Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      VA One Of First Federal Agencies To Commit All Recovery Funds. Ron Seman’s syndicated “Veteran’s Beat” column, appearing in the Tallmadge (OH) Express (8/15, 8K) reported, “The Department of Veterans Affairs committed the last of its $1.8 billion in Recovery Act funds July 31, one of the first federal agencies to achieve that milestone.” After noting that both the “Cleveland VA Medical Center and the Chillicothe medical facility will receive substantial dollars for projects,” Seman quotes VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who said in a recent press release that veterans from “across the nation are benefiting from these Recovery Act funds.”

2.      Iowa Seeks To Discipline Insurance Broker Over Deals With Elderly Veterans. The Des Moines Register (8/14, Witosky, 129K) reports that the Iowa Insurance Division is seeking to strip a VA-certified claims agent of his licenses as an insurance broker and investment adviser, claiming that he made misrepresentations to elderly veterans, failed to keep proper records and engaged in dishonest or unethical practices. The adviser, who had earlier surrender a stockbroker’s license, had solicited business as an advisor on how veterans can receive VA’s Aid and Attendance benefit, which that can be worth up to $1,900 per month “but it can involve shifting thousands of dollars in assets. According to an expert on elderly law, that opens the door for veterans to lose money on unnecessary investments pushed by financial advisers.”

 3.      Nebraska Dedicates Its First State Veterans Cemetery. The North Platte (NE) Telegraph (8/14, Wade, 12K) reports, “A World War II era P-51 Mustang roared across a blue sky Friday, to the delight of an estimated 3,000 people in attendance of the dedication ceremony held for the Nebraska State Veterans Cemetery at Alliance; the first in the state. The historic land in which the cemetery sits, once served as an air base and training center for the Army during World War II. The 20 acres of scenic Sandhills land was decorated with hundreds of American Flags and served as the backdrop for the nearly 90-minute ceremony.” Frank Salvas, the Director of VA’s Cemetery Grant Service, attended the ceremony, in which Gov. Dave Heineman, himself a West Point graduate, thanked the residents of the city of Alliance and Box Butte County for working 15 years to accomplish the project.

 4.      Vietnam Veteran’s Art Earns Gold Medal In National Contest. The Santa Fe New Mexican (8/15, Gonzales, 24K) reports that works of local artist Frank Erpelding-Chacon “for the second year, have won a gold medal in a national competition for veteran artists. Erpelding-Chacon will attend the 2010 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival Oct. 18-24 in La Crosse, Wis., where the piece will be displayed along with other gold-medal winners. The competition is part of a program run by the New Mexico Veteran’s Affairs Health Care Facility and other facilities like it nationwide.”

5.      County Veterans Department In Wisconsin Sees Changes. The Monroe (WI) Times (8/14, Gray) reports developments at the Green County Veterans Service Office, including the appointment of a new head of the office, its separation from the county’s emergency management office and a larger grant for the veterans office.

 6.      Medical Developer Wins Contract For Expanded Clinic In Newark, Ohio. The Columbus Business First (8/13) reports that Scout Development Ltd, the Columbus developer behind Central Ohio’s only private for-profit general hospital, “has won a contract to triple the size of the US Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Newark, adding to the growth of a medical district on the city’s west side.” Construction is expected to begin next month on a $1.8 million, 10,000-square-foot replacement for the satellite of the Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center, with the facility opening next spring.

 7.      Research Touts Effectiveness Of Telehealth Product Used By VA. The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (8/14, Harris) reported, “Today, five months after President Barack Obama signed landmark legislation intended to extend health coverage to nearly all Americans and bring rocketing costs under control, valley venture capital firms, startups and giants such as Intel are angling to apply tech know-how to an industry known for inefficiency and resistance to change.” In the “near term, some companies see immediate cost-saving opportunities in ‘telehealth’ products that provide at-home monitoring of the chronically ill,” including an at-home health monitoring system called Health Buddy. After noting that “Health Buddy is now used by tens of thousands patients, with the Department of Veterans Affairs its largest customer, said Suneel Ratan, who directs marketing and government relations in Bosch Healthcare’s Palo Alto office,” the Mercury News added, “A clinical study found that the system…reduced the rate of re-hospitalization for chronic illness within 90 days by more than 60 percent.”

 8.      “Daunting” Challenges Ahead For Comparative Effectiveness Research. In its cover story, CQ Weekly (8/16, Adams) reports, “Supporters of comparative effectiveness research,” which involves “studies comparing different” treatments, “hope the data will become far richer in coming years as electronic health records and health information technology become increasingly sophisticated. But the challenges ahead are daunting,” because, among other things, “some physicians and hospitals, comfortable with a format they understand and trust, are sticking with paper records.” CQ Weekly goes on to say that while researchers “have tried to use a wide range of existing patients’ medical records,” including “those held by federal agencies such as the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments,” to “conduct comparative studies,” there are some difficulties, such as that the people served “may not reflect” the US “population as a whole.”

9.      Station Looks AT Local Veteran’s PTSD. KURL-TV Billings, MT (8/14, Stoner, 10:01 p.m. EDT) briefly examined PTSD, by speaking with one local veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who suffers from the condition. “The biggest part of my PTSD is that I believe my nightmares at night, and the fact that I have a hard time being around crowds of people I don’t know.,” says Danyel Gaede. He adds, “There are certain stores I can’t go to, because of the people.” According to the segment, although Gaede returned to the US in 2004, but refused to seek treatment until 2008, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Now seeking treatment for a condition which his military training had led him to view as “a weakness of the mind, something that only people who aren’t mentally prepared get,” Gaede says that the biggest help from therapy “was learning the triggers as far as, before I start to go through a flashback or an episode, to see the triggers and be able to pull myself out of it.”

 10.    Advocates Concerned About US Soldiers Discharged For Personality Disorder. In a story run by at least 50 news outlets across the country, the AP (8/16, Flaherty) reports, “At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely dismissed hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggests.” And, while under “pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation,” advocates for veterans “say an unknown number of troops still unfairly bear the stigma of a personality disorder, making them ineligible for military health care and other benefits.” After stating Army officials “deny that soldiers were discharged unfairly,” the AP points out that Chuck Luther, one soldier discharged for having a personality disorder, “says the Veterans Administration agreed to reevaluate him and decided that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome coupled by traumatic brain injury.”