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. Ohio State student seeks honor for last WWI veteran | The Columbus. THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH. Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving veteran of World War I, will be buried Tuesday.

2. Iraq, Afghanistan veterans struggle to find jobs – WCAX.COM Local. COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Iraq, Afghanistan veterans struggle …. is the Post-9/11 GI Bill administered by the Veterans Affairs Department, … as each state’s licensing requirements pertaining to military experience

3. RecruitMilitary to Present Civilian Jobs/Opportunities Expo for Veterans. PRLog.Org   … Limestone College, Mercy Health Partners, National College, the National Veterans Employment Program (NVEP) of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, New Horizons Computer Learning Center, New York Life, Northern Kentucky University

4. Veterans Administration’s Website with Hospital Compare Website Delivers. DARKDaily.com – Laboratory News  Veterans, their family members and their healthcare providers can now go online to compare the performance of their local Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital against other VA hospitals. This new service launched just last year.

5. VA insists benefits will cover caregivers of vets with TBI.  WASHINGTON Veterans Affairs officials promised Friday that traumatic brain injury victims will be covered under new caregiver benefits scheduled to start this summer, but veterans advocates remain skeptical.

6. Gates urges NATO not to leave Afghanistan ‘prematurely’.  In a sternly worded address to the 48 countries contributing troops to the Afghanistan War, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned against prematurely wavering from promises made to see the fight through to 2014, in order to score political points.

7. Controversial activist preparing another balloon launch in S. Korea.  Balloon by balloon, Park Sang Hak is waging a not-so-quiet war against North Korea. Parks group, Fighters for Free North Korea, is planning another launch as early as next week, a move that has particularly riled the North, which is threatening to fire on the groups launch site at the Demilitarized Zone.

8. Report: Army wasting millions on untested, unneeded gear.  To give soldiers every advantage on the battlefield, the Army is purchasing 181 high-tech communications kits at $800,000 a pop

9. Navy contractor sentenced for selling improperly treated submarine metal.  A federal judge sentenced a Navy contractor to 41 months in prison and $1.35 million in fines March 4 for major fraud, after the contractor sold falsely certified metal built into Virginia-class submarines and a new aircraft carrier.

10. VA Expands Caregiver Program. St. George (UT) Spectrum Veterans Affairs “pilot program of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health…has shown great success in reducing stress on caregivers while improving care outcomes for veterans.” The department will roll the program out “on a national basis through …

HAVE YOU HEARD?

VA’s Community Living Centers are participating in nationwide campaign to make nursing homes better places to live, work and visit. VHA and the Advancing Excellence in Long Term Care Collaborative on Feb. 1 signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing every VA Community Living Center to participate in the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign. Advancing Excellence is the largest voluntary national coalition working to assist nursing homes to improve the quality of care for residents and work environment for staff. Nursing homes that have participated in this initiative have made faster progress in improving in key areas such as reducing rates of pressure ulcers, improving management of pain, and significantly reducing use of physical restraints. VA is considered a national leader in the cultural transformation of nursing homes to community living centers. Twenty-eight national organizations representing nursing homes, health care professionals and direct care workers, quality improvement experts, and consumers are participating in the campaign.www.nhqualitycampaign.org

IN OTHER NEWS

• Treating The Brains Jarred By War. Omaha (NE) World-Herald “In an initial screening, 828 Nebraska and western Iowa veterans – nearly one out of every five local vets tested – showed some sign of a potential brain injury after deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq, where makeshift bombs that jar troops’ brains are the enemy’s weapon of choice.” The Omaha Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s “new Polytrauma Clinic, which opened in September, has quickly filled as…

• Duckworth Visits Montana, Urges Support For Vets. KRTV-TV Disabled Iraq veteran Tammy Duckworth “spoke in Helena this past weekend about her experiences overseas.” Duckworth, “says she hopes to leave Montanans with the message to support their veterans.”

• Mourners Pay Respects To Last WWI Veteran. AP The “last American veteran of World War I,” will be “buried Tuesday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Starting Tuesday morning, Buckles’ body will lie in repose at the cemetery’s memorial amphitheater.” According to the AP, a “slow but steady stream of friends, veterans and others filed past Buckles’ casket Sunday afternoon.”

• Disabled Vet Bowls Perfect Game. KOVR-TV Disabled Sacramento veteran Chris Paulson has rolled a perfect game in bowling. Chris, who lost a leg while serving the US military in the early 90s, “works for the Department of Veterans Affairs and he plans to share his story of accomplishment with veterans all over the planet.”

• Series Aimed At Mentally Ill Vets’ Kin. Portland (ME) Press Herald “The veterans who cross Mark Kmen’s path at Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center have any number of mental health problems, from schizophrenia or depression to post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury. One thing they all have in common, Kmen says: The veterans need help understanding ….

• Suicidal Thoughts Plague Veterans. Northwest Indiana Times “More than 134,000 people made calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline last year. Of those callers, 61 percent identified themselves as veterans, while 7 percent identified themselves as a friend or family of a veteran,” “nearly three-fourths of calls made to the lifeline were related to veterans’ issues.” “The Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs annual Suicide Prevention Conference is taking place this week through Thursday.”

• Drug Ring Busted At VA Hospital. AP “Albuquerque’s Veterans Affairs hospital is at the center of a big drug ring, busted by Bernalillo County narcotics detectives.” The “Investigator General for the Veterans Affairs Department got a tip a few weeks ago that someone was dealing heroin to veterans, both on and off the campus of the VA hospital.” On Thursday, “detectives arrested Anthony Smith and another man, who detectives said were the suppliers” while “several veterans who were buying the heroin” were also arrested.

• Strength At Home, For Couples And Men. Providence (RI) Journal “Are you struggling with conflict or other difficulties in your personal relationships after military service or after making the transition from deployment to civilian life?” The “Strength at Home programs offered” by the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center “want to assist you.” Classes in this program are “offered on weekday evenings at the Providence and Boston VA hospitals.”

• Doctors, Nurses Learn Disaster Coping Skills. Charleston (SC) Post And Courier “Most doctors and nurses aren’t trained to handle the kind of disaster that suddenly floods them with patients, says Dr. Lance Scott, director of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Center for Health Professional Training and Emergency Response.” Sunday afternoon, Scott “and a team of assistants led about 20 doctors and nurses from …

• Richmond Couple Spend Retirement Helping Others. The Kennebec (ME) Journal “Ronald and Sherolyn Dyer are enjoying their retirement time with their new foster ‘family'” of veterans who “need help with their daily activities but who don’t want to live within the confines of a traditional nursing home.” The “two veterans now living with the Dyers” were placed …

• Upcoming Wheelchair Games Spur Improvements At Airport. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “The Allegheny County Airport Authority plans to install two family bathrooms and an indoor relief area for service dogs in advance of the National Veterans Wheelchair Games coming to Pittsburgh.” The “Olympics-style sports program, in its 31st year, is for military service veterans who use wheelchairs because of spinal cord injuries, amputations or neurological problems.”

• Injured Veterans Invited To San Diego Clinic. Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot “Registration is open for the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, which offers recently injured veterans an opportunity to learn adaptive summer sports such surfing, kayaking, sailing, cycling, and track and field.” That “clinic is open to 100 vets who receive care at VA medical facilities, and will be held Sept. 18-23 in San Diego.”

• 3/14 Names And Faces. Bradenton (FL) Herald “Jack Phillip Carter, Jr. of Bradenton is one of four new members appointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, a panel that advises VA on issues and programs affecting women veterans.” Members “makes recommendations to the secretary for administrative and legislative changes,” are “appointed to two-year terms.”

• Race To Hire. Government Executive “The Veterans Affairs Department has brought on 365 new IT workers since it launched an IT hiring spree in January, a senior VA official said Thursday.” Stephen Warren, VA’s principal deputy assistant secretary for information and technology, “told Wired Workplace that the department has hired nearly half of the 705 new IT workers it hopes to hire by April 22. The plan…