Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 2-26-09

1. Hearing Stresses Need To Improve Situation For Vets.  
2. VA Accepting Claims From Filipino Vets. 
3. Efforts Being Made To Slow Development At Montrose.  
4. Dorn VAMC Researchers Conducting Combat Stress Treatment Study.  
5. Recovering Iraq Vet Returns Home To Minnesota.  
6. Committee Members Thanked For Honoring Vets In New Jersey.  
7. Proposed New York Budget Cuts Said To Mean Trouble For Homeless Vets.  
8. War Widows Press Congress On Death Benefit Compensation.  
9. VA Dietician Warns Consumers Not To Consume Too Much Sugar
10. Grand Junction VAMC Forced To Put Up Note Explaining Obama Portrait’s Absence.

---

HAVE YOU HEARD?
The National Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention (NCP) and Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) are partnering to promote the health benefits of physical activity. They are challenging VA staff and the veterans they serve to get physical this year with the 2009 Champions’ Challenge. The challenge will formally launch March 29 at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colo. It is based on the new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans . The goal is for participants to complete 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity for eight out of 12 weeks of the challenge. Prizes will be given to participants who complete certain milestones. Those who complete the Champions’ Challenge will be eligible for entry into a national prize drawing sponsored by VCS. Online registration begins March 29, 2009, at www.move.va.gov/challenge.asp. VCS is also partnering with General Mills and Paralyzed Veterans of America to salute twelve gold medal winners of the 2008 National Veterans Wheelchair Games. During the “Challenge”, the twelve athletes will be honored at their local VA Medical Centers. Their photos will appear on boxes of Cheerios sold in military exchanges and the VCS retail stores around the country. 

---

 1.      Hearing Stresses Need To Improve Situation For Vets.   The Army Times (2/26, Kennedy) reports, "After several standing ovations from at least 300 Disabled American Veterans," one "could almost assume everyone was reading from the same page at a joint hearing" of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs "committees Feb. 24. And, at least rhetorically, they were – specifically the page that says," among other things, "eliminate the backlog of 400,000 benefits claims" and "get the Veterans Affairs Department budget done on time. ‘The only question is whether our government has the will to live up to our nation’s veterans,’ said Raymond Dempsey, national commander of Disabled American Veterans." Dempsey, who "praised new VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and President Barack Obama for saying they would like to reform the budget process so that it is…on time every" year, "said VA’s benefits delivery system can be reformed only if the…VA employees get better training."

2.      VA Accepting Claims From Filipino Vets.   In continuing coverage, the Kauai (HI) Garden Island News (2/25) reported, "Kaua’i-born Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki recently announced a new benefit for Filipino Veterans who aided American troops in World War II – a cash payment authorized through the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a VA news release states. Claims are now being accepted from Filipino veterans eligible for one-time payments of $9,000" for non-US citizens "and $15,000 for Filipino veterans" with US citizenship. The VA and the "Embassy of the United States in Manila have announced locations in the Philippines where veterans can apply immediately. The list has been posted at manila.usembassy.gov."

3.      Efforts Being Made To Slow Development At Montrose.   The Westchester (NY) Journal News (2/26, Marchant) reports, "Town leaders and local veterans are turning to grass-roots activism and personal lobbying to slow down or block plans for residential development at the…Montrose campus" of the Veterans Affairs Hudson Valley Healthcare System. For example, William Nazario, a local veterans leader, "spent a week on Capitol Hill this month, speaking to congressional representatives and staffers, trying to gain political support to stop long-term plans to build private housing at the 184-acre…campus." Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi, "meanwhile, organized an effort to send 300 letters from residents and veterans in opposition to the VA’s plan to build private housing at the site and transfer medical and support services from Montrose to other VA sites. Puglisi is also calling for a one-year moratorium on the development process under the new leadership of the secretary of Veterans Affairs, Gen. Eric Shinseki." Laurie Tranter, a VA spokeswoman, "had no immediate comment this week," but VA representatives have in the past emphasized the benefits offered by their plan.

4.      Dorn VAMC Researchers Conducting Combat Stress Treatment Study.   In the middle of its "Almanac" column, South Carolina’s The State (2/26) says Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center researchers "are conducting a study of new treatments for combat veterans suffering from stress, anxiety, disturbed sleep, nightmares and other problems. The five-week study" which involves no drugs, "will include psychiatric interviews and questionnaires," and eligible "participants will be compensated."
      Mental Health Clinic Opens At Bagram Air Base In Afghanistan.   Stars And Stripes (2/26) reports, "A mental health clinic has opened at Bagram Air Base that is modeled after a program successfully used in Iraq, officials say." The Bagram Freedom Restoration Center, located in Afghanistan, "houses servicemembers for several days during a structured program." They are "offered some creature comforts – including hot meals, showers and a good night’s sleep – and taught techniques for coping with the stresses they face, officials said." The clinic, "which replicates the Freedom Restoration Center at Baghdad, opened Feb. 1."

5.      Recovering Iraq Vet Returns Home To Minnesota.   The Duluth (MN) News Tribune (2/25, Stahl) said Iraq veteran John Souza "came home to Duluth on Tuesday morning for the first time since" he was badly injured by an explosion last year in Iraq. When he arrived, Souza "was greeted by family, friends, the Patriot Guard and the Duluth Color Guard." But it "will be a short trip home for Souza, who will be in Duluth for two weeks before returning" to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, "for more care. In a few months, he said, he will go before a review board to determine whether he’s fit to return to duty." But, whenever Souza is ultimately "discharged from the military and able to live in Duluth with his family," he "wants to help groups identify needs that aren’t being met in the local veterans community."

6.      Committee Members Thanked For Honoring Vets In New Jersey.   At the end of a story on recent actions taken by the Marlboro Township Council, New Jersey’s News Transcript (2/26) notes Councilman Jeff Cantor recently "thanked members of the Marlboro Veterans and Volunteers Committee," who "participated in a national salute to hospitalized veterans" at the Lyons Veterans Affairs Hospital in Somerset County. The "committee members spent two days visiting Iraqi war veterans" and handing "out Valentine’s Day cards from local students thanking the veterans for their service."
      Teacher Praises Students For Visiting Vets At Martinsburg VAMC.   In a related letter to the editor of the Cumberland (MD) Times-News (2/25), teacher Stephanie Willetts says she has "the privilege of advising the eighth grade SHOP Group (Students Helping Other People)" at Braddock Middle School. According to Willetts, the group "planned and completed a visit during National Hospitalized Veterans Week, Feb. 8-14, to our hospitalized veterans" in the Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Center. They "created a banner, delivered homemade Valentines, donated the book, Work and Wait, one of the oral history books written and edited by the students of Allegany High School, to the VA Center’s community room, and they sang songs of encouragement to the men and women living there."

7.      Proposed New York Budget Cuts Said To Mean Trouble For Homeless Vets.   Newsday (2/25, Evans) reported, "Leaders of a network of shelters for…homeless veterans" in Suffolk, New York, "say they would have to close if forced to bear a proportional share of budget cuts proposed" by New York Gov. David A. Paterson. Suffolk County United Veterans, "whose eight shelters provide housing and counseling services to 60 homeless veterans per day on a budget of $400,000 per year, say such a cut would carve about $96,000 from their annual spending. ‘Those funds are our life support,’ said Wilkens Young, the organization’s director." Advocates "of the shelters say cuts to homeless services would place an undue burden on troubled veterans just as war in Iraq and Afghanistan is increasing their numbers.

8.      War Widows Press Congress On Death Benefit Compensation.   Roll Call (2/26, McSherry) says over a dozen members of the war-widow organization Gold Star Wives of America "spent Wednesday lobbying Congress to demand increased spousal benefits." The women "spoke in support of legislation…that will allow widows to fully collect both from" the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) "offered by the Department of Defense. Currently, widows or widowers whose spouses died of service-related causes receive money from the SBP – a military version of life insurance – that their spouses paid into during their lifetime." But if those spouses also begin collecting the DIC benefit, they "will face a corresponding cut" in their SBP payment.

      Recent Increases In Military Benefits Said To Be Inequitable.   In response to a letter from a reader, the syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (2/26, Fales), says, "Recent legislative changes have increased the military benefits available to dependents of service members who died on active duty. These changes have been especially directed to service members who died as a direct result of combat training or while stationed in a war zone." But if a service member were to die of something like cancer, his or her dependents would not benefit from the changes, so "I urge Congress to review and hopefully remedy this gross inequity."

9.    VA Dietician Warns Consumers Not To Consume Too Much Sugar.   In a story on the health risks posed by taking in too much sugar, the University Daily Kansan (2/26, Miyakawa) says, "Don’t let sugar control your life. Whether it’s high-fructose corn syrup or other sugar, awareness and moderation are the keys to good health, says Marty Glenn," Kansas University "lecturer in nutrition and dietician" at the Leavenworth Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Some "people choose honey, maple syrup and brown sugar over high-fructose corn syrup. However, Glenn says they all contain higher calories and hardly any nutritious value." Glenn "says counting your sugar consumption and limiting it to 20 to 30 grams a day keeps your body healthy."

10.    Grand Junction VAMC Forced To Put Up Note Explaining Obama Portrait’s Absence.   The Grand Junction (CO) Daily Sentinel (2/25, Standish) said the Grand Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center "was getting so many questions from patients about the lack of a presidential portrait, ordinarily displayed in the hospital’s entrance way, that it has put up a sign explaining portraits of Barack Obama are in the process of being printed" in Washington, DC. Hospital spokesman Paul Sweeney, who noted that some people "are upset" about the portrait’s absence, stressed that his facility is not "slighting" the President.