Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 1-6-09

1. Two Counties In Pennsylvania To Open PTSD Treatment Centers. 
2. Headaches Said To Be A Potential Indicator Of Cognitive Deficits In Iraq War Vets.  
3. Depressed Vets Said To Be At Highest Suicide Risk Following Hospitalization.  
4. Advisory Committee On Gulf War Veterans To Hold Public Sessions In Seattle. 
5. Budget Would Increase Fees Collected From California Vets.   
6. New Orleans City Council Approves Money To Prepare For New VA Hospital.  
7. Veterans Participate In National Creative Arts Festival. 
8. VA Attempting To Assist Homeless Veterans.  
9. VA To Mail Out Disability Verification Letters To Florida Vets, Surviving Spouses.  
10. Jacksonville National Cemetery Consecrated.

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The American Veteran is a series of short video features about veterans’ rights and benefits along with inspiring stories of service and sacrifice made by America’s men and women in uniform. 

"The American Veteran" is co-produced by the VA Learning University and the Office of Public Affairs in partnership with VA’s Employee Education System and other VA headquarters and field offices.  The American Veteran 

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1.      Two Counties In Pennsylvania To Open PTSD Treatment Centers.   Pennsylvania’s Intelligencer (1/6, Ciavaglia) reports Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania "will open centers this year to treat returning military troops diagnosed" with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), "a condition some military officials call a ‘signature’ injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars." The Intelligencer adds, "Nationwide, 39 centers are expected to open as part" of a US Department of Veteran Affairs "expansion of readjustment counseling and services for existing and new combat veterans and their families."

2.      Headaches Said To Be A Potential Indicator Of Cognitive Deficits In Iraq War Vets.   HealthDay (1/6, Gunnerson) reports, "Headache frequency and severity caused by traumatic brain injury might signal cognitive deficits, suggests a new study of Iraq war veterans." Study author Dr. Robert L. Ruff, neurology service chief at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said the "most important finding" of the study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development "was that the soldiers who continued to have problems with headaches and PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] were much more likely to have signs of residual cognition impairment or abnormalities."

3.      Depressed Vets Said To Be At Highest Suicide Risk Following Hospitalization.   UPI (1/6) reports, "Veterans with depression are at highest risk for suicide in the 12 weeks after they are hospitalized for psychiatric conditions, US researchers said." The study, "published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, said health systems with limited resources should focus their efforts on this time period to have the greatest impact on suicide prevention."
      VA Hospital In Texas Starts A Suicide Prevention Program.   On its website, KFDA-TV Amarillo, TX (12/5) reported, "More veterans than ever are finding it harder to deal with the mental effects of war and choosing to commit suicide. The situation has become so bad over the past year" that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Amarillo "started a suicide prevention program." KFDA added, "Monday kicks off the National VA Suicide Prevention Campaign, complete with public service announcements letting veterans know there is not any shame in asking for help."

4.      Advisory Committee On Gulf War Veterans To Hold Public Sessions In Seattle.   In his Seattle Post-Intelligencer (1/5) blog, Mike Barber noted, "The Federal Register offers details on how Gulf War veterans, and the public, can submit comments in person, by writing or just to listen to" an "upcoming and important appearance in Seattle of the Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans." The committee "was formed last May to gauge the human cost to veterans from that war and to better quantify their numbers. In Seattle, the committee’s open public sessions will begin next Wed., Jan. 14," at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.
      In a related story, WBUR-FM Boston (1/5) reported, "Seventeen years after the Persian Gulf War, a Congressionally-mandated report has confirmed that ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ is a legitimate illness, and not just ‘shell shock.’ That had been the diagnosis for more than 175,000 veterans who suffered from a range of neurological conditions" following the 1991 war. WBUR noted that Roberta White, chair of the Department of Environmental Health at Boston University, "directed the research" which led to the report.

5.       Budget Would Increase Fees Collected From California Vets.   The Barstow (CA) Desert Dispatch (1/6, Lee) reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new state budget proposal could potentially impact veterans across California, including those residing at the Veterans Home of California – Barstow." Schwarzenegger’s "budget for 2009-2010 proposes an increase of $2.8 million in fees collected from veterans home residents to help alleviate the state budget crisis." Approximately "17 percent of California veterans will be impacted if the fee hike passes, according to J.P. Tremblay, a deputy secretary at the California Department of Veterans Affairs."

6.      New Orleans City Council Approves Money To Prepare For New VA Hospital.   The New Orleans Times-Picayune (1/6, Eggler) reports, "Eclipsed by recent battles between the New Orleans City Council" and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin "over the city’s 2009 operating budget was the fact the council last month also approved spending $309 million of Louisiana Recovery Authority money in 2009 on recovery projects and programs. The total includes $75 million to prepare the site for the planned new Veterans Affairs hospital."

7.      Veterans Participate In National Creative Arts Festival.   The lead story in the Quad-City Times‘ (1/5) "Let’s Salute" column noted that area residents Lionel Marcoux, Rhonda Seward, and Denise Morgan "were among a select group of veterans invited to demonstrate their award-winning talents at the 2008 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival the week of Oct. 21-26 in Riverside, Calif." All "three veterans received care" at the Veterans Affairs "medical facility in Iowa City."

8.      VA Attempting To Assist Homeless Veterans.   In its January issue, the Affordable Housing Finance (1/6, Kimura) magazine reports, "There’s about a one-in-four chance that the homeless man you pass on the street served in the military. Those are striking odds considering that vets make up only about 11 percent of the adult civilian" US population. An increase in the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program "in 2008 is the most notable action on the veterans housing front." Meanwhile, the magazine notes that in Ohio, homeless vets "can stay for up to two years at Freedom House, a program of local nonprofit agency Family and Community Services." Freedom House was partially "financed with approximately $400,000" from VA’s "grant and per diem program."

9.      VA To Mail Out Disability Verification Letters To Florida Vets, Surviving Spouses.   Federal Daily (1/6) reports, "For the first time," the Department of Veteran Affairs "will be mailing disability verification letters to all 265,000 Florida veterans and surviving spouses who may be eligible for state or local tax exemptions," the VA "announced Dec. 31." The VA normally "sends verification letters upon request," but it "did a special computer run to automatically generate the letters for Florida vets."

10.    Jacksonville National Cemetery Consecrated.   On its website, WJXX-TV Jacksonville, FL (1/5, Williams) reported, "Jacksonville National Cemetery was officially consecrated, and now the hallowed grounds can become the final resting place for thousands of veterans." Construction "on Phase 1A" of the cemetery "began in August and was completed in December." Phase "1B will begin this summer, and will complete the 52-acre project of Phase 1."