; Montezuma Creek, Utah; and Manistique, Mich."

3.      VA Nurse To Discuss TBI During Forum.   Kansas City Nursing News (9/16, Hoskin) reports, "About 4,000 Iraqi veterans call Kansas City home, and almost 10 percent of those soldiers returned with traumatic brain injury," or TBI, which has been labeled the Iraq war’s "signature wound." On Sept. 23, Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center nurse Terri Blackwelder "will discuss the effects of TBI during a forum titled ‘Traumatic Brain Injury; Looking From the Outside In.’" Blackwelder, who "coordinates services for the Kansas City VA’s Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom" programs, "said she wants to share her experience with nurses in private care facilities." The "Kansas City VA currently treats 30 to 40 soldiers with TBI," and Blackwelder "said she expects those numbers to increase as more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan. ‘The physicians in the community don’t see the numbers that we do,’ she said. ‘Our big focus is educating people in the community.’"

4.      Program Offers Peer Support To Veterans.   The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (9/16, Rowell) reports, "The Vet to Vet program is a peer support program for veterans that is integrated into the services of the Central Alabama Veteran Health Care System, which has medical centers in Montgomery, Tuskegee and other clinics throughout the region." The program "is designed to break through the stigma attached to asking for help regarding mental health issues and to combat the rising suicide rates by getting veterans the help they need." The Advertiser also takes note of the VA’s suicide hotline and the Operation S.A.V.E. program, "an awareness program in place at most VA facilities nationwide, including in Montgomery, Tuskegee and Birmingham." Sarah Robertson, the suicide prevention coordinator at the Birmingham VA Hospital, "said the program grew out of the Joshua Omvig Veteran Suicide Prevention Act of 2007, which required the VA to implement several things such as educating staff on suicide."

5.      Hospital Offering PTS Training Seminar For Clergy.   The Southern Illinoisan (9/16, Homan) reports, "A free training seminar for local clergy concerning the special needs of returning service members will be offered" on Friday at the Marion VAMC. Dr. John Oliver, chief chaplain of the Durham VAMC in North Carolina, "will lead a Post Traumatic Stress training seminar, which will include topics such as PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, spiritual wounds, family dynamics, suicide prevention and more."

6.      Some VA Facilities In Texas Reopening.   In a Hurricane Ike update, the Beaumont (TX) Enterprise (9/16) reports the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC) "will resume normal operations on Tuesday." The Charles Wilson Outpatient Clinic in Lufkin "will also reopen for normal business on Tuesday." However, the "following clinics remain closed at this time: Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic, Conroe VA Outpatient Clinic, Galveston VA Outpatient Clinic and Texas City VA Outpatient Clinic." The KTRE-TV Lufkin, TX (9/15) website also noted that the Charles Wilson Outpatient Clinic would reopen on Tuesday.
      MEDVAMC Gave Veteran A New Liver As Hurricane Ike Built Up Steam.   On its website, KALB-TV Alexandria, LA (9/16, Henry) reported, "While surge waters crashed the beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast" last Friday, the MEDVAMC "performed an orthotopic liver transplantation" on 59 year-old veteran Thomas Franklin. Following the operation, Franklin expressed his gratitude, saying, "I am alive today because of" the MEDVAMC’s "wonderful…transplant program."

7.      VA Breaks Ground On New Clinic In Oregon.   On its website, KCBY-TV Coos Bay, OR (9/15, Novotny) reported, "A good mix" of veterans and local dignitaries recently gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of a future Veterans Affairs clinic in North Bend, Oregon. Officials "tempered some of their enthusiasm because they know not everyone is happy" with the VA’s move from Bandon. Still, "they say the majority" of vets in the area will be closer to the North Bend site. The KPIC-TV Roseburg, OR (9/15) website published the same story.

8.      VA Program Gave Blind Veteran "His Life Back."   The Citrus County (FL) Chronicle (9/16, Kennedy) reports legally blind veteran George Hovan "is seeing new possibilities for the future, thanks to a recent trip" to Birmingham, Alabama. Earlier this year, "the 75-year-old Hernando man participated in a 12-week residential training program at the Blind Rehabilitation Center, funded" by the US Department of Veteran Affairs. The VA "paid for everything, Hovan said, from travel costs to all the gadgets and devices he brought home to help him in his everyday living." Hovan "said the program gave him his life back."

9.      GSA Panel Being Formed To Aid Service-Disabled Vets.   Federal Computer Week (9/16, Weigelt) reports, "General Services Administration officials are seeking to fill a panel to aid the agency’s efforts to award more contracts to service-disabled veterans, according to a notice posted" Monday. The GSA "wants nominations for the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Subcommittee of the GSA Small Business Advisory Committee. The subcommittee is a part of the agency’s larger program initiative to at least meet its 3 percent contracting goal for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans, according to a notice in the Federal Register."

10.    Man Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Defrauding VA.   The Army Times (9/16, Tan) reports Randall A. Moneymaker, a former soldier "who lied about his service record and combat injuries to scam more than $18,000 in disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs," was "sentenced Sept. 5 to three years in federal prison." Craig Jacobsen, the assistant US attorney "who prosecuted the case," said Moneymaker was also ordered to pay $18,449.32 in restitution.