VA Veterans News for Saturday, June 16, 2012.  Thanks to Kevin Secor, VA VSO Liaison.

 

1.     Detroit to Host Veterans' Assistance Events. 

2.     VA to contractor: Hurry up on medical center or lose the contract. 

3.     VA threatens Orlando hospital contractor. 

4.     Coatesville's VA center's mission is to improve services. 

5.     Local Vets Fight Against Cutbacks at Montrose VA. 

6.     Veterans Affairs Department to add mental health staff in Michigan. 

7.     Nebraska vets home receives top score on survey. 

8.     VA Cemetery project moving forward. 

9.     Dying Minnesota Guardsman says goodbye. 

10.  Army veteran wants to educate public on using service dogs. 

11.  War of 1812 bicentennial: US shrugs as Canada goes all out. 

12.  Military, NFL team up to reduce shared stigma about concussions. 

13.  Florida McDonald's will not take down its flag. 

14.  Comprehensive Veterans Hiring Handbook Available For Detroit And All Michigan-Based Employers. 

15.  A Plea To Help A Wounded Soldier Appears To Be A Scam. 

16.  VA Secretary Visits Leavenworth. 

17.  VA Research Expands Knowledge Of Brain Injuries. 

18.  DoD Cracks Down On Off-label Drug Use. 

19.  Suicides Eclipse Car Crashes As Top Non-Combat Cause Of US Troop Deaths. 

20.  Ceremony Slated June 18 For Opening Of Veterans Program. 

21.  Army Suicide Prevention Effort Paying Off At JBLM. 

22.  VA On Brain Injuries: Get Some Sleep And You'll Get Over It. 

23.  Financial Study Affirms Cost Savings In VA Health System Restructuring. 

24.  Agent Orange At Base In '80s: US Vet. 

25.  Remains Of Airmen MIA Since 1966 Identified. 

26.  Expo For Veterans, Families To Be Hosted By Bunker Hill Community College. 

27.  CFPB Steps Up Effort To Crackdown On Financial Exploitation Of Seniors. 

28.  The Flag Still Flies. 

29.  Guards Protect Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall During Marine Week In Cleveland. 

30.  Inside The Coming Arlington Cemetery App. 

31.  Project Will Record, Preserve Veterans' Memories Of Service. 

32.  Learning To Live With PTSD. 

33.  VA Medical Center Offers Family Education Session On Schizophrenia. 

34.  Las Vegas Homeless Veterans Surveyed, Helped. 

35.  VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as June 16, 2012:

36.  Today in History:

1.    Detroit to Host Veterans' Assistance Events.  Department of Defense  Detroit's Cobo Center will host three major U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-sponsored events from June 26-29. The VA for ...

 

2.    VA to contractor: Hurry up on medical center or lose the contract.  Central Florida News 13  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is threatening one of the biggest contractors working on the Orlando VA Medical Center. The department said the ...

 

3.    VA threatens Orlando hospital contractor.  Orlando Sentinel  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs warned contractor Brasfield & Gorrie to speed up construction of the Orlando VA hospital or risk losing its contract.

 

4.    Coatesville's VA center's mission is to improve services.  Daily Local News  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki often reminds us: as the tide of war recedes we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, ...

 

5.    Local Vets Fight Against Cutbacks at Montrose VA.  Patch.com  Outrageous and ridiculous are two words that Cortlandt Town Supervisor used to describe the federal Department of Veterans Affairs' now expired plans to ...

 

6.    Veterans Affairs Department to add mental health staff in Michigan.  Petoskey News-Review  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Saginaw announced Tuesday it anticipates an increase of seven clinicians and three support personnel to ...

 

7.    Nebraska vets home receives top score on survey.  Lincoln Journal Star  Nebraska officials said the state's veterans home in ... has received another perfect score from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

8.    VA Cemetery project moving forward.  News Banner  The Federal Department of Veterans Affairs has accepted a draft of the environmental assessment for a proposed cemetery at Camp Villere in Slidell, according ...

 

9.    Dying Minnesota Guardsman says goodbye.  While Minnesota National Guard Lt. Col. Mark Weber has given plenty of speeches — at high schools and elementary schools, Memorial Day and Veterans Day events — he knew this one would probably be the most important. And despite the cancer-related fluid that frequently invades his lungs, he'd have to sing.

 

10.Army veteran wants to educate public on using service dogs.  After being wounded in Iraq, Daniel Smith suffered from PTSD and "started withdrawing from everybody and everything. I got to the point where I couldn't go to the store with my wife. ... I wouldn't go anywhere public because I just didn't feel comfortable around folks I didn't know." Help came to Smith about two years ago in the form of a 69-pound black Labrador named Jefferson Davis.

 

11.War of 1812 bicentennial: US shrugs as Canada goes all out.  When the first big battle of the War of 1812 is re-enacted this fall, the U.S. 1st Artillery regiment will mount an ear-splitting barrage. The Yanks will point their cannons at British redcoats across the Niagara River in Canada. They will wear blue. They will curse King George. Unlike 200 years ago, they will all be Canadians.

 

12.Military, NFL team up to reduce shared stigma about concussions.  Beset by the ongoing concussion issue, the NFL has partnered with the U.S. Army and Marines to try to change attitudes of both athletes and troops toward brain injuries.

 

13.Florida McDonald's will not take down its flag.  McDonald’s will not remove its corporate flag from the same flagpole as the American flag, a request made by local veterans who believe it shows disrespect to the American flag and ignores the U.S. Flag Code.

 

14.Comprehensive Veterans Hiring Handbook Available For Detroit And All Michigan-Based Employers. Huffington Post "Military veterans offer employers the work ethic and unique training that may take your business to the next level," noting that "recent federal and state legislation there are also dollars attached to hiring veterans." Brown notes that the Detroit City Council Taskforce on Military and Veterans Affairs has put out a "comprehensive" guide detailing "the benefits" of hiring veterans, "including the state and federal incentives available to employers." Brown adds that "on a related note, there are 20,500 jobs available for veterans at the upcoming Veterans Hiring Fair at Cobo Center on June 26-28."

 

15.A Plea To Help A Wounded Soldier Appears To Be A Scam. Pensacola(FL) News Journal  "An Internet plea for money to care for a wounded warrior is heart-rending at first glance. The request for donations describes a young soldier who stepped on an improvised explosive device on Mother's Day." However, the request "appears to be fraudulent" as "the sergeant, Chris Fennery, pictured in fatigues doesn't seem to exist in Pentagon records."

 

16.VA Secretary Visits Leavenworth. Leavenworth (KS) Times Secretary Shinseki, who visited Eisenhower VA Medical Center on Tuesday, says there are efforts "under way" to connect the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments so that military personnel are made aware of VA programs. During his visit, Shinseki also "said he likes to hear about issues local department officials are dealing with when visiting VA facilities." He said he spoke with officials at the Eisenhower VA Medical Center about homelessness and women's programs. According to the Times, Shinseki "said the fact that homelessness is an issue proves VA officials are not perfect." Shinseki said that dealing with the problem of "veterans slipping through" will require the VA to improve as an organization.

 

17.VA Research Expands Knowledge Of Brain Injuries. Pagosa Springs (CO) Sun "Two studies announced last week by Department of Veterans Affairs may help develop new diagnostics, therapeutics, and rehabilitation strategies for treating blast-related traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), while improving technology that restores independence and mobility for people with paralysis or limb-loss." One study "indicates the use of an investigational brain-computer interface system provided two people with paralyzed limbs the power of mind over body," while the second study provides "further evidence that exposure to a single bomb blast may cause a progressive degenerative disease of the brain linked to repetitive brain trauma." Secretary Shinseki is quoted saying, "These studies are just the latest example of the world-class VA research that reaches beyond veterans. ... As with so much of VA research, the impact will be felt not just through improved care for veterans but for all Americans."

 

18.DoD Cracks Down On Off-label Drug Use. Air Force Times Pentagon's removal of Seroquel, also called quetiapine, from its approved formulary list. The article cites Stan White, whose son, Marine Cpl. Andrew White, "died Feb. 12, 2008, at age 23 from a lethal combination of medications prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly clonazepam, quetiapine and paroxetine - the latter two known to sometimes affect the heart's regular rhythm." The article reports that "questions have been raised over" Seroquel's rise in popularity, noting that "in April 2010, manufacturer Astra-Zeneca agreed to pay $520 million to the federal government to settle a civil suit alleging that it illegally marketed Seroquel for a host of off-label uses such as Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, PTSD and sleeplessness." Citing the AP, the article notes that "the Pentagon spent $8.6 million on the drug, while the Veterans Affairs Department spent $125.4 million."

 

19.Suicides Eclipse Car Crashes As Top Non-Combat Cause Of US Troop Deaths.  Time  "For years, motor-vehicle accidents have killed more US troops than any other non-combat cause." But "that changed Wednesday" with May's issue of the Pentagon's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, "which tracks trends in troops' ailments and medical care." According to Time, "in the dry and clinical prose favored by the medical community, the report said that in each of the past two years, more troops have died at their own hands than in motor-vehicle accidents." Time notes that at a Wednesday hearing, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) was unimpressed with Defense Secretary Panetta's offer to hold a meeting with Secretary Shinseki to "walk through the steps we're taking" to reduce suicides. Responded Murray, "Sitting down and talking with Secretary Shinseki is something we've been hearing for a long time. ... As we transition now out of Afghanistan, this is not going to get more simple...I want more than a meeting."

 

20.Ceremony Slated June 18 For Opening Of Veterans Program. Charleston (WV) State Journal  A new program for veterans being introduced at the Northern Panhandle Mental Health and Veterans Treatment Court. According to the State Journal, "The veteran's track is the first program of its kind in the state and is the result of collaboration with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. ... The new program is designed to help nonviolent criminal offenders who have been diagnosed with a mental illness, like posttraumatic stress disorder, so they can receive treatment in lieu of incarceration." Under the program, "each participant will have a court-trained veteran mentor" who "is not part of the treatment team, but is a volunteer who understands what the veteran participant has gone through in combat and the culture of the military."

21.Army Suicide Prevention Effort Paying Off At JBLM. KING-TV  "After a record-setting 12 JBLM soldiers killed themselves in 2011, the Army knew something had to be done." Col. Steven Bullimore, I Corps Chief of Staff, "said soldiers are screened about two times as much as they used to be, and a review board now examines ways to prevent suicides." KING reports that "no JBLM soldiers have committed suicide in 2012," though Bullimore cautions that while the base is "psyched about having an effect," it remains "cautiously optimistic because we realize how fragile this is."

 

22.VA On Brain Injuries: Get Some Sleep And You'll Get Over It. NextGov  A Veterans Affairs "research paper titled Post Deployment Care for Returning Combat Veterans and published Wednesday in the Journal of General Internal Medicine dismisses most cases of traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan and Iraq as 'mild' and says 'most patients recover completely within one to three months.'" TBI "patients, the paper said," should, among other things, "get adequate sleep." Brewin asked, "Has the VA decided to just ignore then signature wound of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars?"

 

23.Financial Study Affirms Cost Savings In VA Health System Restructuring. Rapid City Journal  "A US Department of Veterans Affairs economic analysis has confirmed that restructuring the VA's Black Hills Health Care System would be cheaper and more efficient than trying to fix its aging facilities in Hot Springs." According to the Journal, "If that came as a surprise to anyone involved, they weren't showing it Wednesday, when details of the VA plan were released. That was especially true in Hot Springs, where community leaders are fighting to prevent the closure of the century-old health care facility that shows prominently on a hill above downtown but not so brightly in the VA's future."  AP  "The VA's plan to close its hospital in Hot Springs has met strong local opposition." The AP reports that last year's proposal, which would cost about $149 million, "also would add a clinic in Hot Springs and rebuild facilities in Rapid City," but would cost almost $100 million less than renovating existing facilities in Hot Springs, the VA analysis found.

 

24.Agent Orange At Base In '80s: US Vet. Japan Times  "The US Marine Corps buried a massive stockpile of Agent Orange at the Futenma air station in Okinawa, possibly poisoning the base's former head of maintenance and potentially contaminating nearby residents and the ground beneath the base, The Japan Times recently learned from interviews with US veterans." The Times reports that "the barrels were apparently abandoned in Okinawa at the end of the Vietnam War...and were buried at the installation in the city of Ginowan after the Pentagon ignored requests to safely dispose of them, according to the veterans who served at the installation in the 1970s and 1980s."

25.Remains Of Airmen MIA Since 1966 Identified. Air Force Times  "The Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office has identified remains of two airmen missing in action from the Vietnam War, officials said Thursday." According to the article, "Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling of Phoenix and Maj. Aado Kommendant of Lakewood, N.J., will be honored Aug. 8 at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., in a group burial - the 46th anniversary of the fatal crash. Remains of Walling will also be buried in a separate ceremony Friday at Arlington."

 

26.Expo For Veterans, Families To Be Hosted By Bunker Hill Community College.  Boston Globe  "The Bunker Hill Community College Veterans Center is teaming up with veterans service agencies to host an expo focusing on health, financial, and career assistance." According to the Globe, "More than 40 veterans assistance agencies from the state and local level will be at the expo that his being hosted by the college along with the Veterans Affairs' Boston Healthcare Systems, Bedford VA Medical Center, and the Massachusetts Department of Veteran Services." During the expo, the agencies "will offer health screenings; information about veterans' benefits, health services, financial planning and housing; resume building and career development workshops; and seminars on women's health, family issues and job readiness."

 

27.CFPB Steps Up Effort To Crackdown On Financial Exploitation Of Seniors. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ramping up its efforts to crackdown on scams targeting the elderly, including a focus on those aimed at veterans. Director Richard Cordray announced a call for public comment to assist the effort, saying the agency was especially seeking tips on detecting fraudulent financial advisors. He explained the "amount of money stolen from seniors has risen sharply in recent years," citing a new study that found seniors lost $2.9 billion through financial exploitation in 2010. Outlining planned action in comments at the White House, he added, "silent crime of financially exploiting the elderly is widespread, and it is devastating. It is critical for us to act." The announcement garnered positive comments from elderly advocates in reports, as well as a glowing endorsement from John Wasik in commentary for Forbes. Los Angeles Times  The agency "launched an investigation into the financial abuse of the elderly, citing a new report that advisors, planners, family members and others were ripping off seniors more than ever," with abuse up 12 percent in 2010 from 2008, according to the study released Thursday by Metlife. The CFPB's efforts will involve "looking into the types of scams affecting older Americans and coming up with the best ways to prevent them," with a "specific focus...on the credentials of people who tout themselves as financial advisors." Cordray, speaking at a White House forum Thursday ahead of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, said, "Abusers often assume that the victim will be too embarrassed or too frail to pursue legal action against them, and unfortunately that assumption is too often proven to be correct." Washington Post The bureau "is seeking public input" for its effort, asking for comments "about the best way to identify legitimate financial advisers and how effective and easy-to-understand financial counseling is for seniors," as well as how to "prevent scams targeted at the elderly." In addition to the MetLife study reference by Cordray, another "by the nonprofit Investor Protection Trust said that one out of every five Americans over the age of 65 had been financially swindled in 2010." Skip Humphrey, head of the CFPB's Office for Older Americans, said the agency, among other efforts, is "creating a layman's guide to explain financial responsibilities to family members and caregivers of seniors."