Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 10-17-08

Today’s Local News for Veterans

What’s Inside

1. VA Institutes Temporary Shredding Ban At Regional Offices. 
2. VA Decides Not To Use Outside Help On New GI Bill Benefits.  
3. Jack C. Montgomery VAMC Co-Sponsoring "Welcome Home" Event.  
4. VA Clinic In Pennsylvania Named For Deceased Iraq Veteran.  
5. New Veterans Clinic To Be Opened In Maryland.  
6. Vet Center In Florida To Host Open House.  
7. VA Creates Travel Nurse Corps.  
8. In Florida, VA Helps Pay For New Facility, Improvements To Another.  
9. VA Conducts Stand Down Event In Colorado.  
10. VA Facilities In Mississippi, Oregon Offers Free Flu Shots.

HAVE YOU HEARD?
To mark Energy Awareness Month (October), the Phoenix Veteran Affairs Health Care System (PVAHCS), Arizona Public Service Company and the Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Energy kicked off “Operation Change-Out” at the Phoenix Zoo. This year, APS and EPA/DOE joined the Phoenix VA Welcome Home Event, held annually to welcome home veterans who have returned from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to free Zoo admission and free food, drinks, and entertainment, veterans and their families were treated to a rather unusual gift: a starter kit of eight compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. CFLs are 75 percent more efficient than standard bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. Each kit will save a family about $250 in energy costs over the life of the CFLs. Event organizers expected upwards of 300 veterans and their families at the event. The 300 CFL kits will save the veterans and their families $84,000 in energy costs.

1.      VA Institutes Temporary Shredding Ban At Regional Offices.   The Air Force Times (10/17, Maze) reports, "Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices have been ordered to immediately stop shredding documents after an investigation found some benefits claims and supporting documents among piles of papers waiting to be destroyed." In a statement, VA Secretary James Peake "said only a handful of documents were found among piles of documents set aside to be shredded. But he is not pleased." Peake "said…that anyone who violated policies on protecting documents will be held accountable." The Federal Times (10/17) publishes the same story.
      The CBS News (10/16, Miller-Halee) website said the VA "confirmed that 10 documents mistakenly ended up in shredder bins in three regional offices: Detroit, St. Louis, and Waco, Texas." The "St. Petersburg, Fla., regional office" is also being investigated by the VA Inspector General for improper shredding, and the VA’s Alison Aikele told CBS News that her agency is "still trying to get a handle on how widespread the problem is."
      Computerworld (10/16, Vijayan) reported, "No duplicates existed for the documents that had been scheduled for destruction, which meant if they had been shredded, applications would have been lost." Had those documents "been destroyed, the action ‘might have affected the fate of veterans’ applications,’ for benefits, the VA said in a statement issued today." The "suspension of shredding activities will remain in place until the VA determines whether the practice is more widespread or not. Before shredding is allowed to resume, directors of the regional offices will have to sign off that no originals of key documents or records from cases under consideration are being shredded."
      The Honolulu Advertiser (10/17, Camire) reports US Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), "chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he supported" the shredding freeze, but it was not a long-term solution. Akaka stressed that the VA "needs an enforced and understood policy which preserves documents relevant to pending claims without leaving veterans’ personal information open to identity theft. Veterans must be able to trust VA to safely keep their records." The Advertiser adds, "The VA has had trouble in the past with keeping veterans’ records secure. In May 2006, the VA announced a laptop computer and an external hard drive containing 26.5 million personal records of current and former service members had been stolen."                                 A related story in the Detroit News (10/16, Egan) said a VAOIG official "confirmed Wednesday that the Detroit office and three other regional offices were visited recently as part of an audit of the department’s handling of veteran benefits claims." The audit in Detroit "discovered some problem documents, and an arm of the department, the Veterans Benefits Administration, is taking action, said the official, who would not elaborate and said the audit is continuing."

2.      VA Decides Not To Use Outside Help On New GI Bill Benefits.   In continuing coverage, Stars And Stripes (10/17, Shane) reports, "Veterans Affairs officials have backed off plans to hire outside help to upgrade the department’s GI Bill benefits system, saying they will rely on the current manual process to deliver checks next fall." Last month, technical experts with the VA "told lawmakers that private contractors would have to be brought in to help with the GI Bill transition, because the internal IT staff lacked the expertise and manpower to lead the move from the old education benefits system to a larger, completely automated one. But in a statement last week," VA Secretary James Peake "said the department did not receive enough qualified outside proposals in its search for outside help."

3.      Jack C. Montgomery VAMC Co-Sponsoring "Welcome Home" Event.   The Sapulpa (OK) Daily Herald (10/14) reported, "Men and women who have served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF), and their families, are invited to attend a Welcome Home ‘American Hero’ celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18" at the Tulsa Community College (TCC) Metro campus. During the event, which is sponsored by TCC and the Jack C. Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center, veterans will "have the opportunity…to learn more about" VA healthcare eligibility and VA benefits. The Bixby (OK) Bulletin (10/9) ran the same story.
      The KOTV-TV Tulsa, OK (10/14) website, which did not note the role that the Jack C. Montgomery VAMC will play in the event, said those in attendance will be "invited to tour TCC’s new Veterans Resource Center and Lounge, an office area dedicated" to providing "support to veterans who use their educational benefits at TCC."

4.      VA Clinic In Pennsylvania Named For Deceased Iraq Veteran.   The Sharon (PA) Herald (10/16, Pinchot) reported, "President Bush signed into law Tuesday a bill that names the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Hermitage after Sgt. Michael A. Marzano," who "was killed in a suicide bomber attack May 7, 2005, in Haditha, Iraq."

5.      New Veterans Clinic To Be Opened In Maryland.   The Annapolis (MD) Capital (10/16, Bourg) reported, "Anticipating an influx of vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, Maryland plans to open a second veterans health clinic in Anne Arundel County within 18 months, officials said this week." Wilbert B. Forbes Sr., the "deputy state secretary of veterans affairs, said the center at Fort George G. Meade will be a community-based outpatient clinic similar in size" to the Glen Burnie VA Outpatient Clinic.

6.      Vet Center In Florida To Host Open House.   The Naples (FL) Daily News (10/17) reports, "All veterans are invited to attend an Open House at the Fort Myers Vet Center on Nov. 10." At the event, veterans "can meet the center’s staff and learn about" the center’s program.

7.      VA Creates Travel Nurse Corps.   The North American Press Syndicate (10/17) reports, "Thanks to a Department of Veterans Affairs…pilot program, nurses may be able to enjoy new career opportunities while seeing a lot more" of the US. The "Travel Nurse Corps was created by VA to address the nationwide shortage of nurses and enhance quality care for veterans, while enabling VA nurses to travel and work throughout the department’s medical system." The Syndicate adds, "Participants in a new program have found that it can make them feel excited about their careers again." 

8.      In Florida, VA Helps Pay For New Facility, Improvements To Another.   On its website, WJXT-TV Jacksonville, Fl (10/16) reported that on Thursday, Nevin M. Weaver, director of the US Department of Veterans Affairs Sunshine Healthcare Network, presented checks to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director LeRoy Collins Jr. The checks, representing more than $20 million in Federal funding, will help cover the cost of "constructing a seventh Florida veterans’ long-term care facility in St. Augustine and capital improvements to the veterans’ assisted living facility in Lake City." WJXT noted that the St. Augustine facility will be "the first known ‘green’ nursing home in the state."

9.      VA Conducts Stand Down Event In Colorado.   The Colorado Springs Gazette (10/17, Newsome) reports Victor Craig was one of "dozens of men and women who attended" the 10th annual Stand Down for Homeless Veterans conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Colorado Springs on Thursday. The VA "conducts Stand Down programs nationwide. Veterans make up one of the largest groups of people living on the streets, with an estimated 115 in Colorado Springs."

10.    VA Facilities In Mississippi, Oregon Offers Free Flu Shots.   The lead story in the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger’s (10/17) "Mississippi Briefs" column reports, "Enrolled veterans can receive free flu shots at the G.V. ‘Sonny’ Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson and its community-based outpatient clinics in Hattiesburg, Meridian, Kosciusko, Columbus, Greenville, Meadville and Natchez." The shots "will be given during scheduled clinic appointments or on a walk-in basis."
      Oregon’s Statesman Journal (10/17, Daley) reports, "Flu shots will be available 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays at the Salem Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic at 1660 Oak St. SE, said Mike McAleer," a public affairs officer at the Portland VA Medical Center. Clinics "are not usually open on Saturdays but the extra day is being added because of the flu shot season, McAleer said. Shots also will be available 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on week days."