Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Shinseki Credited With Pushing Changes In PTSD Disability Procedures. The syndicated “Military Update” column (7/17, Philpott), appearing in the Kitsap (WA) Sun and elsewhere, reports, “Many veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder must be asking themselves today why it took the Department of Veterans Affairs so long to ease the hassle of qualifying for compensation for mental wounds of war. VA officials aren’t sure themselves. But unsurprisingly they agree with veterans’ advocacy groups that the man personally responsible for a sudden ‘change of culture’ toward PTSD sufferers is VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.” Similarly, veterans groups credit Shinseki for the change, according to the article, which quotes the Vietnam Veterans of America’s director of government relations to that effect. Further, Shinseki also was responsible for seeing that the change applied to all veterans, rather than being limited to just certain classes or generations of veterans.
Veterans Groups Generally Favorable. Your News Rochester (NY) (7/17, Clarke) consults with local veterans group officials, who praise the change as an improvement that will ease the burden on veterans and help reduce the agency’s claims backlog. The Destin (FL) Log (7/17, Moore, 8K) reports, however, that commander of one Disabled American Veterans chapter doubts that the new policy embodies any real change. “On the surface it sounds like a good deal,” says Cathy Magnuson, commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 72. “But after reading the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) guidance, I believe nothing has changed,” apparently because the new policy will still require that a diagnose of PTSD come from a VA physician, rather than a private physician or mental health professional.

2. VA Continues To Receive Praise For Changing PTSD Policy. In continuing coverage, the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal (7/19, Verburg, 103K) said thousands of veterans are “now seeing a ray of hope in changes announced last week to make it easier for military veterans suffering” from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After noting that veterans advocates have “praised the rule change,” the Journal says the “change will have its greatest effect on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans because so many non-combat personnel encounter roadside bombs, and because there are few places not in danger of mortar attacks or suicide bombs.”
More praise for VA’s policy is noted by the Charleston (WV) Gazette (7/18, Nyden, 44K), in an article pointing out that the Senate Appropriations Committee “unanimously agreed last week to set aside more than $46 million for a nursing home for veterans.” According to the Gazette, which says deceased US Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) “worked on the Beckley VA nursing-home project over the past 10 years,” West Virginia’s “VA centers may be busier after” the Federal VA recently “made it easier…for veterans suffering” from PTSD “to get the care and benefits they need,” a move that was “lauded” by “many…leaders” and politicians, including US Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV).

Lawmakers Increasingly Concerned Abut Efforts By DOD, VA To Prevent Suicides. CQ (7/17, Donnelly), however, offers negative coverage of work done by VA in the mental health services field, reporting, “Amid a rising tide of suicides among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, lawmakers are increasingly concerned that the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have failed to do enough to prevent such deaths.” After noting that members of “both parties are pressing the Obama administration to address what they see as two serious flaws in its campaign to provide help to legions of psychologically troubled people returning from war,” CQ adds, “First, they note, tens of thousands of reservists may be falling through the cracks of mental health care because neither the Pentagon nor the VA offers them timely help. And although…VA credited its suicide- prevention television advertisements for playing a role in averting thousands of suicides over more than a year, lawmakers charge that the department inexplicably allowed the ads to go largely unused for nearly all of the following year.”
Study Suggests Ecstasy May Help Those With PTSD. In “The Chart,” a blog on its website, CNN (7/18) reported, “The drug MDMA – better known by its street name, Ecstasy – may be illegal, but a new study suggests that it’s also a promising treatment” for PTSD. The study, “which appears in the Journal of Psychopharmacology,” was “funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a California-based nonprofit organization that also sponsors research on medical marijuana and psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin.”

3. Funding Increases For Veterans’ Medical Care Moving Forward In Congress. In continuing coverage, CQ Weekly (7/19, Mulero) reports, “Funding increases for veterans’ medical care, a priority for members of both parties, moved forward on two fronts last week. Subcommittees in both chambers approved draft fiscal 2011 spending bills for military construction” and for the Department of Veterans Affairs on July 14, while the “full Senate Appropriations Committee approved its subcommittee’s draft the following day. The two draft bills,” which “are virtual mirror images of one another,” both “provide a total of $141.1 billion for fiscal 2011, including $77.3 billion in discretionary funding – an amount the appropriators said is about $750 million below the fiscal 2010 enacted level and virtually the same as the administration’s request.”
House Appropriations Committee Planning To Mark Up MilCon-VA Bill. CQ (7/19, Young, Conlon) reports, “Congressional appropriators picked up the pace on the fiscal 2011 spending bills last week, with the full Senate Appropriations Committee approving three of the 12 annual measures and three House subcommittees holding markups.” The House Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, “plans to hold the first of its markups – for the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and the Transportation-HUD bills. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said he would try to bring the two bills to the floor the last week of July.”

4. Hearing To Focus On Post-9/11 GI Bill. Near the end of “The Week At A Glance,” CQ (7/19) notes that on Wednesday, at 9:30 a.m. in 418 Russell, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee will hold a “hearing on the post-Sept. 11 GI Bill.”

5. Louisiana Plans To Expand Veterans Home In Reserve. The LaPlace (LA) L’Observateur (7/17, Shannon, 5K) reports, “With assistance from the state Office of Veterans Affairs, the Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home in Reserve will undergo renovations to improve the facilities and make things more comfortable for the ever-growing population of retired veterans.”

6. Deceased Medal Of Honor Recipient Praised By Arkansas Governor. The AP (7/19) reports, “Medal of Honor recipient and former director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Nick Bacon has died, the department said Saturday.” After noting that Bacon “received the Medal of Honor for his actions” in Vietnam, the AP notes that Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe “called Bacon an ‘American hero.'” The Washington Post (7/19, Brown, 684K) also notes Bacon’s passing, which was also covered in a report aired by KHBS-TV Ft. Smith, AR (7/18, 10:17 p.m. CT).

7. Contract Awarded For Restoration Work On WWI Memorial. In continuing coverage, the AP (7/18) reported, “Restoration work is set to begin next month on the cracked and neglected District of Columbia War Memorial that honors World War I veterans on the National Mall.” On Friday, the National Park Service “announced…that a $2.3 million contract funded by the federal stimulus package has been awarded to Forrester Construction Co. and Lorton Stone LLC.” National Mall Superintendent John Piltzecker “says the work will allow the memorial to again be used for concerts and other events.”

8. DeBakey VAMC Researcher Sets Four Areas Of Concern For Physicians With HIV Patients. The Journal of the American Medical Association (7/18, 250K) has published a paper raising four major concerns for physicians as more effective treatments extend the life expectancy of persons with HIV, funded by the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and NIH. Senior researcher Dr. Thomas Giordano, of the DeBakey VAMC, identifies these as: the need for HIV-infected patients to remain on medication and under medical care for the rest of their lives, the need to develop guidelines for screening them for other chronic diseases, maintaining safe sexual practices and moving treatment for HIV patients from acute to chronic care.

9. Telehealth Program Uses Technology To Reach Distant Veterans. Charleston (WV) Gazette (7/17, Nett) reports, “To see his patients, Dr. Drury Armistead sits down in front of his computer and opens a video feed. Armistead, a dermatologist with the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, is part of the growing telehealth program that connects patients and doctors, no matter the distance. Two days a week, Armistead virtually examines patients at the VA medical centers in Altoona and Erie, Pa. — more than 100 miles away from his West Virginia office.” Dermatology is one of six areas with telehealth programs at the Clarksburg VAMC, where 95% of its patients live in rural areas.

10. VA Website Helps Veterans Monitor Health. WLOS-TV Greenville, SC (7/17, Siltzer, 8:12 a.m. EDT) reports a VA website, My Healthy eVet, that helps veterans and their families track their health, and even re-order their prescription medications.