VA HQ Veterans News for Thursday, Nov 17, 2011.  Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ.

1. The fight goes on for this Air Force veteran.  Allentown Morning Call  The US Department of Veterans Affairs considers him to be 70 percent disabled from injuries and conditions he suffered while enlisted, qualifying him for monthly disability benefits. Berger believes he should be rated as totally and permanently ...

 

2. Repeal of Withholding Rule Cleared by House for Obama to Sign.  BusinessWeek
It would be offset by limiting pensions to veterans with no dependents or those in Medicaid-covered nursing homes and by allowing the US Department of Veterans Affairs to collect fees on mortgages. The 3 percent withholding measure is among several ...

 

3. Women Veterans Rock!  Washington Informer  Many tributes and ceremonies took place on the Veterans Day holiday celebrating and honoring our nation's more than 24 million military veterans. Included in that number were, according to US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), ...

 

4. GFI Innovations hires veterans.  Labels and Labeling  GFI Innovations has hired assembly workers from the VA (US Department of Veteran Affairs) who served in the armed forces and are in need of work. The veterans will assemble Mx-Series dispensers which enable printers to manufacture ink on their ...

 

5. Norfolk sheriff holds workshop for jailed veterans in Dedham.  Boston.com  He thanked the veterans saying, “I am free because of you guys.” Other agencies included the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Massachusetts Veterans Services, the Division of Employment and Training, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, ...

 

6. Critics: Fort Carson policy targeted troubled, wounded soldiers.  Army Cpl. Joshua Smith was awarded the Army's highest award for noncombat heroism, but when he tested positive for cocaine, the Army moved quickly to drum him out of the service. Critics claim this became unofficial policy at Fort Carson for wounded troops accused of minor misconduct.

 

7. LZ Albany: The forgotten battle.  Thursday marks the anniversary of the ambush near LZ Albany, the second and largely forgotten half of the Vietnam War battle of the Ia Drang Valley in 1965.

 

8. Coalition raising $3 million to help AmeriCorps serve vets and their families.  Roberta, BobbieDavis was in Washington last week as a coalition of government and private groups announced the launch of a new program called VetCorps, which aims to recruit at least 100 veterans like Davis to serve in AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA.

 

9.   Bennet Discusses Student Life, New GI Bill with CSU Vets.  KUNC  The US Department of Veterans Affairs has come a long way in administering government scholarship money for veterans. That was one of the conclusions from a roundtable held by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet today on the Colorado State ...

 

10.               VA Touts Research Department's Newest Efforts.  Stars And Stripes  Veterans Affairs "researchers have a prosthetic arm that patients can control just by thinking about it. It's called brain-computer interface, according to Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA's chief research and development officer." Stars And Stripes adds, "That 'proof of concept' limb is just one of the 2,100 projects being developed by VA researchers, who" on Tuesday "gave media a quick overview of their long-term goals and short-term successes."

 

11.               The Department Of Veterans Affairs Says A Tracking System Is Helping It Meet I.T. Milestones.  Health Data Management  "With its rate of on-schedule information technology projects under 30 percent in mid-2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs launched a tracking system called the Performance Management and Accountability System. During fiscal year 2011, ending on Sept. 30, the VA hit 89 percent of its I.T. milestones." Health Data Management adds, "The agency says use of the new system to manage the halted projects resulted in cost avoidance savings of $200 million."

 

12.               Website Offers Help To Veteran's Families And Friends Dealing With Problems.  Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record  "A free one-hour training simulation meant to help friends and families of veterans identify problems and deal with post-deployment life has been launched online. The simulation, available at www.familyofheroes.com, was launched on Veterans Day by the VA New York/New Jersey Healthcare Network and is offered to veterans' families in the metropolitan New York and New Jersey area." Nancy Winter, "spokeswoman for the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System in Castle Point said the website is meant to motivate veterans to seek help at the Department of Veterans Affairs."

 

13.               Some Returning Soldiers Face New Battles At Home. KTVU-TV  "Many soldiers will return home" from Iraq and Afghanistan with "some form of emotional trauma." One such person is Alfonso Molina, who "now spends his time at the Palo Alto VA helping other returning soldiers" who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After noting that veteran June Moss said she has gotten help from VA for her PTSD, KTVU added, "Half of combat veterans who need mental health care don't ask for it. At the Palo Alto VA, Anna Coulter works in outreach and she searches for those soldiers." Coulter told KTVU that VA wants to "take care of" such veterans "because they've done so much for their country."

 

14.               New Complex Aids Injured, Ill Ft. Campbell Soldiers.  WKRN-TV  "On Tuesday, Fort Campbell officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new complex that will help aid injured, ill and wounded soldiers." The Warrior Transition Battalion Complex, which cost $31.6 million, "features an administrative building and specially designed barracks that can house more than 200 people. According to Major General James McConville everything at the complex is designed for healing, physically as well as mentally."

 

15.               South Dakota Veterans Get Mental Care Sooner.  Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader "South Dakota's veterans have a shorter wait for mental health care than patients in many states, according to an analysis by USA Today." The latter "newspaper reported last week that veterans seeking therapy at nearly one-third of VA hospitals and clinics wait three to six weeks to begin treatment, far longer than the VA's stated goal of seeing patients within 14 days or less." The Argus Leader added, "In Sioux Falls, veterans with serious mental health issues can walk in to the VA Medical Center's primary care unit and be seen by a psychiatrist or psychologist within an hour, said Jerry Buchkoski, chief of outpatient mental health services."

 

16.               "Make The Connection" Creates Awareness For Veterans.  Clarksville (TN) Leaf Chronicle  "Make the Connection is a public awareness campaign by the US Department of Veterans Affairs that provides personal testimonials from other veterans and resources to help veterans discover ways to improve their lives." Hopwood adds, "Central to this campaign is http://maketheconnection.net/, a one-stop online resource where veterans and their families and friends can privately explore information about physical and mental health symptoms, challenging life events, and mental health conditions. This site provides a wide variety of information about available resources and support, both inside the VA and out."

 

17.               Disgover.com Could Clear Calendars Of Boring Office Meetings.  AOL Government "Disgover.com, a relatively new social networking and collaboration tool," is being used by some government agencies, including Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department, which "tapped into Disgover.com to plan a unified Electronic Health Record (iEHR) system where DOD medical records would be transitioned to the VA when a soldier is discharged and moved into the VA's health system." AOL Government added, "The VA has been rolling out Disgover.com in many other collaborative ways, too, including uniting members of the Office of Information Technology. It's being used by more than 8,000 VA employees to talk to each other, brainstorm and bring an idea from the drawing board to the user."

 

18.               Advocate Says VA "Working Tirelessly" To Shelter Homeless Vets.  Huffington Post  "Combat ought to be the most difficult experience our nation's veterans ever endure, and yet many go on to become homeless for eight or nine times the length of their deployments. That is the key finding of a new report by the 100,000 Homes Campaign detailing the widespread health crisis facing America's 76,000 homeless veterans." But "thanks to the work of the Obama administration and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the number of homeless veterans has already dropped from about 195,000 to about 76,000, and the VA is working tirelessly to bring that figure below 59,000 by the end of June 2012."

 

19.               Watertown VA Outpatient Clinic To Accept Applications For Caregiver Support.  Watertown (NY) Daily Times  "Caregivers need caregivers, too. That is the message the Department of Veterans Affairs wants to get out to north country residents who are caregivers for veterans." The Daily Times quotes Cheryl M. Cox, VA's Syracuse-area caregiver support coordinator, who said, "I think a lot of people don't know there are programs and services to help with what the caregivers face."

 

20.               Training Helps Veterans Transition To Fighting Wildfires.  Prescott (AZ) Daily Courier  "A new program on Arizona's national forests is trying to help put a dent in the high unemployment rate for young veterans while fostering environmental conservation education. The Veterans Fire Corps program hired veterans who formed teams of wildland firefighters to help with prescribed burns and brush thinning on the Prescott and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests, with the help of the Student Conservation Association." Veterans working with the program "also helped build...trails."

 

21.               Bargainers Agree To Raise Size Of FHA-Backed Loans.  AP  "Congressional bargainers have agreed to increase the size of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration in a compromise being hailed by the housing industry but criticized by conservatives. Under the deal by House and Senate negotiators, the FHA would be able to insure mortgages worth up to $729,750 in the most expensive regions of the US for the next two years." But "in a bow to conservatives, the bargainers would not increase the current $625,500 limit on mortgages that can be backed in expensive communities by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage giants, and by the Veterans Affairs Department."

 

22.               Spirit Inspires Saddlemaker.  Daily Astorian  Female veteran Elsa Nethercot "suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder" after being sexually assaulted twice in the US Coast Guard, "discovered a therapeutic outlet that helped her gain self confidence and a sense of acceptance." Nethercot's made a saddle for her horse, and that "saddle took home a gold medal in the applied art mixed-media category at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. The event is sponsored by the US Department of Veterans Affairs."

 

23.               Jacksonville Reacts To Semper Fi: Always Faithful Documentary.  Jacksonville (NC) Daily News   "The Wilmington-based non-profit organization Working Films gave a special screening of the film Semper Fi: Always Faithful to an audience of around 100 people at Northside High School Sunday afternoon. The documentary highlighted Jerry Ensminger's tenacity in pushing forward information about drinking water contamination aboard Camp Lejeune that has affected thousands people for several decades." A "panel discussion followed the screening where those in attendance could give comments and ask questions," and several people shared "their stories or their anger and frustrations," while others "wanted to know how and where to get help."

 

24.               "Poster Girl" Film Brings Awareness Of PTSD In War Veterans.  Rocky Mountain Collegian  "In an attempt to increase awareness" of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans, Rocky Mountain College student Ethan Gordon "said he came across the documentary 'Poster Girl,' which depicts the struggle of a female Iraqi war veteran named Robynn Murray. 'I found this movie and presented it to the Student Veterans Organization and we presented it to Campus Activities through ASAP to provide the funding and resources to bring it to campus,' Gordon said."

 

25.               VA Providing Free Meals And Spending Money To Eligible Homeless Veterans. Washington Times "Sgt. Shaft" column, the US Department of Veterans Affairs is "reaching out to homeless veterans by providing free meals and spending money to eligible homeless veterans." The "free meals will be offered at Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) cafeterias to homeless veterans attending their first VA medical appointment, and new veterans participating in the Housing and Urban Development and VA Supportive Housing program." The column points out that in a news release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency is "committed to ending homelessness for our veterans who defended our nation. As part of that effort, I am pleased the Canteen Service has added these incentives that help veterans get off the streets and into the care and housing they need."

 

26.               Help Design Arizona Women-Veterans License Plate.  Arizona Republic

 

27.               Women Veteran License Plates Available Dec. 7.  Gardnerville (NV) Record Courier

 

28.               "Stolen Valor" Convict Back In Jail.  San Antonio (TX) Express-News (

 

29.               Taming The Beast Of Trauma, Veterans Forge Partnerships.  Buffalo (NY) News

 

30.               Shriners Salute Military Veterans.  Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune