Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 9-10-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. During Healthcare Speech, Obama Seeks To Reassure Those Insured Through VA.  
2. Shinseki Challenges Students To Work Hard, Consider Volunteering.  
3. Disabled Vets Participating In VA-Sponsored Tournament.  
4. VA Testing Hyperbaric Chamber Treatment For TBI Sufferers.  
5. Program At VA Hospital In Oklahoma Focuses On Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.
6. Shinseki Announces Funding For Veterans Cemetery In Mississippi.  
7. Study Finds Apparent Link Between PTSD, Growing Attention Deficits In Iraq Vets.  
8. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund To Repair Part Of National Mall Lawn.  
9. Iraq War Vet Injured In Car Driven By Wrestler’s Son Released From Hospital.
10. VA Clinic Invites Vets To Welcome Home Informational Fair.

1.      During Healthcare Speech, Obama Seeks To Reassure Those Insured Through VA.   The AP (9/10) notes the "key points" of the healthcare "plan that President Barack Obama outlined in his speech Wednesday night to a joint session of Congress." According to the AP, one of those points was that those "who now are getting employer-provided coverage or are insured through Medicare, Medicaid or the Veterans Administration would not be required to change their plans or their physicians."

 2.      Shinseki Challenges Students To Work Hard, Consider Volunteering.   In continuing coverage, the American Forces Press Service (9/10, Miles) notes that on Tuesday, "Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki visited Meade High School on Fort George G. Meade, Md.," to "challenge more than 700 students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning." Shinseki, who "also encouraged the students to consider a path" of volunteerism, including at VA medical facilities, "joined President Barack Obama and other Cabinet members in reaching out to America’s youth through ‘My Education, My Future’ events." The Annapolis (MD) Capital (9/9, Kelly, 43K), which ran a similar story, said Shinseki’s appearance at Meade High School "was a preamble to the webcast of a nationwide back-to-school speech by…Obama." 

3.      Disabled Vets Participating In VA-Sponsored Tournament.   The American Forces Press Service (9/10, Miles) reports, "Jeremy LeGrand, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who returned home from combat safely only to suffer a brain injury in an off-duty car accident, is learning this week that some of the best therapy is delivered on the golf course and at the bowling alley." LeGrand "is among disabled veterans of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan participating in the National Veterans TEE Tournament," a "five-day golf-and-bowling rehabilitation program" that "kicked off Sept. 6 in Iowa City, Iowa, and continues through the weekend at venues throughout the area." All of the approximately 150 tournament participants "have visual impairments or other disabilities and receive treatment at Veterans Affairs Department medical facilities." The AFPS adds, "VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki called the event –– in which TEE refers not just to golf, but also ‘Training, Exposure, Experience’ — a big part of veterans’ rehabilitation."
      VA To Put On Clinic For Recently Injured Vets.   The last story in the syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (9/10, Fales, 74K), reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs will be putting on a clinic for recently injured veterans later this month" in San Diego, California. The VA "is bringing in professionals to teach these injured veterans how to sail, kayak, surf, cycle and enjoy other types of summer sports activities." Details "are available at the Web site: www.summersportsclinic.va.gov."
      Wheelchair Games Coordinator To Speak At Disability Resource Breakfast.   In the middle of its "North Bulletin Board" column, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (9/10, 218K) reports, "William N. Leuthold, National Veterans
Wheelchair Games Program Coordinator," Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, "will speak at a disability resource breakfast, from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. next Thursday at Volunteers of America, Working Order, 1650 Main St." in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.

5.      Program At VA Hospital In Oklahoma Focuses On Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.   Oklahoma’s Journal-Record (9/10, Wilkerson) says an office at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center "in Oklahoma City is dedicated to helping soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan." The Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Program "focuses solely on veterans who served in America’s latest wars." A "national mandate created the program in 2007 to meet the increased demand for services, especially mental health." 

6.      Shinseki Announces Funding For Veterans Cemetery In Mississippi.   The AP (9/10) reports the US Department of Veterans Affairs "has allocated $7 million for work on a veterans cemetery near Newton. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the funding Wednesday." The Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery "is scheduled to open in the spring of 2011."

 7.      Study Finds Apparent Link Between PTSD, Growing Attention Deficits In Iraq Vets.   HealthDay (9/10, Reinberg) reports, "US soldiers returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear to show growing attention deficits in the year following their return, Boston University researchers report" in the September issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. However, it is "’important to realize that the problems with attention that we saw were relatively mild,’ stressed lead researcher Jennifer J. Vasterling, chief of psychology" at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System "and a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. ‘But what they suggest is that we should be thinking about the broader picture of how people function when they return from war.’"  

8.      Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund To Repair Part Of National Mall Lawn.   The AP (9/10, Karush) reports, "Frustrated with poor maintenance" by the Federal "government, the group that built the Vietnam War memorial is aiming to improve its little corner of the National Mall by taking over lawn care for 13.5 acres marred by weeds, moss and brown spots. Officials with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund said they were moved to act after reading an Associated Press investigative story on the lack of Federal money for the mall." The AP adds, "The private Vietnam veterans group plans to spend $96,000 in the coming months to repair a broken irrigation system and provide weed treatment, fertilization, aeration and other work." The New York Times (9/10, A28, 1.06M) publishes a shortened version of this story in its "National Briefing" column.  

9.      Iraq War Vet Injured In Car Driven By Wrestler’s Son Released From Hospital.   The AP (9/10) reports 24-year-old John Graziano, an "Iraq War veteran critically injured in a street race involving" the son of former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, "has been released from a Tampa hospital two years after the car wreck." Graziano, who "left the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital with his mother Wednesday" morning, "suffered a severe brain injury after Hogan’s son, Nick Bollea (bo-lay-uh), crashed into a palm tree in Clearwater in 2007. Graziano was a passenger in the car and will need a lifetime of medical care."
      Vet’s Mother Praises Care Provided By Hospital.   In its coverage of this story, the BN9-TV Tampa, FL (9/9) website noted that Graziano’s mother was very pleased with the care provided to her son by Haley, saying the facility "is amazing. It is the best hospital imaginable. And they’ve just brought my son so far." The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (9/10, Harwell) also notes Graziano’s release from Haley. 

10.    VA Clinic Invites Vets To Welcome Home Informational Fair.   The Lehigh Acres (FL) Citizen (9/10, Cassidy) reports, "Lee County veterans of Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom are invited to a Welcome Home Informational Fair" at the Fort Myers Veterans Affairs Clinic this coming weekend. The VA "and other organizations are offering the informational fair from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 12 to educate returning veterans about available benefits and services." The Citizen adds, "The VA clinic sent more than 800 invitations to veterans, their families and friends, who recently returned to Lee County from deployment."