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. Modesto woman among VA workers accused of bribes. Modesto Bee  A Modesto woman and two other employees of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Palo Alto have been indicted on federal charges of taking thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for steering work to a contractor. …

2. Event to help disabled veterans who want to start, grow businesses.  Bakersfield Californian  There are 22.7 million military veterans in the United States, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The unemployment rate for veterans who served in the military at any time since September 2001 was 11.5 percent in 2010, compared with …

3. Veterans Service Office opens June 2 on Jensen Way in Poulsbo.  PNW Local News  More than 23 million US military veterans are eligible for benefits, but only 8 million are using those benefits, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Terry Inman and Earl Jones, both of Kingston, …

4. Veterans “Charity” Scams Flourish. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette

5. Educating Cops About PTSD. KALW-FM At a Combat to Community training near Sacramento, Mike Vanderwood runs a pilot program that is “helping train law enforcement officers to identify distressed veterans and help them diffuse as ituation before it escalates to crisis and arrest.” Vanderwood “helped design the Combat to Community training, collaborating with the Veterans Administration to create” the workshop he now runs.

6. One Runner’s Suffering Is Another’s Inspiration. New York Times Markus Amann, a “muscle researcher at the…Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Medical Center.” Amann “says that what actually stops or slows most people during exercise is fatigue, not pain. It is regulated by a group of nerve fibers, the so-called ergoreceptors, that respond to a combination of metabolites released by muscles during exercise – calcium ions, lactate, hydrogen ions. In response, the brain ‘decides’ to slow down, Dr. Amann explained.”

7. Hospice Care More Common In Wealthier Areas, Study Finds. HealthDay “The availability of hospice care for dying patients in the United States is strongly associated with a local area’s average household income, a new study says. Hospice facilities provide end-of-life care that can improve pain control, maintain patients’ independence and even extend life, according to lead author Dr. Maria Silveira, of the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System.”

8. Military Clinic Run By Navy, Air Force And Veterans Affairs Set To Open In SC Lowcountry. AP “The first joint clinic in the Charleston area operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Navy and the Air Force is opening its doors.” On Tuesday, there will be a “ribbon cutting ceremony…at the new clinic,” which is located “at the Joint Base Charleston Weapons Station.” The clinic “will help ease crowding at other clinics.”

9. Partnership Gives Veterans New Smiles. UPI “More than 2,500 homeless US veterans are flashing new smiles thanks to a Veterans Affairs clinic and dental school partnership, dentists say. Douglas Barnes, a dentist at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore, says the partnership was formed because the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Dental Clinic was overwhelmed by the number of homeless veterans eligible for the initiative’s dental care.”

10.VA Dedicates Additions, Renovations At Wade Park Campus. Cleveland Plain Dealer “Looking a little like a kid at Christmas, Susan Fuehrer, director of the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, sized up the audience who came Monday morning for dedication of a half-billion dollars’ worth of additions and renovations to the VA’s Wade Park campus. ‘So, what do you think?’ she asked the crowd of about 250 people who had assembled in the dining hall of one of those additions — a 122-bed domiciliary for homeless veterans, created in partnership with the Volunteers of America. Fuehrer got her answer in a round of enthusiastic applause” from the audience, which had “enthusiasm to spare” during Monday’s dedication ceremony.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Last Thursday, Dr. Patricia Hayes, Chief Consultant for Women Veterans Health, and Stacy Garrett-Ray, Deputy Director for Patient Care Services, held the first of what will be monthly roundtables on women Veterans healthcare. You can check out VA’s live tweeting of the event here, by scrolling down to the entries from May 12^th.

VA wants a change in culture, as Dr. Hayes points out in the Army Times:

Hayes said she has seen the VA expand its services to care for female troops since her appointment in 2007. And the number of women in the armed forces today means the department must continue to improve its care in the future, she said.

To find out the services and programs available to you as a female Veteran, visit the Women Veterans Health Care webpage.

IN OTHER NEWS

• VA Awards Grant For Hanson Center. Louisville Courier-Journal “The US Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that it is awarding a grant of nearly $6.3 million for a new, 36-bed community living center in Hanson, Ky., in the western part of the state.” “VA’s grant will cover 65 percent of the total cost of the project, officials said.” They also “said they are awarding the grant to ensure the state veterans’ home in Hanson remains a comfortable and safe residence for veterans.”

• Canandaigua VA Hosts Family Day. Greece (NY) Messenger Post “On June 11,” the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center “will host a ‘Veterans Family Day’ to welcome home returning veterans and provide outreach to homeless veterans.” The free “event will be held in Courtyard 1 of the VA at 400 Fort Hill Ave, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Veterans from all eras and their family members are invited to attend.”

• NH Veterans Home To Get $4.3 Million For Upgrades. AP “The Department of Veterans Affairs says the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton is going to get $4.3 million to pay for a variety of improvements,” including “construction of a new multi-purpose emergency operations center.” Eric Shinseki, the agency’s secretary, “says the money will ensure New Hampshire veterans receive the top-notch care they have earned through their military service. Last year the Tilton home cared for 242 veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.”

• Improve: Make It Easier For Our Veterans To Apply For And Receive Services. Pacific Daily News “Next week, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shineski, will be on Guam to participate in the dedication of the Guam Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic, located near Naval Hospital Guam. This will present island veterans with the opportunity to make their case for Veterans Affairs to improve services to former members of the US armed forces,” by increasing staff at the clinic and by giving Guam the power to handle veterans benefits in the region.

• Troops In Mideast Face Breathing Ills. Wall Street Journal At the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in Denver this Wednesday, research results will be presented from a study that found debilitating respiratory illness is more commonly experienced by Iraq and Afghanistan vets than by vets who were deployed to other locations. The study was conducted under the authorization of the Veterans Affairs hospital in Northport, New York. Some medical professionals and members of Congress have expressed concern about toxic chemicals and dust in the Middle East harming US soldiers, including ones stationed near burn pits that dispose of trash at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans Affairs has requested an assessment on the long-term health risks of such pits, the use of which is now being limited by the US military.

• Lung Disease Diagnosed In 38 Of 55 US Soldiers Who Served In Iraq Or Afghanistan. Wall Street Journal A separate study of 55 Fort Campbell soldiers who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan found that 38 of them have been diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis, a rare lung disease that cannot be cured and that can cause people to have difficulty breathing. The study was partially paid for by a National Institutes of Health grant. Vanderbilt University’s Dr. Robert Miller, who conducted the study, said that while there is no treatment for constrictive bronchiolitis, soldiers can receive healthcare benefits after being diagnosed with the condition.

• DoD, VA Aren’t Properly Tracking Severely Wounded Troops. Army Times “Ten years into war, there is no database in the Defense or Veterans Affairs departments that defines ‘severely wounded,’ or keeps track of such troops, the Government Accountability Offices’ director of health care told lawmakers recently.” Lee Simpson, “chief of staff for the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said she agreed both departments should work together to address” the issue.

• Tigers Ace Makes Pitch For Veterans. FOX Sports Detroit “For Army sergeant Joshua Sparling, Monday was a special day and not just because he was taking in the Tigers-Blue Jays game. Sparling, who lost part of his leg when he was hit by an explosive during a firefight while on duty with the 82nd Airborne in Iraq, was at Comerica Park Monday for the announcement of Justin Verlander’s ‘Victory for Veterans Program.'” With “every home start” he makes, Verlander “will be donating his Comerica Park suite to injured veterans and their families,” who will be recommended to the Tigers by the John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit and the Veteran Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

• Veterans Compete For Gold At Warrior Games. NPR On Tuesday, the “Morning Edition” radio program aired a story on the second annual Warrior Games, which are taking place this week at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Charlie Huebner, chief of paralympics for the US Olympic Committee, “says a primary goal of the games is to encourage people with disabilities to be physically active.” The Defense Department and the US Olympic Committee “organize the Warrior Games,” which began on Monday and “wrap up…on May 21.”

• Tinnitus Tears At Man’s World From Inside. Green Valley (AZ) News & Sun “Veterans Administration officials say tinnitus is a major health issue for soldiers returning from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. For fiscal 2009-10 it was the most-claimed, service-connected disability for veterans receiving compensation.” The News & Sun, which profiles a tinnitus sufferer named Doug Crawford, points out that “due to increased demand for help by returning veterans, the Phoenix Veterans Health Care System has extended hours and added staff.”

• “Captain America” Comes To Freeport To Raise Awareness About Homeless Veterans. Freeport (IL) Journal-Standard Allen Mullins, an advocate for homeless veterans, is walking from state to state to “raise awareness” for Veterans of Foreign Wars posts “and homeless veterans, who he said receive a lack of support from the government and American citizens upon returning from service.” Now “in the midst of walking to 48 continental state capitals,” a goal he set back in January 2010, Mullins said next his agenda is walking “the outline of the US,” which he estimates will take him around six years. Mullins, who dresses as comic book heroes to attract attention, says “People tell me all the time, ‘I support the troops,’ but that’s as far as it goes” but you have to “put action in front of your words.”

• Employment Program Helps Veterans Transition Into Civilian Life. WAMU-FM “The region is home to thousands of veterans, and some are still struggling to get back into civilian life.” But Bob Simpson, a Vietnam vet who has struggled with the trauma he experienced in combat, now directs the Weigh Station, a veterans’ employment program in Maryland and D.C. Simpson “says he’s trying to help Iraq and Afghanistan war vets from making the same mistakes he did.” The Weigh Station, is “opening up a new home for 27 homeless female veterans in the next year,” as well as “counseling veterans with criminal records and putting them in touch with potential employers.”