VA Veterans News for Tuesday, July 12, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!

1.    Veterans' caregivers program issues first payments.  Providence Journal  The VA's Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy mails prescription medications and supplies directly to veteran patients. Local VA medical center pharmacies, including the one on Chalkstone Avenue in Providence, almost always process and dispense the ...

2.    Veteran disputes lawyers' TV ads.  Las Vegas Review - Journal  A local VA spokesman, David Martinez, said sanctioned veterans service organization officers can't charge for helping veterans file claims and appeals but it is acceptable for lawyers to charge. The State Bar of Nevada approves commercials by lawyers. ...

3.    Tensions Rise At Veterans Memorial.  WXII The Triad  22 lottery, was allocated four weeks to fly a flag of his choosing, as long as the flag's symbol was recognized by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Hewett submitted his intent to fly the Christian flag to the City Council. ...

4.    Kewaunee County veterans court could serve as model for Door County.  Green Bay Press Gazette  The 72 veterans offices in Wisconsin are all a function of county government funded with the help of state grants on what Rock called a “shoestring budget.” But each time a veteran qualifies for VA disability or health benefits, Rock said, ...

5.    Gazette opinion: Build bigger Billings VA clinic next year.  Billings Gazette  The sorely needed expansion of the Billings VA Clinic will get a boost from the highest level of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and could be open to serve veterans in the fall of 2012. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said Friday that he wants the ...

6.    The Week At A Glance: July 11-15, 2011.   CQ At 10 a.m. Thursday in 334 Cannon, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity is scheduled to mark up pending legislation. Also on Thursday, according to the final "Week At A Glance" item, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs is scheduled to mark up pending legislation. That will happen at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in 334 Cannon.

7.    Bill Would Put Spotlight On VA Travel.  Federal Times "The Veterans Affairs Department opposes as 'burdensome' a bill requiring it to give advance notice to Congress for any employee conference costing the government $5,000 or more or involving 20 or more people." Curtis Coy, who serves as VA's deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity, "said the requirement to report to Congress at least 180 days before a meeting or conference would make it hard to tailor events to emerging needs, and the definition of meetings would be so wide that daily events might have to be reported." Coy made his comments during while appearing before a recent hearing of the House Veterans Affairs economic opportunity subcommittee.

8.    PTSD Program In Salem Aimed At Female Vets. Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot "An inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder program for female veterans will be held Oct. 3-Nov. 16 in Salem. The Veterans Affairs seven-week program will be open to those who are experiencing PTSD related to combat or military sexual trauma, according to a news release." The Virginian-Pilot notes that details on the program can be obtained by contacting Kay Montgomery at (540) 982-2463, ext. 2548.

9.    Female Veterans Getting Notified Of Benefits. KOSA-TV "With a new attitude and teaching system, female veterans will now be more aware and capable of taking advantage of all the benefits they have" with the Veterans Affairs hospital in Big Spring. The VA medical system is "now starting to call every female veteran in the United States to let her know of services they can provide and how to improve the existing ones." After noting that female veterans say this will be effective, KOSA quotes Sharon Settles, who works at the Big Spring hospital. Settles said VA wants to show female veterans what benefits they "have and make up for all those years that female veterans didn't get the care that they deserved."

10.                       Prince William And His Wife Attend Job Fair For Vets. NBC Nightly News On Sunday, "Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, spent part" of their last day on a visit to North America by visiting a "Hollywood sound stage filled with 1,700 veterans and military spouses looking for work." According to NBC, 160 employers were at the job fair, which was put on by an organization called Mission Serve. Ross Cohen, the organization's director, praised the royal couple for attending the vent, adding "It's enormous that they're here. They are a military family. And they're the most celebrated military family in the world."

11.                       First VA Colonoscopy Case Goes To Trial After Miami Vet Contracted Hepatitis C.  Miami Herald "A Coral Gables veteran who filed a $30 million medical malpractice lawsuit charging that an improper colonoscopy at the Miami Veterans' Administration hospital gave him life-threatening hepatitis C heads to Miami federal court Monday in the first of what could be dozens of similar trials." The 69-year-old Robert Metzler is one of more than "11,000 US veterans" who "received colonoscopies with improperly cleaned equipment at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., between 2004 and 2009." Miami Assistant US Attorney Lawrence Rosen, "who's defending the VA, declined to comment" on the Metzler case.

12.                       Goodwill Helps Veterans Get Back To Work. Abilene (TX) Reporter-News  "Goodwill West Texas...has aided countless veterans locally." Since "2009, the Texas Veterans Commission has awarded $15.5 million to nonprofit organizations in support of veteran services through the Fund for Veterans' Assistance." Goodwill West Texas has received some of that money, allowing the "local nonprofit organization to create an employment program that not only puts veterans to work at Goodwill, but equips them for jobs all around town."

13.                       Questions Swirl After Vet Falls From NY Coaster. AP  "A 208-foot-tall roller coaster in upstate New York remained closed Sunday amid questions about the falling death of an Iraq war veteran who lost both his legs to a roadside bomb and the decision to allow him on the ride. Sgt. James Thomas Hackemer was ejected Friday from the Ride of Steel coaster at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort, located between Buffalo and Rochester." Hackemer's "relatives have said they don't hold the park responsible for his death." In commenting on her brother's disability, Jody Hackemer said, "James thought it wasn't an issue." The AP added, however, that people without both legs are not allowed to ride two other roller coasters at the park where Hackemer died.

14.                       Church Takes Up Former Combat Cameraman's Cause. McClatchy On Sunday, US Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) "took a Miami military veteran facing possible deportation and federal prosecution to church...and fired up fellow worshippers to turn out en masse at his trial on charges of lying on a passport application." Navy Reserve Petty Officer Elisha Leo Dawkins, who served in Iraq, "grew up in Wilson's district, and he and Wilson never met before Sunday in the front pew of New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church." But the lawmaker has "embraced his cause, writing to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and introducing him at the church as a hero who deserves neither deportation to the Bahamas nor prosecution for the alleged passport violation in 2006."

15.                       Local Group Wins Knoxville Veterans Home Property.  Radio Iowa "A group led by the former president of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce has been granted the lease to the 163-acre" Veterans Affairs hospital campus in Knoxville. The hospital "closed in December of 2009." David Huffman with the VA's Central Iowa Health Care System "isn't sure how this new group plans to use the 39 buildings" in the Knoxville VA complex.

16.                       Welcome Home, Vets. Grass Valley (CA) Union "Grass Valley clinical and forensic psychologist Page Brown has been working under contract with the VA since 1997 to offer therapy to local combat veterans experiencing" post-traumatic stress disorder. The VA "contract that Brown works under allows for only one year of subsidized counseling. Because of this, Brown, along with Marriage and Family Therapist Mark Thielen, has formed a non-profit organization they call Welcome Home Vets to help 'provide an additional layer of treatment.'"

17.                       Mobilizing Counseling Services For Rural Veterans. West Yellowstone (MT) News The office run by Veterans Affairs employees John Viviano and Douglas Bell has "helped servicemen and women cut down on travel costs and the time it takes to attend counseling services." Viviano is the "proud driver and operator of MVC 0829, one of 50 Mobile Vet Centers in the lower 48 states. Montana is home to two of the centers based out of Billings and Missoula."

18.                       Paws For Emphasis. Charleston (WV) Gazette Veteran Ryan Mullins, who developed post-traumatic stress disorder, found help though a psychiatric rehabilitative assistance dog. The dog was "trained by a group of inmates at the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, Greenbrier County, through the Paws4People Foundation. The Northern Virginia-based nonprofit group" places "animals with veterans, children and others with physical, neurological, psychological or emotional disabilities."

19.                       Survivors Release Grief, Balloons At TAPS Seminar. Killeen (TX) Daily News  "Hundreds of red and blue dots soared across the Central Texas sky Saturday afternoon as military family members released balloons, as well as some grief, in remembrance of their fallen loved ones at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors seminar at Fort Hood." TAPS, a "nonprofit veteran's service organization, hosts national and regional events for children, spouses, parents and other loved ones who lost a military member in combat or due to an accident, illness, suicide or other cause. This was the third year the program was hosted at Fort Hood, and it was sponsored by the Fort Hood USO, Armed Services YMCA and Association of the US Army, and the Copperas Cove and Killeen Walmarts."

20.                       Marine Veteran Honored For His Service During Wars And Since. Dallas Morning News .

21.                       Auburn Vet Among First To Get New Prosthetic. Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

22.                       African American Civil War Museum To Reopen In New, Larger DC Site Near U Street Memorial.  AP

23.                       4th Dog Joins Pet Therapy Unit Serving Patients At Walter Reed And Bethesda Military Hospitals.  AP