Top 10 Veterans News From Around the Country

* Find out What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans *

1. Shinseki: Workers Being Moved Back To New GI Bill Helpline.
2. Shinseki Tours Chillicothe VAMC, Meets With Local Vets.
3. Shinseki, Rockefeller Meet With Veterans In West Virginia.
4. VA Planning To Examine Hospital In Illinois For Future Use.
5. Veterans Attributing Health Problems To Burn Pits In Iraq, Afghanistan.
6. Wisconsin VA Planning Special Event For Vietnam Vets.
7. VA Contract Allows Company To Retain Staff.
8. Military Retirees Volunteering To Go Back On Active Duty.
9. Seattle VAMC Testing New Prosthetic Foot.
10. Brain Injured Vets Seeking Care At VA Hospital In Texas.

Have You Heard

VA Grant Supports Facility for Homeless Female Vets, Children

Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth recently spoke about women Veterans “who have touched her life” at a ground-breaking for “Operation Home Front,” a facility for homeless women veterans and their children in Cocoa , Fla. Learn more

1.      Shinseki: Workers Being Moved Back To New GI Bill Helpline.The AP (2/18, Hefling) reports, “Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with questions about the new Post-9/11 GI Bill will again be able to get help by phone five days a week starting Thursday.” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who “made the announcement in an interview while traveling to a meeting with veterans” in West Virginia, “says that GI Bill helpline employees have been tapped since December to help process a backlog in education claims. With claims being processed more efficiently now, Shinseki says those workers are being moved back to the helpline.”

2.      Shinseki Tours Chillicothe VAMC, Meets With Local Vets. In continuing coverage, the WBEX-AM Chillicothe, OH (2/17) website noted that US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki “was in Chillicothe Wednesday, touring” the Chillicothe VA Medical Center “and meeting with local vets.” Congressman Zack Space, who hosted the event, “says Shinseki toured the facility to view progress” on hospital projects funded by the Recovery Act. WBEX noted that while in Ohio, Shinseki “also met with and participated in a local veteran’s round-table discussion” at Ohio University-Chillicothe.
The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (2/18, Phillips) reports, “During a visit to Chillicothe” on Wednesday, Shinseki “listened to veterans’ concerns about disability benefits and other issues and outlined some of the steps he is taking to address those concerns. ‘Reducing the backlog (of disability benefits applications) is my primary focus for this year,’ said…Shinseki during a roundtable discussion at Ohio University’s Chillicothe campus.” The Dispatch adds, “Shinseki’s visit to Chillicothe…was the first ever” by a VA secretary.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer (2/18, Eaton, 304K) also notes Shinseki’s visit to Chillicothe, although only briefly, as part of a larger story on Obama Administration officials and US politicians noting the “one-year anniversary of the date President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law.”

3.      Shinseki, Rockefeller Meet With Veterans In West Virginia.The Charleston (WV) Gazette (2/18, Clevenger, 44K) reports, “It was just another group therapy session for a handful of veterans at the Charleston Vet Center on Wednesday, except that this meeting had two unusual guests: a cabinet secretary” and a US senator. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and US Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) “met with a small group of veterans and listened to those Rockefeller described as members of ‘a community of pain, and a community of pride.’ The meeting is a part of a larger effort by the VA to reach more veterans and provide better, more specific services to the 8 million Americans who have served in the military, Shinseki said.” WOWK-TV Charleston, WV (2/17, 6:01 p.m. ET) also aired a report on this story.

VA Gulf War Task Force Soon To Release Report. The Charleston (WV) Daily Mail (2/18, Gavin) reports the US VA “is taking an in-depth look at concerns facing veterans of the Gulf War, almost 20 years after the conflict ended. A small group of Gulf War veterans from the Charleston area had a chance Wednesday to sit down” with Sen. Rockefeller and Shinseki in a roundtable discussion on Wednesday. The Daily Mail notes that the US VA “compiled a Gulf War task force in September to study the specific issues facing veterans from that era,” and the task force’s report “is due out in a couple of weeks.” WSAZ-TV Charleston, WV (2/17, 11:41 p.m. ET) aired a similar report.

4.      VA Planning To Examine Hospital In Illinois For Future Use.The Batavia (IL) Sun (2/18, Okon) reports, “The US Department of Veteran Affairs plans to send a construction assessment team to Silver Cross Hospital to examine the facility for future use by the government.” This is according to comments made at recent House Veterans Affairs Committee by “Dr. Gerald Cross, acting undersecretary for health with the VA.” The Sun also notes that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has “said the department is ‘taking a strategic look’ at its 5,300 facilities and would look at how Silver Cross might fit into the department’s plans for the next 10 years.”

5.      Veterans Attributing Health Problems To Burn Pits In Iraq, Afghanistan.The Los Angeles Times (2/18, Zucchino, 776K) reports some “returning veterans have reported leukemia, lymphoma, congestive heart problems, neurological conditions, bronchitis, skin rashes and sleep disorders — all of which they attribute to burn pits on dozens” of US “bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. ‘The military needs to step up and address this problem,’ said John Wilson of the advocacy group Disabled American Veterans, which maintains a registry of more than 500 veterans with disorders they blame on burn pits.” The Times notes that the Pentagon “says the pits do not cause serious long-term health problems,” but “some health experts,” including Dr. Anthony Szema, chief of the allergy section at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Northport, New York, disagree.

6.      Wisconsin VA Planning Special Event For Vietnam Vets.On its website, WISN-TV Milwaukee, WI (2/17) reported, “The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs is teaming up with the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Public Television to honor the Badger state’s Vietnam veterans. Landing Zone Lambeau,” which “will feature a weekend of recognition and celebration of those who served” in the Vietnam War, “kicks off on Thursday, May 20 and runs through May 24 in Green Bay.”

7.      VA Contract Allows Company To Retain Staff.In a story noting that opinions differ on “how effective” the stimulus bill has been, the Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion (2/18, Rauhut) reports, “One year after” the bill “was signed into law, millions of dollars have flowed into projects in Franklin County.” For example, Industrial Control & Computer Consultants “in Waynesboro won a $264,035 contract to install a patient monitoring system” at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Industrial Control President Dave McCarney “said his firm will be able to retain one or two employees because of the contract.”

8.      Military Retirees Volunteering To Go Back On Active Duty. USA Today (2/18, Schweers, 2.11M) reports, “Elbert ‘Rusty’ Coleman…retired” from the US Army in 1989, but 21 “years later, he has returned to active duty, answering a voluntary recall notice for retirees, in part to serve with his two sons…and to finally get a taste of combat.” USA Today adds, “Coleman is one of 974 current US Army enlisted men and officers who volunteered to return to active duty after retirement, said Lt. Col. Maria Quon, public affairs officer for the Human Resources Command.” The paper notes that similar “volunteer programs exist for the Air Force, Navy and Marines.”

9.      Seattle VAMC Testing New Prosthetic Foot. Popular Science (2/18, Hsu, 1.32M) says researchers at the University of Michigan “have created a new prosthetic foot that recaptures the mechanical energy between steps.” Unlike a conventional prosthetic foot, which requires “23 percent more metabolic energy” than “two normal feet,” this prosthetic “manages to cut down the energy usage to just 14 percent more than normal.” The device is already being tested “on amputees at the Seattle Veterans Affairs Medical Center,” and the researchers “hope to commercialize the device for more widespread use among” Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

10.    Brain Injured Vets Seeking Care At VA Hospital In Texas.On its website, KWES-TV Odessa, TX (2/17, Ruiz) reported, “Brain injuries on the battlefield have been around forever, but modern medicine means more soldiers are making it home and seeking care at facilities like” the Veterans Affairs hospital in Big Spring, Texas, which “tracks all” progress being made by patients “and helps guide them through their therapy.”