Top Ten Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Veterans Warned About Sterilization Flaw At VA Hospital. The Belleville (IL) News-Democrat(6/30, Pawlaczyk, 51K) reports, “A flaw in the sterilization of dental equipment” at the Veterans Affairs hospital in St. Louis “exposed 1,812 veterans, including 495 from Illinois, to a ‘low risk’ of becoming infected with AIDS or hepatitis.” On Monday, certified letters “were sent…to veterans who received dental treatment at the center between Feb. 1, 2009, and March 11, 2010, encouraging them to go to the medical center and be tested for HIV or human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B and C virus. A routine inspection by a ‘VA internal quality inspection’ team in March revealed that certain equipment was not being sterilized in accordance with accepted standards, VA spokeswoman Marcena Gunter said Tuesday.”
Lawmaker Requests Formal Investigation. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch(6/30, Lambrecht, 263K), US Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) “said Tuesday night that he had requested that the federal agency conduct a formal investigation. In a letter Tuesday to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki,” the lawmaker “called the potential exposure an ‘indefensible breach of standard operating procedure.’ Carnahan added in an interview that he had requested a congressional hearing.”
This story is also covered by the St. Louis (MO) Globe-Democrat (6/30) and the KMOV-TVSt. Louis, MO (6/29) website, which said Carnahan is “demanding an investigation,” a point also made by the website for CNN(6/30). CNN also noted that Carnahan “has sent a letter to President Obama about” the situation at the VA hospital.
The KSDK-TV St. Louis, MO (6/29, Owens) website, meanwhile, pointed out that Dr. Gina Michael, the “association chief of staff” at the VA hospital, “says the failure happened because some dental technicians thought they were doing the right thing by washing the dental tools themselves.” Michael “says the techs were using…strong soap to clean the tools, when they should have sent them to the hospital sanitizing and sterilizing department.”

2. House Democrats Trying To Pass Bill With Benefits For Vets Exposed To Agent Orange. The AP(6/30, Taylor) reports Democrats in the US House of Representatives, “who are trying to pass a long-stalled war funding bill this week, have attached $10 billion to help local school districts avoid teacher layoffs when schools reopen.” After noting that the “approximately $70 billion measure is anchored by President Barack Obama’s $30 billion request for the troop surge in Afghanistan and contains money for disaster aid accounts, foreign aid and disability benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange,” the AP adds, “The bill’s release late Tuesday night was the surest signal yet that House leaders are committed to passing it this week, despite great resistance among many Democratic lawmakers and deepening anxiety over the Afghanistan war effort among Obama allies such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.” The “On The Money” blog for The Hill(6/30, Alarkon, 21K) publishes a similar story.

3. VA Helping Run Program For Women Coping With PTSD. The

WNYT-TVAlbany, NY (6/29, Zahn) website said that for women, “traditional care givers,” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “can be especially disabling.” But for women veterans, they can receive assistance from Project Odyssey, which “weaves activities like horseback riding with counseling sessions.” WNYT said Project Odyssey is “run by the Wounded Warriors Project and the Vet Centers, an offshoot” of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

4. VA Issues Solicitation For VA Palo Alto Research Centers. GenomeWeb News(6/30) reports, “The US government has issued a formal solicitation for architectural services from firms in the Bay Area and vicinity for new genomics and translational research centers planned” for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System “campus in Palo Alto, Calif.” In its solicitation, VA “stated that the research centers will be funded through the $862 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, without stating a cost limit or range.”

5. Mobile Vet Centers Helping Iraq, Afghanistan Vets. The KION-TV Monterrey, CA (6/29, Hogan) website said, “Mobile Vet Centers across the country,” including one on California’s Central Coast, are “helping millions of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.” After noting that the Central Coast center has been there for about a year, KION added, “Counselors and patients both say they can see a difference.”
On its website, WLUC-TV Marquette, MI (6/29, Martin) said a mobile Veterans Affairs “unit helping war veterans made a stop” in Iron Mountain, Michigan, on Tuesday. According to the website, VA “hosted an open house for the mobile” Vet Center behind City Hall.

6. Event In New York Focuses On Wounded Warriors’ Needs. The Plattsburgh (NY) Times-Republican(6/30, Dedam) notes that in Saranc Lake, New York, on Tuesday, “Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, an ardent supporter of veterans’ respite and reintegration,” organized an event that focused on the needs of wounded warriors. Dialogue “centered on the burgeoning Patriot Hills at Saranac Lake, a family healing and reintegration center for American warriors,” and on the Trauma Resiliency Model, which “rebalances crisis response on the local level, aiming to build trauma-informed and resiliency-versed communities.”

7. VA Opting For Cheaper Travel, Conference Policies. In his “Washington Whispers” blog for US News & World Report(6/30) Paul Bedard writes, “Oceanfront working vacations might be OK for President Obama and Republican fat cats, but image-conscious federal agencies are choosing cheaper conference centers over ritzy resorts.” The Government Accountability Office “tells us that three cabinet agencies — Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Justice — have travel and conference policies that frown on using resorts, even when cheaper. And one, VA, has moved a big conference from a resort to another location ‘to avoid potential negative perceptions.”

8. OMB Director Spotlights Failed VA Financial System Projects. In continuing coverage, NextGov(6/29, Aitoro) reported, “The White House will review all technology projects that are behind schedule or over budget and halt those deemed too risky, starting with all plans to modernize financial systems, according to two memos…released” Monday by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). NextGov added, “According to a blog post by OMB Director Peter R. Orszag, an estimated 30 financial systems projects costing the federal government about $3 billion annually are affected by the new policy. Among them are two projects at the Veterans Affairs Department, which has invested more than $300 million over the past decade in the failed systems.”

9. VA Employee One Of Seven Political Appointees “Burrowing” Into Positions. In its “Federal Eye” blog, the Washington Post(6/30, O’Keefe, 684K) reports, “Democrats and Republican kick and scream during presidential transitions about the dangers of political appointees from the outgoing administration ‘burrowing’ in to career agency positions, potentially derailing the well-laid plans of the new party in power.” After noting that a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Tuesday “found 139 political appointees did just that between May 2005 and May 2009,” although only seven of those appointees did so improperly, the Post adds, “The seven Schedule C officials found career positions at the departments of Justice, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, the Air Force and Office of Special Counsel, GAO said.”

10. Disabled Vet Wins Medals At Golden Age Games. The Cheyenne-based Wyoming Tribune-Eagle(6/30, St. Clair) reports 70-year-old Don Hasvold and “more than 800 veterans from across the country” recently “gathered in Des Moines, Iowa for the 24th National Veterans Golden Age Games,” the “largest sporting event in the world for senior veterans.” After noting that Hasvold, who is disabled, “won gold medals in air rifle and shuffleboard,” the Tribune-Eagle says Kristi Reuben, an “employee of the Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Medical Center and coach for the Cheyenne vets at the Golden Age Games,” talked about Hasvold, stating, “It’s always terrific to see that kind of success and motivation in a person to really want to work on their rehab.”