Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 10-05-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. VA Distributing Checks To Students. 
2. Experts: Brain-Injured US Civilians Could Benefit From Research On War Wounded. 
3. Universities Developing Classes On How To Treat Combat Vets. 
4. VA Doctor Studying Impact Of Shorter Residency Workweeks.
5. Stopgap Measure Averts Government Shutdown. 
6. House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee To Mark Up Pending Legislation. 
7. VA System To Augment CDC’s Monitoring Of Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects. 
8. VA Helps Restore Historic Civil War Monument. 
9. Realtors: VA Mortgages "Proving Ineffective In Today’s Housing Market." 
10. VA Hospital Observes National Former Prisoner Of War Recognition Day.  

1.      VA Distributing Checks To Students.  In continuing coverage, George W. Reilly, in the lead item for his Providence (RI) Journal (10/5) "Veterans’ Journal" column, reports, "Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken extraordinary action in authorizing checks for up to $3,000 to be given to students who have applied for educational benefits and who have not yet received their government payment. The check distribution to eligible students began Friday at VA regional benefits offices across the country." The VA "has about 25,000 claims pending that may result in payments to students." The St. Joseph (MO) News-Press (10/5), meanwhile, reports, "VA officials emphasize that $3,000 is the maximum payment, with many veterans receiving smaller amounts based on their monthly education benefits."
      Paper Says VA Officials "Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves."  In a related editorial, West Virginia’s The Intelligencer (10/5) writes, "Some West Virginians who are owed Federal education benefits for their military service have not received them — and have had to drop out of school as a result, it was reported last week. About 25,000 veterans throughout the country were on a waiting list for their education benefits checks, the Veterans Administration admitted." That "prompted VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to order an ‘extraordinary action’ to get at least part of the benefits to veterans entitled to them." The Intelligencer concluded, "VA officials should be ashamed of themselves," and Shinseki "should demand that his agency do a better job with veterans’ benefits. Those who served deserve much better from the government they defended." 

2.      Experts: Brain-Injured US Civilians Could Benefit From Research On War Wounded.  The Chicago Tribune (10/5, Healy) reports, "A world away from the roadside bombs and combat injuries of Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans are suffering the same type of brain injury seen in troops coming home from those war-torn countries." Because of those injuries to troops, the "nation’s military branches" and the US Veterans Affairs Department "have stepped into a virtual funding void, investing heavily in research on brain injury and its aftermath. The combined surge of public attention and military largesse, experts say, promises to bring civilian and military victims alike better means of diagnosing and treating brain trauma and limiting its toll on lives." The Los Angeles Times (10/5) publishes the same story on its front page. 

3.      Universities Developing Classes On How To Treat Combat Vets.  USA Today (10/5, Zoroya) reports, "Universities are creating classes to train students in how to treat combat veterans and their families suffering from war-related mental health problems. As psychologically wounded troops return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the initiatives range from workshops to semester-long graduate courses." In "addition to treatment methods, the classes teach military culture, the combat experience and what military families endure.
That’s a way of life that’s mysterious to many new behavioral health students, educators say." 

4.      VA Doctor Studying Impact Of Shorter Residency Workweeks.  The website for American Medical News (10/5, O’Reilly) reports, "Six years have passed since" the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) "cut resident workweeks to 80 hours. The council also restricted shifts to 24 hours of call plus six hours of patient transition and educational activities," and some "health leaders said cutting back the weekend-long shifts and 120-hour workweeks that were common before the 2003 rules would yield a safety benefit — fewer patient deaths and fewer complications. But it is hard to make a definitive, evidence-based argument that the work-hour limits have improved patient outcomes, experts said." And now, more "adjustments could be on the way," because the ACGME is "examining whether to adopt a 16-hour shift or mandate a five-hour nap in each 30-hour shift." American Medical News adds, "Kathlyn E. Fletcher, MD, has published systematic reviews of work-hour safety studies and is part of a team helping the ACGME sort through more than 5,000 articles on residency education published since the 2003 rules took effect. ‘There is not much evidence to suggest mortality has gotten worse,’" said Dr. Fletcher, "interim section chief of general internal medicine at the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Wisconsin. ‘The studies that have looked at things like complications are more difficult to interpret. … There’s probably a finer look that needs to be taken, but at this point, it looks pretty positive.’"    

5.      Stopgap Measure Averts Government Shutdown.  In continuing coverage, CQ Weekly (10/5, Vadala) reports, "A government shutdown was averted last week as Congress cleared" and President Barack Obama "signed a stopgap measure that will keep the government running for one month," as "well as fund Congress through fiscal 2010." The measure "would keep most discretionary programs operating at fiscal 2009 levels through Oct. 31. However, Democrats made an exception for the Veterans Health Administration, which would be funded at an annualized rate of $44.3 billion, or $3.85 billion more than in fiscal 2009." 

6.      House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee To Mark Up Pending Legislation.  In its "The Week at a Glance" column, CQ (10/3) noted that on Thursday, the House Veterans Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee is scheduled to mark "up pending legislation" at 1 p.m. in 334 Cannon. 

7.      VA System To Augment CDC’s Monitoring Of Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects.  On its website, NPR (10/5, Knox) reports, "The first doses of vaccine against swine flu – officially known as H1N1 of 2009 – will start arriving at hospitals, doctors’ offices and clinics around the country Tuesday." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "is planning to watch more closely than ever for serious side effects among those who get the new vaccine, says Dr. Beth Bell of the agency. The CDC will use, among other things, its own Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System," which "will be augmented by surveillance in the military services, the Veterans Affairs system, and a new ‘real
time’ monitoring system that involves health plans covering 15 percent" of the US population.  

8.      VA Helps Restore Historic Civil War Monument.  The Louisville (KY) Courier Journal (10/5, Kenning) reports the "Civil War’s first monument to fallen soldiers" is "set to be placed in a museum, likely in Louisville, after being rescued and restored following decades of neglect and environmental wear that nearly destroyed it at Cave Hill Cemetery, where it has rested since 1867." With the "help of the National Cemetery Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Kentucky historical officials, contractors working at the University of Louisville recently finished cleaning the monument, including injecting microscopic glass beads into the pores to firm up the limestone." The Courier Journal adds that Kentucky officials are preparing to "mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War – and the Commonwealth’s unique and deeply divided place in it." Kentucky "recently received $1 million" in Federal "funds to pay for events that will include traveling exhibitions, scholarly presentations, renovations of historic buildings and new highway markers."  

9.      Realtors: VA Mortgages "Proving Ineffective In Today’s Housing Market."  In continuing coverage, a front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle (10/5, A1, Said) reports, Veterans Affairs "mortgages, created in 1944 to help current and retired military personnel buy homes, are proving ineffective in today’s housing market because the banks selling foreclosed homes — the best bargains around — routinely reject them in favor of cash offers, many Realtors say." The "spurning of such loans is ironic, given that Congress is exerting itself to help military personnel buy homes." New Federal "legislation expected to win speedy approval would extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit until next year for service members currently serving abroad and would relax occupation requirements for those called overseas." The Chronicle adds, "The VA acknowledges the situation, but says it’s simply a by-product of current market conditions, including the fact that many foreclosed homes are in poor physical shape and thus would not pass muster for a VA loan."  

10.    VA Hospital Observes National Former Prisoner Of War Recognition Day.  The Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times-Leader (10/5) reports, "National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day was observed on Sept. 18" at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Plains Township. The facility "honored local former POW/MIAs during a ceremony" in its chapel.

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