Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-16-08

1. VA Urges Veterans, Family Members To Sign Up For Direct Deposits. 
2. Pre-Inauguration Day Hearing Seen As Attempt To Speed Up Shinseki’s Confirmation. 
3. DOD, VA Said To Be Working Closely On Caring For Wounded Soldiers. 
4. Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline Set Up VA, SAMHSA. 
5. New York City Seen As Potential Model For Sheltering Homeless Vets. 
6. Unemployment Rate High For Veterans Returning To Connecticut. 
7. VA Hospital Uses Positive Defiance To Decrease MRSA Infection Rate. 
8. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Held For New VA Clinic In Georgia. 
9. Bill Of Rights Day Celebration Honors Veterans.  
10. College Hockey Players Visit Vets, Present Check To Manchester VAMC.

1       VA Urges Veterans, Family Members To Sign Up For Direct Deposits.   The Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (12/16) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs…is urging veterans and family members now receiving paper checks to sign up for direct deposits, according to a news release from the VA." In that release, VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake said his agency "is teaming up with the Treasury Department in a new campaign to protect government beneficiaries against the theft of funds and of their identities." Peake "cited several easy ways to sign up for direct deposit," including "enrolling online at www.GoDirect.org." The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (12/16, Rowell), which publishes a similar story, included much of the press release in its article.

2.      Pre-Inauguration Day Hearing Seen As Attempt To Speed Up Shinseki’s Confirmation.   In continuing coverage, UPI (12/16) reports, "A hearing on the nomination of retired" US Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki "for secretary of veterans affairs will take place before Inauguration Day." US Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, recently "announced plans…to hold hearings on Shinseki’s presumptive nomination to become the next" VA secretary "on Jan. 14. The hearing, six days before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in," is "seen as a move to speed up the confirmation process, Government Executive reported."
      At the end of a story on Adm. Mike Mullen, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the New York Times (12/16, A25, Bumiller) notes that Shinseki "has…been chosen by Mr. Obama to be" VA secretary. In his "In The Loop" column in the Washington Post (12/16, A17), Al Kamen also briefly noted the Shinseki nomination, pointing out that of the Cabinet appointees announced so far by Obama, the "two elder statesmen both have military experience: Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, 66, who will be secretary of veterans affairs, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, 65."
      Shinseki Nomination Praised.   In an editorial, the Canandaigua (NY) Daily Messenger (12/16) praises the VA secretary nomination, saying the "kind of clear-eyed, fearless advocacy Shinseki demonstrated in assessing the Iraq situation will well serve veterans both in Canandaigua and throughout the nation, who saw benefits slide during the Bush administration – an administration, lest we forget, that tried to close" the Canandaigua VA Medical Center. The Albany (NY) Times Union (12/16) also editorialized about the VA secretary nomination, saying, "There’s no reason to expect anything but candor from" Shinseki.
      Opinions Differ On Importance Of VA In Presidential Administrations.   In his Time (12/16) column, Michael Grunwald says Obama’s "Cabinet appointments are sending a powerful signal that change is on the way." For example, Shinseki, his choice to run the VA, "was a brave critic of the Iraq war and a staunch advocate for wounded vets." It is "hard to imagine a starker contrast with" James Peake, Shinseki’s counterpart "in the Bush administration." Peake is "not exactly" a household name, "which is why it’s so weird that second-tier Cabinet appointees get so much attention initially; they rarely make much news once they’re in office. That’s why I’ve proposed shrinking the Cabinet, which has doubled in size and probably halved in importance since the Kennedy administration." But that is "one thing Obama does not appear likely to change: Judging by his appointments so far, the Cabinet will continue to be an irrelevant institution, while policy will still be made out of the White House."

      But in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed arguing that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) needs to be given the "resources to accomplish its mission," Harry K. Schwartz, who was an assistant secretary of HUD under President Jimmy Carter, says that "with the early designation of…Shinseki to head" the VA, "that department seems to have been bumped up several notches."

3.      DOD, VA Said To Be Working Closely On Caring For Wounded Soldiers.   On its website, WOKV-AM Jacksonville, FL (12/15, Hess) said the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have remade "their health services to prevent another Walter Reed." Michael Dominguez with the DoD "said they are working much more closely with the VA to ensure a smooth hand off for soldiers who are badly wounded. ‘They’re cared for. The VA knows they’re coming,’" and there is "a smooth hand off." Dominguez "said they are also simplifying" things "so that warriors just get one injury number that they can use with DoD and VA, instead of two."
      Iraq Vet Says His Disability Helps Him Relate To Patients Being Fitted For Prosthetics.   The Las Vegas Sun (12/15, McCloskey) interviewed Francisco Pinedo, "chief of prosthetics" at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Pinedo, who "lost part of his right arm in an ambush in Iraq," said he shares his experience with the people who come to see him. He added, "I’m able to connect with people in the same stage I was in four years ago. I can show them there is life after amputation," and "I think they walk away with a sense that things are going to be OK."
      Sexual Problems Reportedly An Additional Risk For Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.   McClatchy (12/15, Narancio) reported, "Wounds and mental disabilities of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can mess up their sex lives, too, health experts said Wednesday" at a "seminar sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on health issues." Such sexual problems "often go untreated because the topic is taboo and has gone unstudied. Whatever the reason, failed sexual intimacy can contribute to higher suicide and divorce rates among returning soldiers, specialists told" the seminar. McClatchy notes that some VA "centers offer treatment for sexual health issues, but to varying degrees and without national coordination. ‘The VA is at the preliminary stages of conducting a survey to measure the incidence of this problem,’ said Linda Mona, a psychologist at the VA’s healthcare center in Long Beach, Calif." Mona "said the VA is considering the creation, in conjunction" with the Center of Excellence for Sexual Health at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, "of a national interactive" website "to provide sexual assessment and education for soldiers with intimacy problems."
      UK Ups Payments To Wounded Soldiers.   The Washington Post (12/16, Jordan, A15, 696K) reports that the British government "is doubling the maximum cash payment it gives to severely wounded soldiers after criticism that amputees and other veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars were not suitably compensated. The Defense Ministry announced Monday that the current limit of 285,000 British pounds, or $428,000 at current exchange rates, would be raised to 570,000 pounds, or $855,000." The British government "has been under pressure by military families and advocates to compensate the growing number of war wounded. Media campaigns have also drawn attention to the disparity between the large sums awarded in personal-injury cases involving civilians and the amounts paid to wounded soldiers."

4.      Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline Set Up VA, SAMHSA.   KJTV-TV Lubbock, TX (12/15, 4:49 p.m. CT) broadcast, "Some studies show suicide rates among veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are twice as high as the general population." But last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration "set up a first-of-its-kind veterans suicide prevention hotline. … In its first year, more than 22,000 veterans called the suicide hotline, and the government says of those, they stopped more than 1,200 suicides."

5.      New York City Seen As Potential Model For Sheltering Homeless Vets.   The New York Times (12/16, A 29, Kaufman) reports, "Bracing for the return of thousands of soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the midst of a deep recession," New York City officials "have taken some unprecedented steps to prevent a next wave of veterans from also sleeping on its streets." Perhaps the "most important" of these steps was taken by "the city’s Department of Homeless Services," which "integrated" with the US Department of Veterans Affairs on "Project Torch, where veterans can pursue short- and long-term housing as well as other services, all in the same office – something no other city has done, according" to the VA. New York City’s "moves are being watched closely in Washington as a possible model for other communities hoping to avoid a homeless debacle," and "even those who have long been critical of the federal bureaucracy’s handling of homeless veterans are cautiously optimistic."

6.      Unemployment Rate High For Veterans Returning To Connecticut.   The Hartford (CT) Business Journal (12/16, Millman) reports, "Many of Connecticut’s young veterans returning from duty are still struggling to land jobs, a problem stoked by a worsening economy. As of last year, the national unemployment rate for combat veterans who left the service in 2005 was 18 percent, according" to a Veterans Affairs Department survey. In Connecticut, "about 11 percent of veterans between the ages of 20 and 24 are unemployed, according to the state Department of Labor’s Office for Veterans Workforce Development." That "is nearly double the state unemployment rate."

7.      VA Hospital Uses Positive Defiance To Decrease MRSA Infection Rate.   The New York Times (12/14, Gertner) reported, "For the past few years, Jerry and Monique Sternin have been working with hospitals around the country to reduce the spread of a hospital-borne infection known as" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The Sternins "take an unorthodox approach to problem-solving known as positive deviance, or P.D.," which "aims to identify individuals within small communities who have devised clever coping strategies to avoid problems afflicting their neighbors." In a "recent P.D. program" at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Pittsburgh, the "staff suggested and then adopted a range of hygienic rules that included room-cleaning checklists and disposable slipcovers for Bibles." The MRSA "infection rate at the hospital dropped by 50 percent in a year, says Jon Lloyd, a retired surgeon who helped implement the program there."

8.      Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Held For New VA Clinic In Georgia.   WGXA-TV Macon, GA (12/15, 10:11 p.m. ET) broadcast that Houston County veterans are "celebrating the opening of a new" Veterans Affairs outreach clinic. The "official ribbon cutting" took "place Monday at the clinic located" in Kathleen, Georgia.

9.      Bill Of Rights Day Celebration Honors Veterans.   On its website, KKCO-TV Grand Junction, CO (12/15, Zartler) reported, "December 15th is Bill of Rights Day and a local group held a special celebration to honor veterans. The Pro Second Amendment Committee held a presentation at the transitional care unit" at the Veterans Affairs hospital "in Grand Junction on Monday. Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland gave the invocation and other local politicians gave speeches honoring veterans and talking about the importance of the Bill of Rights." The US "has recognized Bill of Rights Day since 1941," when President Franklin D. Roosevelt "designated the day."

10.    College Hockey Players Visit Vets, Present Check To Manchester VAMC.   The Manchester (NH) Union Leader (12/16, Lessels) reports several hockey team members from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) stopped by the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center "with their coaches and UNH administrators" Monday. They "came to visit and sign a few autographs and they came bearing 300 UNH hockey special edition ‘Operation Hat Trick’ baseball caps and a check for the hospital’s rehabilitation therapy program. Operation Hat Trick is a project that grew out of a radio report that a member of the UNH athletic department heard early this year." The radio report "noted that military members who had received head injuries appreciated having baseball caps to cover their wounds, dressings and scars. The project also became a way to honor Nate Hardy — the son of longtime UNH professor and friend of hockey Steve Hardy and his wife Donna — who was killed during a mission in Iraq on Feb. 4."