Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 1-12-10

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. VA: Suicide Rate Among Young, Male Veterans is Up.
2. Electronic Health Records Initiative Collaboration Between VA, and Kaiser.
3. Who Will Help VA Refine Software Development And Implementation Process?
4. VA Co-Funds Study On Diabetes, Prostate Cancer Surgery.
5. Stimulus Funds To Upgrade Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Unit.
6. Man Walking To Raise Awareness For Disabled Vets.
7. Commission To Consider VA Medical Center
8. VA To Open New Tele-health Clinic In Colorado.
9. Veterans Service Agency Director: VA Benefits Process Needs Streamlining.
10. Widow Claims VA Sent Her Profanity-Laced Letter.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, La., won the “Let’s Get Certified” Campaign 2009 Development Award. The Let’s Get Certified campaign, launched by the Office of Nursing Services, was designed to offer guidance, resources and encouragement to support facility efforts in increasing the number of nurses with certification in their chosen fields. Overton Brooks accepted the challenge and achieved the highest percentage of nurse certifications of any VA medical facility in the country. Cathy Rick, Chief of the Office of Nursing Service, presented the top award and a $10,000 grant, which will be used for special nursing projects at the medical center. Nursing certification is a formal recognition of the specialized knowledge, skills, and experience which promotes optimal health outcomes.

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1.      VA: Suicide Rate Among Young, Male Veterans is Up. In a story run by at least 154 news outlets, the AP (1/12, Hefling) reports, "The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who’ve left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday. The rate for these veterans went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department," whose officials "said they assume that most of the veterans in this age group served in Iraq or Afghanistan." The AP adds, "At a suicide prevention conference on Monday in Washington," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "said he’d…like to see more stringent protocol put into place at VA facilities about how to handle a potentially suicidal veteran."
        Memo Warned That Military Misconduct May Be Symptom Of PTSD. The Washington Times (1/12, Carpenter, 77K), which also notes the VA suicide figures, says that in "2007, a high-ranking Navy doctor sent a sobering warning to colleagues: The service may be discharging soldiers for misconduct when in fact they are merely displaying symptoms" of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may mean that those soldiers are being denied their rights to VA benefits. The memo recommended PTSD screenings before any military personnel face misconduct dismissal, but that "recommendation was never implemented."
     Lawmaker Says Questionnaires For Troops Back From War Zones "Simply Do Not Suffice." The New York Daily News‘ (1/12, Sisk) "Mouth of the Potomac" blog notes that US Rep. Michael McMahon (D-NY), "a co-founder of the Congressional Invisible Wounds Caucus, said the VA and the Pentagon should provide the staff and funding for the psychological screening of all troops returning from combat zones. ‘Evidently, the paper questionnaires currently in use simply do not suffice,’ McMahon said," adding, "How many more young men and women must die before we provide the necessary mental health care?"
     VA Staff Conduct Post Deployment Health Reassessments. In continuing coverage, the WJAC-TV Johnstown, PA (1/12) website reports, "After three months at home, members of the 56th Stryker brigade received help from the Veterans Affairs" hospital "staff in Altoona this weekend" during a "Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA) event. PDHRA is a program mandated by the assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs in March 2005." It is "designed to identify and address health concerns, with specific emphasis on mental health, that have emerged over time since deployment."

     Campaign Seeks To Remove Shame From PTSD. The third item in the CNN (1/11, Kernis) website’s "Intriguing people" column profiles Staff Sgt. Megan Krause, a US Army medic who served in Afghanistan and Iraq "and then, while pursuing a degree at Penn State, had nightmares and flashbacks." Krause is now "part of the ‘Real Warrior’ campaign," the goal of which is to "remove the shame from post-traumatic stress disorder," or PTSD.
     An editorial in the Spokane (WA) Spokesman Review (1/12) says the US military "is…reassessing its mandatory post-deployment survey, which had a poor record of predicting likely candidates of post-traumatic stress disorder because the definition was too constrained. Whether this increased sensitivity pays off remains to be seen," but the latest data on suicides "confirm that substantial changes were called for and that the issue requires persistent attention."
     City Council To Consider Loans For Purchase Of Veterans Complex. The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune (1/12, LaPlante) reports, "A surge in veterans struggling with substance abuse or in need of psychiatric care has forced another important service — transitional housing – off" the VA medical center "campus in east Salt Lake City. And given just months to secure housing for dozens of otherwise homeless veterans who were being pushed out of the Valor House transitional living complex," the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City "could have jumped a bit fast" at "an opportunity to buy a 110-unit motel on the city’s west side." So, on Tuesday, the Salt Lake City Council "will consider an application from the nonprofit for $519,000 in no-interest loans to help in the purchase" of the motel, "now known as ‘Freedom Landing.’"  

2.      Electronic Health Records Initiative Collaboration Between VA, and Kaiser. In continuing coverage, the San Diego (CA) Business Journal (1/12, Chambers) reports, "A new electronic health records initiative between Kaiser Permanente" and the US Department of Veterans Affairs "will allow physicians to share information about a patient’s allergies, medications and medical condition for the first time without delay. The new program," which is "being tested in San Diego, highlights a move toward interoperability of health information between government-run systems and private providers." The Business Journal adds, "The Defense Department…will also join the program later this year, VA officials said."  

3.      Who Will Help VA Refine Software Development And Implementation Process? Washington Technology (1/12, Welch, 40K) reports, "Alion Science and Technology Corp. will help the Veterans Affairs Department refine its process for software development and implementation under a $4.7 million contract. Under the contract, Alion will assist the VA’s Office of Health Administration to establish checkpoints for early identification and validation of critical business requirements and throughout the software
 development life cycle, company officials said" on Monday. Washington Technology adds, "Alion also will assess the continuing effectiveness of software products once they are deployed, the officials said."  

4.      VA Co-Funds Study On Diabetes, Prostate Cancer Surgery. Science Daily (1/12) reports, "Obese white men who have both diabetes and prostate cancer have significantly worse outcomes following radical prostatectomy than do men without diabetes who undergo the same procedure, according to research from Duke University Medical Center appearing in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention." The study "was supported by grants" from several organizations, including the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

5.      Stimulus Funds To Upgrade Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Unit. The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal (1/12, Green) says that thanks to Federal stimulus dollars, Fort Campbell’s Warrior Transition Unit "is about to get a $43million upgrade" that will bring all the unit’s services together into one barracks on the "sprawling Army base " The Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Campbell is "one of 38 such units the Army established beginning in 2007 after revelations that soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center" in Washington, DC, "were receiving substandard outpatient care."  

6.      Man Walking To Raise Awareness For Disabled Vets. On its website, WSAW-TV Wausau, WI (1/11) said Vietnam veteran Richard Hunsucker, a resident of Green Bay, Wisconsin, "is walking through several states…to raise awareness for disabled veterans." Hunsucker "started his trek in Jacksonville, Florida on Veterans Day." The veteran, who "won’t stop until he reaches" San Diego, California, "hopes to wrap up by Memorial Day."  

7.      Commission To Consider VA Medical Center. The Middletown (OH) Journal (1/12, Gauthier). 

8.      VA To Open New Tele-health Clinic In Colorado. The AP (1/12) reports a new primary care tele-health veterans clinic in Salida, Colorado, "will formally open on Friday." The facility, the "first of 10 new tele-health clinics the VA plans," will "use videoconferencing equipment to allow veterans to communicate with doctors" at a Veterans Affairs "outpatient clinic in Pueblo." 
  

9.      Veterans Service Agency Director: VA Benefits Process Needs Streamlining. During an interview with the Troy (NY) Record (1/11, Donohue), Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency Director Robert Mitchell stated that while there are "good people working" at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is "never going to get through" its benefits "backlog if they don’t streamline" their process

10.    Widow Claims VA Sent Her Profanity-Laced Letter. On its website, WAKA-TV Montgomery, AL (1/11) reported, "A veteran’s widow says she received a letter from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs office in Montgomery that was littered with profanity and called her a list of graphic names." Bessie Krone of Montgomery "received the three-page letter after a year-long battle over some unpaid claims with the department." After noting that the VA Montgomery regional office says Krone’s case is under investigation, WAKA added, "Krone says she has written to Pres. Obama but hasn’t received a response from the White House."