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

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. California Vets Relieved To See New GI Bill’s Wording Problem Fixed.  
2. Head Of Utah VA Says Shinseki Will Be Invited To Vets Home Dedication.  
3. VA Palo Alto Funding Stand Down In California.  
4. City Officials In Eugene, Oregon, Back Downtown Location For VA Clinic.  
5. Iraqi Officials Express Swine Flu Concerns Regarding US Military Personnel.  
6. Investigation Finds Suicide Figures Reported By Spokane VAMC Were Too Low.  
7. Special Donation Made To Grand Junction VAMC Craft Room.
8. US Hospitals Slow To Adopt Technology Meant To Decrease Common Errors.  
9. VAIHCS On "Cutting Edge" Of Elder Care.  
10. VA Officials To Visit The CNMI.  

     1.      California Vets Relieved To See New GI Bill’s Wording Problem Fixed.   In continuing coverage, the Riverside (CA) Press Enterprise (8/10, Riley) reports, "Veterans at California’s private colleges breathed a sigh of relief last week when they learned that they would be able to take advantage" of the Post 9 /11 GI Bill "after all. The bill doubles tuition assistance for veterans," but "until earlier in the week, a wording problem in the bill would have prevented about 7,000 veterans at private colleges and universities from receiving the benefits they were entitled to." The Press Enterprise notes that J.P. Tremblay, deputy secretary for the California VA, said, "We were talking two different languages there at the beginning, but now we’re speaking the same language."
      Paper Pleased To See VA "Beat A Hasty Retreat" On Legislation’s Original Language.   In an editorial, the Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat (8/10) also notes the language change, saying it is "pleased to report" that the VA "beat a hasty retreat in the face of pressure from veterans groups, members of Congress, including Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger" and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "jointly announced a new policy offering California vets attending private schools benefits based on the fees charged by public universities. ‘This solution will allow all veterans who want to attend a California school the same benefits as any other veteran across the nation,’ Shinseki said."
     

2.      Head Of Utah VA Says Shinseki Will Be Invited To Vets Home Dedication.   In an editorial, the Ogden (UT) Standard-Examiner (8/10) says November 19th, when a veterans nursing home in Ogden is scheduled to be dedicated, "will be a wonderful day, the culmination of a tough, successful struggle to provide our veterans with the dignity they earned defending our nation. According to Terry Schow, director of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs," Eric K. Shinseki, secretary of the US VA, "will be invited to the dedication ceremonies."

3.      VA Palo Alto Funding Stand Down In California.   The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (8/9, Nord) reported, "The California Veterans Affairs office will host" a three-day "stand down for homeless veterans in the county at the Boulder Creek Scout Reservation on the weekend of Sept. 19." During the event, "one of several hundred stand downs occurring nationwide," homeless veterans will be able to "receive services such as food, clothing, health screenings and job search help." The "stand down in Boulder Creek will operate from funding by Veterans Affairs health care system in Palo Alto with donations from the Goodwill in San Jose." The Mercury News added that according to Kate Severin, the outreach coordinator for the VA office in Palo Alto,

"the majority that attend the stand downs are veterans of the Vietnam War but the organizers will tailor services to meet the needs for vets of the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq."

4.      City Officials In Eugene, Oregon, Back Downtown Location For VA Clinic.   The Eugene (OR) Register-Guard (8/9, Russo, 67K) reported, "PeaceHealth is hoping to bring a new" Veterans Affairs "medical clinic to downtown Eugene, a move backed by city leaders interested in pumping activity into the heart of the city." As "part of its nationwide effort to provide medical and mental health services for the growing numbers of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the VA wants to find a new, larger home in Eugene-Springfield. City leaders are hoping the VA moves to a property ripe for redevelopment: the PeaceHealth Medical Group building on Willamette Street." The VA "could begin seeking proposals from developers for medical space in the next 30 to 60 days, said Sharon Carlson, executive assistant to the director of the VA Roseburg Healthcare System."

5.      Iraqi Officials Express Swine Flu Concerns Regarding US Military Personnel.   The New York Times (8/9, Nordland, 1.06M) reports, "Iraqi officials expressed concern on Sunday that more than 100 American soldiers in Iraq may be infected with swine flu, fearing they could spread the disease in the country." According to the US military, swine flu has been diagnosed "in 51 American troops in Iraq," while 71 others were suspected of carrying the virus. Members of Parliament "have expressed alarm that United States troops could be introducing the disease into Iraq, particularly among members of the Iraqi military with whom they patrol." Bassim Sharif, spokesman for the Health and Environment Committee in Parliament, "said United States soldiers were ‘coming from America without any screening,’" and also expressed concern that allowing service members time back home was increases the possibility of infection. However, "the United States military said it conducts its own screening of service members before they enter Iraq, and that once in Iraq those who develop flu symptoms are put in isolation for seven days."
      The AP (8/10) reports, "All the 51" US "troops diagnosed with the flu have fully recovered, while the 71 suspect cases are in isolation, said Col. Michael D. Eisenhauer, the chief of clinical operations in Iraq." The United States "has previously said it would report any cases of the virus to the Iraqi government under an agreement between the two countries." Reuters (8/9, al-Salhy) reports that Iraq’s Health Ministry confirmed the country’s first H1N1 influenza death on Sunday.

6.      Investigation Finds Suicide Figures Reported By Spokane VAMC Were Too Low.   The Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review (8/10, Graman) reports, "The number of Spokane-area veterans who killed themselves in a one-year period is far greater than the Spokane Veteran Affairs Medical Center knew at the time, a VA investigation has found. The VA’s Office of Medical Investigations discovered that from July 2007 through the first week of July 2008, at least 22 veterans" in the Spokane VAMC "service area killed themselves, and 15 of them had contact" with the hospital. The Spokane VAMC "had previously reported nine suicides and 34 attempted suicides in that time period." After noting that the report said the "methods and sources routinely being utilized by the medical center to identify veterans who have committed suicide may be inadequate," the Spokesman-Review adds, "The suicides came amid

heightened concern for the mental health of soldiers and veterans nationally. In response, VA facilities have strengthened protocols for identifying patients at risk of suicide."
      Mental Health Study Developing Intensive Surveys For US Soldiers.   The Washington Post (8/10, A11, Vogel, 652K) reports, "Doctors leading the largest study ever of suicide and mental health among military personnel are developing intensive soldier surveys that they hope will provide clues as to why suicide rates among" US Army "personnel have grown dramatically in recent years." The "five-year, $50 million study," a "collaboration between the National Institute of Mental Health and the Army, will seek data from every soldier recruited into the Army over the next three years as well as from about 90,000 soldiers already in the service." The "surveys are expected to begin early next year."
      Art Workshops Offered To Troubled Vets.   The AP (8/10, Bynum), meanwhile, notes that a "three-day…workshop" was conducted in Savannah, Georgia, last week by the "Combat Paper Project, a Vermont-based collective of combat vets who became artists after leaving the military." The collective "has spent the past year holding coast-to-coast workshops aimed at teaching former service members to help themselves by recycling fatigues into artwork." The group’s founder, Drew Cameron, "saw it as a way reach out to other Iraq veterans haunted by memories of friends slain in battle and men they had killed, wounded physically and psychologically by bomb and mortar explosions, and struggling to direct their own lives after years of being told what to do by the military."

7.      Special Donation Made To Grand Junction VAMC Craft Room.   The Grand Junction (CO) Free Press (8/10, Sweeney, 15K) reports, "Normally, volunteer staff" in the Grand Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center "craft room hand out leather working kits, model cars and other basic projects, but recently they got to give out something special due to a donation by former Marine Stanley Elliott and his wife, Plymouth. ‘They donated 50 pieces, more than a $1,000 with everything included, of buckeye burl already drilled out to be used as clock kits,’" said "Lisa Smith, of Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV), the organization that sponsors the craft room. ‘We were absolutely thrilled to receive these for our veterans because it was something unique for them to do. You can’t just go out and buy these.’"

8.      US Hospitals Slow To Adopt Technology Meant To Decrease Common Errors.   The San Francisco Chronicle (8/10, Finley, 351K) reports, "A recent survey suggests that only 17 percent" of US hospitals "use the electronic prescription pad, more formally known as the ‘computerized provider order entry’ system, or CPOE. Other surveys have found even fewer hospitals use" hand-held bar code scanners, which were also "designed to prevent errors where they commonly occur in a hospital — on the doctor’s prescription pad and during the nurse’s medication rounds." Cost "is a major factor," but "experts say hospitals have had other reasons to drag their feet." For example, "there’s debate in the profession about whether the new systems do more harm than good. When Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh launched its computerized provider order entry system in 2001, the death rate actually rose for five months," and critics "blamed poorly designed software." However, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the "largest health care system" in the US, "leads the country in the use of computerized provider order entry and bar coding." And while the VA "system is roiled by other problems and scandals, patient safety groups praise the VA for its efforts to

reduce errors, including such regimens as the presurgery time-out to verify the patient’s identity."

9.      VAIHCS On "Cutting Edge" Of Elder Care.   The Danville (IL) Commercial-News (8/9, Wicoff) said, "A government agency is on the cutting edge when it comes to providing care for elders. The Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System is moving ahead with plans to construct two houses that will give veterans a home-like atmosphere." The Commercial-News, which noted that the "local facility is the first VA, as well as the first organization in Illinois, to adopt the Green House model," said the "project is a radically new approach to long-term care where nursing homes are replaced with small, home-like environments. Michael E. Hamilton, director of Illiana System, is excited" about the project, saying that he and his organization "believe this transformation of care will dramatically enrich our veterans’ lives and the lives of the next generation of veterans."

10.    VA Officials To Visit The CNMI.   The Saipan Tribune (8/10, Rodriguez) reports, "Officials from the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs will be visiting the CNMI including Saipan, Rota, and Tinian, this week to discuss benefits relating to the outreach program." Danielle Gualtieri, the" VA’s public contact and outreach specialist for Guam and the CNMI," will "be here from Aug. 10-14. Also from" the Federal VA "office will be Ray Chang to discuss the home loan and adaptive housing program on Aug. 12. The two officials will also be entertaining questions and assist the veterans about their claims." Ruth Coleman, "Military Veterans Affairs Office executive officer, also announced that the Federal government has already hired an officer for the VA clinic for the CNMI, Dr. Kendall Gladdening." Coleman "said that the VA clinic will be opened by the end of this year."