Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 4-27-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. "Strong" Leadership Team Said To Have Been Assembled At VA.  
2. Linkage Of Veterans And Extremist Groups Decried.  
3. Swine Flu Hits At Least 11 In US As WHO Warns Of "Pandemic Potential."  
4. VA Doctor Urges People Not To Worry Intensely About Swine Flu Outbreak.  
5. VA Launches Website For Returning Vets.  
6. VA Clinic Receives Low Marks In Survey 
7. Movie Combines 3-D Technology With Fictional Story Of Disabled Soldier.  
8. Grand Opening Held At Nebraska VA Clinic.  
9. Treatment At Columbus VA Clinic Critiqued.  
10. VA Facilities In St. Louis To Receive Stimulus Funds.

1.      “Strong" Leadership Team Said To Have Been Assembled At VA.   In continuing coverage, an editorial in the Honolulu (HI) Advertiser (4/25) noted that last Wednesday, the US Senate "confirmed former Hawai’i resident and decorated Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth to the post of assistant secretary for the Veterans Affairs Department," where she "joins Hawai’i-born retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, recently named" VA secretary. The Advertiser concluded, "With this strong team at the helm, veterans can expect to get the respect, benefits and advocacy they so richly deserve."

2.      Linkage Of Veterans And Extremist Groups Decried.   Bruce Rider of Grapevine, TX, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times (4/26, WK11), writes, "I remain disconcerted by Charles M. Blow’s April 18 column, ‘The Enemies Within,’ describing the likely participation of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in white supremacist groups. To focus on a very small number (a few hundred out of 300,000 veterans who exhibit symptoms of ‘post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression’) is to do a disservice to all. Certainly, the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to respond rapidly and thoroughly to the physical and emotional wounds of those returned from war, but Mr. Blow’s hypothesis and cited studies reinforce a stereotype we faced returning from Vietnam, that war veterans are somehow ‘armed and dangerous’ and should be feared. I have to say, with the myriad ‘adjustments’ I faced those years ago (depression, Agent Orange poisoning, legal blindness, divorce), I never considered joining anything like the groups described by Mr. Blow. We faced isolation, panic, sleeplessness – and decadeslong battles with the Veterans Administration regarding health care and compensation – but we tended to stay away from group participation of any kind."

3.      Swine Flu Hits At Least 11 In US As WHO Warns Of "Pandemic Potential."   The AP (4/26, Dobnik) reports, "Two cases of the human swine influenza have been confirmed in Kansas and one more in California, bringing the U.S. total to 11. At least eight students at a New York City high school probably have swine flu also, but health officials said Saturday they don’t know whether they have the same strain of the virus that has killed people in Mexico." A strain of the flu "has killed as many as 81 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico, where authorities have extended school closures in the capital and two neighboring states with outbreaks. The World Health Organization chief said Saturday the strain has ‘pandemic potential’ and it may be too late to contain a sudden outbreak."

4.      VA Doctor Urges People Not To Worry Intensely About Swine Flu Outbreak.   The Omaha (NE) World-Herald (4/25, Ruggles) reported, "A swine flu outbreak in Mexico is worrisome for the Midwest, but there’s little that can be done here at the moment and no reason to panic, area infectious disease physicians said Friday." Dr. Marvin Bittner, acting chief of infectious disease at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Omaha, "said people should monitor the situation but not worry intensely."

5.      VA Launches Website For Returning Vets.   In continuing coverage, George W. Reilly notes in his "Veterans’ Journal" column for the Providence (RI) Journal (4/27) that the Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a website, "www.oefoif.va.gov, to welcome home" Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. In "a related move, the proposed VA budget for the next fiscal year will provide more post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury services." The "proposed VA budget will also invest in better" VA technology; "provide greater benefits to veterans who are medically retired from service;" aid homeless vets; "ensure the timely adoption of new, comprehensive education benefits that veterans earn through their military service; and fund a pilot program for not-for-profit groups" to aid vets "at risk of losing their homes."

6.      VA Clinic Receives Low Marks In Survey.   The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (4/27, Phillips) reports, "Veterans don’t appear to enjoy their time at the main Veterans Affairs medical clinic in Columbus," because the "Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center scored 46.5 percent on overall quality in the most recent survey of patient health-care experiences." But with a new survey in use, scores "across the country" have fallen, "said Dr. Joseph Francis, the deputy chief quality and performance

officer" for the US VA. Still, "no matter the percentages, central Ohio veterans complain about the care they receive, especially at the Wiley Center," which "moved…in November, about the midpoint of the survey period. Most veterans who have visited the new facility say they appreciate it," but they "still say they aren’t getting the treatment they deserve."

7.      Movie Combines 3-D Technology With Fictional Story Of Disabled Soldier.   In a story about the making of "’Avatar,’ a science-fiction thriller filmed" with" director James Cameron’s "own specially devised 3-D technology," the New York Times (4/25, Cieply) noted that the film "tells the story of a disabled soldier who uses technology to inhabit an alien body on a distant planet." Dr. Mario Mendez, a behavioral neurologist, "said it is entirely possible that Mr. Cameron’s work could tap brain systems that are undisturbed by conventional 2-D movies. One, he said, is a kind of inner" global-positioning system (GPS) "that orients a person to the surrounding world. ‘Three-D demonstrably creates a space that triggers this GPS; it’s really very stimulating,’ Dr. Mendez said." Mendez "added that he had used virtual-reality therapy in working with soldiers at the Veterans Administration hospital in Los Angeles – and found himself jarred by his experience with a ‘virtual Iraq’ simulation."

8.      Grand Opening Held At Nebraska VA Clinic.   KPTM-TV (4/26) reports, "Accessing healthcare just a got a little bit easier for veterans. Bellevue’s new Community-Based Outpatient Clinic officially held it’s grand opening today. A ribbon cutting was held Saturday afternoon, followed by an open house and tour to showcase the clinic’s services. The clinic will offer electronic medical records and Tele-Health services that will allow patients to access physicians electronically from Omaha’s VA Hospital. VA officials say Bellevue is a good locaton for the clinic because it’s close to Offutt Air Force Base, where there are an approximated 4,000 veterans in the area."

9.      Treatment At Columbus VA Clinic Critiqued.   In a letter to the editor of the Mansfield News Journal (4/26) John C. Davidson of Mount Vernon writes, "What is going on at the VA Clinic in Columbus, I ask. I drive down there last November wanting answers to some questions regarding my treatment. The next thing I know, I am rushed by ambulance to Riverside Hospital and spent two days being tested with the best equipment money can buy. When it came to who was going to pay for my treatment, I was flabbergasted and ended up driving home. A week later, I get a letter asking me to return for more tests and then was sent a bottle of aspirin. But that’s it. Well, I decided to try the Mansfield VA Clinic and behold, these people actually cared. Within a week, they scheduled me to see a physician. I explained my situation to the doctor. He examined me and gave me an EKG test. Then he scheduled blood work the next week, not in two months like the Newark clinic did. So far so good, but I am over 70, so I expect the worst."

10.    VA Facilities In St. Louis To Receive Stimulus Funds.   In continuing coverage, the St. Louis Business Journal (4/25, Mueller) said, "St. Louis’ veterans hospitals are due to receive a $10 million shot in the arm, thanks to funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Missouri Veterans Home of St. Louis and the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery also are in line" for Federal stimulus funds "totaling more than $2 million. ‘It’s exciting,’ said Keith Repko, chief engineer for the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center," which "plans to finance five projects with its stimulus funds. The largest, accounting for more than $4 million of the $10 million it is receiving, will be the renovation of the outpatient clinics at the John Cochran Hospital."