What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans
1. Shinseki The Guest Of Honor At Party Thrown By Former Marine.
2. Levin Hired As VA’s Chief Technology Officer.
3. Roberts Says Ondra Is Not A Candidate For VHA Post.
4. Duckworth Honored At Conference For College Women Student Leaders.
5. VA Officials Confident About Smooth Launch Of Post-9/11 GI Bill.
6. Brain Injury Center Expected To Open In 2010.
7. VA Awards Contract For Ambulatory Care Center.
8. Mental Health Treatment Stigma Said To Persist In US Military.
9. Haley VAMC Breaks Ground On Parking Garage.
10. Doctor Linked To Problems At Philadelphia VAMC Takes Leave Of Absence.
HAVE YOU HEARD?
She doesn’t have a magic lasso or an invisible air plane, but to her family and many of her co-workers she’s a real life wonder woman. Dr. Linda Mona, a VA staff psychologist at the Long Beach VA Medical Center, is in many ways similar to other married women raising a family and holding down a full-time job. But she’s also disabled. “Living with a disability has never stopped Linda from getting what she wants. In fact, it’s only inspired her to chase a goal all the more,” read a passage about Mona that appeared in Working Mothers Magazine in April. The mother of two young children was chosen as a role model for other working mothers out of more than a 1,000 nominations nationwide and named a Working Mother of the Year by the magazine. In addition to the magazine article, Mona was one of three working mother award recipients to appear on NBC’s Today Show. Mona has been with VA for seven years and also completed her pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training within the VA system. Most of her clinical work involves working as a rehabilitation psychologist for veterans with disabilities. She also specializes in providing education and sexual health services to veterans with disabilities.
1. Shinseki The Guest Of Honor At Party Thrown By Former Marine. In the lead story for her San Francisco Chronicle (6/26, E6) column, Leah Garchik says the "guest list was as shiny as a brass button" when former "Marine George Shultz and commanding officer of protocol Charlotte Shultz" threw a "military-themed wingding Monday night." The guest "of honor was…Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, who had visited" the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center "in the morning, and in the late afternoon had spoken at the Marines Memorial as part of the George Shultz Lecture Series."
2. Levin Hired As VA’s Chief Technology Officer. In his "What’s Brewin’" blog for NextGov (6/25), Bob Brewin wrote, "The Veterans Affairs Department has hired Peter Levin, a White House fellow" in the Clinton Administration, "as its new chief technology officer in the office of the secretary and senior advisor to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, Press Secretary Katie Roberts told me. Roberts said Levin — a tech whiz who does not mind the moniker ‘geek’ — will explore visionary technologies for VA while Chief Information Officer Roger Baker will manage the 7,000 person, day-to-day operations of the VA’s information technology organization." Brewin added, "Baker and Levin, Roberts said, provide Shinseki with the tech insights he needs to develop the ’21st Century VA.’"
3. Roberts Says Ondra Is Not A Candidate For VHA Post. In continuing coverage, Bob Brewin noted in his "What’s Brewin’" blog for NextGov (6/25) that he recently "suggested that Dr. Stephen Ondra, an Army Gulf War vet who is a professor of neurological surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, had the inside track for appointment as under secretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration. Not so, said my new best friend, Katie Roberts, Veterans Affairs Department press secretary." Ondra, Roberts "said, does serve as a senior adviser to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, but has not even applied for the top VA health job."
4. Duckworth Honored At Conference For College Women Student Leaders. The third story in the syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (6/25), said L. Tammy Duckworth, the Veterans Affairs "assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, was honored recently by the American Association of University Women/NASPA — Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, along with four other women at the University of Maryland at College Park." Duckworth "accepted the Women of Distinction Award during the 2009 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. ‘Today, we have women serving in combat and being recognized for their valor and fierceness in battle. And when they return home, President Obama and Secretary [of Veterans Affairs Eric K.] Shinseki are committed to improving the care that our brave warriors receive,’ Ms. Duckworth said. ‘I am honored to be here today in the company of such accomplished and talented women.’"
5. VA Officials Confident About Smooth Launch Of Post-9/11 GI Bill. The Navy Times (6/26, Maze) reports, "Department of Veterans Affairs officials expressed confidence that the Aug. 1 launch of the Post-9/11 GI Bill will go smoothly, with the first benefits checks to be cut by the Treasury Department on Aug. 3. Testifying Thursday before" a House Veterans Affairs Committee panel, Keith Wilson, the VA’s education service director, "said about 84,000 applications have been received, with 47,000 already processed and awaiting final certification of enrollment and calculation of tuition and fee payments." Wilson, "the VA official responsible for the program, is optimistic partly because a test of the accuracy in processing claims found 92 percent were done correctly, and most of the errors ‘were fairly benign.’"
NextGov (6/26, Brewin) says that when Congress passed the Post-9/11 GI Bill, "veterans groups and critics worried" the VA "didn’t have time to build a computer system to process the applications. But VA is processing claims faster than it receives them thanks to new information technology systems that partially automate the work, top department officials told" the House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on Thursday. NextGov adds, "Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said he appreciates ‘the fact VA is re-doubling its efforts to make sure the new GI bill payment process works’ and added that veterans and Congress need to be reassured that the agency is prepared to pay Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans their correct education benefit in a timely manner."
6. Brain Injury Center Expected To Open In 2010. Maryland’s Gazette (6/25, Ujifusa) said a "Bethesda medical facility for soldiers with critical brain injuries and their families is under construction after being stalled by a funding shortage at the start of the year. Work on the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, located on the National Naval Medical Center campus, began last month and is roughly 10 percent complete, according to officials." The facility "is expected to be operational in June 2010, although the formal opening ceremony for the center could come a few months afterwards. It was previously scheduled to open next February."
7. VA Awards Contract For Ambulatory Care Center. The second story in the syndicated "Sgt. Shaft" column, appearing in the Washington Times (6/25), said the "good news is that the Department of Veterans Affairs…has awarded a $38.3 million contract to the Walsh Construction Co. of Chicago to construct an Ambulatory Care Center for the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System." The "bad news however, is that the flagship VA medical center in Washington has not received the necessary construction funds to improve quality care for Washington area veterans. There is an urgent need to provide parking for veterans arriving for medical appointments."
8. Mental Health Treatment Stigma Said To Persist In US Military. The Colorado Springs Gazette (6/26, Newsome) reports, "In recent years," the US military "has invested millions of dollars in mental health care, fueling a proliferation of treatment programs while attempting to reshape fundamental attitudes about mental illness. But the stigma persists among the rank-and-file, keeping many troubled soldiers from taking advantage of help that is readily available, according to two Army generals." Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, the Army’s "top psychiatrist," and "Fort Carson commander Maj. Gen. Mark A. Graham spoke with reporters, civilian health care providers and others Wednesday as part of an Army-sponsored Warrior Care Summit in Colorado Springs."
9. Haley VAMC Breaks Ground On Parking Garage. The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (6/26, Levesque) notes that on Thursday, officials at the James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "one of the nation’s busiest veterans hospitals, broke ground on a long-anticipated parking garage expected to be completed by December 2010, adding 1,500 spaces to Haley’s cramped campus." And the "$30 million project can’t come fast enough for the…hospital," because on July 1st, the VA is "expanding income eligibility qualifications for veterans across the nation. The change is expected to bring 4,500 new patients to Haley and its outlying clinics." The Times says the parking garage "project is one in a series planned for Haley in coming years, including a 100,000-square-foot expansion of Haley’s acute care polytrauma center."
10. Doctor Linked To Problems At Philadelphia VAMC Takes Leave Of Absence. In continuing coverage, the Philadelphia Inquirer (6/26, Goldstein) reports Gary D. Kao, the "University of Pennsylvania radiation oncologist at the center of the controversy" involving a prostate cancer program at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "has taken…leave from Penn’s medical school." Kao "’asked for a leave of absence’ and it was granted" Thursday, "said Susan E. Phillips, senior vice president of the Penn health system, in response" to Inquirer "questions about the doctor’s status. Kao also will voluntarily attend a hearing" at the Philadelphia VAMC "on Monday to answer questions about the program, his lawyer, Jack Gruenstein, said." Also on Thursday, problems with the prostate cancer program at the Philadelphia VAMC "were a focus of a public meeting" held by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "which regulates treatments using radioactive materials, and its medical advisory committee in Rockville, Md. All five NRC commissioners expressed concern about the situation that caused dozens of veterans to get incorrect radiation doses."
The Daily Pennsylvanian (6/25, Rubin), meanwhile, said an investigation of "radiation treatments for prostate cancer" at the Philadelphia VAMC "indicated that substandard care administered" by Kao "may have affected about 92 patients." The hospital’s prostate cancer treatment program, which involved a process called brachytherapy, was "immediately shut down and does not plan to restart until all investigations are completed." Dale Warman, "Chief of Public Affairs and Medical Media for the…hospital from 2002 to 2008," wrote "in an e-mail that the ‘need for the University of Pennsylvania physician was terminated.’"
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