Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

1.      Newmark Says Shinseki Team Is “Really Getting Stuff Done.” On the San Francisco Chronicle (10/24) “City Brights” blog, Craigslist.com founder Craig Newmark posts a 14-minute YouTube presentation by Dr. Peter Levin, a top assistant to Veterans Affairs Secretary Shinseki, on how the agency is going about transforming itself into an organization that is transparent, collaborative and participatory. Newmark, active in veterans’ issues, includes the comment that “It’s my first hand observation that it’s real, and that this guy, Peter Levin, is part of a team really getting stuff done.”

 2.      VA Assisting Homeless Vets In California. The Stockton (CA) Record (10/25, Johnson, 44K) says Dignity’s Alcove, a “charity that provides transitional housing for homeless veterans,” will be getting a “‘per diem’ grant to help cover costs for as many as 20 veterans.” After noting that the US Department of Veterans Affairs grant “was part of a VA announcement of $42 million in grants to community groups to provide about 2,600 beds for homeless veterans,” the Record points out that veteran Harold Butts, Dignity’s Alcove cofounder, “said he had support securing the federal grant from Rep. Jerry McNerney.” The Record adds, “Ending veteran homelessness is a top priority for…VA, and one reiterated by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki at a round table discussion with McNerney, a small group of veterans and others earlier this week in Livermore, VA spokeswoman Kerri Childress said.”

 3.      Proposed Tennessee Veterans Home Scaled Back. The Chattanooga Times Free Press (10/24, Higgins, 80K) reports, “The size of a proposed regional veterans’ nursing home is being scaled back slightly to meet new US Department of Veterans Affairs standards. Taylor Wyrick with the Tennessee State Nursing Homes board said the department’s accepted design no longer is approved as an institutional setting.” To meet the new VA standards, the proposed facility in Cleveland, Tennessee will reduce the number of beds from 140 to 108, include a greater area and build “houses” in a cluster around a “neighborhood.”

4.      Maryland Recreational Outreach Program Takes Veterans Fishing. Maryland-based Baynet.com (10/23) reports that Gov. O’Malley “recently announced the creation of the Recreational Outreach Project for Veterans and its new web site, as part of Maryland’s commitment to members of our armed forces. The program, administered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), provides veterans and their families with unique opportunities to enjoy the rich natural habitats of Maryland, including the Chesapeake Bay, coastal waters and park lands.” The program has set 35 fall fishing trips for veterans and members of the armed services.

5.      Louisiana DVA Escapes Mid-Year Budget Cuts. The Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser (10/24, 32K) reports that the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs (LDVA) announced on Friday that programs and services for Louisiana Veterans and their families remain unaffected by the state’s midyear budget reductions. While LDVA did reduce its portion of State General Funds by $350,495, increases in federal revenues offset the reduction resulting in no loss to the Department’s overall budget.”

6.      Researchers Say VA Not Doing A Lot Of HIV Testing. MedPage Today (10/24, Susman) reports, “The government message to test most people for human immunodeficiency virus infection appears to have fallen on deaf ears at the largest US healthcare network: the Veterans Affairs health system. Of the 5.7 million outpatients seen in the VA health system in 2009, a mere 9.2% had ever been tested for HIV — and just 2.5% of VA outpatients were tested for HIV in 2009 — researchers reported at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.” Dr. Meredith Welch, an “infectious disease officer at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center/George Washington University Medical Center” in Washington, DC, “suggested that her study could act as a baseline for future studies that will determine how well the VA health system is doing in testing for HIV.”

 7.      Study Of VA Patients Finds Depression Raises Risk Of Death From Surgery. In an ABC syndicated “Medical Minute” aired on WMTW-TV Portland, ME (10/22, Johnson 5:49 a.m. EDT) and elsewhere, Dr. Tim Johnson reports that “a study in the Archives of Surgery finds that, if you are already depressed before the procedure, you may be at an increased risk of dying afterward. Over 35,000 patients of the Veterans Health Administration admitted to surgical intensive care units were studied. Underlying psychiatric illness was associated with increased risk of mortality for thirty days after surgery. This was true especially for those with depression and anxiety. Those with bi-polar disease, schizophrenia, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder showed no higher risk. Surprisingly, over 25% of the surgical ICU patients had pre- existing psychiatric conditions — a figure that may differ greatly between the veterans in the study and the general population.”

 8.      VA Hospitals’ Use Of Checklists In Surgery Saves Lives. In continuing coverage, WVTM-TV Bimingham, AL (10/23, 7:13 p.m. EDT) reports, “Answering basic questions from a checklist before surgery could save lives. That’s according to a study conducted at several of the nation’s Veterans Affairs hospitals. Doctors found surgery deaths dropped 18 percent when surgery team members created checklists and discussed them before, during, and after surgery. Death rates were lowest when the surgical staff had the most teamwork training.” KREX-TV Grand Junction, CO (10/22, 8:51 a.m. EDT) offered a similar report.

9.      Veterans’ Advocates Seek Further Expansion Of GI Bill. CQ Weekly (10/25, Zeller) reports, “Two years after Congress wrote the GI Bill, which included the most generous expansion of educational benefits since World War II, veterans’ groups are pushing legislation that would extend benefits to National Guard troops called up for active duty in the United States — not just for those sent overseas — and permit ex-soldiers to use their school benefits for vocational training instead of college.” The American Legion is pressing for action during a post-election lame-duck session on bills offered by ID Rep. Walt Minnick (D), a Vietnam veteran, and HI Sen. Daniel Akaka (D), who gained his college degree through the GI Bill. But the measure is expensive: the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost over $2 billion over 10 years. Further, some veterans’ groups “groups take issue with the offsetting benefit cuts in the bill – it would, for instance, eliminate stipends for soldiers during summer breaks from school and reduce benefits for veterans who win outside scholarships.”

10.    New Mexico VA Helping Present PTSD Conference. The Albuquerque (NM) Journal (10/25) reports, “A free conference on the integration of current clinical methods with alternative methods for treating veterans” with post-traumatic stress disorder is “being offered Friday and Saturday at Hotel Albuquerque by a group of mental health professionals and the New Mexico Veterans’ Services Department.” Conference “partners include…the New Mexico VA Health Care System.”