Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

1.      VA To Announce Military Suicide Research Project. The Denver Post (10/27, O’Connor, 364K) notes that on Wednesday, Veterans Affairs officials will “announce a partnership with Florida State University on a major research project examining the troubling problem of military suicides, which have increased steadily over the past five years.” Earlier “this year, at the 2nd Annual Department of Defense/Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Conference, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki expressed his frustration at the rising rate, saying that each of…VA’s 153 medical centers have suicide prevention coordinators” who are making counseling a priority.

2.      VA Hospital To Co-Direct Study On Effectiveness Of Suicide Prevention Programs. In continuing coverage, the AP (10/28) reports, “Military medical researchers say their efforts to reverse the rising number of suicides among servicemembers are based on ‘good ideas,’ but they don’t know which prevention programs work and which don’t. They launched a $17 million study Wednesday to find out.” The “new three-year project, funded” by the US Army but directed by the Veterans Affairs hospital in Denver and Florida State University (FSU), will “develop a network of researchers to study multiple aspects of suicide, look at the work of other studies and then compile a database so other researchers and people running suicide-prevention programs can see what is effective.”
     The Denver Post (10/28, O’Connor, 364K) says the US Army will “spend $17 million over the next three years trying to figure out why the rate of suicide in the military has outpaced the rate among civilians in the past five years. The Military Suicide Research Consortium, a project announced Wednesday, will conduct cutting-edge explorations into suicide in the military that can have applications in the civilian population.” The Post adds, “The Denver VA Medical Center and FSU have each been awarded $8.5 million” to conduct such explorations.
     The websites for KUSA-TV Denver, CO (10/27), KKTV-TV Colorado Springs, CO (10/27), and WTSP-TV Tampa, FL (10/27) also took note of the US Army study, as did reports aired by numerous local TV stations in different parts of the country, including KOAA-TV Colorado Springs, CO (10/27, 10:09 p.m. MT), KRDO-TV Colorado Springs, CO (10/27, 5:07 p.m. MT), KEZI-TV Eugene, OR (10/27. 6:35 p.m. PT), and WINK-TV Ft. Myers, FL (10/27, 5:36 p.m. ET).
     Group Honors Canandaigua VAMC For Its Work On Suicide Prevention Hotline. The Greece (NY) Messenger Post (10/28, Sherwood) says the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center “received accolades this week for its suicide prevention hotline. Presenting the award commending the work of the national hotline” was “Lawrence Schulman, a former national commander with the Jewish War Veterans Association. Schulman, representing the David J. Kauffman Post 41 of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA in Rochester, presented the plaque at the recently expanded…center” for the hotline, which was “recognized during a visit by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who came to the center in June.”
     Research Finds Male, Female Vets Face Different Mental Health Issues. HealthDay (10/28, Mozes) notes, “Mental health issues confronted by US veterans returning from the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan differ by gender, new research suggests. Female veterans are more likely to have a diagnosis of depression than are their male counterparts, according to a study of nearly 330,000 veterans who received health care from the Veterans Administration from 2002 to 2008.” The study, led by “Shira Maguen of the San Francisco VA Medical Center” and appearing in the “Oct. 21 online issue of the American Journal of Public Health,” also found that male veterans were “more prone than their female peers to post-traumatic stress disorder and/or alcohol abuse.”
     Mullen Worried About What Future, “Persistent Conflict” Would Do To Army. In its “Danger Room” blog, Wired (10/28, Ackerman, 743K) magazine notes that in his address at this week’s annual Association of the US Army conference in Washington, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “warned of continued stress on the Army. A second decade of ‘persistent conflict’ that the Army endures, Mullen said, would take an ‘undetermined toll’ on soldiers and their families – far off the battlefield.” For example, Mullen “called soldier suicides a problem ‘we have not yet come close to solving.'” The National Journal Daily (10/28, Kreisher) publishes a similar story.

3.      VA Finds Hundreds Of Alaska Vets Have To Leave State For Healthcare Treatment. KTVA-TV Anchorage, AK (10/27, 10:27 p.m. AKT) broadcast that an investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Inspector General “found that hundreds of Alaska veterans have to travel to the lower 48 for their healthcare treatment. In fact, nearly 600 veterans over a one year period were required to head down to the Lower 48 to receive healthcare services, even though the treatment might be available from private practice physicians and community hospitals” in Alaska. KTVA said the report “concluded that…VA faces legal obstacles in purchasing care for Alaska veterans in Alaska.” KTNL-TV Juneau, AK (10/27, 10:27 p.m. AKT) aired a very similar report.
     After noting that the VA investigation was requested by US Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the Anchorage-based Tundra Drums (10/28, 5K) says that at a “VA Appropriations hearing earlier this year, Murkowski questioned VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and Undersecretary for Health, Dr. Robert Petzel, about why…VA sends Alaska veterans” outside the state for care that may be available in Alaska. Both men “said they would examine the issue and see if…VA could provide better community level access” to healthcare.

 4.      POW Advisory Committee Warmly Welcomed At VA Hospital. The Temple (TX) Daily Telegram (10/27, Gibbs, 19K) noted that on Tuesday, members of the “Advisory Committee on Former Prisoners of War were greeted… with cheers and waving flags” by staff from the Olin E. Teague Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Temple. The committee, which toured the hospital, “advises the secretary of Veterans Affairs on the needs of veterans and POWs. Officials identified 153 former POWs who are receiving care within the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, said Larry Becker with the Waco VA.”

5.      Newspaper: Colorado Vets Deserve Another National Cemetery. In an editorial, the Pueblo (CO) Chieftain (10/27) noted that last week, “Veterans Affairs Undersecretary Steve Muro said…the 2011 VA budget has money to design a new national cemetery near Fountain, and that the VA expects building it in 2012. After three years of stonewalling by the VA,” Eric Shinseki, who now heads the agency, “endorsed the idea early this year.” The Chieftain, which pointed out that prior to recent news about the cemetery, “opponents in Congress and inside the VA argued that Colorado already has two national cemeteries,” said “veterans of this region deserve” another one.

 6.      Japanese Foreign Minister Honors US War Dead At National Memorial Cemetery Of The Pacific. The AP (10/28, McAvoy) reports, “Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has paid his respects” to US “war dead at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.” On Wednesday, Maehara, who was “visiting Honolulu…to meet and discuss regional security” with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, “laid a wreathe with orchids and red anthuriums at the cemetery, also known as Punchbowl. He also bowed and signed a guest book before leaving to meet with Clinton.”

 7.      VA Awards Homeless Assistance Grant To Nonprofit. The Augusta (GA) Chronicle (10/27, McCord) reported, “Twenty homeless veterans, most of whom are already receiving services at Augusta’s Charlie Norwood Veterans Administration Medical Center, are closer to independent living with…VA’s award of a $391,185 grant and per-diem funding” to Hope House Inc., a local nonprofit. The Chronicle added, “The funds are part of about $1.2 million Hope House Inc. is seeking to remodel an unused World War I-era nursing home on the Norwood center’s uptown campus into 20 studio apartments, Hope House Executive Director Karen Saltzman said.”

 8.      US Military Doctors Diagnosing More Concussions Among Combat Troops. According to a front page story for USA Today (10/28, 1A, Zoroya, 1.83M), doctors in the US military are “diagnosing hundreds of concussions among combat troops because of an unprecedented order requiring them to leave the battlefield for 24 hours after being exposed to a blast.” While doctors “say the order helps prevent permanent brain damage that can result if a servicemember has a second concussion before the first one heals,” some others “worry that the policy could leave too few troops for combat.” However, Adm. Michael Mullen, “chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pushed” for the policy, said he thinks the increased number of concussions that have been diagnosed under it demonstrate “that TBI (traumatic brain injury) is getting the attention it deserves.”
     In a separate story, USA Today (10/28, Zoroya, 1.83M) says hundreds of US troops are “being identified as concussion victims each month under new, more aggressive medical treatment guidelines instituted by the Pentagon in July.” The guidelines “require that any servicemember caught within roughly 50 yards of a blast be pulled from the battlefield for at least 24 hours and examined for evidence of concussion. The same goes for troops in a vehicle or building struck by a bomb.”

 9.      Colorado Program Provides 500 Free Big-Game Permits To Wounded Warriors. The Denver Post (10/27, Licis, 364K) noted that a recent ceremony at the Silver Spur Ranch in Colorado, state lawmakers touted “legislation that created a new program authorizing the Colorado Division of Wildlife to issue free big-game hunting licenses to members of the military’s Wounded Warriors program.” The “program provides up to 500 free hunting permits every year to members of the armed forces who became severely wounded, injured or ill during overseas operations since the 9/11 attacks. Eligible servicemen must be members of the Wounded Warrior program administered by each military branch, and be residents of or stationed in Colorado.”

 10.    Construction Of VA Clinic Underway In Saranac Park, New York. The Saranac Lake, New York-based Adirondack Daily Enterprise (10/28, Knight, 6K) reports, “Construction of a Veterans Administration outpatient health clinic” in Saranac Lake is “finally under way.” When VA officials “visited Saranac Lake in May to formally announce that they would be locating a clinic in the village, they predicted the facility would be up and running by October.” Now, however, Peter Potter, “spokesman for the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany, which is responsible for overseeing the clinic, said VA officials hope the Saranac Lake site will be ready by January.”