VA HQ Veterans News for Tuesday, August 23, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ.

 

1.      Judge seeks settlement in VA discrimination suit.  Houston Chronicle  A federal judge on Monday asked attorneys for several veterans groups and the US Department of Veterans Affairs to work toward settling a lawsuit accusing Houston VA officials of religious discrimination. ...

 

2.      VA to build new medical campus at Fort McPherson.  Atlanta Journal Constitution
Details of the US Department of Veterans Affairs' plan come as the military continues preparations to shut down Fort McPherson in mid-September as part of the years-old “Base Realignment and Closure” program. Less than 150 workers are still on the ...

 

3.      Plan would convert Atlanta fort into health campus.  Houston Chronicle  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that plans by the US Department of Veterans Affairs come as the military prepares to shut down Fort McPherson in mid-September as part of the government's Base Realignment and Closure ...

 

4.      Lockheed Agrees To Acquire Medical-Services Company QTC.  Wall Street Journal
(LMT) agreed Monday to acquire QTC Holdings Inc. for an undisclosed sum, adding a major contractor for the US Department of Veterans Affairs to the defense contractor's holdings. Many defense contractors have been aggressively seeking acquisitions in ...

 

5.      VA will test cloud-based collaboration tools for physicians.  Government Health IT – The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to make commercial cloud-based software-as-a-service collaborative tools available for its physicians, seeking to improve communications while also reducing data breaches. ...

 

6.      VA center in Leavenworth hiring 400.  Kansas City Star  One of the best hiring opportunities in the region is quietly under way in Leavenworth, where the US Department of Veterans Affairs is filling up to 400 positions. The Central Plains Consolidated Patient Account Center, a plum awarded ...

 

7.       Tuition assistance, benefits changes take effect.  Providence Journal  Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki has announced nearly $60 million in homeless prevention grants to serve about 22000 homeless and at-risk families as part of the new Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. ...

 

8.      Veteran takes on mowing duties at local historic site.  Chillicothe Gazette  Now he works as a photographer for the Chillicothe VA Medical Center, a job he's had for almost 20 years. As a young lance corporal in the US Marine Corps, Hatton was injured in Operation Dewey Canyon, the Marines' last major offensive of the war. ...

 

9.      Property tax benefit extended for surviving spouses of disabled veterans.  Coon Rapids ECM Publishers  “The families of our Minnesota Veterans also pay a price for their service to our nation,” said Myron Frans, state revenue commissioner. “Extending this program for surviving spouses when a Veteran dies is one way to show our gratitude for their ...

 

10.  Raising Awareness. Ashland (KY) Daily Independent Mitzi Sinnott would be "running, swmming and biking for a cause" when she participated Sunday "in the Athleta Iron Girl Columbian Triathlon...in Columbia, Md." Sinnott's cause is "to increase awareness of female veterans who are becoming homeless after returning from the war in Iraq." As "author and performer of the one-woman play 'Snapshot: A True Story of Love interruped by Invasion,' she shares the story of her father, a veteran of the Vietnam War, his experience with post-traumatic stress disorder and the effect it had on their family."

 

11.  Bartlett Quadriplegic Veteran Gets Gold In Wheelchair Games.  Chicago Daily Herald  46-year-old Robert Arciola, a quadriplegic veteran, "participated in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games earlier this month in Pennsylvania, where he placed first in three different competitions." He was one of about "600 veterans" who participated in the event. Arciola "has been involved in several community organizations, most notably Paralyzed Veterans of America, which puts on the Wheelchair Games along with the US Department of Veterans Affairs."

 

12.  Veterans Affairs To Provide Transportation For Event. Waterbury (CT) Republican-American   Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs "expects 1,000 veterans in need of housing and other services will converge on the State Veterans Home Sept. 9," when the "16th annual 'Stand Down'" will be held. The event "features a host of public and private agencies offering services to veterans in need." Free "transportation has been arranged from communities across the state including Naugatuck, Terryville, Torrington and Waterbury."

 

13.  Baldwin County Commission Praised For Efforts To Establish Veterans Cemetery.  Baldwin County (AL) News  "The Baldwin County Commission's effort to create the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery garnered one of three statewide awards presented by the Association of County Commissions of Alabama. The Commission received the 20th Annual Award for Excellence in County Government – Urban Category." The "award honors special efforts of county commissions to meet the needs of their communities using innovative methods."

 

14.  More Excuses And Delays From The VA. New York Times  "It has been more than three months since a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accused the Department of Veterans Affairs of 'unchecked incompetence' and unconscionable delays in caring for veterans with mental health problems. Instead of working with the plaintiffs to address the court's concerns, the VA is appealing the ruling." This "cannot continue," argues the Times, because such "delays are adding insult" to vets with mental health injuries.

 

15.  Pentagon, Scarred By 9/11, Adapts Quickly To New Fight Against Terrorists.  AP "The Sept. 11 attacks transformed the Pentagon, ravaging the iconic building itself and setting the stage for two long and costly wars that reordered the way the American military fights," taking it from a defensive to an offensive approach. A decade later, the "Pentagon's leaders will have to adjust to a new era of austerity after a decade in which the defense budget doubled, to nearly $700 billion this year." Soldiers also "face an uncertain future; many are scarred by the mental strains of battle, and some face transition to civilian life at a time of economic turmoil and high unemployment." The AP also notes that the cost of caring for veterans is expected to increase in the future.

 

16.  New VA Medical Center Is "Going To Be A Dandy," Federal Official Promises. New Orleans Times-Picayune "As the University Medical Center governing board wrestles with the financing and scope of a planned state teaching hospital in Mid-City, federal authorities are quietly approaching the start of major construction for an adjacent Veterans Affairs Medical Center that will replace the downtown VA hospital that has been closed since Hurricane Katrina struck six years ago. 'We are ready and we will be open in 2014,' said Julie Catellier, director of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System." According to the Times-Picayune, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki visited New Orleans last week and said the new hospital will "be a dandy. New Orleans and the state of Louisiana will be proud."

 

17.  Iraq Vet Criticizes Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program. ABC World News As part of the US military's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, "soldiers are encouraged to analyze their own spirituality." The "military says no soldier is required to follow the program's tips for spiritual fitness, though it stands by the assessment, which it calls valuable in treating the stress of war." For "avowed atheist" and Iraq veteran Dustin Chalker, the "program is actually a thinly veiled religious endorsement." The military, however, "says no soldier is required to follow the program's tips for spiritual fitness, though it stands by the assessment, which it calls valuable in treating the stress of war."

 

18.  Marine From Loudoun County Stars In Documentary About Recovery.  Washington Post  Rob Jones, a US Marine who lost most of both legs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, "and his friend Ivan Kander grew up in western Loudoun County making movies together." After Jones' injury, Kander made a film about his friend's recovery. The Post adds, "'Survive. Recover. Live. - The Rob Jones Story' was screened July 22 at Loudoun Valley High School, from which they both graduated in 2003. Hundreds of people came, raising more than $4,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, Kander said."

 

19.  Contractors Wrangling Over Coveted Veterans Affairs Program. Washington Post "For one valuable Department of Veterans Affairs information technology program, the awards have been made but the fighting has just begun. Losing contractors are wrangling over the technology and telecommunications program, filing protests with the Government Accountability Office and even looking to the Court of Federal Claims in an effort to stake out a spot on the contract vehicle worth up to $12 billion. The contention over" the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) program "reflects a more competitive contracting environment" in a time of concern about future spending cuts.

 

20.  VA Sets Boundaries On Social Media Use. Federal Times  "The Veterans Affairs Department wants employees to use Facebook and other social media tools to get information out - but within certain boundaries. Under a new policy released last week," VA employees "must...draw a 'clear distinction' between their personal views and professional duties when dealing with the public online." Brandon Friedman, VA's director of online communications, said in a news release that the policy is "about getting the right information to the right veteran at the right time."

 

21.  Douglas County Fallen Veterans Honored By Motorcycle Ride. Roseburg (OR) News-Review  "A passing glance at the crowd gathered Saturday morning at the Roseburg National Cemetery revealed about 300 leather-clad, rough-and-tumble bikers." But as the bikers "surrounded the grave site of a fallen soldier, several" of them "shed their tough exteriors and wiped tears from their eyes. A touching ceremony marked the beginning of a two-day motorcycle ride across Oregon, bringing motorcycle riders to seven hometowns of soldiers lost to war."

 

22.  New Gravestones Mark Region Civil War Veterans' Sacrifices. Northwest Indiana Times  "Lake and Porter County graves" of "six region Civil War veterans...received new government-issued granite headstones this past weekend as part of a region historical preservation project." The new headstones "are among 29 that have been obtained from the US Department of Veterans Affairs by the Calumet Region Civil War Preservation Project. The group of private businesses, local historians, cemetery administrators and veteran descendants is commemorating the Civil War sesquicentennial by seeking replacement headstones for old marble government markers that have faded, become broken or gone missing during the past century."

 

23.  Blues Power Gives Veterans A Lift At Hampton's VA Hospital. Newport News (VA) Daily Press On August 6th, blues harmonica player Tom Dikon visited the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center and gave patients there who are "dealing with post traumatic stress, substance abuse and mental illness" a "free class in Blues Harmonica 101. Thanks to a gift from the Hohner harmonica company, each patient was able to leave with a mouth harp of his own."

 

24.  AL Post 91 Gives $41K For Veterans. Easton (MD) Star Democrat  Members "of the American Legion Dorchester Post 91 in Cambridge recently donated more than $41,000 to the Veterans Affairs (VA) Maryland Health Care System to benefit veteran patients throughout the state." Some of the money was for televisions to be installed "at the Baltimore and Perry Point VA medical centers," while some of it was donated to "support the purchase of a television, refrigerator and patient care equipment for the Cambridge VA Outpatient Clinic." The Star Democrat added, "'The continued generosity of community and Veterans service organizations, such as the American Legion Dorchester Post 91, make it possible for our health care organization to enhance the services and programs we provide to Maryland's Veterans,' said R. David Edwards, chief of public and community relations for the VA Maryland Health Care System."

 

25.  Canes To Be Presented To Vets Monday.  Chillicothe (OH) Gazette Several disabled veterans at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Chillicothe "will benefit from the work of wood carving groups in central Ohio. In a special presentation Monday morning, more than 40 canes will be presented to veterans being treated" at the hospital. The "canes were created by wood carving groups at the Upper Arlington Senior Center, at the Whetstone Recreation Center and in the Dublin area as part of a service project."

 

26.  Walk For The Fallen Held On Milwaukee VA Hospital Grounds. WISN-TV On the grounds of the Veterans Affairs hospital in Milwaukee on Sunday, "families...who have lost loved ones in the military walked to remember those heroes." WISN added, "Several families attended the Walk for the Fallen," both at the VA hospital "and across the state" of Wisconsin. The "Walk for the Fallen's goal is to have all 50 states take part in the event."

 

27.  Police, Firefighters To Square Off In Charity Cage Match. Baltimore Sun  On September 30th, "Baltimore police and firefighters will be pummeling each other inside" a mixed martial arts "cage – for charity." Among those scheduled to fight is 64-year-old Vietnam vet Regis Flynn, a "lieutenant in the special investigations section of the Police Department, who will spar with a firefighter who is 20 years his junior" Flynn "said he's dedicating the fight to God, his family, the Police Department, and Vietnam veterans, 'many of us who were treated so badly when we came back.'"