What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans
1. Stimulus Funds For Connecticut Facility Conditionally Approved.
2. Researchers: VA Should Expect High Volume Of Iraq Vets Seeking PTSD Treatment.
3. DeBakey VAMC Opens Clinic For Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.
4. Contract Awarded For Addition To VA Hospital In Mississippi.
5. New Jersey Program Aims To Help Veterans Adjust To College.
6. VFW Official Says More Should Be Done For Vets In Tough Job Market.
7. Contractor Donates Money To Norwood VAMC Fisher House Fund
8. Program Serves Breakfast, Offers Support To Veterans.
9. VA Clinic In Ohio A Goal For Two Mayors.
10. Stimulus Money To Fund Jobs Program For Vets, Military Spouses.
1. Stimulus Funds For Connecticut Facility Conditionally Approved. The New Britain (CT) Herald (9/15, Whipple, 9K) reports US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki "has given conditional approval for nearly $6 million" in Federal "stimulus funding for improvements to the living quarters at the state Veterans Home. The $9.16 million project will renovate the World War II-era main residential buildings that currently house 394 homeless and needy veterans," and Shinseki "has set aside 65 percent of the project cost to be paid" for by the US VA. After noting that in a statement, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she was "tremendously" excited by Shinseki’s decision, the Herald adds that Connecticut "now has 180 days to complete additional requirements such as architectural drawings and other technical matters. The final grant award is expected by April." Connecticut’s Register Citizen (9/14, 7K) published a similar story.
2. Researchers: VA Should Expect High Volume Of Iraq Vets Seeking PTSD Treatment. Science Daily (9/15) reports the Department of Veterans Affairs "should expect a high volume of Iraq veterans seeking treatment of post traumatic stress disorder, with researchers anticipating that the rate among armed forces will be as high as 35%, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, the flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences." Authors of the feature "write…the VA system, which is already experiencing significant delays for PTSD treatment provision, urgently needs to ramp up its mental health resource capacity."
3. DeBakey VAMC Opens Clinic For Iraq, Afghanistan Vets. In continuing coverage, the Conroe (TX) Courier (9/13) noted that the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston recently "opened a new Post-Deployment Clinic" that "will serve as a ‘Welcome Center’" for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The clinic "will be a ‘one-stop’ center performing multi-disciplinary evaluations tailored to the individual’s physical, mental and social needs. Assistance and information regarding nonmedical VA benefits and community resources also will be available."
4. Contract Awarded For Addition To VA Hospital In Mississippi. The Birmingham (AL) Business Journal (9/15, Cooper) reports, "Hoar Construction LLC was awarded the contract to build an addition to a hospital in Mississippi" for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The "Birmingham-based general contractor said it will build a 161,000-square-foot addition to the VA Hospital in Biloxi, Miss., according to a news release." The project "will add four new operating rooms, 20 patient rooms, seven intensive care unit rooms and new space for ambulatory surgery, pulmonary medicine, an eye clinic, specialty care, oncology, audiology and speech pathology, urology and dermatology. Renovations also will take place on the four existing floors of the hospital to complement the new space."
5. New Jersey Program Aims To Help Veterans Adjust To College. The Philadelphia Inquirer (9/15, Colimore, 339K) reports, "They made it through months of hard service on battlefields across Iraq and Afghanistan," and "many have overcome physical and mental wounds of war. But some veterans now face challenges they weren’t trained for: mountains of paperwork and a maze of programs to negotiate as they make the transition to college classrooms. Helping them through that daunting process in New Jersey is the new Troops to College program, signed into law this week" by the state’s governor, Jon Corzine. The "program puts a veterans’ assistance officer on each public campus to guide" vets "through the financial-aid requirements and college bureaucracy. It also provides counseling and online resources. Pennsylvania does not have a similar state-enacted program, though many campuses in the state and in New Jersey already have veterans’ assistance representatives, officials said" Monday.
6. VFW Official Says More Should Be Done For Vets In Tough Job Market. The Air Force Times (9/13, Maze) reported, "The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is….higher than the rate for all Americans, a sign of trouble for newly separated or retired service members looking for work in a tight job market. A Labor Department report shows an unemployment rate of 11.3 percent for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in July, up from 5.9 percent one year ago and well above the 9.7 percent overall" US "unemployment rate – itself the highest in 26 years." The "government can and should be doing more to help," Justin Brown of Veterans of Foreign Wars "said, by strengthening transition classes for separating and retiring service members to give them better job-hunting skills and by ensuring veterans have a fighting chance to get new jobs created by Federal tax dollars. Because the stimulus package granted money directly to states, some rules for federally funded projects that would have helped veterans do not apply." The Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent (9/14, 52K) ran the same story.
7. Contractor Donates Money To Norwood VAMC Fisher House Fund. In its "Good Deeds" column, the Augusta (GA) Chronicle (9/14) reported, "WSI-SRS, the security contractor at Savannah River Site, donated $1,000 to the Fisher House Fund" at the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta. A Fisher House "is a home away from home for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. The community is asked to raise a portion of the construction cost and the remainder will be funded by Fisher House Foundation."
8. Program Serves Breakfast, Offers Support To Veterans. The Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle (9/14, Perkins, 28K) reported, "Helping fellow vets who are struggling has become Michael Dickinson’s passion. Dickinson, who sought help" for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the North Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "began serving breakfast to local veterans dealing with similar issues in July, as part of his treatment plan." Then, last Thursday, he "helped serve a home-cooked breakfast to more than 50 veterans and family members…during the PTSD support breakfast at VFW Post 2780." Dickinson "hopes the weekly program will support combat veterans in coping with the memories and feelings they brought home with them after discharge. ‘As the veterans become more comfortable and are more willing to talk, some of our volunteers who are PTSD veterans themselves sit down and see if we can answer questions or obtain help for the veteran,’ said Dickinson, who has been trained by the VA to fill out the paperwork needed to expedite help for deserving individuals."
9. VA Clinic In Ohio A Goal For Two Mayors. The Sheffield (OH) Chronicle-Telegram (9/15, Castelli) reports Sheffield Mayor John Hunter "told residents at Monday’s Council meeting he is ‘doing everything he can’ to get the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center Outpatient Clinic to relocate to Sheffield." The clinic "is currently housed in the financially struggling St. Joseph Community Center in Lorain. The center is slated to close its doors at the end of the year," and Hunter "said Carnegie Management, which owns a 120,000-square-foot building in Cobblestone Shopping Center that formerly housed a Kmart, has been negotiating with the VA to leave Lorain for the newer building and reduced rent being offered in Sheffield." Hunter "told residents attending the Council meeting that a study showed Sheffield is centrally located for the area’s veterans and also said the VA could save more than $350,000 in rent," but the Chronicle-Telegram notes that Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko "said he is committed to keeping the VA clinic in Lorain."
10. Stimulus Money To Fund Jobs Program For Vets, Military Spouses. The New Bern (NC) Sun Journal (9/14, Book) reported, "A $900,000 grant" from Federal "stimulus money will pay for a program to help veterans and military spouses train for high demand jobs in the area. Officials for N.C.’s Eastern Region Military Growth Task Force and Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board announced the grant in Jacksonville on Wednesday." The money, which will be "used for a two-year program expanding employment and training in the region," was "awarded by the N.C. Department of Commerce and the Division of Workforce Development."
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