Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      VA Encouraging Hiring Of Veterans. VT Network (9/5, Allen) reported, “The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) workforce of more than 300,000 – including more than 90,000 who are Veterans – knows one of its objectives as it observes Labor Day is to help young Veterans find jobs.” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki “says VA partners with the Department of Labor and the Office of Personnel Management in helping implement the President’s Federal Veterans Hiring Initiative.” Shinseki said, “We also are focusing our efforts in encouraging employers to consider Veterans when they need workers with a strong work ethic, leadership and a drive for success.”
     Labor Secretary Touts Support For Veterans Seeking Employment. In an op-ed in Stars And Stripes (9/6), Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis wrote, “Veterans are qualified, committed job candidates with transferable skills that are proven in real-world situations,” adding, “I believe strongly that veterans deserve the chance to find good jobs and we work closely with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help them.” Solis wrote, “We must work together to help our veterans overcome the challenges they face to finding a good job when they return to civilian life.” She touted the Veterans’ Employment & Training Service agency, the Transition Assistance Program, the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, and the President’s Council on Veterans Employment. Solis concluded, “Those who are returning should be welcomed back not only as heroes, but also as employees.”

 2.      Illinois Veterans Home To Get $2.4 Million In Improvements. The AP (9/6) reports that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced that “a veterans’ home in the Mississippi River city of Quincy will be getting state help with $2.4 million in improvements,” including “replacing the site’s deteriorated, 124-year-old chimney stack and ash-handling system, and the heating and air conditioning will be upgraded,” as part of the Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction program.

 3.      South Carolina Legislator Calling For Resources For Returning Vets. The Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News (9/6, Wenger, 41K) reported that South Carolina state Rep. Wendell Gilliard called for the state “to do better for the servicemen and women returning home from war.” Prompted by “calls from veterans about trouble they’ve had making a transition back to civilian life and the lack of resources available to them,” he is calling for “the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee to immediately convene a panel of lawmakers and veterans’ affairs officials to review the resources available to the military personnel and their families,” especially on “whether the veterans’ affairs medical centers are properly equipped to serve the men and women.” Tonya C. Lobbestael, public affairs officer for the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, “said it provides veterans with access to more than 100 mental health experts” as well as “an outreach director in every community who help veterans learn about the benefits available to them and how to navigate the system.”

4.      VA Medical Center Study Links PTSD, Dementia. KPBS-FM San Diego (9/6, Fudge) reports that a study done by the VA Medical Center in Houston found that “veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be more likely to develop dementia late in life.” Researchers discovered “that veterans who suffered PTSD were twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia.” According to psychiatrist Salah Qureshi, with the Houston VA Center, “the study did not prove that PTSD causes dementia — but further study could reach that conclusion.”

5.      Veteran Seeking Mental Health Care Took Hostages At Georgia Military Hospital. The AP (9/6, Bynum) reports, “A former Army soldier seeking help for mental problems at” Winn Army Community Hospital on Fort Stewart, Georgia, “took three workers hostage at gunpoint Monday before authorities persuaded him to surrender.” However, no one was hurt and “said the hostages were able to calm the gunman and keep him away from patients until he surrendered,” according to military officials. “Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips, a senior Fort Stewart commander, said the former soldier was seeking help for mental problems that were ‘connected, I’m quite certain, to his past service.'”

6.      Number Of Veterans Suffering From Sleep Apnea Spikes. On its website, KVOA-TV Tucson (9/6) reported, “More veterans are suffering from sleepless nights and a double-digit spike in the number of vets being treated for” sleep apnea. “Experts are…concerned that exposure to dust and smoke during repeat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are” contributing to the condition. Meanwhile, how to access VA benefits for the condition “is one of the most popular discussion topics on a sleep apnea support group website.” Such treatments currently cost the VA about $500 million a year, but it “is expected to increase as more baby boomers seek care and as more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans retire.”

 7.      Northern Arizona University Opens Veterans Service Center. The AP (9/6) reports, “Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff opened a new service center last week for combat veterans and other military members who are returning or going to college for the first time.” The Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success has “counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, tips on how to get established off-base, and information on reuniting families and dealing with anger, injury, and depression.” Retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew Griffin, who coordinates services at the center, “said he’s working with NAU’s Residence Life so veterans can room together in the dorms, and he is planning a class for new student veterans that helps them get acquainted with university life.”

 8.      Veteran Heads Employment Program At ICE. The Imperial Valley (CA) News (9/5) reported that Wayne “Mike” Nelson, a veteran paralyzed from the waist down, is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) veterans employment program manager and coordinator for the Operation Warfighter program. Under his leadership, “ICE has brought 40 veterans on board from October 2009 through August 2010 and is leading the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the program.”

9.      Cheyenne VA Branch Hosts Welcome Home Celebration. The Windsor (CO) Beacon (9/5, Miranda, 7K) reports that 400 people “attended the Welcome Home celebration hosted by the Veterans Affairs Cheyenne branch” on Saturday. Andrew Ruben, public affairs officer for the Veterans Affairs medical center in Cheyenne, said that “the daylong event was a celebration for men and women who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Additionally, “about a dozen veteran service organizations were on-hand to offer assistance to veterans, including a mobile clinic and the Larimer County Veterans Services.”

 10.    Senior Citizens To Get High-Dose Flu Vaccine In One VA Region. The Omaha World-Herald (9/5, Ruggles, 156K) reported, “Patients 65 and older in Veterans Affairs clinics throughout Nebraska and western Iowa” will received a high-dose flue vaccine. Although it costs twice as much as a normal vaccine, Dr. Marvin Bittner, acting chief of infectious diseases for the VA’s Nebraska-Western Iowa region, “said the higher cost will prove more than worth it because the high-dose vaccine should prevent numerous hospitalizations.” Dr. Rick Martinello, the senior medical adviser for the Veterans Health Administration, “said this area’s VA region is the only one he knows of where the high-dose vaccine will automatically go to senior citizens,” but added that the patient and his physician will determine if senior citizens get it in other regions. Martinello added, “I personally am enthusiastic about it” but “he’s awaiting more information before universally recommending it for older patients.”