Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 2-6-09

Today’s Local News for Veterans 

What’s Inside

1. Shinseki Wants Electronic Claim Processing System, Timely Budget.  
2. Illinois Hospital Using Virtual Reality System To Treat PTSD.  
3. Future Of Bay Pines VAMC’s Domestic Violence Program Uncertain.
4. VA Panning To Put Outreach Center In Keene, New Hampshire.  
5. Advocates Opposed To Redevelopment Of Canandaigua VAMC Buildings.  
6. New Clinic Provides More Options To Vets In Tennessee.  
7. VA Clinic To Open In Michigan This Year.  
8. Hospital Authority Hopes To Land VA Clinic.  
9. VA Clinic In Maryland To Receive Additional Funding.  
10. CRHCP Assisting Rural Vets In West Virginia.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
Twenty-five years ago, the Richmond VA Medical Center moved its patients from an old style barrack buildings into what is now the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center (VAMC). One of those patients, a then gaunt-looking veteran suffering from heart failure, was Bob Jones. Jones, a retired Air Force veteran, had been transferred to Richmond for transplant evaluation. At the time, the McGuire VAMC was one of only six institutions in the nation that performed heart transplants. Jones was the first veteran to undergo heart transplant surgery in the OR of the then new hospital and wrote the medical center recently to give an update of his post-transplant life of more than 24 years — ”Hello everyone, it’s Bob Jones from sunny Florida, a New Hampshire transplant. I was the 29th person to get a new heart at the VA hospital in Richmond, Va. The transplant was done February 1984 by Dr. Szaboles Szentpetery, known to us as St. Pete. Now for the good things in life: I walk two miles each day, bowl on a team, and swim with a friend who has a new hip. My wife and I go to England every year for two weeks to see her relatives. Here in Ormond Beach, my grandson keeps me hopping with all his activities in the community.”

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1.      Shinseki Wants Electronic Claim Processing System, Timely Budget.   In continuing coverage, the lead story in Tom Philpott’s "Military Update" column, appearing in Stars And Stripes (2/6), notes that on Wednesday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that adding people to the VA’s claim adjudication staff is "’a brute force solution’ to a problem best solved with an electronic claim processing system." Shinseki was on Capitol Hill to discuss "administration priorities for veterans. Behind him, representatives of various veterans’ service organizations mostly nodded heads in agreement," but they did not do so "when Shinseki declined to endorse" a bill "to require that VA health budgets be funded a year ahead of normal appropriations." Shinseki said his "preference would be for a timely budget." The Federal Times (2/6, Neal), Federal Daily (2/6), Federal News Radio (2/5, Cacas) and the Imperial Valley (CA) News (2/6) also note Shinseki’s claims comments.
      Buyer’s Asks Secretary To Support DIC Increase.   The second story in Tom Philpott’s "Military Update" column, appearing in Stars And Stripes (2/6), says that during Shinseki’s Wednesday appearance before Congress, "Rep. Steve Buyer (Ind.), ranking Republican" on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, "asked Shinseki to support an increase" in Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), which is "paid to survivors of members who die on active duty or die of service-related conditions in retirement. DIC hasn’t kept pace with survivor compensation for federal civilian workers, Buyer said," so he "is preparing a bill that would raise DIC by 12 percent across the board."                            Shinseki Seen As Needing Help To Make Changes At VA.   In an editorial, the Tennessean (4/6, 171K), which discusses claims backlog and other problems at the VA, notes that Shinseki "has promised a ‘change of culture’" at the department. Shinseki has "proven that he’s up to the task, but he will need lawmakers to ensure funding, and support from a Defense Department that has often been at odds with the VA and vets themselves."                                                                                                                                Iraq Vet Urges Shinseki To Refocus VA’s Mission.   In another Tennessean (4/6, 171K) op-ed, Iraq veteran Mike Krause argues that Secretary Shinseki "needs to refocus his agency’s mission, and could take meaningful steps to do so by pursuing three priorities." First, Krause says Shinseki should attempt to end the homelessness of veterans by taking "radical steps, such as nightly VA ‘patrols’ to find and help homeless vets." Shinseki also "needs to install a 24-hour operation to adjudicate benefits and clear the 400,000 claims currently in backlog, and then trim the approval process so that it never happens again." Finally, Krause says veterans need "educational mentorship."
      VA Said To Need More Money, Better Staff.   In separate letters to the editor of the Tennessean (2/6, 171K), one reader urges Shinseki to provide more money for veterans’ care while another reader — a veteran named Hershel Butts – urges the Secretary to arrange for more competent staff at VA facilities.

2.      Illinois Hospital Using Virtual Reality System To Treat PTSD.   In continuing coverage, the Chicago Tribune (2/6, Kridel, 577K) reports the "anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder program at Alexian Brothers Medical Center" in Illinois "recently installed the new 3-D PTSD Virtual Reality Combat Simulator" to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs helped "pay for the simulator, which was unveiled this week."

3.       Future Of Bay Pines VAMC’s Domestic Violence Program Uncertain.   The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (2/5, Levesque) said the Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center "is considering closing its domestic violence intervention program. The coordinator, Elaine Torosian, has announced to the state and local domestic violence activists that the decision has been made to end the program," but on Wednesday, a Bay Pines spokeswoman "said Torosian made that announcement without the knowledge of Bay Pines leaders and said the news was premature. Spokeswoman Faith Belcher said the program served just 26 veterans last year, and the facility has to decide if continuing it is a good use of resources," because the "same counseling services…are available in the private sector." 

 4.      VA Panning To Put Outreach Center In Keene, New Hampshire.   The Keene (NH) Sentinel (2/5 Farrar) said officials at the US Department of Veterans Affairs "are developing plans to put a veterans outreach center in Keene, a spokeswoman for the department said Wednesday. While it is still in the development stages," the facility "would provide both mental health and counseling services as well as primary-care medical services, including disease management and emergency care for eligible veterans, said" VA spokeswoman Laurie Tranter. The center "will not affect plans announced late last year to place a veterans outpatient clinic in Brattleboro, Tranter said."

5.      Advocates Opposed To Redevelopment Of Canandaigua VAMC Buildings.   The Canandaigua (NY) Daily Messenger (2/6, Sherwood) reports, "Advocates have organized to oppose any redevelopment" of Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center "buildings for uses unrelated to veterans. Just last month, the VA began looking for a developer to lease a vacant building and surrounding land at the Fort Hill campus for housing for veterans and, perhaps, non-veterans." The VA "wants a developer to agree to a long-term lease – up to 75 years – to create, fund and manage housing in Building 14, comprising about 23,000 square feet, in addition to roughly three acres of surrounding grounds."

6.      New Clinic Provides More Options To Vets In Tennessee.   In continuing coverage, the Jackson (TN) Sun (2/5, Cheshier) reported, "Instead of driving more than 80 miles to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, many local vets who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Jackson veterans clinic on Tuesday said they plan to transfer." Patricia Pittman, director and chief executive officer of the VAMC in Memphis, "said Tuesday that all local veterans received a letter to let them know reassignment was available" to the new facility, which offers an optometrist, a dietitian, social workers, and mental health workers.

7.      VA Clinic To Open In Michigan This Year.   WBUP-TV Marquette, MI (2/5, 5:31 p.m. ET) broadcast, "There is good news tonight for military veterans in Schoolcraft County," because the "commute to receive needed medical care is about to get quite a bit shorter." The US Department of Veterans Affairs "is opening 10 new medical clinics around the country this year" and one "of them will be in Manistique." The clinic is "expected to start" offering services "by the end of August."

8.      Hospital Authority Hopes To Land VA Clinic.   Georgia’s Coastal Courier (12/5, Parker) reported, "The Liberty County Hospital Authority recently bought about an acre of land for $260,000 in hopes of luring a proposed" Veterans Affairs clinic "to the Liberty Regional Medical Center campus. There is no assurance" the VA "will go along with the local plans," but the department "has been authorized by Congress to establish the clinic, which will be operated by the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, S.C." The VA "is reopening the lease bidding it originally advertised in September, according to representative Tonya Lobbestael."

9.      VA Clinic In Maryland To Receive Additional Funding.   The Cumberland (MD) Times-News (2/5, Hill) published, "The Cumberland Veterans Outpatient Clinic can expect to see additional funding in the near future. The Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center received $250,000, said spokeswoman Cathleen Coulthard," who "adds the funds were distributed through each VA regional health care system’s Veterans Integrated Service Networks." Coulthard stated, "The funds…will be used to increase Mental Health Services at the Stephens City, VA., and Cumberland Community Based Outpatient Clinics."

10.    CRHCP Assisting Rural Vets In West Virginia.   The Wetzel (WV) Chronicle (2/5, Witschey) said Dr. Sidney B. Jackson, the director of the Community and Rural Health Care Program for the US Department of Veterans Affairs in West Virginia, "is on a mission to provide health care to more veterans in West Virginia." Since West Virginia "is a very rural state," Jackson "is passionate that veterans here need better access to VA health care. That is happening through the Community and Rural Health Care Program (CRHCP) out of the Louis A. Johnson VA Healthcare System in Clarksburg, one of only four VA facilities nationwide approved for the program."