VA Veterans News for Thursday, June 23, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ

 

1.    County Moves Forward with Pre-Application for Vets' Cemetery.  Patch.com  According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, Solomon-Saratoga National Cemetery could accommodate "175500 veterans and eligible dependents." Are you for or against plans to move forward with a pre-application? Tell us in the comments. ...

 

2.    As the Navy Vets probe widens, Ohio prosecutors get first guilty plea.  Tampabay.com
The IRS also began an investigation that led its agents and officials with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to seize documents last summer at Contreras' Clair-Mel home. ...

 

3.    VA taps Bancroft to Assist Brain-Injured Vets.  Patch.com  Bancroft's traumatic brain injury program has been approved by the US Department of Veterans Affairs to provide services for patients covered by VA benefits. Veterans' participation in the program, ...

 

4.    Officials look to settle outstanding bills with VA.  Huron Daily Tribune  undefined Huron County commissioners on Tuesday decided to settle outstanding bills with the US Department of Veterans Affairs for renovations to the Huron County Health Department facility for the VA's Community Based Outpatient ...

 

5.    Navy Awards $30 Million Painting Contract to California-Based Veteran-Owned.  Guam Buildup News  LM2 Construction's experience in the Federal sector includes a number of projects for the US Department of Veterans Affairs at various California installations and a teaming arrangement with Nebraska-based Leo A Daily Architects on a $49.5 million ...

 

6.    ACLU Slams Plan For Homeless Los Angeles Vets At Medical Center.  The Beverly Hills Courier  Civil rights lawyers today criticized a plan to renovate buildings for homeless veterans at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. A coalition representing homeless vets sued the US Department of Veterans Affairs two weeks ago, alleging the federal ...

 

7.    VA Moves To Renovate Buildings In LA For Homeless Vets After Lawsuit Says Needs Neglected. AP "The Veterans Affairs Department said Tuesday it wants to renovate buildings on its sprawling West Los Angeles campus to accommodate homeless veterans - a move that came after vets sued the agency for allegedly neglecting those in need of constant care after traumatic military experiences." Spokesman Josh Taylor said his agency's plan has been set up for months. Congress must still authorize funds for the project. Donna M. Better, director of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Director Donna M. Better, said VA's plan "ensures that land use at West Los Angeles will continue to put the needs of Veterans first," while Mark Rosenbaum, lead attorney for those suing VA, called the department's plan an "unmistakable admission" that the suit's "claims...are valid."

8.    Indictment:  Fake War Hero Took Work From True Vets. Shawnee (KS) Dispatch

 

9.    Senate Set To Begin Fiscal 2012 Appropriations Process. CQ  "Senate appropriators are readying the first of their 12 annual spending bills for action next week, even though they still do not have top-line spending caps for the measures. The Appropriations panel is looking to start relatively slowly, with a June 28 subcommittee markup scheduled for a draft Military Construction-Veterans Affairs measure." That measure, which is "expected to mirror the House-passed" MilCon-VA bill, "generally enjoys broad bipartisan support and is expected to be approved quickly."

 

10.                       Exploring Affordability Options For Senior Living. Largo (FL) Patch  There are a "number of viable options for affording quality senior living, though few caregivers and seniors may be aware of them. These include: For veterans and their spouses or surviving spouses, the Veterans Administration's Aid & Attendance Program can be of great assistance." Under the program, "wartime veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for up to $1,644 monthly or $1,056 monthly respectively to assist with rent at an assisted living facility."

 

11.                       Fort Wayne VA Hospital Says It Will Improve Care. AP The Veterans Affairs hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana, "says it is complying with recommendations for improving care after a review of two patient deaths and the treatment of others. A report released Monday" by VA's "inspector general's office found that the Fort Wayne center was sometimes staffed by doctors who improperly gave treatment to intensive care patients or couldn't perform emergency airway management." The AP added, "Hospital administrators say they've made sure all doctors have proper airway training and hired another doctor to cover the ICU."

 

12.                       Stutzman: Report Provides "Clear Path Toward" Toward Improved Care. Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette In a statement, US Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) said that while he found VA's report "troubling," it gives a "clear path toward improving care at Fort Wayne's VA hospital." Stutzman added, "Updated facilities, such as the new VA annex and future improvements, will greatly assist in meeting the quality service our veterans deserve,"

 

13.                       "White Coat Effect" Linked To Hypertension Overtreatment. WebMD "The so-called 'white coat effect' is both real and common in the management of hypertension and it may be a significant cause of patient overtreatment, a new study finds." Researchers from Duke University and the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center "report that blood pressure readings taken in doctors' offices were consistently higher than those taken at home or in the research setting." The study, which appears in the June 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, "concluded that repeated measurements taken at home may help give a more accurate picture of blood pressure control than a single reading in a doctor's office."

 

14.                       Robotic One-Port Gallbladder Surgery Feasible. MedPage Today "Outcomes were just as good with robotic single-port cholecystectomy as with conventional laparoscopic procedures in a pilot study, researchers said. The robotic surgery was attempted in 10 patients and completed in nine, with the same average operating room time as in 10 standard laparascopic gallbladder removals, according to Sherry Wren, MD, and Myriam Curet, MD, of Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA Health Care System."

 

15.                       For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines. New York Times Most of the 28 female soldiers killed in Afghanistan died in combat situations, "despite the military's official prohibition on women in combat jobs. The same has been true in Iraq, where 111 female soldiers have died, according to data compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks military fatalities." The Times adds, "Wars with no clear front lines have put women in harm's way more than ever before, blurring the boundaries between combat jobs that are outlawed for women, and support jobs that are often as dangerous and in some cases even more so."

 

16.                       Virtual Reality Being Used To Treat Vets With PTSD. CBS Evening News There is a "remarkable new treatment" for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that involves the vets reliving the combat experiences that led them to develop PTSD. Virtual reality combat is "part of an experimental treatment at Emory University for more than 90 vets" with PTSD.

 

17.                       Nonprofit Matching Emotionally Wounded Warriors With Shelter Animals.  Washington Post  32-year-old veteran David Sharpe is "trying to give...scruffy pound dogs a chance to save" emotionally wounded warriors. Even as he "continues his own recovery from acute depression and PTSD, Sharpe has launched P2V.org (Pets to Vets), a nonprofit group that seeks to link service members and first responders with shelter animals and to help them with related expenses and training." So far, the nonprofit has "matched 47 animals to vets, many of them former patients at Walter Reed."

 

18.                       VA Butler Hosting PTSD Awareness Day Event On Monday. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  "The VA Butler Healthcare will host a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday at VA Butler Healthcare Primary Care, 325 New Castle Road, Butler." The Tribune-Review adds, "VA employees, veterans and the community are invited to participate. For information, visit www.ptsd.va.gov."

 

19.                       Actress Visits VA Patients With Therapy Dogs. Entertainment Tonight  "Julianne Hough is one busy girl! Between wrapping 'Footloose' and flying to Miami to film 'Rock of Ages' with Tom Cruise, the self-confessed animal lover helped kick off the voting campaign for America's first ever 'Hero Dog Awards.'" The event was held Monday at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Manhattan, where Hough visited "patients with therapy dogs." Entertainment Tonight adds, "By voting for your favorite hero dog at www.HeroDogAwards.org CESAR Canine Cuisine will make a donation to American Humane Association to help spread the love of therapy dogs to those that need it most."

 

20.                       Top Officials Tour Roseburg VA Hospital. Roseburg (OR) News-Review  "Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will decide soon whether to adopt recommendations to downsize medical services offered at the Roseburg Veterans Medical Center, VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich said Monday in Roseburg. 'Let's get a decision so we can focus on the way ahead,'" said Gingrich, who noted that telemedicine and alliances with private hospitals are planned for the Roseburg VA. Gingrich "and two other top VA federal officials came to Roseburg at the invitation of Oregon federal lawmakers, who oppose a consultant's recommendations to contract out more health services." The officials toured the Roseburg VA and attended a forum, where they heard concerns veterans group leaders have with the idea of decreasing services at the Roseburg VA, as well as care provided by the hospital. Gingrich said he will take those concerns back to Shinseki.

 

21.                       VA Addresses Medical Device Security.   GovInfoSecurity.com "The latest component of the US Department of Veterans Affairs' ongoing effort to protect medical devices from malware is the creation of a centralized patch management system, says Randy Ledsome, the VA's acting director of field security operations." At VA, Ledsome "oversees a team of more than 400 information security officers whose primary role is to ensure end-users at the VA are protecting sensitive data. His organization provides information security expertise at more than 300 VA facilities serving 300,000 employees and using 333,000 computers."

 

22.                       VA Taps Little Known Small Business To Spearhead Next-Generation Electronic Health Record.   NextGov "The Veterans Affairs Department on Monday announced it had awarded a $5 million contract to the Informatics Applications Group, a small technology services company based in Reston, Va., to spearhead its next-generation electronic health record open source software." In May, "Defense Secretary Robert Gates and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki signed an agreement pledging to jointly develop an electronic health record for the two departments. The agreement endorsed VA's open source software plan."

 

23.                       Advocates For Medicare Drug Negotiations See Opportunity In Debt Talks. CQ  On Tuesday, "House lawmakers reintroduced a bipartisan bill...requiring the government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices in Medicare, saying they hoped to push the idea in the debt ceiling talks." CQ points out that US Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) said the "new majority" in the House likes "to save money." Welch "added that the Veterans Affairs Department, which does negotiate rates for prescription drugs, pays prices 58 percent lower than Medicare for some commonly prescribed drugs."

 

24.                       In Northport, VA To Talk Natural Gas.  Newsday  "The conversion of the Veterans Administration Medical Facility in Northport from fuel oil to natural gas is slated to begin in the fall, and the VA and National Grid... scheduled a community meeting on the project for Tuesday." The meeting was "scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Northport American Legion Hall, 7 Woodside Ave." Louis Errichiello, energy manager for the VA's Northport facility, "said the move will help the VA facility meet environmental mandates by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions even as cheaper natural gas is expected to save $500,000 or more in energy costs per year."

 

25.                       Vietnam Veterans Fundraiser In Wheeling. Chicago Daily Herald  "The northwest suburban Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 311 will host a Flag Tag fundraiser Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 24-26, at the Wheeling Sam's Club, on Elmhurst Road just east of Lake-Cook Road." Donation proceeds collected "will be donated to several charities, including the Chicago Homeless Sandwich Run, Bessie's Table, the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, Vietnam Veterans Standdowns, Hospice of Northeastern Illinois, Wardgos, the VA Wheelchair Games, and the Boy Scouts of America."

 

26.                       Former Hospital Could Find New Life As Veterans Center. Las Cruces Sun-News

 

27.                       WWII Veteran Zeroes In On Century Mark.  Lake County (IL) News-Sun

 

28.                       Saratoga County Board Of Supervisors Approves Funeral Protest Ban. Saratogian "The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation that makes it illegal to protest within 500 feet of a military funeral or funeral-related event, like wakes, burials or other memorial services." The "county law does not cover demonstrations held at cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration, like Gerald B.H. Solomon- Saratoga National Cemetery, because national cemeteries are governed by federal law."