Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 5-5-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. VA Sponsoring Celebration For Vets In Nebraska.  
2. Special Homes Being Constructed For Disabled Vets.  
3. Kemp A Sammies Finalist.  
4. World War II Veteran Recalls Liberation Of Death Camp.  
5. War Hero Sentenced To Prison For Child-Porn Possession.
6. Memorials To Be Held For Robley Rex.  
7. 159 years After His Death, Flint-Area Revolutionary War Vet Gets His Due
8. Problems Continue For New GI Bill Website.  
9. East Texans To Get New Veterans Home.  
10. Delirium Said To Rapidly Accelerate Decline In Alzheimer’s Patients.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
National Research Week Is Here!
Turning Hope Into Reality: Spinal Cord Injury Research at the VA — VA has the country’s largest single network for the care of spinal cord injury (SCI). VA’s research program leads the field in defining new methods of treatment and rehabilitation for Veterans with SCI, and information from VA studies ultimately can be extrapolated to help all those with spinal cord injury—all told, about 250,000 Americans. “We believe that the goal of a cure for spinal cord injury is now a realistic objective,” says Stephen Waxman, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research (CNRR) at the West Haven VA Medical Center in Connecticut and 2009 VA Middleton awardee—one of the highest awards in the VA Research program. At VA medical centers around the country, researchers are studying diverse aspects of SCI and its effects on patients’ lives. As example, researchers are studying ways to restore function and treat chronic pain after spinal cord injury. Using state-of-the-art technology, they analyze molecules associated with SCI (as well as multiple sclerosis). A vocational rehabilitation project focuses on helping Veterans get, and keep, satisfying jobs. Researchers are also studying treatments for, and causes of, SCI-associated pain, and are looking at various rehabilitation techniques that can improve the mobility of patients with spinal cord injury. Research Week is a time set aside to honor the researchers and Veterans that make SCI and other important research possible. For information on participating in VA Research Week events in your area, please visit http://www.research.va.gov/researchweek.

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1.      VA Sponsoring Celebration For Vets In Nebraska.   The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star (5/5) reports, "Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are invited to attend a ‘Welcome Home’ celebration May 16 at Mahoney State Park" in Nebraska. The Veterans Affairs Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System’s "Returning Veterans Outreach Team is sponsoring the day to thank veterans for serving in combat. The event also recognizes the sacrifices families make back home."

2.      Special Homes Being Constructed For Disabled Vets.   The AP (5/5, Ring) reports, "Carpenters are donating their time, electricians have offered to do the wiring and concrete contractors have chipped in to build a foundation on what will become a handicapped accessible apartment for 21-year-old" Afghanistan veteran Andrew Parker. There "have been car washes, a spaghetti dinner, bottle drives and poker tournaments." Meanwhile, a "service group has donated a used handicapped accessible van," and "an architect designed, for free, the whole project to the specifications of the Department of Veterans Affairs." Finally, a website "has been set up to raise money and spread the word." The AP adds that Greg Barnes, the veteran’s father, "said he and his wife were happy with treatment Parker has been getting from the VA."
      On its website, KHOU-TV Houston, TX (5/4) reported, "A Purple Heart recipient will soon have a new home thanks to HelpingaHero.org." On Monday, "crews broke ground on the site" of Iraq veteran Casey Owens’ "new home located in the Aliana Community in Fort Bend County." Since Casey is "a double amputee," his "home will be fully wheelchair accessible." Meredith Iler, the national chairman of the "HelpingaHero.org Home Program," commented on the news, saying, "We count it an honor to help this precious hero begin a new life…where his ability to live independently will be maximized."

3.      Kemp A Sammies Finalist.   In his "Federal Diary" column for the Washington Post (5/5), Joe Davidson notes, "This week is Public Service Recognition Week, a time to honor workers at all levels of government." One "of the highlights" of the week "will be a Capitol Hill ceremony…in which 30 finalists for the Service to America Medals, or Sammies, will be honored." According to Davidson, one of those finalists is Janet Kemp, the national director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ suicide prevention program.

4.      World War II Veteran Recalls Liberation Of Death Camp.   The Gadsden (AL) Times (5/5, Smothers).

5.      War Hero Sentenced To Prison For Child-Porn Possession.   The San Diego Union-Tribune (5/5, Moran).

6.      Memorials To Be Held For Robley Rex.   In continuing coverage, the WHAS-TV Louisville, KY (5/4) website said the Okolona VFW will hold a memorial Wednesday at 6 p.m. "for 107-year-old veteran, Robley Rex," who "died just days before his 108th birthday. Rex was an advocate for veterans’ rights for more than 80 years and logged thousands of volunteer hours" at the Louisville Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Rex’s "family has requested a private funeral" at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. And, in an obituary, the Minneapolis Star Tribune (5/5, Harlow) obituary says another memorial service for Rex "will be held in September at the VFW’s national convention in Indianapolis."

7.      159 years After His Death, Flint-Area Revolutionary War Vet Gets His Due.   The Flint (MI) Journal (5/5, Harris).

8.      Problems Continue For New GI Bill Website.   In continuing coverage, NextGov (5/5, Brewin) reports, "An online benefits application" website "that the Veterans Affairs Department launched on May 1 continued to encounter problems on Monday after coming to a near halt on Friday." The VA "created the Veterans OnLine Application (Vonapp) site in response" to the new GI Bill, or Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, but the "site either timed out or responded slowly on May 1, the first day post-9/11 veterans could file for the rich package of educational benefits." And on Monday, "Vonapp continued to frustrate veterans trying to file benefit applications, with the site prominently displaying a message warning users they could experience problems uploading attachments to their online applications." The VA "did not respond to a query" from NextGov "by deadline on what caused the problems on

Friday, or what it is doing to resolve the problems in attaching documents to an online application."
      In a related blog, Bow Brewin says in NextGov’s (5/4) "What’s Brewin’" that the "Veterans Benefit Administration has a mess of tech problems on its hands with the near collapse of its Veterans OnLine Application and an inability to handle documents that vets have to attach to their applications." The VBA "was supposed to complete testing on Monday of a key piece of a new front end tool to speed up processing of post-911 GI Bill claims today, according to an internal memo that made its way here to ‘What’s central’ in Las Vegas, N.M." Brewin added, "I have a query into VA on the test, but I am afraid it will join a long list of queries I have submitted to the department since February."
      Duckworth Touts Opportunities Presented By New Education Benefits.   Without mentioning any of the problems noted in the above stories, the Dublin (GA) Courier Herald (5/5) says the VA has announced that veterans "can begin submitting applications on-line for the Post-9/11 GI Bill," which gives "military members and veterans access to education packages. ‘There is no better investment than education,’ said Tammy Duckworth," the VA’s "assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs. ‘The Post- 9/11 GI Bill will provide new opportunities that are essential to our Veterans, our workforce and our economy.’"

9.      East Texans To Get New Veterans Home.   In continuing coverage, the KLTV-TV Tyler, TX (5/4, Lane) website said a veterans home that "will be built right off Highway 155" will bring "skilled nursing care, rehabilitation," and "even Alzheimer’s services to east Texas. Right now, veterans still have to hit the highway for that kind of health care." Dr. Kirk Calhoun, president of the University of Texas Health Science Center, which donated the land for the facility, "said he is anxious to see it open in late 2011." Calhoun also "said it is being funded" in part by $12 million from the Federal government.

10.    Delirium Said To Rapidly Accelerate Decline In Alzheimer’s Patients.   Science Daily (5/5) reports, "Delirium often develops in elderly patients during hospitalization or serious illness, and this acute state of confusion and agitation has long been suspected of having ties to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Now a study" funded in part by a Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Career Development Award, "confirms that an episode of delirium rapidly accelerates cognitive decline and memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients." The "findings are reported in the May 5 issue of the journal Neurology."
      Vitamin E Seen As Potentially Capable Of Slowing Alzheimer’s Disease.   In a related story, Reuters (5/5, Rauscher) says according to research led by several organizations, including the Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Massachusetts, vitamin E, and drugs that decrease inflammation, may over the long term slow down the physical and mental decline of people with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings were recently reported at the American Geriatrics Society’s annual meeting, held in Chicago.