Tag: va

After seeing the Obama administration’s VA budget recommendations for 2012, American Legion National Commander Jimmie L. Foster was pleased with areas of the fiscal...

I am being asked what is the VA and why am I in this medical system? Also why is it taking me so long to start treatment?

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama made clear that innovation is vital to the American economy – and that government has an important role to serve in supporting innovators across the country. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to finding new technologies, processes, and solutions emerging from dynamic companies in the private sector that can help us better serve our Veterans.

Projects Advance Health Information Technology to Improve Care for Veterans WASHINGTON –Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki officially announced today the first VA Innovation...

FLASH! VA Focused On Encouraging Transitioning Soldiers To Register For Agency Services. Newsday (11/26, Evans, 339K) reported, “With veterans like” 61-year-old Richard Whitmarsh, who after serving in Vietnam, “spent years in psychiatric institutions,” the US Department of Veterans Affairs is “stepping up efforts to encourage troops leaving the military to register when they are discharged, making them eligible for psychological, medical and disability benefits.” Drew Brookie, a spokesman for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, told Newsday that access and “homelessness are two” of the “top priorities” for Shinseki, who has “said helping wartime troops make the often difficult transition from military lives to civilian ones can prevent battlefield anxieties from metastasizing into more serious problems, such as substance abuse, divorce, homelessness and mental illness.” Newsday pointed out that Whitmarsh recently “took a big step toward his goal of reclaiming his life,” when he “sought help applying for VA benefits” at a “veterans ‘Stand Down’” in Freeport, New York.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is working to significantly reduce the average time needed to obtain health-care records from private physicians with the help of a private contractor and the Internet to speed claims decisions.

VA is expanding data on its Hospital Compare website to include critical inpatient and outpatient outcome and process measures such as readmission and mortality rates. This data will be available to the public on November 22.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun distributing disability benefits to Vietnam Veterans who qualify for compensation under recently liberalized rules for Agent Orange exposure. "The joint efforts of Congress and VA demonstrate a commitment to provide Vietnam Veterans with treatment and compensation for the long-term health effects of herbicide exposure,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded nearly $78 million in contracts to build solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in support of ongoing energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced.

This week, nearly 1,200 life-saving advertisements will go up on city buses, bus shelters, rail and subway stations across the Nation displaying a message of hope for those who have served their country and may be facing an emotional crisis. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is advertising its Suicide Prevention Hotline through Jan. 9, 2011.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to award $6 million in grants for research examining the link between substance abuse and military deployments and combat-related trauma. “VA has a commitment to meet the full range of our Veterans’ physical and mental health care needs, and that includes addressing substance abuse,” said Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA’s chief research and development officer. “This coordinated research effort is one more way we are turning that commitment into action.”

Hot News Is Expected for Chronic Fatigue Sufferers XMRV Findings More Expected This is exciting news in the civilian world for Chronic Fatigue Sufferers that may...

Health Fair and Reunion For Gulf War Veterans coming to Dallas Area- DFW Airport, Irving, Texas The National Gulf War Resource Center is holding a...

It is with the purpose of freedom- of being able to read all sides of the issue- that I share this resource I found...

Larry Scott has been all over this betrayal. EDGEWOOD ARSENAL / MKULTRA LAWSUIT MOVES TO NEXT PHASE Claims it is unconstitutional for the VA to decide...

To Serve, or Not to Serve:  The good, the bad, the ugly, and the VA  David K. Winnett, Jr. Captain, USMC (Ret.)  With war still raging...

If the Army needs proof that Ryan Hallberg suffered a loss when he was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, it need look no farther than 4 inches below his right knee. There's nothing there. Despite an amputation from his injuries, Hallberg has twice been denied a $50,000 insurance benefit because he has been told by the federal insurance office administering the program that "there is not enough medical information to support your loss."

For three years The Nation has been reporting on military doctors' fraudulent use of personality disorder to discharge wounded soldiers [see Kors, "How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits," April 9, 2007]. PD is a severe mental illness that emerges during childhood and is listed in military regulations as a pre-existing condition, not a result of combat. Thus those who are discharged with PD are denied a lifetime of disability benefits, which the military is required to provide to soldiers wounded during service. Soldiers discharged with PD are also denied long-term medical care. And they have to give back a slice of their re-enlistment bonus. That amount is often larger than the soldier's final paycheck. As a result, on the day of their discharge, many injured vets learn that they owe the Army several thousand dollars.

Veterans fighting to gain the benefits and care earned, deserved, and decades long over due!

Senators Propose TRICARE Dependent Coverage Extension Act A bill introduced to the U.S. Senate April 14 would, if passed into law, enable the dependent children...

The small city of Canal Fulton, Ohio, rolled out the “red carpet” and flag waving crowds swelled along the streets in anticipation.  May 17,...

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced the award of a $3.3 million contract by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for pre-construction services for VA’s new medical center in New Orleans.

Nearly 3,000 Individuals Have Responded to the CalVet Survey To Help Prioritize Services to California’s Veterans Sacramento – Nearly 3,000 individuals have responded to the...

Part 1 In case you missed it, here is the IOM report, as reported by the federal registry(below), on the update to their study on...

The veterans of the Gulf War 1990-91 have mighty support from scientific breakthroughs that have occurred with the backing of Ross Perot that started in the early years after they returned from the Gulf War in 1991. Mr Perot met with a group of Navy Seebees in the early 90's that had returned sick and faced strong opposition from the government that was suppose to support their veterans.

The Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general has launched a criminal investigation into a physician assistant's alleged downloading of veterans' clinical data at its Atlanta medical center, sources have told Nextgov.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced that the department’s Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force has nearly completed a comprehensive report that will redefine how VA addresses the pain and suffering of ill Veterans who deployed during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991.

In an effort to improve pain management, the VHA began the “Pain as the 5th Vital Sign” initiative in 1999 which required a pain intensity rating of 0 to 10 at all VA clinical encounters. The first four vital signs are pulse(time repetitions), blood pressure(force/area), temperature(degree),and breathing rate(time repetitions) : the first four vital signs are objective with unit dimensions scientifically calibrated to the unit standard at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

APNewsBreak: VA to reopen Gulf War vets' files Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki speaks Monday, Aug. 3, 2009, at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va....

The Veterans Affairs Department will re-examine the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from ailments they blame on their war service, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

The U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs, as part of their continued commitment to our Nation’s Service Members, Veterans, and their families, launched a new and improved National Resource Directory (www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov).

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO YIELD BETTER BENEFITS FOR THOUSANDS OF VETERANS SUFFERING FROM PTSD AND THEIR FAMILIES - Lawyers Serving Warriors Veterans must opt-in by...

Although the somewhat finished product looks nothing like the Mandatory Funding of the VA that most Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) flaunted as a few...

President Obama's 2011 budget proposal includes 20 cost-saving ideas submitted by federal employees; three from VA employees: -- Allow Veterans to Keep Medication When They're Discharged: The award-winning SAVE Award idea would allow veterans leaving VA medical facilities to keep leftover medications, including eye drops and inhalers. The plan would save taxpayers $14.5 million in the next four years.

In the past two years we at VT have been following and reporting on Department of Veterans Affairs attempts to cut costs by shredding...

NO WHISTLEBLOWERS, NO MISCONDUCT, NO "SHREDDERGATE" 60 MINUTES DISAPPOINTS VETS By Gordon Duff/STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Veterans around the country waited for validation last night.  60 minutes was...

AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS By Carol Ware Duff MSN, BA, RN Many veterans have been and will be diagnosed with this disease.  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is...

PROSECUTOR TELLS COURT:  "VETERANS TORE AND STOMPED FLAG IN WILD PROTEST"THE FACTS TELL A VERY DIFFERENT STORYBy Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior EditorAssistant US Attorney,...

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI): JUST THE FACTS  By Carol Ware Duff MSN, BA, RN Injuries to the brain may be more common than you know. With exposure...

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF GET YOUR IMMUNIZATIONS IMMUNIZATIONS ARE NOT JUST FOR BABIES by Carol Ware Duff MSN, BA, RN Vaccines are not...

INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW TO HELP YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER TO BETTER CARE FOR YOU BY CAROL WARE DUFF MSN, BA, RN INFORMATION AND FORMS TO...

New VA finding: No liberal biased news limits PTSD stressors! by Robert L. Hanafin, SP/5, U.S. Army (69-76) The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) yep, I...