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. Possible federal government shutdown seems averted … for now.  American Pharmacists Association, pharmacist.com  According to a recent Military.com article, this time around, all health care services for veterans would be available despite a shutdown, because money has been put toward US Department of Veterans Affairs health care in advance
2. Last American WWI Veteran dies at age 110.  Suite101.com  The US Department of Veteran Affairs had Buckles’ photo and story posted prominently on its website Mar. 1, confirming his passing. “We have lost a living link to an important era in our nation’s history,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
3. Tammy Duckworth keynote speaker at PUC program today.  nwitimes.com  HAMMOND | A US Department of Veterans Affairs official and former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who flew combat missions over Iraq will be the keynote speaker at 10:30 am today at Purdue University Calumet’s Disability Awareness Month program.
4. VA boosts medical care for female veterans.  USA Today  By Ron Agnir, AP Army veteran Dee Myerly gets her blood pressure checked by nurse Dolores “Dolly” Doherty at the VA Well Women Clinic in Martinsburg, W.Va. in 2009. Instead of visiting a sick husband, the 53-year-old is at the Veterans Affairs hospital
5. Bill would form new department to aid veterans – TheInterMountain. In West Virginia, “Most of the veterans groups were present when we passed it out of the Veterans Affairs committee. Their support for the bill speaks volumes. If those state
6. VA auditing shelter for homeless vets.  Charleston Post Courier  By Renee Dudley The US Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting an audit of the Good Neighbor Center, the North Charleston veterans’ homeless shelter that came under scrutiny late last year, according to a recent letter the department sent to The
7. VA art show ‘very healing’ for local veterans.  The Aurora Sentinel  28 at the Denver Veterans Affairs Hospital. Marquez had an art piece in the show. (Heather L. Smith/The Aurora Sentinel) Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 7:54 pm | Updated: 8:18 pm, Mon Feb 28, 2011. DENVER | When US Army veteran Bob Blackburn can’t
8. Vets Court Gets Boost.  WDUQNews   A joint effort between the commonwealth and the US Department of Veterans Affairs to provide vets with access to a court system and health services when they get into legal trouble is set to expanding statewide. Like the mental health and drug courts,
9. Former Veterans Affairs nurse sentenced to probation for stealing pain medicine.  Kingsport Times News  By Matthew Lane GREENEVILLE — A former US Department of Veterans Affairs nurse has been sentenced to three years probation in federal court for stealing pain medication from the medical center for his own use. Bruce Clendenin appeared in US District
10. GI Bill changes could send some veterans into deep debt.   When Azar Boehm left the Army last year, he still felt a responsibility to serve. So he joined the New York National Guard and began studying political science at Columbia University, thanks to his generous GI Bill benefits.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Health Care for Women Veterans Expands

As the number of female service members increases, so do women Veterans. VA has recognized the importance of female–centric services and has been taking steps to improve health care. Read more from USA Today

IN OTHER NEWS

• Valentine’s Day ‘Free Call Day’ Lets Troops Call Sweethearts.  Posted: 01 Mar 2011 02:00 PM PST

• Last US WWI Veteran To Receive Full Military Honors At Arlington. NBC Nightly News 110-year-old Frank Buckles, the “last American survivor of World War I,” has passed away. Buckles “will receive full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.”

• Buckles Had Been Pushing For National World War I Memorial. USA Today “As the last American survivor of World War I,” “was a champion for his fellow soldiers, pushing for a memorial on the National Mall. Who urged a Senate committee in 2009 to refurbish an existing World War I memorial” to Washington, DC, “troops and rededicate it as a national tribute.

• WTimes: Buckles Saw America’s Rise And Start Of Its Decline. Washington Times “Buckles…lived through the rise of the United States as a major world power and survived long enough to see the beginning of its decline.” Mr. Buckles “died Sunday, aged 110, and much of America’s greatness passed along with him.”

• Iraq Vet Indicted For Making False Claims To VA. AP (3/1) “A National Guard soldier from Scottsbluff,” Nebraska, “faces charges that he made up combat injuries to get compensation for medical care.” The US Attorney’s Office “in Omaha says 27-year-old Dustin Douglass was indicted Friday on two counts of making false claims” to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The Federal “indictment said Douglass served in Iraq with the HHC 67th Support Company from July 2005 to October 2006 but was never in combat.”

• VA Makes It Easier For Vets To Get Help For PTSD. Washington (DC) Examiner “Precise numbers of former soldiers who have PTSD aren’t available, but of the veterans who served in Afghanistan or Iraq, an estimated 20 percent – one in five – have the disorder, said Tom Mann, public information manager of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs.” Last year, the US VA, which estimates that the number of such vets with post-traumatic stress disorder is “higher – 25 percent” – “relaxed its standards to make it easier for veterans to get help for PTSD.”

• VA Expanding Care For Women Vets. USA Today “It’s an attitude the Department of Veterans Affairs wants to change,” including at Charles George, which is doubling its space for female vets, said the medical director of the hospital’s women’s health clinic. “VA will spend $241 million this year on gender-specific care – like cervical cancer screenings and gynecology – for…VA’s 300,000 female patients…says” Patricia Hayes, the “chief consultant for female veterans health”.

• Illinois Honors Gulf War Vets. AP “The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs has led a remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the cease fire of the Persian Gulf War.” On Monday, officials, “conducted a memorial service…in the state Capitol rotunda for 14 Illinois service members who lost their lives during Operation Desert Storm.” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn “declared Monday ‘Desert Storm Remembrance Day’ in Illinois.”

• US Military Attempting To Curb Prescription Drug Abuse. Army Times The US military is “mounting a force wide effort to curb prescription drug abuse that experts say is linked to suicide and accidental deaths. ‘We’ve gone through a time where we have, in too many case, over-medicated…not just in the battlefield or back here when they get back, but also in the ‘Veterans Affairs Department]…it’s a concern we all have,’ Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told Congress”

• GAO: VA, DOD Could Work Together On EHR Modernization. Wall Street Journal Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified hundreds of potentially duplicative Federal programs. Among other things, the report suggests that the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense could work together, rather than separately, on modernizing their electronic health records (EHR) systems.

• Congressional Appropriators Begin Budget Proposal Hearings. CQ “House and Senate appropriators this week begin their annual ritual of holding hearings on the president’s budget proposal.” Appropriators in “both chambers will be focusing” on President Obama’s “discretionary spending proposals for individual departments, agencies, programs and activities.

• During Shutdown, VA To Continue Assisting Vets. Army Times “For veterans delays in processing of benefit claims may arise and some benefits payments could be reduced if a shutdown lasts more than a few weeks.” However, Veterans Affairs “health acre services would be unaffected.”

• Fisher Houses Helping Families Of Wounded Vets. Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch “53 Fisher Houses provide homes away from home that serve families of both active-duty service members and veterans. The homes are located on or near military and veterans’ medical centers,” including the McGuire VA Medical Center, “one of four facilities in the country that provides intensive rehabilitative care to veterans and service members with severe injuries to multiple organ systems (including brain injuries).

• Multiple Lawsuits Filed Against VA Over Colonoscopies. UPI Veteran Juan Rivera, “who turned up positive for HIV following a colonoscopy,” has “filed a $20 million suit against the Veterans Administration. Juan Rivera’s suit is one of 45 filed against the Miami Veterans Administration so far and more are expected, The Miami Herald reported.” “VA said 2,539 Miami veterans are ‘potentially at risk for infection’ from their colonoscopies, but ‘there is currently no evidence to suggest these infections were acquired from the endoscopic equipment.'”

• Bank Official: Thousands To Get Refunds In Lawsuit Settlement. Army Times “About 60,000 soldiers and veterans who refinanced Veterans Affairs Department-backed mortgages through Wells Fargo, Wachovia and SouthTrust will receive refunds under a $10 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit, a Wells Fargo official said.”

• JPMorgan Chase To Reduce Mortgage Loan Interest Rates For Some Military Personnel. Army Times “In an effort to blunt negative publicity on the wake of revelations that it overcharged several thousand troops on their mortgage loans, JPMorgan Chase will reduce interest rates to 4 percent for military personnel whose loans qualify under the service members’ Civil Relief Act.”

• VA Requests Information On Cloud E-Mail. Washington Technology “The Veterans Affairs Department may be the next federal organization – and the largest to date – to move its e-mail system to the cloud.” Later last week, VA “published a ‘Big 4 Hosted Cloud’ request for information…to ask vendors for input in designing, building and deploying an integrated hosted cloud service to provide enterprise exchange e-mail, archive, backup and storage.

• Lawmaker Wants VA Or DoD To Pay For Private Sector Treatment Of PTSD, TBIs. Army Times “introduced legislation for a five-year experiment in which private-sector treatments” for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) “would be covered by either the Defense Department or Veterans Affairs Department.” “HR 396, would include coverage for treatments – such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and devices that could improve brain function – that may be available at military or VA facilities.”

• Veteran Medical Malpractice At VA Hospitals. Lawyers And Settlements If you are a veteran and you or family members have been injured due to veteran medical malpractice, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD),” a Veterans Affairs “medical malpractice lawyer can help you determine whether you have a medical negligence lawsuit. If you were injured due to VA hospital malpractice by a doctor or any medical personnel at a VA hospital, a veterans’ lawyer can sue the US government under a federal law called the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA).”