Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 5-8-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. VA Seeks Bigger IT Budget In Fiscal 2010.  
2. Wilson Attends Information Session On New GI Bill.  
3. Despite April Drop, US Soldier Suicides Up In 2009.  
4. Improperly Sterilized Equipment Raises Concerns At VA
5. Poor US Economy Cited As Reason For National Guard Increase.  
6. While Rehabbing At VA, Veteran Awaits Trial For Attempted Murder. 
7. American Legion Chief Argues Releasing Detainee Photos Endangers Troops.
8. Alexandria VAMC To Honor Fallen Police Officers.  
9. College Hopes To Swap Land With VA.  
10. System Allows VA To Widely Consult On Medical Cases.

1.      VA Seeks Bigger IT Budget In Fiscal 2010.   NextGov (5/8, Brewin) reports Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who "promised to use information technology to transform the department into a 21st century organization," has "requested a more than 6 percent increase in its fiscal 2010 IT budget to meet that goal." The VA "asked for $3.4 billion for IT, up $205 million from the $3.2 billion in fiscal 2009. The department wants to allocate almost a quarter of the increase, or $48 million, to develop its financial and integrated technologies enterprise project." NextGov adds, "One of the largest IT budget increases came from the Veterans Benefits Administration, which is adding a system to process claims under the GI bill." The "fiscal 2010 IT budget for the Cemetery Administration would remain flat at $7 million."
      Budget Request Includes Overall VA Funding Boost.   CQ (5/8, Johnson) reports, "In line with President Obama’s pledge to boost spending for veterans, the fiscal 2010 budget request includes a nearly 16 percent increase" for the VA, which would receive $112.8 billion, "roughly $15.1 billion more than the $97.7 billion appropriated for fiscal 2009." Key Democratic appropriators "gave an early thumbs-up to the request," even though it "did not include a request for the VA’s fiscal 2011 budget." However, US Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) and US Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), the respective chairmen of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs committees, Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, "have introduced bills (S 423, HR 1016) that would mandate advance funding for the VA." Budget documents, meanwhile, "say the administration will work with Congress to develop an advance appropriation proposal for the VA’s medical care program."
      Decision On VA Conferences Saves Government Millions.   After noting in the "Federal Eye" blog for the Washington Post (5/7) that President Barack Obama unveiled his 2010 budget Thursday, Ed O’Keefe and Steve Vogel said the "Department of Veterans Affairs has canceled or delayed 26 conferences in 2009, a savings of $17.9 million."

2.      Wilson Attends Information Session On New GI Bill.   In continuing coverage, WSPA-TV Greenville, SC (5/7, 5:38 p.m. ET) broadcast that on Thursday, Keith Wilson, a "representative from the US Department of Veterans Affairs," attended an "information session at the University Center of Greenville," where he talked "to veterans…about the details" of the new GI Bill, which "will cover the full cost of education at any public school in the country and many private schools."

3.      Despite April Drop, US Soldier Suicides Up In 2009.   The Contra Costa (CA) Times (5/8, Simerman) says, "Suicides by active-duty soldiers continued an alarming rise during the first four months of the year, although they fell off in April after a service-wide push to identify soldiers on the brink," the US Army "reported Thursday." An Army spokesman "said he was unsure if the push may have spurred a decline in confirmed and pending suicides among active-duty soldiers in April, to 7 from an average of 19 over the previous three months. Concerns over suicide also face the

Department of Veterans Affairs, which has launched its own campaign to better assess and treat potential suicides amid lawsuits and criticism of failures in treatment of returning veterans." The Times says the VA "has placed suicide prevention coordinators at each of its facilities and established a suicide hot line for veterans that…is credited with rescuing some 2,600 suicidal" vets. The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (5/8) runs the same story.

4.      Improperly Sterilized Equipment Raises Concerns At VA.   In continuing coverage, NPR’s All Things Considered (5/7) reported, "Thousands of former servicemembers may have been treated with endoscopic equipment that wasn’t properly sterilized, exposing them to the body fluids of others at three" Veterans Affairs facilities. Dr. James P. Bagian, "director of the National Center for Patient Safety at the VA," said, "It was not the scopes that there was a problem with. The tubing that was attached to the scope, in some cases, had not been processed correctly, which meant there could be a chance … that there could have been cross-contamination between patients."

5.      Poor US Economy Cited As Reason For National Guard Increase.   USA Today (5/8, Jones, Bazar) reports, "After years spent scraping for recruits," the US Army National Guard "has a surplus of soldiers nationwide" to respond to domestic emergencies "and serve combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reason for the growth may be as much pocketbook as it is patriotism," because in "this faltering economy, National Guard benefits that include monetary bonuses and tuition assistance are reeling in applicants, recruiters and recruits say."

6.      While Rehabbing At VA, Veteran Awaits Trial For Attempted Murder.   The Fresno (CA) Bee (5/6, Boyles) reported, "If the story were just about the bullets that pierced Cliff Finch’s body, it would be easy to celebrate his recovery, to marvel at how he’s gone from a hospital bed to an improvised snowboard as part of his rehabilitation" at Veterans Affairs facilities in California. But "Finch’s injuries came at the end of a police chase, and after he allegedly threatened his then-estranged wife with a gun and fired several rounds at police. Now the decorated" Vietnam veteran "and father of an Olympic snowboarder is reunited with his wife, awaiting trial for two counts of attempted murder and facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison." Finch "says he can’t remember ‘that day’ — the day in September 2007 when, authorities say, he threatened his wife, ran from the police and fired several shots at two police officers." The Bee, which says Finch can remember the people at the VA who have helped him since that day, notes that part of Finch’s "recovery was a trip to Aspen, Colo., where he worked with other disabled veterans at an adaptive ski clinic."
      The KFSN-TV Fresno, CA (5/8, Osborne) website, which notes that Finch’s family "describes a lapse into a post traumatic stress episode" as the cause of the veteran’s problems with the law, says his wife, Joanie Finch, called the staff at the Fresno VA hospital "angels of mercy." Meanwhile, Andy Finch, his son, "is still amazed" at the progress made by his father, who took part in the "winter sports clinic sponsored by the

 Disabled Veterans of America" in Aspen, Colorado, "this spring." Still, Cliff Finch "has other goals," including to "let go of the Vietnam War. The Fresno VA confirms what the family explained to us; he is receiving ongoing psychiatric care and he believes its working." KFSN added that Finch has "been diagnosed as disabled" by post-traumatic stress disorder.

7.      American Legion Chief Argues Releasing Detainee Photos Endangers Troops.   In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (5/8, A11, 2.01M), David K. Rebhein, national commander of the American Legion, writes that the Pentagon’s decided to obey the ruling from the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to "to release a ‘substantial number’ of images depicting the treatment of detainees" in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union." Rebhein asserts, "given the riots that occurred after the release of the first round of Abu Ghraib photos and the enemy’s penchant for using such images for propaganda and recruiting purposes, the Defense Department owes it to the soldiers to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to block the release of these photos." Rehbein argues that releasing the photos "is not worth the life of a single American," and "this is not so much a matter of ‘the people’s right to know’ as it is a matter of needlessly endangering the lives of our brave troops."

8.      Alexandria VAMC To Honor Fallen Police Officers.   The Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (5/8) notes that on Friday, May 15th, the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Medical Center "will honor fallen VA Police Officers during the during the 5th Annual Department of Veterans Affairs Police Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service." The service "will be conducted…at the Veterans Memorial, located directly in front of Building #2 at the Alexandria VA Medical Center. In case of inclement weather, the service will be held in Building #8, Auditorium."

9.      College Hopes To Swap Land With VA.   The Arizona Republic (5/8, Hermann) reports, "It was bleak news when the Air Force Research Laboratory on the eastern edge" of the Arizona State University (ASU) "Polytechnic campus was scheduled by the Pentagon to be closed and moved to Ohio, but now ASU" and Veterans Affairs "officials are trying to turn a big lemon into lemonade." When the "closure was planned," Federal officials gave the VA "’first right of refusal’ to the land and the building on it." ASU vice president for research Rick Shangraw commented on the situation, saying, "ASU has expressed an interest to the VA about the land and the building and without anything being final the VA has said ASU might give them land in another location on ASU Poly in exchange for the lab site." The Republic notes that Susan Bowers, director of the VA Southwest Network, also addressed the possibility of a deal, saying "it seems like we should be able to work something out."

10.    System Allows VA To Widely Consult On Medical Cases.   In its April issue, FedTech Magazine (Schwartz) said government healthcare facilities, including those operated by the Veterans Affairs Department, "rely on networked digital imaging systems that let doctors and other health services providers across the country or the world consult on a patient’s diagnosis while looking at the same images." These "picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) can give radiologists, emergency room doctors, specialists and family health professionals access to patient images, no matter the location." At the VA in particular, PACS "has allowed…sweeping consolidation," with clinicians "at all 140 medical centers" using a "VA-developed PACS called VistA Imaging," which is "fully integrated with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), an enterprisewide information network that provides a comprehensive electronic health record for each patient in the medical system."