Energy Department: Troops to Energy: With the unemployment rate high among post-9/11 Vets, the Department of Energy instituted a new program: Troops to Energy. Energy’s goal is to provide Vets with career training and to enter the energy industry. Learn more at VAntage Point

 

Prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones and for our dear Troops and their loved ones everywhere.

 

Best...............Wayne

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VA Vets News for Thursday, July 14, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!

 

1.    Disabled Lee vet at bat: Has practice with Red Sox hitting coach.  Foster's Daily Democrat  The veterans who participated in the camp are from "Team Chowdah" and were united through the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) New England Adaptive Sports Program undefined operated through the VA Boston Healthcare System. ... 

2.    Homeless Female Vets Stand Down.  Gazette Newspapers  According to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, female veterans are twice as likely to become homeless after they serve their duty. The VA estimates that 6500 female veterans sleep on the streets, in cars or shelters each night. ... 

3.    Veteran Trauma Court serves local veterans.  Schriever Air Force Base  This dream life may be just that for some veterans, a distant dream. According to a United States Department of Veteran's Affairs study in 2006, approximately 76309 veterans live in the Colorado Springs Metro Area. According to El Paso county officials ... 

4.    Lawmakers help fund veterans' home.  St. George Daily Spectrum  "Things are moving along pretty well, and we've raised pretty close to $100000 from communities down there," said Dennis McFall, Utah Veteran Affairs deputy director and former Army sergeant who is leading the project for the state VA. ... 

5.    Grinder discusses Afghanistan, progress for veterans.  The Tennessean  Of the 500000 veterans in Tennessee, more than 12000 are in Sumner, according to information from the state drawn from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and US Census data. Reporter Sarah Kingsbury can be contacted at 575-7161 or ... 

6.    Bill Would Help NC's Homeless Veterans.  WHQR Public Radio  - Helping Our Homeless Veterans Act is a bill now in the Senate Committee of Veteran's Affairs. WHQR's Roderick McClain reports that if passed, the legislation would allow the VA to partner with state, local, tribal, and community ... 

7.    Working together to help veterans.  Superior Telegram  The DAV Department of Minnesota is donating two new 12-passenger vans to the program that transports veterans from the Twin Ports VA Outreach Clinic to the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. (Maria Lockwood) Disabled American Veterans (DAV) stands behind ... 

8.    Obama Presents Medal Of Honor To Wounded Soldier.  AP  A "sobering moment toward the end of a moving ceremony at the White House Tuesday." This is the "'stuff of which heroes are made,' the president declared, before reaching out and shaking Petry's gray, robotic hand, which helped the soldier to remain active in the military and even redeploy to Afghanistan." After the ceremony, Petry told reporters that he considers "every one of our men and women in uniform serving here, abroad, to be our heroes. They sacrifice every day and deserve your continued support and recognition."  USA Today During Tuesday's ceremony, Obama said, "Today, we honor a single act of gallantry," but "this is also an occasion to pay tribute to a soldier and a generation that has borne the burden of our security during a hard decade of sacrifice." USA Today adds, "Veterans groups have pressed the Pentagon and White House to award" the Medal of Honor, "typically given posthumously in recent years, to surviving troops." Petry is "only the second living Medal of Honor recipient from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

 

9.    Pentagon Explanation For MOH Decisions Criticized.  New York Times National Advisory Board for Blue Star Families member Rebekah Sanderlin says there are a "scant number of Medal of Honor recipients among contemporary veterans." Pentagon officials maintain this is "because we are relying more on technology these days and are, therefore, less likely to have heroics on the battlefield - an explanation so obtuse as to be offensive." Sanderlin adds, "Our newspapers should...be filled with the inspiring accounts of soldiers" like Sgt. Petry and Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, another recent living Medal of Honor recipient.

 

10.                       VA To Expand Health Data Exchange In September. NextGov  "The Veterans Affairs Department this fall will expand a program to exchange health care information with the Pentagon and private sector providers. The department plans to start testing the program in 11 geographical regions in September, up from the current five, according to a fact sheet prepared for a July 26 industry conference." NextGov adds, "The exchange is part of VA's Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record project," which aims to "give service members and veterans a unified account" their health and benefits information.

 

11.                       Shaft Notes: VA Reaching Out To Women Vets. Washington Times The Department of Veterans Affairs has "embarked on a major initiative to reach out to women veterans in order to solicit their input on ways to enhance the health care services VA provides to women veterans." In a press release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki stated, "We are taking a proactive approach to enhancing VA health care for women veterans." The Times pointed out that representatives "at VA's Health Resource Center (HRC) are placing calls to women veterans nationwide, asking them to share their experiences with VA and suggest potential enhancements that will further VA's mission to provide the best care anywhere."

 

12.                       Study Finds Link Between PTSD, Compromised Immune Systems In Veterans.  Spartanburg (SC) Times And Democrat  "Preliminary results of a study show a link between post-traumatic stress disorder and compromised immune system in war veterans diagnosed" with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study, "conducted by researchers at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and Arnold School of Public Health, and the Dorn VA Medical Center, shows that PTSD patients have increased levels of inflammation, caused by an increase in certain types of cells that regulate the immune functions. The results are significant because they could lead to novel methods for diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, said Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti, associate dean and Carolina Distinguished Professor at the USC medical school, who is the lead researcher in this study."

 

13.                       Tricare, VA Tout Telehealth Apps. Government Health IT  "Tricare and the Department of Veterans Affairs" each recently "detailed a new mobile health offering." On Thursday, Tricare "aligned with Express Scripts to deliver the free Tricare Express Rx application and accompanying mobile-optimized website, which the organizations claim will enable beneficiaries using GPS smartphones to manage prescriptions, access health information, locate the nearest pharmacy in their network, or order home delivery and check status." GHIT added, "The VA on Thursday, for its part, gave an Innovation Initiative (VAi2) award to American Telecare (ATI) for its telehealth product for VA patients at risk for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)."

 

14.                       Navy Photographer Settles Passport Fraud Case. Miami Herald

 

15.                       "No Man Is Beyond Redemption," Judge Says In Granting Citizenship.  Courthouse News Service

 

16.                       Mt. Morris Floral Company Donates 600 Flower Arrangements To Saginaw VA Hospital For Make Someone Smile Week.  Saginaw (MI) News

 

17.                       Children's Development Center Of Raynham Kids Make Cards For Local Veterans.  Taunton (MA) Gazette

 

18.                       Mobile Vet Center Visits County.  Siskiyou (CA) Daily News

 

19.                       Helping Veterans Live Independently.  Half Hollow Hills (NY) Patch

 

20.                       East Bay Vets' Fair Offers Help With Jobs, Benefits. Contra Costa Times

 

21.                       Yellow Ribbon Program Aids Veterans.  Fort Bragg (NC) Patch

 

22.                       Program Aims To Help Area Veterans. Martinsville (VA) Bulletin

 

23.                       Miramar Marines Help Prepare For Stand Down. KGTV-TV

 

24.                       Local Vets Undergo PT On The Water. WHEC-TV

 

25.                       Services For Disabled Veterans Hit The Road. WBOY-TV

 

26.                       New Program Allows Disabled Soldiers To Get Benefits Sooner. KSWO-TV  

 

27.                       Unemployment Numbers For Veterans Reaches Record High. WLNE-TV

 

28.                       Bikers Rev Up Their Engines For Veterans. KAIT-TV