Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

1.      Shinseki, Sessions Trying To Limit “Bureaucracy” For PTSD Sufferers. WDHN-TV Dothan, AL (10/21, 10:06 p.m. CT) broadcast that on Thursday, Pete Landrum, the military advisor for US Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), “met with area veterans’ advocates” in Daleville, Alabama. Landrum “says the government must pay attention to those with post-traumatic stress disorder.” WDHN showed Landrum saying that Sessions is working with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to “make sure that all the bureaucracy is eliminated as much as possible,” so “these folks can get the diagnosis they need.”
     Pentagon To Host Premier Of HBO Documentary On Combat Stress. The FishbowlDC (10/22, Dornic) blog reports, “In an unusual move, the Pentagon has agreed to host the premiere of HBO documentary ‘Wartorn 1861-2010’ in the early evening of Thursday, October 28.” The film, co-produced by “Lori Shinseki, the daughter” of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, “chronicles the lingering effects of combat stress and post-traumatic stress on military personnel and their families throughout American history, from the Civil War through today’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Following the Pentagon screening, VA Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth will help “moderate a panel discussion that includes…Dr. Katie Chard of the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.”
     Web Program Offering Free Lessons On Managing Post-Deployment Combat Stress. The New York Times (10/22, A23B, Weiner, 1.01M) reports, “Vets Prevail, an interactive,” free “Web program run by Prevail Health Solutions, a company based in the West Loop” of Chicago, Illinois, “offers six half-hour lessons on managing post-deployment combat stress and symptoms of depression.” While Roger Sweis, the company’s president, “said he hoped the program would eventually be a government-financed tool for connecting with war-weary soldiers and veterans,” not “everyone…is sold on online programs. ‘The extent to which Web-based interaction is the same as, better, or worse than face-to-face interactions is the central question in our society now,’ said Dr. Joseph Yount,” a clinical psychologist with the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

 2.      Shinseki “Most Obscure” Cabinet Member. In a blog, Politico (10/22, Smith, 25K) says it “sought to measure the public profile of Cabinet members by combining their appearances in national print and broadcast media with the White House’s promotion of its secretaries in its own publications.” The blog, which says it found that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is, “hands down, the most obscure member of the Cabinet,” adds, “Shinseki has had his hands full pursuing what a spokesman described as his department’s ‘mission from President Obama to transform itself into a 21st-century organization to better serve veterans, their families and survivors.'”

 3.      VA: Post-Surgical Mortality Risk Higher For Those With History Of Anxiety, Depression. HealthDay (10/22) reports, “Surgical patients with a preexisting psychiatric comorbidity have a greater 30-day post-surgical mortality risk, according to research published in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery.” After noting that the study looked at “35,539 surgical patients admitted to Veterans Health Administration hospital intensive care units,” HealthDay adds, “‘Until further research is completed, we recommend that surgeons caring for patients with a history of anxiety or depression seek early involvement of multidisciplinary teams to help identify problematic areas in perioperative care processes, particularly regarding issues of surgeon-patient communication and adherence to post-surgical recommendations,'” the study’s “authors write.”
     WJBF-TV Augusta, GA (10/21, 11:20 p.m. ET) was just one of numerous local TV stations from around the country airing reports on the study. The study is also noted by the WMAR-TV Baltimore, MD (10/21) website and the “Booster Shots” blog for the Los Angeles Times (10/21, Kaplan, 681K), which said that for the study, researchers “from the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center analyzed the medical records of 35,539 VA patients around the country who were admitted to the intensive care unit after a surgical procedure.” The Chicago Tribune (10/21, 488K) published the same blog.

 4.      National Homeless Veterans Center Idea To Be Discussed At Public Hearing. In continuing coverage, the WHO-TV Des Moines, IA (10/21, Winters) website noted that city leaders in Knoxville, Iowa, “have been looking for a way to repurpose more than 30 buildings for which” the US Department of Veterans Affairs “has said it intends to offer a 75 year lease.” And now, according to the website, an idea has emerged to turn one of the buildings into a national center for homeless veterans. There “will be a public hearing in Knoxville on Nov. 4th” to discuss the idea. KDSM-TV Des Moines, IA (10/21, 10:32 p.m. CT) aired a similar report.

 5.      VA Using Remote Health Monitoring In Thousands Of Vets’ Homes. In a report on telemedicine, CNN Newsroom (10/21, 2:37 p.m. ET) broadcast that “about 200,000 patients nationwide receive some sort of treatment via mobile monitoring units in their homes.” CNN also spoke to American Telemedicine Association Chief Executive Officer Jon Linkous, who pointed out that the US Department of Veterans Affairs “uses remote monitoring in about 50,000 veterans homes. It’s…increasingly used all over the country.”

 6.      KBR Appeals Judge’s Decision In Toxic Chemical Lawsuit Filed By Iraq Vets. The AP (10/22) says Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) is “appealing a judge’s decision to try a lawsuit filed by Oregon veterans who claim they were exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq.” Attorneys for KBR “claim that suing a military contractor raises ‘unprecedented’ legal questions that first should be decided by a higher court.” While other Federal “judges have ruled in KBR’s favor in lawsuits in Indiana and West Virginia, saying their courts lack jurisdiction,” US Magistrate Judge Paul Papak “in Portland told attorneys Wednesday to prepare for trial while he considers the KBR request to hold off until” the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reviews his rulings.

 7.      Afghanistan Vet Receives Silver Star. The AP (10/22, Finley) notes that on Monday, Sgt. Zachary R. Reese received a Silver Star from the US Army for “heroic maneuvers” in Afghanistan. Reese “plans to leave the Army in March and return to California with his wife, Reina, to attend college.”

 8.      Iraq Vet Leading Group Trying To Overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In continuing coverage, the AP (10/22, Watson, Leff) says “decorated Iraq war veteran” R. Clarke Cooper “finds himself leading a 19,000-member group for gay Republicans that has managed to accomplish what its fellow gay rights activists on the left have not – bring” the US “military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell'” policy “closer than it has ever been to being abolished. A federal judge ruled last month in a lawsuit brought by the Log Cabin Republicans in 2004 that the ban on openly gay troops was unconstitutional, and ordered the Pentagon to stop its enforcement.” The AP does point out, however, that an “appeals court has temporarily frozen that order while it considers a government request to suspend it pending an appeal of the case.”

 9.      Vets Groups Upset By Removal Of War Memorial’s Christian Flag. The AP (10/22, Breen) says the city council in King, North Carolina, “decided last month to remove” a Christian flag “above a war memorial” in the city’s public Central Park, after an unnamed Afghanistan vet complained and “city leaders got letters from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State urging them to remove it.” The decision, which “incensed veterans groups,” led 63-year-old Ray Martini, “who served in Vietnam,” to launch a “round-the-clock vigil to guard a replica Christian flag hanging on a wooden pole in front of the war memorial.” Protesters, however, “aren’t satisfied with the vigil” and are “planning an Oct. 23 rally in support of their ultimate goal, which is for the city to restore the Christian flag to the permanent metal pole on the memorial.”

 10.    Motorcycle Designed To Promote Fallen Soldiers Memorial. In continuing coverage, the Frederick (MD) News-Post (10/21, Eckstein, 35K) noted that on Wednesday, motorcycle designer Paul Teutul Sr., Deborah Higgins, the “mother of a fallen” Iraq vet, and “about 500 supporters flocked” to Fort Ritchie, Maryland, to “help raise awareness and money for the future National Fallen Heroes Memorial in Frederick.” Prior to the event, Higgins, who has “been working since 2007 to create a national memorial for those” that died “serving their country post-Vietnam,” contacted Teutul, founder of Orange County Choppers, and asked him to design a custom motorcycle to raise awareness for her cause. Teutul “came to Fort Ritchie…to unveil the Freedom Bike and film an episode with Higgins for his TV show on TLC.” The Waynesboro (PA) Herald Record (10/22, Bonura, 8K) runs a similar story.