Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

Veterans!  Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need…..

1. The Gulf War Ground Assault: 20 Years Later.  By John R. Gingrich February 23, 2011 Chief of Staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs; Gulf War Veteran:  It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the ground assault of Operation Desert Storm began on February 23, 1991. On that day, I was commanding a field artillery battalion in the 1st Infantry Division positioned along Saudi Arabia’s border with Iraq.
2. Mercy College event seeks ways to help returning veterans find. … Tuesday at Mercy College that included federal, state and local leaders, education, … “If I had a magic wand, I’d want to get every veteran into college.” … (Photos by Mark Vergari/The Journal News). Andrew Person, the
3. Lobby For Own State Department – West Virginia Headline. Veterans say with more and more of them reaching retirement age, there’s going to be increased demand on the Division of Veteran’s Affairs. They believe a separate department within state government would be better prepared to handle the … Already a member? Click here to login! Registering for WVMetroNews.com is free and easy! Breaking News Alerts; Take part in online discussions; Get the headlines you want delivered right to your e-mail inbox, as soon as it’s posted.
4. Plans for veterans cemetery proceed.  WALA-TV FOX10  Highway 225 is where local and state leaders want to build a veterans cemetery in South Alabama. Tuesday morning, Baldwin County Commissioners turned over the 103-acre property to the State Department of Veteran Affairs. “This will allow the state to
5. Clark: Veterans need and deserve support.  Boston Globe These staggering statistics are clear signals that we need to work to improve services for our veteran population. I recently have been named as a member on the Joint Committee of Veterans and Federal Affairs. I look forward to the opportunity to work
6. Sen. Murray, Veterans Affairs chairwoman, visits Everett Vet Center.  HeraldNet Murray spoke with local veterans at the counseling center about their struggles and their hopes. The senator’s hope is that under her leadership, the federal Department of the Veterans Affairs will make changes that better serve the country’s military
7. American Legion Post to help Centerville veterans » Local News. State and county veterans service officers will be on hand to assist with VA … Creation of the federal forerunner of the Department of Veterans Affairs as
8. US Veteran Affairs official/former Black Hawk helicopter pilot to speak at PUC. Purdue University  Calumet News  A United States Department of Veteran Affairs official and former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq will be the keynote speaker at Purdue University Calumet’s Disability Awareness Month program at 10 am, Wednesday
9. Northrop Grumman Launches Mobile Health App for US Military Veterans.  TMCnet  According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), it has developed the “Blue Button” capability using which VA patients can download their personal health information through their VA MyHealtheVet account to share with medical providers.
10. Researchers stumble upon ‘astounding’ baldness blocker.  Suncoast News  While probing the link between a hormone known to be produced in reaction to stress and its effect on gastrointestinal functioning, a team led by scientists from UCLA and the US Department of Veterans Affairs have discovered that a peptide,

HAVE YOU HEARD?

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the start of ground combat in the first Gulf War, and those Veterans who served in the area during the 1990-1991 conflict, VA is calling for submissions of Gulf War-era photos. “All Americans should be proud of the service and sacrifice of our Gulf War Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “They went to a foreign land, faced a well-armed aggressor and liberated an independent nation from occupation.” If you are a Gulf War Veteran, take a look at VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich’s reflections on the conflict at VA’s blog if you have any photos of yourself during the war, submit them to newmedia@va.gov and we’ll post the set next week.

IN OTHER NEWS

• National Naval Medical Center Prepares To Merge With Walter Reed Army Medical. Gaithersburg (MD) Gazette

• Suicide Prevention Is Our Business. Muskogee (OK) Phoenix “Suicide prevention is a top priority within the Department of Veterans Affairs and it is evident at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center,” where banners “and posters and being placed throughout the facility that say ‘Not All Wounds Are Visible.’ There are even wristbands being handed out to all Veterans, employees and visitors that feature the Suicide Prevention Hotline number (1-800-273-TALK).”

• Despite Winning Silver Star, Female Vet Finds It Hard To Consider Herself A Hero. NPR’s Morning Edition Leigh Ann Hester, a “sergeant in the Army National Guard who received the Silver Star in 2005 for valor during a firefight in Iraq.” Hester, the “first woman to win” the Silver Star since World War II, and the “only woman to get it for engaging in direct combat with the enemy,” has had a “hard time seeing herself in any of the hero stuff that has been made of her.

• During Visit To College, Shinseki Touts Work Being Done By VetsSuccess Programs. Warwick (RI) Beacon Last Friday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki “visited the Knight Campus” of the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) “to talk with veterans and tout the work being done at the college and Rhode Island College to ensure vets succeed in their quest for higher education. VetsSuccess On Campus programs at the two state institutions are among eight programs across the county” that are “geared so veterans make the most of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.”

• Baker Tells Lawmakers That VA, DOD Are Close To Common EHR Agreement. Government Health IT “The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense are close to an agreement on a common electronic health record, the VA’s chief information officer told a congressional committee last week.” Roger Baker “said the two departments are weeks away from agreeing on a ‘single electronic health record.’

• VA Announces EHR Feature For Computers, Mobile Devices. ComputerWorld On Tuesday, the US Department of Veterans Affairs “announced a new online feature that allows active duty and retired service members to access” their EHRs by clicking a computer mouse. The agency’s “‘Blue Button’ Web Portal gives veterans direct access” to VA’s “MyHealtheVet personal health record on any computer, including mobile devices.”

• Officials: DOD Has Improved Care, Family Support Services. American Forces Press Service “The Defense Department has taken a number of recent steps to improve health care and family support services for military members and their families, the department’s two top leaders” recently “told a Senate panel.” Robert Gates, the DOD secretary, and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen “told the Senate Armed Services Committee about several areas of improvement,” including electronic medical records, “during a hearing about” DOD’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget.

• Vets’ Caregivers Receive Free Spa Treatments. Washington Post On Tuesday, “nine women caring for injured soldiers and Marines from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center…got a chance” to “get some tender care for themselves. The group — mainly wives and one mother — was treated to free facials, manicures and pedicures, courtesy of the Bethesda-based Yellow Ribbon Fund, which supports families of injured service members.”

• White House Official Meets Vets Benefiting From VA Hospital Drug Treatment Program. AP On Tuesday, White House Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske “toured a substance abuse treatment program” at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Louisville. The story, which focused mainly on Kerlikowske’s Tuesday comments about prescription pill abuse in Kentucky, adds, “Kerlikowske…met with a handful of veterans who benefited from a substance abuse residential treatment program” at the VA hospital, including “25-year-old Dustin Gross of Louisville,” who “credited the treatment program for turning around his life. Gross had both feet shattered by a roadside bomb while serving as a Marine in Iraq in 2006,” after which time he “became addicted to powerful pain medication.”

• VA Gulf Coast Using Social Workers To Assist Homeless Vets. Northwest Florida Daily News “As part of a national campaign to end homelessness among the country’s veterans by 2014, Veterans Affairs Gulf Coast has hired two social workers to work out of the VA clinic at Eglin Air Force Base. Phyllis Morgan and Jennifer Steinmeier are part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs Supported Housing Program (HUD VASH).” After noting that the “program marks the first time VA will include funding for services to spouses and children of veterans at risk of becoming homeless,” the Daily News adds, “It is also the first time the VA has had dedicated HUD VASH personnel in the area.

• VA Hospital Starts Foster Home Program. WMGT-TV Macon City, GA  The Veterans Affairs hospital in Dublin, Georgia, has “started a program to put veterans into a foster home instead of a nursing home.

• VA Death Benefit Approved For Daughter Of Deceased Soldier. Southeast Missourian Last week, the “mother of deceased soldier and longtime Cape Girardeau resident Lucky Sands” received a letter from Veterans Affairs “informing her that after ‘careful and compassionate consideration a decision has been reached on your claim'” for “Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, a death benefit” that Sands’ daughter Ceylon, will receive for the loss of her mother. Sands’ mother, Cynthia Herath, “has been seeking the benefit for the better part of the past year.

• Land Turned Over For Vets Cemetery In Alabama. WALA-TV Mobile, AL  “Plans for a state veterans cemetery in Spanish Fort continue to move forward” after Tuesday morning, when Baldwin County Commissioners turned over property in South Alabama “to the State Department of Veteran Affairs. ‘This'” location “‘will allow the state to move forward in applying for funding,’ said Commissioner Frank Burt.” State “leaders are hoping to get a $7.5 million grant” that “would be funded by the federal government.”

• Florida Officials Hoping For Study On Managing State Nursing Homes For Vets. AP Florida Gov. Rick Scott “and the Florida Cabinet have agreed to ask the Legislature to fund a cost-benefit study of three options for managing the state’s nursing homes for veterans.” The “study would compare current state management with private companies or a public corporation. Representatives of Disabled American Veterans and Vietnam Veterans of America” have “objected because the proposal is short on details and says nothing about a need for more bed space.”

• VA Researcher’s “Groundbreaking” Cancer Research Noted. Fremont (NE) Tribune Dr. David Vesely, whose “work has captured international attention.” Vesely, who is “chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at James A. Haley Veterans Medical Center,” has “done groundbreaking research, discovering three hormones, produced by the heart,” which “are found to eliminate up to 97 percent of cancer cells in a 24-hour period.” While “clinical trials are under way in Australia to determine how giving different doses of heart hormones can help people with congestive heart failure,” Vesely is “still working to raise funds for clinical trials to determine how these hormones might be used to treat cancer.”

• Wells Fargo Refunds $10 Million To Vets. International Business Times “Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to refund up to $10 million in fees to eligible military veterans who refinanced their mortgage with the bank, in settling a lawsuit that alleges the bank harmed veterans by charging improperly high fees on mortgages.” The lawsuit “claimed the bank failed to use ‘reasonable care’ in assessing attorney fees when complying with the Veterans Administration’s Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan rules.”