Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 3-12-09

1. During Capitol Hill Appearance, Shinseki Focuses On IT Issues.  
2. VA Secretary Included In White House Council On Women And Girls.  
3. Columnist Has High Hopes For Shinseki’s Chicago Visit.
4. VA, DoD Said To Be Part Of PTSD Problem.  
5. Dorn VAMC Facility To Treat Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.  
6. Washington VA To Counsel New Vets.  
7. Oxygen Exposure Part Of Treatment For Brain Injured Iraq Vet.  
8. Letter Claims VA Will Revisit Income Tax Deferrals.  
9. Heavy Combat Loads Leading To More Stress Injuries For US Soldiers.  
10. West Texas VA Awarded One Of Three Mobile Medical Buses.

1.      During Capitol Hill Appearance, Shinseki Focuses On IT Issues.   In continuing coverage, NextGov (3/12, Brewin) reports, "The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments have started work on a uniform registration system that will enroll all service members in the VA upon entry into the military, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said…this week" at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. Shinseki "said the system will rely on a single electronic record shared by both departments to handle delivery of benefits and medical care." At the hearing, Shinseki also "conceded that he ‘has not made much headway’ in whittling down" the VA’s claims backlog, but he "said VA has kicked off developing a paperless claims processing system that will go into testing next year." And, while commenting on President Obama’s proposed 2010 VA funding, Shinseki "said the budget includes funding to support a reliable and accessible IT infrastructure, a high-performing IT workforce, and modernized information systems flexible enough to meet both existing and emerging service delivery requirements. That includes development of an electronic health record system known as HealtheVet."
      Concern Expressed About VA’s Plan To Replace VistA With HealtheVet.   In his "What’s Brewin’" blog for NextGov (3/11), Bob Brewin noted that on Tuesday, Shinseki "told a House VA committee hearing" that the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) is the "gold standard" of electronic health record systems (EHRs). So, "if this is the view of the boss, why, oh why," is the VA "so intent on ripping out" VistA "for a new-fangled deal" called HealtheVet? Despite "its age, VistA works, and works so well that Shinseki told the hearing that it saves lives and increases efficiency in the VA. I fear that any new system will take years to develop and deploy (good news for vendors), and end up as a nightmare that neither improves health care nor efficiency."
      Bandwidth Said To Be An Issue For VA When It Comes To Sharing EHRs With Defense.   On its website, Federal News Radio (3/12, Miller) reports, "The first full implementation of the Veterans Affairs Department and Defense Department electronic medical records sharing is scheduled to go live in 2010 in Chicago," and both agencies "are busily working together and separately to make this happen." On the VA side, "one of the first things it must do is upgrade its network bandwidth," according to Dave Cheplick, "VA’s director of telecommunications operations management, who made his comments after a "recent conference on networks sponsored by Suss Consulting."
      Federal Agencies Developing Software For National Health Information Network.   In a related story, the Federal Times (3/12, Castelli) reports, "An Obama administration priority is to launch a system that allows health care providers to share records electronically," and work in this area "is already under way" at the US government. Since "2004, 26 agencies with roles in citizen health care have collaborated on standards, known as the Federal Health Architecture (FHA). The goal is to allow health care providers to exchange records with the government and among themselves." Later "this month, those agencies will release common codes that will guide creation" of software for the "National Health Information Network (NHIN), said Vish Sankaran, the director of the program, which is run out of the Health and Human Services Department." Federal Times notes that one "agency is already using the NHIN." The Social Security Administration (SSA) "began sharing information with a local health system, MedVirginia, on Feb. 28." The Veterans Affairs Department "is one of the departments hoping to learn from SSA’s experience, said Linda Fischetti, VA’s chief health informatics officer."

2.      VA Secretary Included In White House Council On Women And Girls.   In its "Political Intelligence" blog, the Boston Globe (3/11, Rhee) said, "In his latest gesture on women’s issues, President Obama signed an executive order" Wednesday "afternoon creating a White House Council on Women and Girls." At the end of its story, the Globe published a White House release, which stated, "Initial members of the Council include…The Secretary of Veterans Affairs."

3.      Columnist Has High Hopes For Shinseki’s Chicago Visit.   In her Chicago Sun Times (3/11) column, Carol Marin said that when Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki visits the North Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Friday, she hopes he meets Afghanistan vet Shari Johnson, who "just checked herself in on Sunday, hoping and praying that she can learn to turn down the volume on the war that’s raging in her head." Marin, who notes that Johnson’s husband Mike is also an Afghanistan vet and that both suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, called the VA "a mess. … You need only talk to Mike and Shari to understand how hard it has been to get treatment and at the same time support themselves." Marin went on to say that vets "like Mike and Shari Johnson deserve help. Shinseki’s visit may signal that help is coming."

4.      VA, DoD Said To Be Part Of PTSD Problem.   The Boston (MA) Phoenix (3/12, Notte) notes the case of Jeffrey Michael Lucey, an Iraq veteran who killed himself in 2004, before stating, "Another front has opened in the wars being fought by the US military," This time, however, the "primary (though not the only) enemy" is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), "and to fight it, US troops are desperately being prescribed a wide array of medicines, from anti-depressants to anti-anxieties. They are also self-medicating in numbers beyond the control" of the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a result, US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan "are literally fighting their wars on drugs – and a record number of both active troops and discharged veterans are committing suicide." The Phoenix adds, "Hardly all soldiers with PTSD want to go back to a war zone" but "some are finding themselves on the frontlines anyway, because of the utter lack of communication between the VA and the DoD, which often results in a veteran with PTSD being returned to active duty." But even those "who get home and stay in the States are frequently met with a VA course of treatment that’s more concerned with keeping costs down than working toward true mental and emotional stabilization. ‘They’re [the VA] in the dark ages in a number of different areas,’ says Gordon Erspamer, the California-based lead attorney in a class-action lawsuit against the VA that attempted to get immediate treatment for all veterans with PTSD."
      Troubled Afghanistan Vet Reports To Fort Stewart.   The Savannah (GA) Morning News (3/12, Walck) reports, "A 10th Mountain Division soldier from Charleston, S.C., has turned himself in to Fort Stewart authorities after being away without leave for more than a year. Family members said" US Army Spc. Bryan Currie, an Afghanistan vet, surrendered Tuesday, hoping to get medical assistance for his PTSD at Fort Stewart’s Warrior Transition Unit. But "instead of going to the transition unit, the Purple Heart recipient was given a medical evaluation and then was taken to the Liberty County jail in nearby Hinesville, where he remained on medical watch Wednesday, his mother said. ‘What I’m concerned about is: Is he going to get the help and treatment he needs?’ said his mother, Elizabeth Currie," who works as a nurse at the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Currie added that when it comes to PTSD, she has "seen a lot of changes in the VA," but "it seems like you have to get out first. The
problem is when they are still in the military, it’s like they don’t want to address these things with these kids. And you can’t just hand them a bag of meds and process them out."
      FDA Study: Link Is Likely Between Suicide, Smoking-Cessation Drug.   The Air Force Times (3/12, Kennedy) reports, "A new study" from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "appears to back up claims that a smoking-cessation drug used by service members and veterans may put them at risk for suicidal thoughts. In fiscal 2007, some 67,580 service members had prescriptions for the medication, according to the Defense Department." The FDA study, "published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, linked varenicline with 19 deaths and 112 serious incidents involving injury, hospitalization or emergency intervention after people took the drug to help them stop smoking. The FDA called a link between suicidal ideation and the drug ‘likely’ – even for those with no prior history of mental health issues – and said it’s important for physicians to monitor patients who take the drug." The drug "first made headlines when the Washington Times newspaper reported" that the VA gave it to veterans with PTSD "to help them stop smoking, leading two lawmakers to ask for an investigation."
      Officials Say VA Offers Extra Care To Once-Suicidal Veterans.   In a story on "a largely hidden national crisis — rising levels of suicide," the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal (3/12, Ungar) notes that VA "officials run ‘aftercare’ outpatient group sessions for once-suicidal veterans and said they expect to see more of them when people return from Iraq or Afghanistan with illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder." The US Army, meanwhile, "reported 18 suspected suicides last month, after a spike in soldier suicides in January."
      Iraq Vet’s Memoir Criticizes VA.   In a book review, the Washington (DC) City Paper (3/12, Ottenberg) says, "Horrific violence, multiple tours of duty, and deficient medical care upon returning home have created a generation of walking wounded," Iraq veteran Clint Van Winkle declares in his memoir, "Soft Spots," which offers up scenes of his struggles with PTSD. Van Winkle’s "detailed account of how combat shattered his mind is as disturbing as his war imagery. Phantoms of Marine buddies he hasn’t seen in months are as real as his wife or the useless psychiatrists he encounters at the VA hospital, where he is treated like a cipher-one more vet whose soul was mutilated in Iraq and whose doctors have no idea what to do about it." The veteran "finally finds some relief when he stumbles upon Joseph Little, a therapist" who "employs an experimental, controversial technique called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, which works for Van Winkle by compelling him to relive horrors he thought he had forgotten."
      Secrecy Seen As Factor In Rise Of Military Suicides.   In a Houston (TX) Chronicle (3/12) op-ed, Dina Greenberg, who "is developing a curriculum for chaplains on the physical, psychological and social dimensions of combat-related PTSD," says the US Army "has finally gone public and acknowledged the alarming rate of suicide among its ranks." But, while Army leadership "is to be commended for breaking the barrier of silence regarding mental illness in the military, the underlying culture of secrecy that has contributed to the current trend is in dire need of reform." For example, in a "March 2008 e-mail exchange brought to light" by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and the VA Inspector General, "Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s chief of mental health services, referenced an internal report suggesting that a thousand" veterans were attempting suicide each month. Katz "and a VA colleague questioned disclosing the figures and discussed the agency’s financial disincentive to give the diagnosis of PTSD. Sadly, this stance is far from the model of transparency and collaboration among the VA, DOD and the military required to significantly stem the rising tide of mental health casualties."

5.      Dorn VAMC Facility To Treat Iraq, Afghanistan Vets.   In continuing coverage, the second story in the Columbia (SC) Free Press’ (3/12, Ward) "week in Review" column reports, "The federal government plans to start building a $3 million treatment facility" for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at the Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center "in Columbia this fall, The State newspaper reported."

6.      Washington VA To Counsel New Vets.   The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (3/12, Fairbanks) reports, "When the 81st Army Heavy Combat Brigade returns from Iraq in late July, instead of sending it straight home to Washington state to face the transition to the civilian world, the military has arranged for it to make a quick stop at Fort McCoy" in Wisconsin, where "a team of professionals mostly from Veterans Affairs will be waiting for their audience to arrive. The soldiers will be given help filing for their GI benefits and unemployment, as well as options for their career paths and counseling on the effects of war. ‘We’re going to serve them,’ said" John Lee, "director of the Washington state Department of Veterans Affairs. ‘We have this propensity that if we share the information with the soldiers, they automatically get it. They don’t.’"

7.      Oxygen Exposure Part Of Treatment For Brain Injured Iraq Vet.   On its website, WTSP-TV Tampa, Fl (3/11, Bursch) said 23-year-old Bradley Thomas, who "suffered a severe brain injury in Iraq," is a patient at the James A. Haley Veterans Affairs Hospital, "but for five weeks he’s been receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy" at University Community Hospital in Carrollwood, Florida. While there, Thomas "is placed in a pressurized chamber where he inhales 100% oxygen." Hyperbaric chambers "have long been used to speed up the healing of flesh wounds and now it’s thought that the increased oxygen intake helps the brain to heal as well." WTSP noted that the US military "is conducting research into hyperbaric therapy and the need is certainly there. In recent years, more than 8,000 military members have suffered brain injuries."
      The WFLA-TV Tampa, FL (3/11, Coronado) website reported, "Since the start of his treatment, Bradley has shown dramatic improvement, doctors say. He went from being semi-conscious to responding by blinking his eyes." WFLA added that Veronica Thomas, Bradley’s mother, commented on his recovery, saying even small signs of progress give her hope. WTVT-TV Tampa, FL (3/11, 6:37 p.m. ET) broadcast a similar story.

8.      Letter Claims VA Will Revisit Income Tax Deferrals.   In a letter to the editor of the Hickory (NC) Daily Record (3/11), Rocky Hilton of Maiden, North Carolina, urged Iraq and Afghanistan veterans not to "rest too easily if you were recently granted a deferral for your income taxes. The Department of Veterans Affairs just sent word to regional offices for them to revisit those approvals to ensure the veterans truly qualify," which, according to Hilton, "means…see how many you can disqualify." Hilton says he "heard this at the regional office in Winston-Salem (last week)." Hilton then advised veterans to be aware that the VA "is not your friend."

9.      Heavy Combat Loads Leading To More Stress Injuries For US Soldiers.   The AP (3/12, Lardner) reports, "An increasing number" of US soldiers "are being sidelined with muscle and bone injuries caused by carrying combat loads weighing as much as 130 pounds, a senior" US Army official "said Wednesday. Research is being done to determine how many troops are affected by weight-related stress fractures, sprains and other orthopedic problems that prevent them from shipping out with their units, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff. The numbers are likely to keep going up as more soldiers are sent to Afghanistan, where the terrain, elevation and road conditions are much more challenging than in Iraq, Chiarelli said during a hearing by the House appropriations defense subcommittee." Gen. James Amos, "assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, who also testified before the subcommittee," expressed similar concerns about the amount of weight troops carry.

10.    West Texas VA Awarded One Of Three Mobile Medical Buses.   On its website, KOSA-TV Odessa, TX (3/11) reported, "The US Department of Veterans Affairs awarded 3 medical buses nationwide and the West Texas VA received one of them. The bus is a full clinic and office on wheels," and the VA can take it "into rural areas so that all veterans are able to receive basic healthcare and preventative medicine," such as "flu shots and disease monitoring." Daniel Marsh, the director of the West Texas VA, "says the goal is to make sure no veterans goes without basic healthcare, regardless of where he or she lives."