Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-30-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. VA Named One Of Best Employers For Older Workers.
2. VA Taking Steps To Prevent Suicide.
3. VA Uncertain About Dogs Providing Assistance To Disabled Vets.
4. State Of New York To Open Benefits Counseling Office At VA Clinic.
5. Massachusetts Lawmaker To Discuss Veterans Benefits.
6. Oregon County Sees Thousands Of Veterans Battling Post-Traumatic Stress.
7. Veterans Face Battle Over Building VA Hospital In South Texas.
8. VA To Co-Host Event For Veterans In Georgia.
9. VA Plans Expansion Of Hospital In Biloxi.
10. Veterans At California VA Hospital To Receive Wrapped Shoeboxes.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
The Institute of Medicine’s landmark report on patient safety, “To Err is Human,” was published 10 years ago this month. The estimate of lives lost annually in the United States due to factors related to patient safety exceeds those lost due to motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS, as the study shows. To mark the tenth anniversary of the report, the director and each member of the VA National Center for Patient Safety staff would like to thank all VISN Patient Safety Officers and facility Patient Safety Managers for their superb efforts. What they have been able to accomplish would not have been possible without the support of VA leadership and VHA employees at all levels. Together, we at VA are working to change the course of patient care by moving away from the culture of name and blame to a culture of safety, based upon prevention, not punishment. By taking a systems-approach to problem solving, VHA is focusing on why unfortunate sequences of events cause an adverse incident to occur, not on error or blame. We’re working to reduce harm to patients and set the example on patient safety standards across the nation. That’s right — VA is leading the nation in the advancement of patient safety!

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1.      VA Named One Of Best Employers For Older Workers. The lead story in Ron Seman’s syndicated "Veteran’s Beat" column, appearing in the Tallmadge (OH) Express (11/29), reported, "The health care network operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs has been named as one of the best employers this year for workers over 50 by the American Association of Retired Persons. ‘Quality care is what drives VA and is our primary mission,’ said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki," who commented on the news. According to Seman, Shinseki added, "VA is proud to be recognized as a top employer for the most experienced employees."  

2.      VA Taking Steps To Prevent Suicide. The Canandaigua (NY) Daily Messenger (11/29, Sherwood) said, "As the suicide rate rises among" the US military, "so do calls to the national" Veterans Affairs "suicide prevention hotline based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center. The hotline — which has fielded 118,984 calls so far this year, resulting in the rescue of 3,709 veterans — is also doing more in the community to address the mental health needs of veterans, said" Lynn Abaied, "a VA suicide prevention coordinator. During the past few years, one of the biggest changes the VA has made is working more with mental health professionals in the private sector, said…Abaied, suicide prevention coordinator for the Canandaigua VA Medical Center and the VA’s Rochester outpatient clinic. ‘We are partnering with the community,’ she said."
     Troubled, Homeless Vets A Focus For VA Hospitals In Louisiana, California. The Shreveport (LA) Times (11/30) reports, "To meet both the medical and psychological challenges of military veterans," the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center "is in the midst of expanding and renovating the Day Surgery Unit and Heart Catheterization Lab, and is constructing additional facilities to increase medical and psychiatric services." Dr. Dean Robinson, the hospital’s "chief of Mental Health Service," said the "VA has been more aggressive in their outreach to veterans throughout the community concerning the mental health services available to veterans, and has made significant progress towards reducing the stigma that mental health care has endured in the past." The Times notes Robinson went on to say that "engaging" with Iraq and Afghanistan "veterans has a high priority in the VA system," including at Overton Brooks, which is also aggressively reaching out to homeless vets.
     According to the San Francisco Chronicle (11/29, C1, Fagan, 318K), "Estimates…contend that about one-third of the 1.8 million men and women who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan have suffered" from post-traumatic stress disorder, while about "17 percent have experienced brain injuries ranging from mild to severe." Judi Cheary, spokeswoman for the VA medical center in San Francisco, said, "we’ve increased staff, created a bunch of new programs and are actively doing outreach for these young vets to come to us, but unfortunately most of them don’t." The Chronicle added, "Nationally, the Veterans Affairs Department held a summit in Washington earlier this month at which organizations from around the country pledged to try to house the nation’s homeless veterans — estimated to number 131,000 on any given night — within
 five years." The VA "runs several programs for homeless and struggling vets, including a one-stop integrated-care clinic at its medical center in San Francisco."
         Legion Planning To Outline Internet Outreach Project During Summit. The Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader (11/30, Martin) reports, "In an effort aimed at saving lives, a group of American Legion members are turning to Facebook, Twitter and other methods to reach soldiers and veterans at risk of suicide." And at a "mental health summit which opens Tuesday in Pierre, the North Dakota American Legion hopes to share its new program, ‘Courage Carries On,’ with South Dakota mental health providers and veterans’ groups." The Argus Leader adds, "The US Department of Veterans Affairs has reliable numbers regarding PTSD treatment, but not suicides among VA patients, said VA spokeswoman Jo Schuda. One reason: Suicides occurring outside VA facilities often are unknown by the agency, she said." 

3.      VA Uncertain About Dogs Providing Assistance To Disabled Vets. CQ Weekly (11//30, Young) reports, "The idea seems so heartwarming: Provide badly wounded military veterans with highly trained dogs to help them cope with disability," and "have the government help with the cost of training the dogs. Congress authorized such a program eight years ago, and this year Senate appropriators showed some annoyance that it had not ever gotten off the ground: They told the Department of Veterans Affairs…to allocate no less than $15 million for the effort." Congress also "included in its defense authorization law for this year a pilot program to provide service dogs to about 200 disabled veterans, with the government paying $10,000 a dog for training." But the VA, "which is supposed to make these programs happen, is not so sure it wants to do so," because based "on research so far," it "has concluded the dogs haven’t proven their effectiveness" in assisting disabled vets.  

4.      State Of New York To Open Benefits Counseling Office At VA Clinic. New York’s Niagara Gazette (11/30) reports, "New York state’s Division of Veterans’ Affairs is opening a Veteran’s Benefits Counseling Office at the VA’s Community Based Outpatient Center at 2201 Pine Ave." Accredited "state veteran counselor Arthur Lawson will be on hand to both advise, and advocate for, veterans and their families on all aspects" of Federal "and state veteran’s benefits, programs and services. ‘This partnership demonstrates a shared commitment to helping veterans and their families by offering local access to the professional counseling services available through our agency,’ said James D McDonough Jr., director of the New York state Division of Veterans’ Affairs."
  

5.      Massachusetts Lawmaker To Discuss Veterans Benefits. The Salem (MA) News (11/30, Leighton, 26K) reports, "One of the state’s top veterans affairs officials is scheduled to visit" Beverly, Massachusetts, "this week to talk to military veterans about their benefits." State Rep. Harold Naughton, a veteran who currently serves as "chairman of the Legislative Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, will speak and answer questions on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Beverly Senior Center, 90 Colon St." 

6.      Oregon County Sees Thousands Of Veterans Battling Post-Traumatic Stress. Oregon’s Coos Bay World (11/29, Walsh) reports, "Coos County has an estimated population of about 8,500 veterans, meaning roughly 3,400 would suffer from PTSD based on the calculation." An estimate by the U.S. Department of Defense found that "40 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have some level of the mental illness." Many of the veterans never learn to cope with the disease.  

7.      Veterans Face Battle Over Building VA Hospital In South Texas. The Brownsville Herald (11/29, Martinez) of Texas reports, "Treto Garza and other Rio Grande Valley veterans have fought in tough battles." But, "one of the hardest-fought battles they’ve had is here in the homeland – getting a veterans hospital built in South Texas." Now, "valley veterans claimed a victory earlier this month after Texas voters passed Proposition No. 8, which calls for the construction of a veterans hospital in South Texas" which is "big because it will allow Texas to work with the federal government to construct and staff a full-fledged hospital for Valley veterans." While, "the veterans claim to be ‘halfway there’…they have not yet been able to secure its establishment." The veterans "hope that with the proposition’s passage and the help of Valley congressmen they can get the attention of federal officials in the nation’s capital, said Garza, 65, of Harlingen."  

8.      VA To Co-Host Event For Veterans In Georgia. The fourth item in Thomas L. Day’s "Military Notebook" column for the Macon (GA) Telegraph (11/30) reports, "The Georgia Department of Veterans Service" and the US Department of Veterans Affairs "will be hosting a veterans’ benefits service and information session at the Georgia National Guard Armory in Griffin on Dec. 10." A "number of organizations that provide benefits" to veterans, "including the VA," will "have representatives at the event." 

9.      VA Plans Expansion Of Hospital In Biloxi. Mississippi’s Biloxi Sun Herald (11/29, Melton, 41K) reports, "The nondescript entrance to the Biloxi Veterans Administration campus belies a hubbub of activity hidden from view of the casual passerby on Pass Road." However, there are currently "six massive construction projects" which "will more than double the size of the veterans hospital, which was built along the Back Bay in the 1930s."
  

10.    Veterans At California VA Hospital To Receive Wrapped Shoeboxes. Utah’s Deseret Morning News (11/29) reports, "A little bit of Christmas will come on Dec. 12 for about 200 veterans at the VA hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and several dozen in the Cabrillo Rehabilitation Center in San Pedro, Calif." The "items for the wrapped shoeboxes come from the Santa Margarita California Stake in conjunction with the American Legion’s Saddleback Valley Post No. 862, said Dannee Clyne, with the Santa Margarita California Stake’s public affairs." Cub scouts from pack 623 will "help deliver the boxes."