Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-30-08

1. Expected Influx Of Veterans Said To Require Colleges To Adapt.  
2. Wyoming Veteran Deals With TBI.  
3. VA Program Is First Specializing In Training Nurses In Wound Care.  
4. Washington State Veterans Seek More VA Facilities.  
5. Three VA Outpatient Clinics To Open In Arkansas.  
6. VA Medical Center Honors Tennessee Hospice.  
7. VA To Open Clinic In Alabama.  
8. Marion VA Medical Center Moving Towards Resumption Of Surgeries.  
9. Grant Will Go Towards Researching Improved Skin Grafts.  
10. VA Identified Almost 11,000 Surviving Spouses Due Benefits.  

1.      Expected Influx Of Veterans Said To Require Colleges To Adapt.   UPI (12/29) reports, "Colleges throughout the United States should work to make incoming U.S. veterans comfortable as students under a new federal bill." UPI adds, "Keith Wilson, Veterans Benefits Administration education services director, has predicted at least a 20 percent increase in the number of veterans, veteran dependents and military personnel attending college during the next two to three years." Allen Marr, the head of the Military and Student Veterans Association at Western Michigan University, "said college officials must be prepared to deal with an expected veteran influx under the Post 9/11 Veterans Assistance Act of 2008," and "Carl Ireland, Student Veterans of America president at the University of Michigan, agreed."
      VA Publishes Guidance On New GI Bill.   Inside Higher Education (12/29, Redden) reports, "Last week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued eagerly anticipated guidance" on the new GI Bill. "The Federal Register published proposed rules for implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill on Tuesday; the period for accepting comments extends through January 22." Patrick Campbell, chief legislative counsel for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said, "For the most part I’m impressed by the breadth of these regulations and the number of specific situations that they address directly." He added, "The real truly novel part of this, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, is the VA is developing a new way of calculating [academic] progress, and they’re calling it the ‘rate of pursuit.’"

2.      Wyoming Veteran Deals With TBI.   The Jackson Hole (WY) Star-Tribune (12/29, Matray) reports, "Marine Lance Cpl. Jay Thurin has been home from Iraq for two years and nine months," and "the learning, the adjusting" to his traumatic brain injury and civilian life continues. "At first, Thurin resisted going the Veterans Affairs hospital for help," but he "has begun using more of the VA hospital’s support services, and his mom, Carla Thurin, has noticed a difference." David Fohrman, a doctor at the VA hospital in Cheyenne, said, "In our culture, there’s the idea that a negative emotion is a sign of weakness." However, he added, "The key is talking about it to be activated enough to reprocess these memories."

3.      VA Program Is First Specializing In Training Nurses In Wound Care.   The Leavenworth (KS) Times (12/29, Richmeier) reports, "Leavenworth is home to one of the few programs in the country that specializes in training nurses in the area of wound care." Sharon Saim, director of the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System Wound Management Academy, said, "We’re the only one in the nation in the (Department of Veterans Affairs system)." It "was developed out of a need for nurses trained to handle wounds that require a lot of care, according to Jim Gleisberg, public affairs officer for the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System." The program operates "on the grounds of the Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth" and "is open to nurses who work outside of the Veterans Affairs system."

4.      Washington State Veterans Seek More VA Facilities.   The Bainbridge Island (WA) Review (12/29, Roach) reports that there is "a growing group of local veteran activists raising awareness of the need for expanding transportation alternatives and specialized care in the West Puget Sound region." Fred Scheffler, a Bainbridge Island resident and veteran, "who will soon chair the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Council, has been a vocal advocate of increasing the access to care for Kitsap and Olympic Peninsula veterans." While there are resources available to veterans in the West Puget Sound area, they "are usually staffed by contracted doctors, and the clinics emphasize primary, preventative health care." Jeri Rowe, director of public affairs with the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, said that "the importance placed on primary health care…was a policy that was enacted prior to the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

5.      Three VA Outpatient Clinics To Open In Arkansas.   Hola Arkansas (12/29) reports, "Arkansas will have easier access to world-class health care under a Department of Veterans Affairs plan to open three new outpatient clinics." Last year the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System "had more than 600,000 patient visits, but many of those patients could have been treated with a simple trip to out patient clinics rather than the VA hospital."

6.      VA Medical Center Honors Tennessee Hospice.   The Crossville (TN) Chronicle (12/29) reports, "Hospice of Cumberland County was among hospices honored for their care of American veterans during a recent ceremony sponsored by the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Nashville, Vanderbilt Hospital." Georgia Carruth, care co-coordintor, and Dr. Sumi Mistra, chief of the hospice and palliative care program with the Department of Veterans Affairs Tennessee Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, attended, and Scott Shreve, national director of the Department of Veteran Affairs, Hospice and Palliative Care Service, said, "In caring for veterans at end of life, VA has made a strategic decision to partner with community hospice programs in providing this care. … Through collaboration with community hospice programs, care for veterans at end of life and their families is improved. It is a win-win scenario in that VA, the community hospice program and the veteran all benefit."

7.      VA To Open Clinic In Alabama.   The Brewton (AL) Standard (12/29, Tindell) reports, "In an announcement earlier this month, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala. said the Department of Veterans Affairs will establish a new community based outpatient clinic in Monroe County." Shelby added, "The Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized the importance of establishing a community-based outpatient clinic in Monroe County to serve the region’s veteran population and improve their access to care." According to Escambia County’s director of Veteran’s Affairs Mike Hanks, "the announcement is a welcomed one for veterans in this area," as "other veteran’s clinics and medical facilities are located in bigger cities limiting availability to local veterans."

8.      Marion VA Medical Center Moving Towards Resumption Of Surgeries.   The Southern Illinoisan (12/30, Homan) reports, "Sixteen months after in-patient surgeries at the VA Medical Center in Marion were suspended by the National Surgeon Quality Improvement Program investigation team, progress has been made but more work remains, officials familiar with the situation say." According to VA Medical Center spokeswoman Peggy Willoughby, "no specific date has been set for the resumption of complex or in-patient surgeries, but the hospital has made major strides toward that goal in recent months."

9.      Grant Will Go Towards Researching Improved Skin Grafts.   The Cincinnati Community Press & Community Recorder (12/29, O’Farrell) reports that a $1.3 million grant from AFIRM, an initiative paid for by the US Army, the Office of Naval Research, NIH, Air Force, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, was awarded to the University of Cincinnati and Shriners Hospitals for Children-Cincinnati "to improve skin grafts for badly burned military personnel." Steven Boyce, a professor of surgery at UC and researcher with Shriners, said "researchers will look at ways to improve blood vessel growth in engineered skin grafts" and "researchers will use the grant to look at ways to better match skin pigmentation in engineered skin grafts."

10.    VA Identified Almost 11,000 Surviving Spouses Due Benefits.   The Olney (IL) Daily Mail (12/29, Howser) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has identified nearly 11,000 surviving spouses of deceased veterans who will receive a lump-sum payment before the New Year to correct an error in their VA benefits." Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake said, "I am pleased that our task force working to correct this problem has been able to identify this first group this week." However, "the Department doesn’t have current addresses for many of them, which makes the process of contacting them difficult. VA has established a special Survivor Call Center (1-800-749-8387) for spouses who believe they may be eligible for this retroactive benefit." The Federal Daily (12/30) also covers this story.