Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 09-18-08

1. Peake Asked To Consider Another VA Hospital For Illinois.
2. VA To Open New Rural Outreach Clinics.  
3. Concord Vet Center Helps Iraq Veteran Deal With PTSD.
4. Medal Of Honor Decision On Iraq Vet Upsets Marines.  
5. Veterans Pushing For New VA Hospital In Texas.  
6. New VA Clinic Opens In South Carolina.  
7. Pennsylvania’s Snyder County To Get VA Clinic.  
8. New Site Selected For VA Clinic In Pennsylvania.  
9. Summits To Explore Gaps In Veterans Services.  
10. VA Searching For Hurricane-Displaced Vets.

     1.               Peake Asked To Consider Another VA Hospital For Illinois.   The Peoria (IL) Journal Star (9/18) reports Democratic US Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama "on Wednesday asked the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. James Peake, to investigate the possibility of converting the St. Margaret’s Hospital building" into a VA medical center. In a letter to Peake, the Illinois senators "stressed the importance of having a VA medical center in the Illinois Valley." The Journal Star adds that St. Margaret’s officials have "announced plans to build a…replacement hospital in Spring Valley rather than renovating the current facility to meet modern health care and technology standards."
      The AP (9/18) reports Durbin and Obama say a VA facility in the Illinois Valley would benefit area veterans who currently travel up to 100 miles to Chicago or 140 miles to Iowa City, Iowa, to visit a medical center. St. Margaret’s officials "plan to build a $90 million replacement hospital in Spring Valley by 2011." The WEEK-TV Peoria, IL (9/17) website published a similar story.
      County Official Calls Request Impractical.   The Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph (9/18, Stanmar), which also covers this story, says the lawmakers’ request "was called political and impractical by LaSalle County veterans affairs officer Marty Rue." Rue pointed out that back in 1980, his office found that the VA "was not interested in a facility that was not near a teaching hospital associated with a medical school. ‘There is no difference’ in this case, Rue said, noting the VA is even less willing to expand now." 

2.      VA To Open New Rural Outreach Clinics.   The final story in Bill Harding’s Craig (CO) Daily Press (9/18) column reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Sept. 12 that it will open 10 new Rural Outreach Clinics by 2009 to increase the convenience of care for thousands of veterans living in rural areas." In a press release noting the announcement, VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake said the clinics "are a major step toward" increasing "access to care for veterans living in rural areas."

3.      Concord Vet Center Helps Iraq Veteran Deal With PTSD.   The KGO-TV San Francisco, CA (9/17, Jennings) website profiled 25-year-old Iraq veteran Mike Ergo, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Jennings "is now studying law and social justice" at UC Berkeley, but he had to get mental health counseling at the Concord Vet Center "to make it this far." KGO added that the Department of Veterans Affairs "estimates more than 20 percent of those who come back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may develop PTSD."

4.      Medal Of Honor Decision On Iraq Vet Upsets Marines.   USA Today (9/18, Zoroya) reports, "A rare decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to reject a Marine Corps recommendation that one of its heroes receive the Medal of Honor has angered Marines who say Sgt. Rafael Peralta sacrificed his life to save theirs." A "Gates-appointed panel unanimously concluded that the report on Peralta’s action," which took place in Iraq, "did not meet the standard of ‘no margin of doubt or possibility of error,’ Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said." USA Today notes that Peralta "will receive the Navy Cross, the service’s second-highest award for valor."

 5.      Veterans Pushing For New VA Hospital In Texas.   The Valley (TX) Morning Star (9/18, Saldaña) reports, "More than 100 Valley veterans gathered at the Catholic War Veterans Hall on Wednesday in the latest organized push for a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Rio Grande Valley." Organizers "said the event was the last opportunity for local veterans to gather before Congress adjourns later this month. If Congress fails to address the issue before then, Valley vets must wait until next session to continue the fight, organizers said." The Star adds that one of the organizers "said that if Congress fails to take any action on a local hospital, the summit will" become an annual event.

6.      New VA Clinic Opens In South Carolina.   South Carolina’s The State (9/18) reports the Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center "in Columbia is opening its sixth outpatient clinic to serve a growing population of veterans in the northeastern part of the state." The new facility, which "opened Wednesday," has "more than 11,000 square feet and nearly doubles the size of the building it replaces." VA officials "say another such clinic is to open in Spartanburg in two weeks." The AP (9/18) runs a similar story.

7.      Pennsylvania’s Snyder County To Get VA Clinic.   In continuing coverage, WNEP-TV Wilkes-Barre, PA (9/17, Hamill) reported, "For years, veterans in part of central Pennsylvania have had to drive long distances for medical treatment," but that "is all about to change" because a Veterans Affairs clinic is coming to Snyder County. The facility "will serve thousands of veterans from Union, Snyder and Northumberland counties, according to officials." The clinic "is expected to start treating patients as early as December for two days a week. There is no word yet where in Snyder County the…clinic will be located."

8.      New Site Selected For VA Clinic In Pennsylvania.   In continuing coverage, the Oil City (PA) Derrick (9/18, Etzel) reports, "A new site has been selected to house the Venango County veterans clinic, located at the former Oil City hospital since April 2005." The facility "will open in mid-February 2009 in the Pennwood Center on Route 8 between Oil City and Franklin." The Derrick notes that at a Venango County Veterans Coalition meeting Wednesday in Franklin, Dr. Michael Adelman, director of the Erie Veterans Affairs Center, "told the coalition…that the transition between the old hospital and the new facility will not require any break in health services."

9.      Summits To Explore Gaps In Veterans Services.   The Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle (9/18, Goodman) reports, "Gaps in health services are common, but Shelley Warner-Levison wonders whether her brother, Robert, might be alive today if the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center did not close its unit for the most serious of psychiatric cases." Robert Warner, a 45-year-old veteran "with a history of mental illness, had done well during his stays in the unit, said Warner-Levison, but he couldn’t get readmitted in early 2007 because it was shutting down." Last November, "after bouncing from one medical facility to another, Warner died at a hospital in Potsdam from what the autopsy report said was a serious infection caused by eating glass fragments. Such gaps and barriers to services for veterans will be explored this month by three summits, called Voices Together, organized by the local Veterans Outreach Center." The first of the three "summits is Friday at the Crosswinds Wesleyan Church in Canandaigua. The gatherings – organized as focus groups – are for veterans, those now serving in the military and their families, and the various groups and agencies that can help them."

10.    VA Searching For Hurricane-Displaced Vets.   The Longview (TX) News-Journal (9/18, Ferguson) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs is searching for veterans – and their spouses or widows – who were displaced by Hurricane Ike." Alan Staggs, a field examiner in the VA’s Tyler office, said, "We know there is a need, but we don’t know where they are." Staggs "asks…veterans staying in local evacuee shelters to come to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4002 on Saturday." There, Staggs and his team "will answer questions, file claims, check on the status of existing claims and determine where to hand-deliver benefit checks until veterans are able to return home."