Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-04-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. US Government Said To Have "Established A Record" Of Agent Orange Neglect.
2. VA To Exchange Records With Kaiser Permanente.
3. Therapist Says Dogs Have Helped PTSD Patients At Army Hospital.
4. Gates Asked To Review Abuse Charges Against Three Navy SEALs.
5. Where’s The Way Forward For Veterans?
6. AFGE Criticizes VA For Using Outside Contractors.
7. North Dakota AG Asked To Settle Veterans Trust Fund Dispute.
8. Senator Asked To Help Settle Dispute Between WWII Vet,
9. Homeowners’ Association.
10. One Of 50 VA Mobile Vet Centers Based In Fargo.

---

Facing Down PTSD, Vet is Now Soaring High 
"I’m free."

When Steven Kraus says that, you can hear it in his voice. He means it. He is free from 40 years of dealing with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The 62 year old Vietnam Veteran could not even fly a year ago, the claustrophobia and panic attacks were just too much.

Today, he is taking flying lessons. He also took a commercial flight to Cincinnati in November to help his father celebrate his 89th birthday. "I couldn’t let him down. We were in Vietnam together."

Although he had sought professional help numerous times over the past few decades, the dramatic change in Steven’s attitude and ability is due, in part, to the treatment he received through the Veterans Health Administration known as Prolonged Exposure Therapy.

Read the full story on VA’s Website: 

---

 

1.      US Government Said To Have "Established A Record" Of Agent Orange Neglect. In part 1 of an investigation, the Chicago Tribune (12/4, Grotto, Jones, 534K) says that in the "30 years since Agent Orange was recognized publicly as a potential health threat," the Federal "government has established a record of neglect." Veterans "seeking compensation for their illnesses face delays and a maddening bureaucracy. Adding to their frustration," the government "never has gotten to the bottom of Agent Orange’s full impact, failing to follow through on requests for large-scale studies on how defoliants may have affected veterans’ health." After noting that Eric Shinseki, secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, has "vowed to be more of an advocate for those who serve the country," the Tribune says in Vietnam, "children sing songs of the devastation caused by Agent Orange and government officials wonder how the US can avoid fully addressing the health and environmental havoc wreaked by the chemicals, even as the two nations foster stronger trade and military ties." 

2.      VA To Exchange Records With Kaiser Permanente. In continuing coverage, the American Forces Press Service (12/4, Carden) reports, "Officials with the nation’s two largest electronic medical records systems" recently "announced a pilot program" that is "designed to further enhance" veterans’ healthcare. The Department of Veterans Affairs and Kaiser Permanente "plan to exchange their records information using" the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), "developed…last year" by the Health and Human Services Department. In a "written statement," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the NHIN "will allow organizations like VA" and the Department of Defense (DoD) "to partner with private-sector" healthcare "providers to promote better…care for veterans." The AFPS adds, "Officials said the DoD will be included in the second phase of the pilot program."  

3.      Therapist Says Dogs Have Helped PTSD Patients At Army Hospital. The Augusta (GA) Chronicle (12/3, Brackett) said Cindy Rhodes, a recreational therapist at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, thought pet therapy would help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, "and she believes she was right." Sgt. 1st Class Boe, "Sgt. 1st Class Budge and 1st Sgt. Maverick, specially trained therapy dogs by America’s VetDogs, of Long Island, N.Y., arrived Sept. 29 and have become the most popular members of the therapy staff. ‘They have made a huge difference,’ said Rhodes." The Chronicle added, "Boe, Budge and Maverick are the only therapy dogs in use in Army hospitals, Rhodes said."
     Army Studying Effects Of Pairing Dogs With Troubled Vets. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/2, Gregorian, 263K) noted, "One in eight soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research." Angela Peacock "is among them," but she has G.I. Joe, a psychiatric service dog, to help her cope. Veterans Affairs "paid $6,000 for G.I. Joe." The Post-Dispatch notes that the
 Army is studying the "effects of pairing" psychiatric service dogs "with soldiers who have" PTSD, but G.I. Joe "and Peacock are not…part" of the study. 

4.      Gates Asked To Review Abuse Charges Against Three Navy SEALs. The Army Times (12/4, Fuentes, 104K) reports US Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), an Iraq veteran, "is asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into charges levied against three Navy SEALs in connection with the alleged abuse of a detainee in Iraq in early September, calling the charges an ‘overreaction.’ ‘It’s just so absurd. I mean, they split his lip. In a boxing situation, that’s legal,’" Hunter "told Navy Times during a telephone interview Thursday." Hunter "said the SEALs…should be commended for capturing" the detainee, not punished.  

5.      Where’s The Way Forward For Veterans? A Politico (12/3, 25K) op-ed by Paul Rieckhoff, "founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)."  

6.      AFGE Criticizes VA For Using Outside Contractors. In the last item for his Washington Post (12/4, 684K) "Federal Diary" column, Joe Davidson writes, "Even as the Obama administration develops an administration-wide effort to increase the federal employment of veterans, the agency responsible for their welfare is being criticized for giving their jobs to outside contractors." The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) "wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to place a moratorium on the use of contractors, who the union says now do the work veterans once did." Davidson notes that President Obama has "issued an executive order creating an interagency council and telling agencies to establish veterans employment plans," but and AFGE "statement released this week said, ‘Any plan developed by the Council should address the systemic risk to federal civilian employment of veterans posed by the expanded use of for-profit contractors.’" 

7.      North Dakota AG Asked To Settle Veterans Trust Fund Dispute. The AP (12/4) reports the Administrative Committee on Veterans Affairs, a "North Dakota veterans group," and "state Treasurer Kelly Schmidt are looking to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem for clarification on the handling of
 some money in the Veterans Post War Trust Fund." The committee "wants to use $450,000 that it considers a reserve fund for grants to help needy veterans with such items as eyeglasses, hearing aids and dentures," but Schmidt "says the $450,000 cannot legally be a separate fund." Schmidt "says she and the veterans group are…looking to Stenehjem to help settle the matter." The KFYR-TV Bismarck, ND (12/3, Tetlak) website published a similar story. 

8.      Senator Asked To Help Settle Dispute Between WWII Vet, Homeowners’ Association. The AP (12/4) says 90-year-old retired Army Col. Van T. Barfoot, one of the "nation’s oldest Medal of Honor winners," was "back in the fight Thursday, this time against a neighborhood association that wants him to take down a front-yard flagpole. Supporters, including" US Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), "have been falling in behind…Barfoot, a World War II veteran" who "put up the 21-foot flagpole in September in front of his suburban Richmond home." The "Sussex Square homeowners’ association says the flagpole violates the neighborhood’s aesthetic guidelines." On Thursday, the "association voted unanimously to ask Warner’s office to attempt to reach a compromise in the dispute."  

9.      One Of 50 VA Mobile Vet Centers Based In Fargo. The Detroit Lakes (MN) Tribune (12/3, Gerdes) reported, "To help bring" readjustment counseling "and other related services these services" to the "underserved areas of rural America, the Department of Veterans Affairs has established a new outreach program known as Mobile Vet Centers (MVCs)." There "are 50 MVCs spread throughout" the US, "including one based in Fargo that serves all of northern Minnesota as well as eastern North Dakota." 

10.    VA Operating Behavioral Health Recovery Services Annex In Kansas. The Wichita (KS) Business Journal (12/4, Moon) reports the US Department of Veterans Affairs "has opened a behavioral health recovery services annex at Parklane shopping center in southeast Wichita. The 3,500-square-foot clinic, which provides mental health and intensive case management services, opened last week and has begun seeing its first patients, says Ken Allensworth, facility planner for the Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita." The VA "already houses some administrative functions at Parklane and in August opened an eye care clinic there."