From: Wayne Gatewood, Jr 
Subject: Veterans News for Wednesday, June 20, 2012

 

VA Veterans News for Wednesday, June 20, 2012.  Thanks to Kevin Secor, VA, VSO Liaison 

 

1.     Veterans Attending Detroit VA for Vets Hiring Fair. 

2.     Skeptics doubt VA's claim of breakthrough on claims backlog. 

3.     VA, US Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber Foundation. 

4.     VA Provides Veterans Instant Access to Records with eBenefits. 

5.     How to properly fly the US flag. 

6.     90-year-old WWII veteran places job ad, gets three offers. 

7.     Japan officials failed to use US data on spread of Fukushima radiation. 

8.     Strategic airlift crews fight an exhausting war in anonymity.

9.     3-Day Veteran Hiring Fair To Include 22K Job Postings. 

10.  Ferris State University Offering Vets Transportation To Hiring Fair. 

11.  Businessman Praises Fair. 

12.  VA Hiring Conference. 

13.  Beshear Launches Initiative To Get Businesses To Hire Veterans. 

14.  GI Bill Overpayment Rules Unfair, Lawmaker Says. 

15.  VA, Two Other Agencies Discuss Obama's Veteran Education Order At Webinar. 

16.  VFW Rep Thinks VA Should Expand Pre-College Counseling. 

17.  Finding Their Way Back Home. 

18.  Official Says VA Will Hire More Crisis Line Employees. 

19.  "Major Marketing Campaign" From VA Focuses On Women Vets. 

20.  VA Clinic In California Expanding Care For Women Vets. 

21.  Pentagon, VA Seek Input On EHR Application To Help Manage Lab Tests. 

22.  New Day At VA As Emergency Department Opens. 

23.  VA Offers Grief Support. 

24.  Loneliness May Bring Early Disability And Death, Study Suggests. 

25.  Walk Test May Help Predict Cardio Risk. 

26.  VA Briefs Legion On R&D Progress. 

27.  New Research Provides Images Of Brain Dysfunction In Ill Gulf War Veterans. 

28.  Official Says VA Has Taken Steps To Improve Program. 

29.  Brad Keselowski Takes Military Veterans On "Awesome" Trips Around MIS. 

30.  Caring For Veterans. 

31.  Vet Center Due Gratitude For Serving Vets With PTSD. 

32.  Open House Exhibits Blind Rehab Skills. 

33.  Job Done! Daily News Helps Two Vets Secure Dream Jobs At Top NYC Financial Services Companies. 

34.  O.C. 1812 Veteran Honored 200 Years Later. 

35.  New Film Sheds Light On Military Sexual Assaults.

36.  Powwow Aids Veterans In Many Ways. 

37.  VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as June 20, 2012:

38.  Today in History:

1.    Veterans Attending Detroit VA for Vets Hiring Fair.  4-traders  Veterans Attending Detroit VA for Vets Hiring Fair Can Instantly Access Records ... services and resources that are available from federal, state and community agencies. ... VA will provide Veteran-owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned ...

 

2.    Skeptics doubt VA's claim of breakthrough on claims backlog.  Veterans Affairs officials say they’re poised to make a major breakthrough on the department’s massive claims backlog, but skeptical lawmakers and veterans advocates say they’ve heard such proclamations before.

 

3.    VA, US Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber Foundation.  MarketWatch  Leaders of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber ...

 

4.    VA Provides Veterans Instant Access to Records with eBenefits.  MarketWatch
VA will have personnel available at the hiring fair to help Veterans and ... services and resources that are available from federal, state and community ... VA will provide Veteran-owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-owned ....

 

5.    How to properly fly the US flag.  Wicked Local  ... the proper flag display guidelines. Learn how to fly the flag properly, and visit the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' website, www.va.gov, for more information.

 

6.    90-year-old WWII veteran places job ad, gets three offers.  Arnold Levinstein, 90, has been working in sales his entire life and sees no reason to stop now. So the Boca Raton resident placed an ad. The World War II veteran said he got 14 phone calls and three potential job opportunities.

 

7.    Japan officials failed to use US data on spread of Fukushima radiation.  Japanese authorities failed to disclose U.S. data about the spread of radiation from a crippled nuclear plant last year, leaving some evacuees fleeing in the same direction as the emissions, according to several media sources.

8.    Strategic airlift crews fight an exhausting war in anonymity.  Avoiding fame is probably not a rule of thumb that would occur to a fighter or bomber pilot facing the potential death-or-glory calculus of combat. But for long-distance airlift fliers, men and women who usually operate far from the front lines of battle doing grueling but obscure logistical work that powers any war effort, emerging from the background generally isn’t a good thing.

 

9.    3-Day Veteran Hiring Fair To Include 22K Job Postings.  Detroit News "More than 22,000 federal and private-sector job openings across the US will be posted at a three-day Veteran Hiring Fair at Cobo Center" in Detroit next week. The US Veterans Affairs Department, "which is organizing the June 26-29 event, said veterans will be able to obtain military documents they need to apply for jobs on the spot through a joint Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs online portal, eBenefits." The News adds, "In addition to the hiring fair, the event includes a Veteran Open House and the National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo."

 

10.Ferris State University Offering Vets Transportation To Hiring Fair. Grand Rapids (MI) Press "Ferris State University will provide veterans in the Big Rapids area transportation next week to a job fair in Detroit" hosted by the US VA. The school "is providing a charter bus to take veterans to the job fair, which is taking place on June 27 at Cobo Center in Detroit."

 

11.Businessman Praises Fair.  Ann Arbor  Keith A. Paul, founding member of the nationally franchised HandyPro Handyman Service, calls the Veteran Hiring Fair in Detroit a "step in the right direction" to lowering the unemployment rate for vets.

 

12.VA Hiring Conference.  Army Times Veterans Affairs "will host its largest-ever hiring conference on June 26-28 in Detroit and at satellite locations across the country." Mary Santiago, director of veteran employment services at VA, said his agency is "not doing just a job fair. We are calling these hiring events because the expectation is that there are interviews and job offers."

 

13.Beshear Launches Initiative To Get Businesses To Hire Veterans.  Louisville (KY) Business First "Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has launched the Hiring Kentucky Heroes partnership, which works to connect returning members of the National Guard, Reserve and other veterans with job openings in Kentucky." Beshear announced the program on Friday, "at the annual state convention of Disabled American Veterans in Lexington." Several organizations, including the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs and the US. Department of Labor, are involved with the program.

 

14.GI Bill Overpayment Rules Unfair, Lawmaker Says. Military Times US Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) "wants the Veterans Affairs Department to change the way it collects overpayments of GI Bill benefits to reduce the possibility that a student veteran might be forced to drop out of school." To "give veterans more time to work things out, discover who is to blame and make plans for repayment, Bennet wants overpayments to come off the tail end of their 36 months of benefits rather than to be immediately collected." Bennet proposed the change in a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. The Times quotes spokesman Joshua Taylor, whose agency "has been looking at improvements in the debt repayment process." Taylor said VA has "taken action to reduce the financial burden placed on veterans when debts are incurred and we will continue to work with Congress to address this issue."

 

15.VA, Two Other Agencies Discuss Obama's Veteran Education Order At Webinar.  Federal News Radio "Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Education say they're making progress toward implementing an executive order designed to protect military members and veterans from unscrupulous educational institutions." The work "is the result of an order President Barack Obama signed in April, establishing what the administration called 'principles of excellence' for colleges and universities that serve veterans and servicemembers." The "order requires some specific tasks and deliverables that focus on enhancing the information and resources available to students, as well as strengthening oversight and accountability within federal education benefit programs,' said Robert Worley, director of the education service at VA during a recent webinar the three agencies hosted to describe the initiatives."

 

16.VFW Rep Thinks VA Should Expand Pre-College Counseling. Army Times  "The White House and Congress are wrestling with how to provide accurate and useful consumer information to student veterans and service members to prevent them from wasting tuition assistance and GI Bill benefits." Ryan Gallucci with Veterans of Foreign Wars "says he thinks the Defense and Veterans Affairs department should expand pre-enrollment counseling, which is available to those who ask." The Times notes that Cutis Coy, VA's undersecretary for economic development, has said it is important to give veterans a "more accurate picture of what success looks like for students like them."

 

17.Finding Their Way Back Home.  Atlanta Journal-Constitution US Department of Veterans Affairs "and Shepherd Center in Atlanta offer programs and health care professionals to help soldiers find their way home" from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007, VA created the Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OIF/OEF/OND) program for soldiers returning from service in those countries. Kerry Traviss, manager of the OIF/OEF/OND program at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, said VA "realized that the Vietnam vets did not get all the services they needed, so we're taking a different, more holistic approach now." The Journal-Constitution added, "Veterans have access to a 24/7 telephone advice program, a crisis hot line, support groups and My Healthy Vet, an initiative that allows them to talk virtually with primary care providers."

 

18.Official Says VA Will Hire More Crisis Line Employees. Finger Lakes (NY) Times In order to help an increasing number of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, VA "has developed an aggressive national mental health hiring initiative to improve recruitment and hiring, marketing, education and training programs, as well as retention efforts for mental health professionals." Sherry Sacco, behavioral health care line manager at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center, "said the recruitment effort will likely result in 100 or so more people hired for the Veterans Crisis Line, formerly called the National Suicide Prevention Hotline." The line operates out of the Canandaigua VA, which was praised by Sacco for assisting troubled vets. Sacco also said the Rochester VA Outpatient Clinic does a good job helping such vets.

 

19."Major Marketing Campaign" From VA Focuses On Women Vets. Army Times  "The Veterans Affairs Department has launched a major marketing campaign focused on both outreach and internal culture in an effort to get more female veterans to enroll in VA care." That is according to Dr. Patricia Hayes, director of VA's national Women's Health program. The Times adds, "With the launch of www.womenshealth.va.gov, which includes links to VA facilities and resources on military and sexual trauma, homelessness and more, VA will reach women who might not consider enrolling, say officials, who hope that a more female-friendly atmosphere inside medical facilities will convince them to stay in the system."

 

20.VA Clinic In California Expanding Care For Women Vets.  KNBC-TV "Women are the fastest growing population among veterans, making up 8-percent of veterans in 2011, according to statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care facility on Wilshire Boulevard is working to eliminate the gender gap in veteran care." Officials with the "women's clinic at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care facility on Wilshire Boulevard" in Los Angeles "said the facility, which opened in the early '90s, has been growing, making it able to meet the needs of more heroes returning home."

 

21.Pentagon, VA Seek Input On EHR Application To Help Manage Lab Tests.   iHealthBeat The Defense Department and Veterans Affairs recently "issued a request for information regarding the development of a laboratory information application within their integrated electronic health record system, or iEHR system." In "related news, DOD and VA also have issued an RFI regarding the development of a pharmacy information application within their iEHR system."

 

22.New Day At VA As Emergency Department Opens. Fayetteville (NC) Observer  "The Fayetteville VA Medical Center unveiled its new emergency department at a ribbon-cutting Monday. The $3 million project, which took 18 months to complete, reconfigures the emergency room to allow better patient flow and easier triage, officials said." Fayetteville VA Director Elizabeth Goolsby touted the new emergency room, saying it has an "atmosphere staff and patients will find pleasant." The Observer adds, "The renovated department is part of an area-wide expansion to meet" a "growth in the number of veterans enrolled in the system."

 

23.VA Offers Grief Support.  Danville (IL) Commercial News  "The Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System will be providing monthly grief support groups at 2 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month in room 101 of the library (Building 125), 1900 E. Main St." The group meetings, which "will provide listening and support for adults who are grieving the death of a loved one," are "open to the public, and there is no cost."

 

24.Loneliness May Bring Early Disability And Death, Study Suggests. Bloomberg News  "Living to a healthy old age may depend on your ties to family, friends and community, according to research that finds lonely older adults are more likely to die sooner than their more social peers. Loneliness in adults age 60 and older was associated with a 45 percent higher risk of dying over six years, according to research published...in the Archives of Internal Medicine" on Tuesday. A separate study led by Deepak Bhatt, chief of cardiology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, "showed that people living alone with heart disease were 25 percent more likely to die from the illness and 27 percent more likely to die of any cause." During a phone interview, Bhatt said, "If physicians get into the habit of asking patients if they're living alone, that might impact the care given."

 

25.Walk Test May Help Predict Cardio Risk.  MedPage Today "The 6-minute walk test may improve cardiovascular risk prediction in patients with stable coronary heart disease, researchers found." Findings of the Heart and Soul Study were "reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine." The study was supported in part "by a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Epidemiology Merit Review Program)."

 

26.VA Briefs Legion On R&D Progress.  American Legion Dr. Joel Kupersmith and two other VA doctors "gave a briefing to staff members of The American Legion's Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division in Washington on June 15, explaining current initiatives in the Veterans Health Administration's research and development (R&D) programs." Kupersmith, VA's chief research and development officer, "discussed several R&D highlights of 2011-2012, including VA's study of the drug risperidone, which was found to be ineffective in treating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Progress is also being made in developing next-generation prostheses for the upper arm and ankle, and the feasibility of brain-computer interface in controlling movements of robotic arms," as well as a genomic database research project called the Million Veteran Project.

 

27.New Research Provides Images Of Brain Dysfunction In Ill Gulf War Veterans. 91 Outcomes  Anthony Hardie notes, "Cutting edge research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is providing new pictorial evidence of marked brain dysregulation in Gulf War veterans suffering from chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CMP), one of the most commonly reported symptoms of Gulf War Illness. According to lead researcher Dr. Dane Cook of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Madison VA Hospital, his research team's findings also suggest potential avenues for treatment aimed at 'resettting' the dysregulated functioning in the brains of ill Gulf War veterans." Hardie adds, "Much of Cook's team's work has focused on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brains of Gulf War veterans, including before and after exercise, and during application of painful stimuli."

 

28.Official Says VA Has Taken Steps To Improve Program. WMC-TV "The feds are reorganizing Veterans Affairs after more than 100 employees were arrested over the past decade. Two of those employees siphoned money from 10 Memphis veterans" who were part of VA's fiduciary program. In a statement, "Jan Northstar with the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs" said VA has "taken significant efforts to protect Veterans and other beneficiaries in its Fiduciary Program. Over the past three years, we have been extremely aggressive at targeting and deterring fiduciary misuse" by, among other things, "enhancing oversight of misuse cases by closer review from VA Central Office."

 

29.Brad Keselowski Takes Military Veterans On "Awesome" Trips Around MIS.  Detroit News  On Monday, professional race car driver Brad Keselowski drove Iraq veteran Duane Bird and five other vets around the Michigan International Speedway. Bird said it was an "awesome" experience. The day was arranged through "Keselowski's two-year-old Checkered Flag Foundation." The News adds, "Working in part with the US Department of Veterans Affairs - and, for this event, with the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Battle Creek - the foundation identifies wounded vets who persevere through sometimes devastating injuries."