Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-18-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Interagency Council On Veterans Employment Holds First Meeting. 
2. Studies Highlight Emotional Toll Deployments Take On US Soldiers. 
3. Teleconference Part Of Veterans Support Initiative In Minnesota.
4. Veterans Find Understanding While Working At Organic Farm In California. 
5. VA Apologizes For Prostate-Cancer Program, Denies Radiation Violations. 
6. VistA Said To Be Old, Expensive To Maintain. 
7. Incident Involving VA Noted During Story On Laptop Missing From Ft. Belvoir. 
8. Residents Worried About "Huge Rate Increase" At Wisconsin Veterans Home. 
9. Researchers Link Hockey Player’s Brain Damage To Repeated Head Trauma. 
10. Plan For VA Clinic Approved.

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DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that the Department of Veterans Affairs fields questions from Veterans 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Since 2002, VA has used the Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS) to receive questions from veterans via VA.Gov. Visitors can click on the “Contact the VA” link that appears on the VA home page to send VA a question. Inquiries are routed to the appropriate VA program office, medical center or network office, VBA Regional Office or National Cemetery Administration office either by self-selected choices on our Web site or by call center staff. IRIS is also the tool of choice for Veterans Benefits call centers that enter inquiries on behalf of veterans and others who contact VA via its national call centers. This application provides veterans and other VA Web site visitors with secure communication of electronic messages and any attendant personal data, should they voluntarily choose to provide it to VA. In 2002, IRIS had 750 internal users and received between 2000 and 3000 inquiries per month. As of December 2009, IRIS has 2,000 internal users and receives approximately 30,000 inquiries per month with the numbers continually rising. IRIS also includes a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) knowledge base that receives more than 200,000 hits as month.

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1.      Interagency Council On Veterans Employment Holds First Meeting. The Washington Post‘s (12/18) "Federal Eye" blog notes that Obama Administration "officials recently held the first meeting of the Interagency Council on Veterans Employment, the task force established by the White House to help identify" more Federal "government employment opportunities for military veterans." A picture accompanying the blog post showed "Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry" sitting together at a table. According to the photo’s caption, "Shinseki and Solis co-chair the panel while Berry serves as vice chair and chief operating officer." 

2.      Studies Highlight Emotional Toll Deployments Take On US Soldiers. The Christian Science Monitor (12/18, Jonsson, 48K) reports, "Emotional pain, depression, and angst among US soldiers seeing multiple deployments in war zones are much more common than the Pentagon has reported, a new Department of Veterans Affairs survey says. Soldiers facing multiple deployments, moreover, are at least three times more likely to anonymously report problems of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than are those with a single deployment, according to the study," which was "published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health." The Monitor notes that a separate "study of 28,000 troops released by the Pentagon on Wednesday acknowledged that 20 percent had abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, and that the number of troops experiencing PTSD has gone from 9 percent in 2005 to 13 percent in 2008."
     "Dwell Time" Linked To Improved Mental Health. Politico (12/17, Dimascio, 25K) said, "With President Barack Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan putting an even greater strain" on the US military, a "new Army study has found that soldiers deployed to Iraq have needed at least three years back at their home bases to regain their mental health. Soldiers currently spend about a year home between deployments — what the military calls dwell time." Politico adds, "The Army has been criticized for its response to the increased number of cases" of PTSD "suffered by soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a growing suicide rate." 

3.      Teleconference Part Of Veterans Support Initiative In Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio (12/18, Espinoza) notes that on Thursday, "representatives of local universities and colleges and the Minnesota Workforce Center, spoke via teleconference to 40 central Minnesota members of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division in Basra, Iraq." The teleconference "was part of a larger statewide initiative to support returning veterans and their families by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute." Minnesota Public Radio quotes Joan Vincent, a public affairs officer with the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who said veterans "know that they have trouble finding employment when they come back."
     The St. Cloud (MN) Times (12/18, Petrie) reports, "Minnesota National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq were able to hear from St. Cloud service providers during a live video link Thursday." Vincent "said organizers believe the video link is the first of its kind for providing reintegration information."
  

4.      Veterans Find Understanding While Working At Organic Farm In California. According to the AP (12/18, Adelman), "At Archi’s Acres," an "organic farm outside" San Diego, California, Iraq veteran Carlos Rivera "works with other veterans who understand his experiences." The founder of the farm, Colin Archipley, also an Iraq veteran "says urban areas often remind veterans of combat, and that the rural setting is soothing. Anthony Campinell of the Department of Veterans Affairs says the agency runs about 20 gardening programs for veterans but that Archi’s Acres is the only commercial enterprise he knows of."  

5.      VA Apologizes For Prostate-Cancer Program, Denies Radiation Violations. The Philadelphia Inquirer (12/18, Goldstein, 326K) notes that on Thursday, during a "hearing that was often pointed," the "Department of Veterans Affairs…apologized repeatedly for a prostate-cancer program that gave incorrect radiation doses to veterans for six years at its main Philadelphia hospital. At the same time," however, "officials from the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and the Veterans Health Administration mounted a vigorous defense against charges" by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission "that they had apparently violated eight regulations in the medical use of radioactive materials." NRC "officials said they were surprised by the VA’s about-face," and "demanded written testimony by Jan. 15 to back up the VA’s rationale to limit sanctions."  

6.      VistA Said To Be Old, Expensive To Maintain. Federal Computer Week (12/18, Lipowicz, 90K) reports, "The industry group examining how to modernize the legacy VistA electronic health record system at the Veterans Affairs Department is striving to uphold VistA’s strengths while rising above its weaker features, its chairman said" Thursday. Ed Meagher, "who chairs the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) VistA Project, told Federal Computer Week" that while VistA is the "best health information system in the world," it is "very old…and incredibly expensive to maintain." Federal Computer Week adds, "The VistA Policy industry group was formed in October at the request" VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker, who "wants guidance on how to refresh the architecture for VistA with the goal of possibly deploying the system more broadly to hospitals and physicians’ offices." 

7.      VA: Sevier County, Tennessee, Will Not Be Getting A Hospital. The Seymour (TN) Herald (12/18, Stevenson) reports, "Despite the desire of Tennessee Helping Hearts to have" a veterans hospital and post-traumatic stress disorder clinic in the old Fort Sanders Hospital building, Veterans Affairs "says they will not be involved in the project." But Judy Fowler-Argo, a public affairs officer with the VA, also "said…a Care Study has been conducted by the VA for the purpose of realigning health care services for veterans" and Sevier County, where the old Fort Sanders Hospital building is located, was chosen to get an outpatient PTSD clinic. Fowler-Argo "added that it is not out of the realm of possibility that the outpatient clinic would be located at the old Fort Sanders Hospital, but it is not a guarantee either."
  

8.      Residents Worried About "Huge Rate Increase" At Wisconsin Veterans Home. In continuing coverage, the Racine (WI) Journal Times (12/18, Sloth, 28K) says residents at the Veterans Home at Union Grove, a facility run by the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, "hope something can be done…to stop" a "huge rate increase" that is scheduled to take effect at the facility on January 1, 2010. The Journal Times notes that the Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Board, which sets policy for the Wisconsin VA, "is scheduled to discuss the issue of rate increases at Union Grove" during a Friday afternoon meeting in Madison. A similar report was aired by WITI-TV Milwaukee, WI (12/17, 10:08 p.m. CT). 

9.      Researchers Link Hockey Player’s Brain Damage To Repeated Head Trauma. The New York Times (12/18, B11, Schwarz, Klein, 1.09M) reports Boston University researchers have found that Reggie Fleming, a "deceased professional hockey player," had "brain damage associated with repeated head trauma, connecting hockey for the first time to health risks linked to boxers and, most recently, football players." The Times adds, "’Boxing we’ve known for a long time, football we’ve recently become aware of – now hockey,’ said Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University and the Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Center," who added, "Repetitive head injuries can have very serious long-term consequences, regardless of how you get them." 

10.    Plan For VA Clinic Approved. The Staunton (VA) News Leader (12/18, Brown, 17K) says a planned US Department of Veterans Affairs "medical clinic is one step closer to being built in Staunton. During a joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting Thursday, officials gave approval of the preliminary and final" plan for the clinic. Officials "earlier said they hope to open the clinic by the spring."