Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 5-11-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. Shinseki Says Advance Funding Calls For "Careful Planning."  
2. VA Said To Be Facing "Perfect Storm" Due To Afghan Surge, Weak Economy.  
3. CTVHCS Director Stresses VA’s Efforts To Help Returning Vets.  
4. Raytheon Looking To Hire Wounded Vets.  
5. Wife Of US Soldier Says Military Families Need Help.  
6. VA Directive: Agency Must Provide Hearing, Eye Care Services To Certain Vets.
7. West Virginia Facilities Using VA-Based Open-Source Software For Patient Records.  
8. Families Prepare For Arrival Of New Jersey National Guard.  
9. Iraq Veteran’s Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury Detailed.  
10. Hospital In Minnesota To Serve As Satellite Of VA Clinic. 

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
Viewers tuning into HBO’s “The Alzheimer’s Project” on May 11 and 12, will get to take a look inside VA’s Puget Sound laboratory research facility in the two-part segment titled “Momentum in Science.” The state-of-the-science film takes viewers inside the laboratories and clinics of 25 leading scientists and physicians including Dr. Suzanne Craft’s research at VA Puget Sound. “We are honored that the research we have conducted at the VA Puget Sound was included in this important documentary,” said Craft, Puget Sound’s lead Alzheimer’s researcher. “Our work has critical public health implications, because it addresses the question of how widespread conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and insulin resistance increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Even more importantly, our research suggests novel approaches to treating or preventing this devastating disease through development of new drugs targeting insulin pathways or through lifestyle changes.” Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most devastating forms of memory loss. The disease is irreversible brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. Today, Alzheimer’s is the second most-feared illness in America, following cancer, and may affect as many as five million Americans. “The Alzheimer’s Project” is a series of four documentary films beginning on HBO May 10.

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 1.      Shinseki Says Advance Funding Calls For "Careful Planning."   In continuing coverage, the second story in the St. George (UT) Daily Spectrum‘s (5/9) "Veterans’ Roll Call" column said, "There has been growing momentum in Congress to determine funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs one year in advance." The agency’s secretary, Eric Shinseki, however, has expressed concern about the difficulty of such an undertaking, saying "careful planning is needed to ensure timely funding without unintended consequences," because budget "projections are rarely right on the mark, and the further out they are made, the farther off the mark they are likely to be. For an advance appropriations mechanism to function effectively, it must be linked to a forecasting model that is both reliable and accurate, to the extent possible."

2.      VA Said To Be Facing "Perfect Storm" Due To Afghan Surge, Weak Economy.   McClatchy (5/10, Goldstein), in a widely distributed article titled, "Some fear perfect storm’ for VA with 2 wars, economy," reports, "From the economic crisis at home to a troop increase in Afghanistan, veterans’ advocates are warning of a ‘perfect storm’ that could flood an already beleaguered health care network for former service members. Even with the troop count in Iraq scheduled to wind down, the demands on the Department of Veterans Affairs could increase. ‘The crisis is not going away,’ said Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a nonpartisan advocacy group. ‘Everyone thinks that with bringing the troops back from the war, things (at the VA) are going to get better. They’re not.’" According to McClatchy, "The VA has treated 400,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans since 2001, but it’s often underestimated how many of those former troops would need its help. … ‘It is something we need to be watching,’ said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, a leading veterans’ advocate in Congress. ‘We don’t yet know the percentage of those who will be coming home, but we do know there will be some. There is a combination of factors that are sending a big, yellow, blinking caution light.’" McClatchy goes on to report, "Since 2001, the twin wars have stretched the VA’s capacity as it’s been called on to provide long-term treatment for the kinds of devastating physical wounds that have become signatures of modern combat, as well as a host of unseen, but no less searing, mental health traumas. Veterans’ advocates said they were concerned about the agency’s ability to handle more patients since its health system already was operating at full tilt. … Repeated attempts to seek a comment from VA officials about the impact of the troop pullout and other developments on the agency were unsuccessful."

3,      CTVHCS Director Stresses VA’s Efforts To Help Returning Vets.   The Temple (TX) Daily Telegram (5/11, Gibbs) profiles Thomas Smith, "who was appointed director for the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in April." According to Smith, who "is responsible for a health care system made up of two" hospitals, a "stand-alone clinic," and "four community-based outpatient clinics," the "VA is positioning itself…to be responsive to the many veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering from mental health problems and signature injuries, including post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury."

4.      Raytheon Looking To Hire Wounded Vets.   The Arizona Daily Star (5/10, Volante) reported, "Raytheon Missile Systems recently hired" Iraq veteran Derek Duplisea "to launch a one-year pilot program that seeks out severely wounded combat veterans and invites them to apply for work. Working closely with the Wounded Warrior programs of the Army and Air Force, the company’s initial goal is to hire five to 10 such vets by the end of this year, he said." The Star added, "At the Tucson Vet Center," counselors "commonly see returning combat veterans stressed because they haven’t landed a job. Chris Guerrero, an Army vet who was injured by a bomb in Iraq and works at the center helping others return to civilian life, said a Raytheon program that lets veterans get a foot in the door to sell themselves would certainly be of service to them."

5.      Wife Of US Soldier Says Military Families Need Help.   In a Washington Post (5/11) op-ed, Kristina Kaufmann, who is "married to an Army lieutenant colonel," writes, "As we approach eight years of war, too many" US military "families are quietly coming apart at the seams," but the "response from Army and Defense Department leaders has been haphazard, sluggish and widely ineffective." After making several suggestions for improving the situation, Kaufmann notes, "The Obama administration has said it will convene a military family advisory board. I hope it includes a broad spectrum of families — the spouses of staff sergeants, captains and lieutenant colonels."

6.      VA Directive: Agency Must Provide Hearing, Eye Care Services To Certain Vets.   The third item in the St. George (UT) Daily Spectrum‘s (5/9) "Veterans’ Roll Call" column noted, "According to VA Directive 2008-070," the Department of Veterans Affairs "must provide audiology and eye care services and hearing aids and glasses to military veterans with any compensable service-connected disability."

7.      West Virginia Facilities Using VA-Based Open-Source Software For Patient Records.   In continuing coverage, the AP (5/9, Breen) reported, "Doctors and hospitals" in the US "worry about costs as they switch over from paper patient records to electronic systems, but West Virginia’s seven state-run health care facilities have found a cost-friendly solution. Using open-source software based on the system" in Veterans Affairs hospitals, "they’re avoiding millions of dollars in licensing fees. More importantly, officials say, the system streamlines administrative processes and lets doctors and nurses spend more time working with patients and less time hunting for paperwork." The AP notes that the system being used in West Virginia is "called OpenVista, and provided by Carlsbad, Calif.-based Medsphere Systems Corp."

8.      Families Prepare For Arrival Of New Jersey National Guard.   The New York Times (5/10, LI1, Winerip) reports, "In the next few weeks, the largest overseas deployment of the New Jersey National Guard since World War II is scheduled to come home, 2,850 soldiers returning to their loved ones. As head of the family support program for the Teaneck Armory, Master Sgt. Minnie Hiller-Cousins has to make sure those loved ones are mentally prepared for those soldiers. … RETURNING soldiers will not be the only ones on edge. T he last year has been long and exhausting for the families holding down the home front, often made tougher by the national economic collapse. Although, by law, Guard members are guaranteed their jobs back, that is little solace if their employer goes out of business. National Guard members come from all walks of life, from stockroom workers at the now defunct Circuit City to stock brokers at the now defunct Bear Stearns. The unemployment rate for combat veterans ages 18 to 25 in 2008 was 14.1 percent, compared with 11.6 for nonveterans that age, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

9.      Iraq Veteran’s Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury Detailed.   The Cape Code Times (5/10, Jeffrey) reports, "Vincent Mannion, who suffered a devastating brain injury two years ago while on patrol in Iraq, has made incredible strides. … Mannion has what is called the signature war wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – a traumatic brain injury. A private first class in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, Mannion was injured one month into his tour of duty in Iraq. He recently returned to his family’s home after two years of hospitalization and rehabilitation, exceeding the expectations of those who treated him. Many of the caregivers credit his determination and his family’s fierce support as reasons for the successes. But this does not mean the war is won. Chances are this young man, who played football for Barnstable High School, who wanted a military career, to attend college, to marry and have a family of his own, will never be 100 percent independent now. He had two strokes following multiple brain surgeries. He lives with two specially-molded plastic caps forming the cranium beneath his scalp. A multitude of metal screws keep his left arm together. Shrapnel forms a small bulge beneath his lower lip. And on his left arm and shoulder scar tissue formed over what resemble shark bites, the consequences of an explosion."

10.    Hospital In Minnesota To Serve As Satellite Of VA Clinic.   The Tower (MN) Timberjay News (5/11, Klein) reports, "Area veterans may soon travel fewer miles" for healthcare because the "Cook Hospital has reached an agreement to serve as a satellite of the Hibbing-based" Veterans Affairs clinic. Cook Hospital Administrator Al Vogt "said the hospital anticipates seeing patients by the second week in June."