Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s New

From the VA:

1.      VA To Help Pay For Vets’ Home Renovation In Vermont. According to the Burlington (VT) Free Press (10/20, 34K), the “State Veterans’ Home in Bennington will be the beneficiary of a $3.1 million Department of Veterans Affairs grant. The grant will go to the state, which will then pick up 35 percent of the cost of a $4.8 million renovation of the home,” in an attempt to “guard against possible mold and asbestos contamination sometimes found in buildings built before 1970.” The Free Press quoted VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who “said in a statement” that his agency is “proud to join the state in maintaining a high quality residence to those who served our country.” The WCAX-TV Burlington, VT (10/20) website, which published a similar story, said the $3.1 million grant is “part of over $360 million…VA expects to spend helping Vermont’s 55,000 veterans this year.”

 2.      VA: Decisions Made By Physician Teams Cut Down On Surgical Mistakes. In continuing coverage, WMAQ-TV Chicago, IL (10/20, 4:50 p.m. CT) broadcast, “Next time you have an operation, you may want to ask about teamwork.” A study by the US Department of Veterans Affairs “indicates that surgical mistakes can be cut in half when…decisions are made” and “discussed by a team of doctors, both before and after an operation.” KARK-TV Little Rock, AR (10/20, 5:24 p.m. CT) was just one of numerous other local TV stations around the country airing similar reports on Wednesday.
     FierceHealthcare (10/21, Bowman) notes that according to the study, which appeared in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, reports, deaths at “74 Veterans Health Administration hospitals that followed the ‘Medical Team Training’ program — which was modeled after error-reduction plans used in the aviation industry and NASA — fell 18 percent over a two year period. The study looked at the data of 182,000 patients who had operations at 108 Veterans Health Administration hospitals overall, from 2006 to 2008.” Medical News Today (10/21) publishes a similar story.

 3.      Arlington Cemetery Employees To Be Trained By VA. In continuing coverage, Government Executive (10/21, Swanson) reports, “Employees at Arlington National Cemetery for the first time will be able to enroll in a training program the Veteran Affairs Department operates, Secretary of the Army John McHugh…announced on Tuesday.” After noting that McHugh also said Patrick Hallinan, former director of field operations at the National Cemetery Administration, has been appointed as Arlington’s new superintendent, Government Executive adds, “The National Cemetery Administration Training Center, created in 2004 to provide job instruction to workers at the 131 national cemeteries VA runs, will teach technical skills and leadership development to Arlington employees at all levels, from groundskeepers to supervisors.” UPI (10/21) and Federal News Radio (10/21) run similar stories.

 4.      Nonprofit Hoping To Set Up National Center For Homeless Vets. The AP (10/21) reports, “A nonprofit group wants to turn a vacant former veterans hospital in central Iowa into a national center for homeless veterans.” After noting that “former Reserve Officers Association head,” veteran Bob Krause, “says the Knoxville facility would house at least 400 homeless veterans and possibly more,” the AP adds, “The Des Moines Register reports that Krause says veterans from across the country could come to the proposed ‘National Veterans Recovery Center.'” The AP notes that the US Department of Veterans Affairs “has said it wants to lease the facility,” a point also made in a KCCI-TV Des Moines, IA (10/20) website story and in a report aired by KCAU-TV Sioux City, IA (10/20, 5:06 p.m. CT).

 5.      Veterans Treatment Court Being Developed In Florida. According to the CFN13-TV Orlando, FL (10/20, Fell) website, plans are “falling into place to create a Veterans Treatment Court in Orange and Osceola counties where veterans could get help instead of jail time. ‘Veterans have served our country and deserve the respect and care that this type of court can provide,’ said Sherri Claudio,” a justice outreach coordinator for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Claudio is “part of a 10-person team assigned to develop the Veterans Treatment Court,” which “will be up and running in January” if “all goes as planned.”

 6.      Blind, Disabled Vet Says VA Counselors Helped Pull Him Out Of Depression. The Danville (VA) Register & Bee (10/20, 16K) profiled veteran John Carrick, who “lost his sight and legs in a motorcycle accident five years ago. Although he went through a lengthy period of depression,” Carrick “pulled out of it with help from counselors” at a Veterans Affairs hospital’s “blind rehabilitation clinic in Augusta, Ga.”

 7.      Shelter Adds Section For Homeless Female Veterans. On its website, KTRK-TV Houston (10/21) says the Santa Maria Shelter in Houston, Texas, has “added a special area for war veterans, along with the section for other homeless women.” Texas “ranks second among states with the largest homeless female veterans population.”

 8.      Iraq Vet Helps VA Spread Word About Benefits. In continuing coverage, the CBS News (10/ 20) website posted footage of an interview it conducted with actor Rob Kugler, who served with the US military in Iraq. Kugler, who “plays the lead role” in a new television ad from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, told CBS that the ad urges “people to get onto VA.gov/myva,” which is a “very easy to navigate website that tells people…how to take advantage of their benefits.”

 9.      Participation “Up Significantly” In Post-9/11 GI Bill Program. The American Forces Press Service (10/21, Miles) reports, “With more than 260,000 students attending about 6,000 colleges and universities this fall under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, officials are continuing an active outreach effort to ensure current military members and veterans don’t miss out on the new program’s education benefits. Participation is up significantly from last year, when 180,000 students used Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to start the fall 2009 semester, said Keith Wilson, the director of education service for the Veterans Benefits Administration.” Wilson is “counting on automation to cut the time required to make” Post-9/11 GI Bill “eligibility decisions and calculate benefits — now largely a manual process.”

 10.    During Discussion On Returning Vets, VA Official Talks About Suicide Prevention. The Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle (10/20, Swingle) reported, “A four-part discussion series” tackles “issues facing returning veterans, starting” Wednesday, October 20th, “with a focus on suicide rates. Janet Kemp, the mental health program director for suicide prevention” at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, was to “speak at 6:30 p.m. at Nazareth College Arts Center’s Palladoro Reception Hall, Room 137. Future talks will be Jan. 12 on women combat veterans, March 30 on the struggle to properly care for veterans and their families, and June 1 on the needs of returning veterans in New York.”
     Kemp Says VA Is Strengthening Its Suicide Prevention Programs. The WROC-TV Rochester, NY (10/20, Shively) website said that in “front of a packed room,” Kemp, VA’s Mental Health Program Director for Suicide Prevention, “told the crowd how…VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs. One of its strong partners in the fight is the Canandaigua-based National Veteran’s Suicide Prevention Hotline,” which Kemp “credits…as rescuing 7,000 veterans who were in the act of suicide.” WROC (10/20, 11:01 p.m. ET) led off its 11 o’clock newscast by airing a similar report.
     The hotline is also mentioned in a story on the KMJ-AM Fresno, CA (10/21, Carrero) website, which reported, “Dr. Nestor Manzano, director of Mental Health Services at Fresno’s Veterans Hospital, says anger and irritability are two tell-tale signs of someone suffering” from post-traumatic stress disorder.