Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-15-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. VA Working Hard To Care For Female Veterans. 
2. VA Hospital Report Card is Placed On White House Website.
3. VA’s IT CIO Baker is Optimistic About Projects.
4. Appropriation Bill Includes Money For Colorado Facility.
5. Lawmakers To Meet With Shinseki, Discuss Marion VA.
6. County In Texas Considers Creating Veterans Court Docket.
7. Money-Saving Ideas Contest Praised.
8. For Many, Uncertainty, Fear And Shame Often Follow Pink Slips.
9. Graves At Dixon National Cemetery Wreathed In Spirit Of Season.
10. Fallen Veterans Honored With Wreaths.

---

Have You Heard?

VA Home Loan Fraud Uncovered by Investigation Team

ATLANTA (MyFOX ATLANTA) – A FOX 5 I-Team investigation uncovered allegations of a nationwide scheme by banks and mortgage companies to defraud U.S. military veterans. The scheme, spelled out in court documents, claims banks are overcharging veterans on home refinancing loans.

The I-Team obtained thousands of pages of legal documents and personally examined more than a hundred closing statements belonging to veterans.

According to federal loan records, there have been some 884,000 veteran home loans refinanced during the past eight years.

The question raised in a racketeering and class action law suit is how many of those loans involved banks defrauding U.S. military veterans.  WATCH VIDEOS

---

1.      VA Working Hard To Care For Female Veterans.  AP (12/15, Hefling) reports, "No one’s quite ready for them, but female veterans have arrived in the…hundreds of hospitals and clinics" operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, a "system long geared toward treating an aging male population." Now however, that system is "scrambling to care for thousands" of younger female veterans, and this has "forced changes in the VA’s culture, in addition to its medical system. VA facilities had to get equipment such as gynecological exam tables, they’ve had to create a place where women feel comfortable." Still, some feel change is not happening fast enough.
     Population Of Female, Homeless Vets On The Rise. According to a another story by the AP (12/15, Hefling), Margaret Ortiz is "one of the new faces among America’s homeless veterans," who are "younger than homeless male veterans and more likely to bring children. Their number has doubled in the past decade," but "women-only programs…are few. ‘It is always hard to find a place or resources or help when you are homeless,’ said" US Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who added, "Most of the VA facilities cater to men, and you can’t take a mom with two little kids and put her in the middle of a homeless center with 30 or 40 male veterans." After noting that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki recently "pledged to advocates to end homelessness among veterans in five years, and specifically mentioned the need to help women veterans," the AP adds, "The VA is far more proactive than it’s ever been, and recognizes the need to be more family friendly, said Pete Dougherty, director of VA’s homeless veterans programs."
         Women Vets Suggest Ways To Improve VA Care. The Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (12/15, Wiltrout) reports, "Warner sat down with female veterans Monday to answer a complicated question: How can" the VA "do a better job caring for them? Their suggestions were deceptively simple: Answer the phone. Put diaper changing tables in the women’s restrooms at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Set up a separate waiting room for women receiving counseling for sexual assaults suffered in uniform." The Virginian-Pilot noted that Warner "helped sponsor recent legislation requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a yearlong study of its services for women handling combat stress," and during Monday’s Norfolk Public Library event, he "wanted to hear the women’s perspective on the VA’s delivery of care in clinics and hospitals, as well as its handling of benefits claims." 
 

2.      VA Hospital Report Card is Placed On White House Website. Federal Computer Week (12/15, Lipowicz, 90K), "The Veterans Affairs Department has placed raw data from its annual hospital report card online on Data.gov. Posting data on quality of care, patient satisfaction, availability of services, wait times, medical staffing, patient outcomes and other topics in a machine-readable format for the first time.  After noting in a release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the "report demonstrates" his agency’s "determination to be open and accountable," Federal Computer Week feels the VA "report card showed improvements in some categories. For example, 94 percent of veterans were immunized against pneumonia, an increase of 4 percentage points from 2008 numbers. However, women and minority veterans reported lower levels of satisfaction with the care they received."  

3.      VA’s IT CIO Baker is Optimistic About Projects. Federal News Radio (12/15, Cacas) reports, "When it comes to Information Technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs, things are changing for the better. An agency which in the last few years has endured news of missing laptops, and delayed, or over-budget IT projects appears to have turned the corner, according" to Roger Baker, the "VA’s new Chief Information Officer." The "news comes from last week’s hearing before the ‘Task Force on Government Performance,’" which is "part of the Senate Budget Committee." After noting that during "his testimony, Federal CIO Vivek Kindra pointed to the Department of Veterans Affairs as one agency changed by the IT Dashboard, a new online resource designed to track the performance of IT projects across the Federal government," Federal News Radio reports, "In July, the Department of Veterans Affairs under the leadership" of Secretary Eric Shinseki, "and Roger Baker, announced that it was temporarily halting 45 IT projects that were either behind schedule, or over budget. Last week, the department cancelled 12 of these poorly performing projects."  

4.      Appropriation Bill Includes Money For Colorado Facility. The Aurora (CO) Sentinel (12/15, 8K) reports, "After years of promises, controversy, reversals and confusion, a massive funding bill on its way" to President Obama’s "desk will ensure construction of a stand-alone, regional veterans hospital on the Fitzsimons campus." In March, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki "backed a plan for a stand-alone hospital," and while "officials broke ground on the $800-million facility in August, the $119 million made available in the spending bill allows for design and construction of the 200-bed facility to start in earnest. ‘I have fought alongside the veterans’ community for many years to get the VA to honor its promise to replace our aging VA hospital, and I’m proud to announce that the funding bill is now headed to the President’s desk for approval,’" US Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) "said in a statement." 
 

5.      Lawmakers To Meet With Shinseki, Discuss Marion VA. The AP (12/15) reports, "Illinois lawmakers on Capitol Hill expect to get some answers about how" Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki "plans to fix nagging problems at a troubled southern Illinois VA hospital. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and other members of Illinois’ congressional congregation are to meet with…Shinseki about lingering problems involving the Marion VA," where "major surgeries "have been suspended for more than two years." The AP notes that last month, a "VA inspector general report outlined serious problems at the Marion VA." Shinseki "responded by sending a top-level quality-management team to Marion for several weeks, with a pledge that he’d report back to the lawmakers."  

6.      County In Texas Considers Creating Veterans Court Docket. The Austin (TX) American-Statesman (12/15, Schwartz) reports, "In hopes of helping veterans suffering from mental illness and substance abuse," authorities in Travis County, Texas, "are looking at creating a special veterans court docket, which would channel those charged with certain crimes into treatment and social services rather than incarceration. A handful of such courts have been created across the country since 2008, as officials respond to growing numbers of veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." After noting that the "possible creation of a local veterans court was hailed by veterans groups as a vital step," the American-Statesman adds, "Last month," Harris County, Texas, "set up a veterans court pilot project." Meanwhile, just last week, Tarrant County, Texas, "decided to accept a $200,000 grant from Gov. Rick Perry’s office to hire staffers to manage a veterans court there. The Texas Legislature passed a law this year allowing counties to create veterans courts."  

7.      Money-Saving Ideas Contest Praised. In continuing coverage, the Philadelphia Daily News‘ (12/15) "Suggestion Box" column notes that Federal officials recently "announced the winner of contest for government employees to offer ideas to save money. Nancy Fichtner of the Veterans Administration gets to meet President Obama…and her idea will be in the next" Federal budget. The "idea, allowing veterans to keep extra medicine when leaving VA hospitals, was one of 38,000." The Daily News says the "contest is a great reminder that public employees are one of the best resources for figuring out how to save tax dollars."  

8.      For Many, Uncertainty, Fear And Shame Often Follow Pink Slips. In a profile of three unemployed Americans, the New York Times (12/15, A29, Luo, 1.09M) reports 54-year-old Lee Daves "is coming to the end of his unemployment benefits and is not sure what he will do next." He "gets some health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, but he has had to neglect things like dental work and figures he will probably need to have some teeth removed when – make that if – he gets a job with benefits again." 

9.      Graves At Dixon National Cemetery Wreathed In Spirit Of Season. The Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat (12/14, Chalk). 

10.    Fallen Veterans Honored With Wreaths. The Keokuk (IA) Gate City Daily (12/15, Spees).