Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-4-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. Shinseki Announces $3.2 Billion Plan To End Veteran Homelessness. 
2. Illinois Delegation To Meet With Shinseki Over Troubled VAMC. 
3. Shinseki Mentioned In Essay On Military Leadership. 
4. IG Report Faults VA’s Stimulus Funding Data Reporting. 
5. Bigger IEDs In Afghanistan Increase Soldiers’ Spinal Injuries. 
6. Sniper’s Attorneys Cite Gulf War Syndrome In Bid For SCOTUS To Prevent Execution. 
7. Bureaucracy Preventing Alaska Vets From Receiving VA Meds. 
8. Low Turnout For Texas VA Hospital Vote. 
9. New Mexico Legislature’s Veterans Committee Set To Meet Next Week. 
10. Michigan VAMC Restricting Underage Visitors Because Of H1N1. 

1.      Shinseki Announces $3.2 Billion Plan To End Veteran Homelessness.  The Washington Post (11/4, O’Keefe, Franke-Ruta, 684K) reports that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki released "an ambitious five-year goal of curbing the number of homeless veterans" yesterday, "pledging $3.2 billion to an issue that is more rapidly affecting those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars than by any from past conflicts. ‘No one who has served this nation as veterans should ever be living on the streets,’ VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said." Noting that Shinseki said that this plan will focus on prevention as well as rescuing currently homeless vets, the Post presents data indicating that the problem may impact veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan at a greater rate than veterans of past conflicts. Moreover, "Government officials and homeless experts worry that the number of homeless veterans could climb another 10 to 15 percent in the economic downturn."
      The AP (11/4, Hefling) adds that Shinseki said his plan would "end veterans’ homelessness in five years, saying that without action the improvements of recent years could be lost because of the bad economy." Shinseki "said he recognizes that a goal of zero homeless veterans is ambitious but that he wants a high target so that everyone puts in their best efforts. ‘My name is Shinseki and I’m here to end veteran homelessness,’ he said at the beginning of a speech to 1,200 service providers at a VA summit." The AP notes that the plan includes strengthening partnerships with philanthropic organizations and other government agencies.
      CNN (11/4, Levine) also reports on Shinseki’s "ambitious goal" on its website, noting that his plan "includes trying to leverage existing education and jobs programs, boosting the ability of veteran-owned businesses to compete for federal contracts and spending an additional $3 billion on medical services and homeless programs."
      Ed O’Keefe wrote about the homeless vet summit at which Shinseki was speaking at the Washington Post (11/3, 684K) "Eye Opener" blog, noting that "government and military officials will meet for the next three days with state, local, religious and other community leaders for the biggest-ever government-sponsored summit on homeless veterans." O’Keefe notes that Shinseki has paid "special attention and concern" to the issue.
      WZVN-TV Naples, FL (11/4) on its website also mentions Shinseki’s announcement in a story about local programs for homeless vets. 

2.      Illinois Delegation To Meet With Shinseki Over Troubled VAMC.  In an updated version of coverage from yesterday, the AP (11/4, Tareen) reports on a report released by the VA’s Inspector General detailing "serious safety issues" at the VA Medical Center in Marion, Illinois, "even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths." Surgeons "performed procedures without proper authorization, patient deaths were not assessed adequately and miscommunication between staff members persisted," according to the report. "The medical center’s ‘oversight and
reporting structure was fragmented and inconsistent, making it difficult to determine the extent of oversight or the corrective actions taken to improve patient care,’ the report said."
      The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (11/4, Carpenter, 263K) reports, "Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will walk into a room of angry Illinois members of Congress Wednesday morning. Shinseki will meet with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and other livid Illinois elected officials in Washington to address persistent problems at the Marion Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, which were brought back to light by a VA’s inspector general report issued this week."
      The Southern Illinoisan (11/4, Malkovich, 27K) adds that the lawmakers, "fed up with what they called unacceptable standards and treatment of veterans at VA Medical Center in Marion, will meet with the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs this morning. Secretary Eric Shinseki agreed to the meeting after receiving a letter from U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Roland Burris and Reps. Jerry Costello and John Shimkus. The letter blasted as ‘appalling’ the findings of a report released Monday that found continuing prob-lems at the facility that saw nine deaths in 2007 reportedly caused by surgical malfeasance resulting from poor leadership and communication." The Evansville Courier & Press (11/4) also reports on the Marion report. 

3.      Shinseki Mentioned In Essay On Military Leadership.  The Washington Post (11/4, 684K) published an online forum titled "On Leadership" in which various writers weigh in on the value of leadership skills learned in the military. Michael Maccoby, and anthropologist and psychoanalyst globally recognized as an expert on leadership, writes, "sometimes, as when General Eric Shinseki told Congress that winning the Iraq war would be much more costly than the Bush administration stated, their judgment has proved better than that of their civilian bosses. But throughout our history, military leaders have used their prestige to push questionable strategies."  

4.      IG Report Faults VA’s Stimulus Funding Data Reporting.  Federal Computer Week (11/4, Lipowicz, 90K) reports that according to a report from the VA’s Inspector General, the department "should improve the process it has to find missing or erroneous data in its reports on economic stimulus law funding. … The VA has received Office of Management and Budget approval for its limited data quality review plan for the $1.4 billion to be distributed by the the department under the stimulus law. The law provides for $1 billion for the Veterans Health Administration maintenance and energy projects, $150 million for grants to build extended-care facilities and $50 million for the National Cemetery Administration." 

5.      Bigger IEDs In Afghanistan Increase Soldiers’ Spinal Injuries.  USA Today (11/4, Zoroya, 2.11M) reports that new more powerful IEDs in use by insurgents in Afghanistan are "powerful enough to throw the military’s new 14-ton, blast-resistant vehicles into the air" and are causing rising
numbers of spinal fractures in US servicemembers. The piece reports that doctors in Bagram "say more than 100 U.S. servicemembers have suffered crushed or damaged spinal columns from being thrown around inside armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in the last five months." The piece further details the numbers sustaining spinal wounds in Afghanistan, and describes the efforts to design seats and harnesses for the MRAP vehicles that will better absorb explosive shocks.  

6.      Sniper’s Attorneys Cite Gulf War Syndrome In Bid For SCOTUS To Prevent Execution.  The AP (11/4, Sherman) reports that attorneys for convicted DC sniper John Allen Muhammad asked the US Supreme Court to stay Muhammad’s execution on Tuesday, arguing that it "should be put off while the court considers whether his trial lawyer was ineffective." Moreover, they have "asked Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency, saying Muhammad is mentally ill and should not be executed. In a 40-minute video to Kaine last month, attorneys, mental health experts and witnesses describe Muhammad’s illness. Muhammad’s attorneys claim he has brain damage, brain dysfunction and neurological deficits, as well as psychotic and delusional behavior, exacerbated by the Gulf War Syndrome he suffered as a sergeant in the first Iraq war."  

7.      Bureaucracy Preventing Alaska Vets From Receiving VA Meds.  The Anchorage Daily News (11/4, Shinohara, 59K) reports, "Military veterans living in the state-run Alaska Pioneer Homes are losing out on free or low-cost prescription benefits they are entitled to for serving their country because two medical bureaucracies can’t seem to figure out how to get VA drugs to them. The problem — mostly about the packaging the medicines come in — affects those veterans who need help from staff to take their meds. Instead of pill bottles, the Pioneer Homes want the medicine to come in blister packs — foil on one side, plastic on the other, name of pill and patient on the package, with each pill ready to be individually popped out. That’s for safety, says Dave Cote, head of the Pioneer Homes. But the Veterans Administration isn’t set up to make blister packs, says Marcia Hoffman-Devoe, spokeswoman for the agency. ‘We don’t have the space to do that. We do not have the capability to do that.’" 

8.      Low Turnout For Texas VA Hospital Vote.  The Brownsville Herald (11/3, Martinez), in a piece about items on the ballot in Texas yesterday, reports that a proposed change in the state constitution calls "for the state to work with the federal government for construction of a veterans hospital in the Rio Grande Valley. … Although Valley veterans have been pushing the Proposition 8 amendment, their efforts didn’t surface during early voting, Ortiz said. ‘I just don’t see them (the voters) coming out to the polls.’"
  

9.      New Mexico Legislature’s Veterans Committee Set To Meet Next Week.  The Alamogordo Daily News (11/4) reports, "The interim legislative Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee has rescheduled its two-day meeting in southern New Mexico for Nov. 9-10. The committee was created by statute during the first session of the 49th Legislature to conduct hearings relating to military and veterans’ issues and to report back to the New Mexico Legislature, Congress, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense with recommendations. The committee was scheduled to meet on Oct. 15 and 16, but Gov. Bill Richardson’s announcement that a special session would begin Oct. 17 gave rise to scheduling concerns." 

10.    Michigan VAMC Restricting Underage Visitors Because Of H1N1.  In continuing coverage, WNEM-TV Bay City, MI (11/4) reports, "The Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center in Saginaw has added temporary restrictions to its visitor policy to reduce the spread of the H1N1 flu virus," noting that the facility will prohibit visits by those under age 18. "The restrictions are in place to protect patients, volunteers and staff from being exposed to any viral infections that are being seen in this age group, according to the medical center."