Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-20-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. Durbin Amendment Would Establish Pilot Recruiting Program.
2. Sestak Proposes Increased Housing Assistance For Veterans.
3. In Unanimous Vote, Senate Passes Omnibus Veterans Bill.
4. GAO: Post-Deployment Questionnaires Missing.
5. VA Hospital Found To Have Committed Multiple Cancer Treatment Errors.
6. Dorn VAMC To Open New Clinic.
7. Loma Linda VA To Host Event For Women Veterans.
8. VA Hospital To Cut Ribbon On New Palliative Care Unit.
9. Following Contract Dispute, VA Clinic In New York To Move.
10. Planners Looking To Increase Burial Space At Chattanooga National Cemetery.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?

VA’s Rehabilitation Research and Development Service recently recertified the Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) in Pittsburgh as the VA Center of Excellence for Wheelchairs and Associated Rehabilitation Engineering. HERL’s research and development focuses on the design, development, evaluation, and clinical application of new technologies to improve the mobility of veterans. HERL first became a VA Center of Excellence in 1999 concentrating on wheelchairs and related technology. In 2005, HERL broadened its research focus to include not just wheelchairs, but other types of assistive technologies for veterans and all people with disabilities. VA’s 14 Centers of Excellence attract the brightest minds from academia, industry, and medicine into VA to research and find solutions to the needs of veterans. To learn more about HERL and VA’s other Centers of Excellence, visit www.rehab.research.va.gov/cent/centers.htm.

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1.      Durbin Amendment Would Establish Pilot Recruiting Program. In continuing coverage, the Southern Illinoisan (11/20, Hale) reports, "New legislation penned" by US Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) "is intended to make recruiting better doctors and other medical personnel to Veterans Affairs hospitals," such as the one in "Marion, easier. Durbin’s plan, which comes on the heels of meetings with both VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and officials at the Marion VA last week, would establish a pilot program within the department that offers incentives to professionals willing to come to VA centers in rural and under-served areas of the country." The "legislation is an amendment to the 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill and was approved" by the US Senate "on Tuesday night." The bill "will now move to the conference committee in the Senate."
     Tester’s National Cemetery Provision Also Part Of Military Construction-VA Spending Bill. The AP (11/20) reports the Yellowstone County Veterans Cemetery "is being pushed as a potential national cemetery to be maintained" by the Federal government. US Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) "says he got a provision included in an appropriations bill requiring the government to study building a national cemetery in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, or eastern Washington." Tester "says the cemetery in Laurel would be one of the sites considered. There is currently no national cemetery in the region."
     The Laurel (MT) Outlook (11/19) said Tester’s provision was "included…in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act." The lawmaker , who serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, "said, ‘Being laid to rest in a national cemetery is something all eligible veterans are entitled to — no matter what part of the country they call home.’"
     Funding For New Canandaigua VA Facilities Also Included In Senate, House Versions Of Legislation. The Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle (11/19, Goodman) said the Senate’s Military Construction-VA spending bill, a version of which had already been approved by the House, "would provide $36.9 million for new facilities planned by the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Senate bill would amount to the first flow of funds for a new 120-bed nursing home for vets and a 50-bed residential rehabilitation unit" on the VA "grounds. These facilities are the key components of local" VA "construction plans, which have a price tag of $370 million. A similar amount of start-up funding is in a House bill approved in July. A final version of the legislation is expected to be signed into law by January, said Max Young, spokesman" for US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY). 

2.      Sestak Proposes Increased Housing Assistance For Veterans. The Muhlenberg (PA) Weekly (11/20, Pearson) reports, "US Senate candidate, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) announced legislation to increase commitment to help struggling veterans secure housing." The lawmaker’s "bill provides greater assistance for veterans in need of the HUD-VASH (Housing and Urban Development and Vetarans Affairs’ Supported Housing) Program." Sestak’s "latest effort to assist veterans without shelter complements Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki’s plan announced this month to eradicate homelessness among veterans within five years. This news hits close to the College community home as Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
continues this week."
     VA, Local Agencies Hold Stand Down In Alabama. The WALA-TV Mobile, AL (11/19) website reported, "Years after fighting for this country, some veterans are still in a battle. They are homeless, and fighting for survival on the streets," but on Thursday, "many of them got a break and a boost to help change their lives" when the Department of Veterans Affairs, "along with several other local" agencies, "held a Stand Down." The "need" for such events, at which "homeless veterans get a reprieve from life on the streets," is "significant. ‘About 40 percent of homeless people in America are veterans," said the VA’s Kelly Estle.  

3.      In Unanimous Vote, Senate Passes Omnibus Veterans Bill. In continuing coverage, the AP (11/20) reports, "The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation that would provide monthly stipends and medical benefits to family members who stay home to care for severely injured" Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The bill, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates "would cost nearly $4 billion over the first five years," also "includes travel expenses and training for the caregivers, improved health services for women veterans and rural areas, and nearly $1 billion for veterans medical facilities." Although the "bill had bipartisan support," US Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), "held it up for weeks trying to persuade senators to pay for the new spending by making cuts in other programs." Coburn, however, "ultimately supported the bill."
     CQ (11/20, Nylen, Scholtes) says the Senate "voted, 98-0, to pass" the omnibus "measure (S 1963) after rejecting a Coburn amendment that would have offset the cost of the bill," which "would expand services in rural areas and ensure that veterans who are catastrophically disabled or who need emergency care in the community are not charged for those services."
     The Helena (MT) Independent Record (11/20, Kidston) reports, "A bill written" by US Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) "passed the Senate on a unanimous vote Thursday, keeping what he described as America’s promises to its veterans, particularly those living in rural America. The Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, introduced by Tester" in March, "must be combined with a similar bill passed by the House before being sent to President Barack Obama for his signature. As written, the bill authorizes" the VA "to work with local mental health centers to provide care to veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars." The legislation, which "also provides financial assistance to families who care for critically injured" vets, "passed the Senate on a 98-0 vote." The Missoulian (11/20) runs the same story. 

4.      GAO: Post-Deployment Questionnaires Missing. The AP (11/20, Hefling) reports, "Congressional investigators said Thursday that tens of thousands of questionnaires aimed at measuring the mental and physical health of returning combat troops can’t be found. As a result, the Government Accountability Office said, the military does not have reasonable assurances that the service members got the opportunity to report their health problems on the forms," which "also give returning soldiers a chance to say if they’d like to see a counselor." After noting that military "leaders told the GAO that it agreed that more controls should be used to ensure greater accountability" with the forms, the AP says the President "recently signed legislation that included a provision" which "requires a face-to-face screening for every service member who returns
from war."
     Military Attempting To Understand PTSD Triggers. According to another AP (11/20, Chang) story, a "military experiment," funded in part by Veterans Affairs, is trying "to predict who’s most at risk" for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is "thought to affect as many as one in five" Iraq and Afghanistan vets. The experiment involves select units "undergoing a battery of physical and mental tests before deployment," including "genetic testing, brain imaging and stress exams. They are followed in war zones and upon return." The AP says understanding "underlying triggers might help reduce the burden of those who return psychologically wounded — if they can get early help."
     DeBakey VAMC Opens Two New Mental Health Units. The Houston Business Journal (11/20) reports the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center "has opened two new mental health units for returning combat troops and for women veterans. One of the inpatient units focuses on the unique needs of the newest group of returning troops — those who have served" in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Business Journal adds, "Challenges facing these service members are stressors that have been identified and studied in veterans of previous wars, according to the center. In response, the VA has developed programs for treating chronic mental health problems, including" PTSD, "anger management, substance abuse and depressive disturbances."
     By Talking About Living With PTSD, Veteran Hopes He Can Help Others. The current issue of Time (11/20, McGirk) interviews 48-year-old veteran Mark Waddell and his wife, Marshéle Carter Waddell, who discuss the difficulties of living with PTSD. After noting that Waddell "reached his breaking point" in 2005, when he "had the agonizing task of sorting through the remains" of soldiers killed in a Chinook helicopter that had been shot down during a rescue mission in Afghanistan, Time says Waddell "agreed to talk" about his troubles "in an effort to sound the alarm for what has become a broader problem: the vast number of men and women returning from punishing stretches in Iraq and Afghanistan bearing the psychological scars of war. ‘By speaking out,’ says Waddell, ‘maybe it will help someone’s son or daughter in the forces.’" Time adds, "Antonette Zeiss, deputy chief of mental-health services for Veterans Affairs says, ‘Anyone who works with PTSD clients and hears their stories will be profoundly affected.’"
     Brewin Notes Congressional Efforts To Treat TBI, PTSD. Bob Brewin said in his "What’s Brewin’" blog for NextGov (11/19) that the figure of "419,000 vets form the Afghanistan and Iraq wars…staggers the mind, especially when you consider that this is 61 percent above the number the Veterans Affairs Department treated in its 153 hospitals and more than 1,110 outpatient clinics in 2008, according to the report on the Senate version of the VA fiscal 2010 appropriations bill passed on Tuesday. The Senate appropriated $2.1 billion in the current fiscal year to VA for veterans" healthcare "and emphasized that this funding includes treatment for invisible wounds such as traumatic brain injury" and PTSD. To "manage this huge increase in patient load, the Senate adopted a floor amendment to the VA bill directing the department to conduct a study on how to improve its information technology infrastructure to deliver services to veterans using telehealth systems. The House," meanwhile, "in its version of the bill, directed VA to set up a 24/7 call center staffed by combat veterans to help provide PTSD treatment. Sometimes, as I have learned, combat stress problems can be handled by one vet talking to another."

     California State Senators Urge People To Help Build Up Vets Database. In an op-ed for California’s Humboldt Beacon (11/20), Senators Jeff Denham (R-Merced) and Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), chair and vice chair, respectively, of the California Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, write, "Although we have the know-how to make sure we do not lose a significant portion" of Iraq and Afghanistan "veterans to PTSD and other war-related issues, we do not have a way to connect with them to get them services they desperately need and truly deserve." But, the senators add, the California Department of Veterans Affairs "recently created a database to connect and communicate with California veterans." The agency’s "goal is to have at least 30,000 of the over two million California veterans added to the database" by this coming spring. This "is a huge undertaking and we are asking for your help to reach and connect our veterans. If you have a daughter, son, brother, sister, parent, or any family member who has worn the uniform, help us help them get registered" with the California VA.  

5.      VA Hospital Found To Have Committed Multiple Cancer Treatment Errors. In continuing coverage, Government Executive (11/20, Peters) reports the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "on Nov. 17 found the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center in violation of multiple regulations regarding the surgical placement of radiation seeds in the treatment of prostate cancer patients. The findings resulted from a special inspection NRC conducted" at the facility "after a physicist there determined a prostate cancer patient had received an incorrect radiation dose in May 2008. That discovery triggered multiple investigations by NRC and VA, which ultimately identified 98 medical errors out of 116 treatments for 114 veterans at the Philadelphia center between 2002 and 2008." NRC "is considering a range of enforcement actions against" the medical center, "from a notice of violations to thousands of dollars in fines. Regulators are scheduled to meet with VA officials" in December "to discuss the issue further." On a more positive note, Government Executive adds, "Dr. Ronald Goans, the medical consultant NRC hired to examine the records and health outcomes of prostate cancer patients treated" at the center, "praised" its staff for efforts made to address the treatment problems. 

6.      Dorn VAMC To Open New Clinic. The AP (11/20) notes that on Monday, the Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center will open a "new outpatient clinic for veterans in South Carolina’s Upstate." On Thursday, officials with the VA "in Columbia said…the new clinic in Spartanburg is larger and allows for expanded services." The WSPA-TV Greenville, SC (11/19) website published a similar story. 

7.      Loma Linda VA To Host Event For Women Veterans. The second item in the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise‘s (11/19, Straehley) "In Brief" column said the Veterans Affairs Loma Linda Healthcare System "will host a Salute to Women Veterans event from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Santos Manuel Student Union, Cal State San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway. State Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod will be the guest speaker" at the
"free event," which "will highlight federal and state benefits for women veterans. Lunch will be served at noon." 

8.      VA Hospital To Cut Ribbon On New Palliative Care Unit. The Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (11/19) reported, "The public is invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday to celebrate the new palliative care unit, Patriots’ Path," at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Pineville. The "mission of the VA’s Hospice and Palliative Care initiative is to ‘honor a veteran’s preferences for care at the end of life,’ according to a…news release" from the hospital. The "keynote speaker for Friday’s event will be Dr. David W. Bass, Geriatrics and Extended Care manager for Veterans Integrated Service Network 16."  

9.      Following Contract Dispute, VA Clinic In New York To Move. The Watertown (NY) Daily Times (11/20, Richards) reports, "The Jefferson County Veterans Affairs Clinic soon will move from Carthage Area Hospital to the CANI building, at 19472 Route 11 in Watertown, Gordon Sclar, a spokesman for the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said Wednesday. Valor Healthcare Inc. will operate the new clinic in Watertown, he said." In a press release, "Carthage Area Hospital announced…that it will close its VA clinic as of Feb. 15, apparently in response to proposed changes the hospital deemed unacceptable in its contract with the Syracuse VA Medical Center, which also runs area outpatient clinics." Sclar "said that VA and Valor Healthcare officials would hold a press conference Friday morning at the Dulles State Office Building in Watertown, where more details would be provided. Valor Healthcare operates 15 similar outpatient VA clinics throughout the country, according to the company’s" website.
     New Clinic Operator Said To Have "Had Its Share Of Criticism." On its website, WWNY-TV Watertown, NY (11/19) said it "has taken a closer look at Valor Healthcare, the Washington, D.C.-based company that will be taking over the VA clinic from Carthage Area Hospital and relocating it to Watertown, and has found problems with its record" of operating clinics in Texas and Pennsylvania. But, while Valor Healthcare "has had its share of criticism," it "has also been praised. Its clinic in Dunkirk, New York," is "rated the highest in its area."
     Mayor Upset About Loss Of Clinic. A similar but separate story on the WWNY (11/19) website said West Carthage Mayor Scott Burto "is speaking out about Wednesday’s shocking news that the VA clinic will be moved out of the village." Burto "says the community invested money to house the VA clinic in a converted grocery store and he doesn’t like that the VA is just going to pull out of West Carthage. Now, he’s contacting leaders like Congressman Bill Owens to see if anything can be done."   

10.    Planners Looking To Increase Burial Space At Chattanooga National Cemetery. The AP (11/20) reports, "Planners at Chattanooga National Cemetery are looking at ways to find more burial space for veterans." Paul Martin, the cemetery’s director, "met Wednesday with US Department of

Veterans Affairs representatives to plan for the addition of thousands of new crypts to the 120-acre property. The Chattanooga Tiimes Free Press reported that they also discussed installing a columbarium — a wall that houses cremated remains identified by an engraved plaque. Just two of Tennessee’s five national cemeteries" are "open for new burials."