Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Concern With Administration’s Handling Of VA Hospital Incident. In continuing coverage, the “Briefing Room” blog for The Hill (7/6, Berman, 21K) notes that on Monday, US Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, voiced concern over the Obama administration handling of an incident at Veterans Affairs hospital in St. Louis, where “more than 1,800 veterans were told they may have been exposed to HIV. ‘It’s outrageous, one, that this happens, but even worse is this secretive, almost cover-up mode that they go into when something like this happens,'” Filner said while being interviewed by CNN’s Newsroom (7/5, 10:00 a.m. ET). The Money Times (7/4, Sehgal), meanwhile, noted that Shinseki has said the “mistakes made” in St. Louis “are unacceptable, and steps have been and continue to be taken to correct this situation and assure the safety of our veterans.”

2. Study Finds Military Vets Fare Worse Than Civilians When It Comes To Health, Work. The Salt Lake Tribune (7/6, LaPlante, 120K) reports, “A new study by The Gallup Organization indicates that while military members are generally happier and healthier than other American workers, military veterans fare worse than the general work force when it comes to their emotional and physical health, work environment and access to basic necessities.” The “Gallup results come as the man responsible for improving the conditions of veterans in America,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, “is scheduled to visit Salt Lake City to hear the concerns of veterans and veterans officials.” While Shinseki “has been praised for his extensive agenda, which includes improving access to health care and mental health treatment for those returning from the nation’s ongoing wars.” some “have questioned…whether some of his goals – for instance, ending homelessness among veterans in the next five years – are overbroad and beyond reach.”
VA Tracking Suicides By Post-9/11 Vets. The Seattle Times (7/6, Bernton, 225K) says Afghanistan vet Orrin Gorman McClellan, a native of the state of Washington, who “took his life with a handgun” in May, is “among the war casualties” that VA “has just begun to track – young men and women who served in the post-9/11 military, and killed themselves after struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and other war wounds. In 2007, the last year figures were available from the VA, the suicide rate for veterans ages 18 to 29 was 37.1 per 100,000,” which is “more than 80 percent higher than the rate for the civilian population and the active-duty military.” The Times notes that Shinseki has commented on this matter, stating, “As I’ve often asked, mostly of myself, but also of others from time to time, why do we know so much about suicides but so little about how to prevent them?”
Gillibrand Calls For Improved Treatment Of Soldiers With PTSD, TBI. The Saranac Lake, New York-based Adirondack Daily Enterprise (7/6, Brown, 6K) says US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “wants to improve screening and treatment” for PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI), “both of which are common among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.” After noting that “Gillibrand…is co-sponsoring legislation to embed mental health providers with National Guard and Reserve units,” the Daily Enterprise says the lawmaker “also wants the Department of Defense to screen soldiers for these conditions six months after their return as well as right after, as is done now.” Gillibrand “also said she wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki, urging they develop a coordinated approach to identifying and treating TBI.” The Greece (NY) Messenger Post (74, Sherwood) published a similar story.
Franken Looking Forward To VA Report On Benefits Of Service Dogs. In a story on the first year in office for US Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer-Press (7/6, Hoppin) reports, “Franken’s first bill was aimed at providing service dogs to wounded military veterans.” Franken, “who…remains passionate about the service-dog issue,” is “looking forward to the results of a Veterans Affairs report looking at the benefits of service dogs, including whether they reduce the number of veteran suicides. ‘It’s the best idea I’ll probably ever have,’ Franken said.”

3. Schow Casts Doubt On New Veterans Cemetery For Utah. The AP (7/6) reports, “Some southern Utah residents are trying to create a new cemetery for veterans.” But, according to the AP, “Utah Veterans Affairs executive director Terry Schow says creating a new veterans cemetery might be difficult because of current budget cuts. Schow also says Utah is not eligible for a national VA cemetery because it does not have the veteran population required.”

4. One Area Of Louisiana To Get Vets Cemetery, While Another May Have To Wait Years. The AP (7/6) reports, “Central Louisiana finally will get its long-awaited Veterans Cemetery sometime this fall, but a Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs spokeswoman says it could be years before northeastern Louisiana veterans and their families have their own burial ground.” Though a “site in Richland Parish was chosen four years ago for a Veterans Cemetery in northeastern Louisiana, the project is no closer to reality because of diminished funding available” from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, “which pays 100% of the cost.”

5. Lawmaker Says Expanding Access Could Help Save Money For State Vets Homes. In continuing coverage, CQ Weekly (7/5, Dumain) reported, “State veterans’ nursing homes are open to veterans, of course, as well as to their spouses and to any parents who have lost their only children in war.” And, just last week, the US House of Representatives “voted 420-0 to expand the eligibility of ‘Gold Star’ parents to any who have lost even one of their children to combat.” CQ Weekly added, “According to William M. ‘Mac’ Thornberry, the Texas Republican who sponsored the legislation, even a small increase in participants could help the veterans’ homes save money, since the average occupancy in state facilities around the country is nearly 85 percent, and administrators have to pay for the empty beds.”

6. Competitors, Spectators Find Meaning At National Veterans Wheelchair Games. In continuing coverage, the KCNC-TV Denver, CO (7/5, Day) website reported, “All this week Denver is hosting the National Veterans Wheelchair Games and the athletes are gung-ho competitors.” The courage of those competing in the games is “admired by spectators like Linda White,” who finds what she sees at the event to be “just so inspiring.” KCNC added, “But best of all, for the vets confined to a wheelchair,” the games put a “huge smile on their face.”
The KUSA-TV Denver, CO (7/5, Weaver) website noted that games participant Ryan Lindstrom “says being a spectator” at an earlier “Wheelchair Games in California, after the car wreck that left him paralyzed, was an eye opening experience and helped lift his spirits.”
Fox News’ Fox Report (6/5, 7:35 p.m. ET) broadcast that “hundreds of disabled vets from across the country” were “ready for action” at the games. According to Fox, one games “participant says it’s a tight group” of athletes competing at the event. The Denver Post (7/5, McGhee, 282K) noted that the game played on Sunday is “called quad rugby, or murderball, but for Robert Schuler, the wheelchair-smashing contact sport was the lift he needed to start living again,” after an accident left “him a quadriplegic.”. KUSA-TV Denver, CO (7/5, 6:36 a.m. MT), meanwhile, broadcast an interview with games participant Mark Shepherd. KUSA (7/5, 5:37 a.m. MT) also discussed the games with VA General Counsel Will Gunn.

7. VA Doctor Named One Of America’s Best. The Cypress (TX) Times (7/5) reported, “Thomas R. Kosten, M.D., senior advisor on Substance Abuse based in the Mental Health Care Line” at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, “was recently named one of America’s Top Doctors® for the fifth time by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.” According to the Times, Kosten’s “work in the field of addiction has resulted in a series of ground-breaking vaccines and technologies.”

8. VA: More Female Vets In New Mexico Taking Advantage Of Agency Program. The AP (7/6) reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs says more female veterans in New Mexico are taking advantage of a program designed to provide primary health care for women within…VA’s system.” After noting that VA “says it offers a full range of services through the Women’s Comprehensive Care Clinic at the VA hospital in Albuquerque and care at 11 clinics across the state,” the AP adds, “New Mexico VA Health Care System women veterans program manager Carole Donsbach says veterans can receive the same care at the community-based clinics due to the expansion of telemedicine combined with care at each clinic.”

9. Fisher House In Illinois One Of 45 Offering Assistance To Vets, Families. USA Today (7/6, 2.11M) reports that in March, “an organization called Fisher House opened a facility near” the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital in Illinois. After noting that Cindy Campbell, “community liaison with the national Fisher House Foundation,” said the facility in Illinois is one of 45 across the country that offer free lodging to veterans who have to travel more than 50 miles to get treatment at government-run Veterans Affairs hospitals, as well as to their families, USA Today points out that L. Tammy Duckworth, “assistant secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs” with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, offered words of praise for Fisher Houses, one of which housed her husband when she was recovering from wounds suffered in Iraq.

10. New Law Helps Vets’ Caregivers. ABC World News (7/5, story 8, 2:50, Muir, 8.2M) broadcast, “Sarah and Ted Wade were at the White House” in May “when President Obama signed” a law to “provide a stipend, health insurance, and counseling to family members who give up so much to care for an injured veteran.” ABC said the law’s passage means that Sarah Wade, whose husband, Ted, was badly injured in Iraq in 2004, and Ed Edmundson, whose son suffered a similar fate the following year in Iraq, and “thousands of others who have lovingly cared for an injured soldier will finally get some support and recognition of their sacrifice.”