May 13, 2008

Amputees get Segways to move around

A group called Segs-4-vets wants to give many amputees a way of getting around. Using computerized Segways, many disabled people can get out of wheelchairs and scooters. [WUSA-DC]

Do mental wounds qualify for a Purple Heart?

With more troops coming home with mental problems, some feel the Purple Heart should be awarded. Others feel that it should be restricted to physical wounds. {Wall Street Journal]

May 07, 2008

Veterans suicides' email embarrasses VA

VA officials were busy apologizing to Congress for an email that started "Shh!" regarding veterans suicides.

The email came out during a trial in San Francisco 'that suggested some at the VA might have been attempting to hide the number of attempted suicides by those under the agency's care. Its disclosure prompted two Democratic senators to call for his resignation.' [Atlanta Journal and Constitution]

Congress debates new GI bill

'Congress is beginning a charged debate over improving benefits for veterans of the post-9/11 era. An emergency Pentagon spending measure scheduled to be considered by the House as early as Thursday would provide $720 million over two years to set up a program that would essentially underwrite a four-year public university education for anyone who has served on active duty for at least three years.' [New York Times]

Vir. DOT launches program for wounded veterans

The Virginia Department of Transportation is launching an internship program to help wounded veterans. The first of its kind it is expected to be a 'model for other states. .. The program is designed for veterans who find they are not suited physically or emotionally to a former job, or because the job is no longer available.' [allamericanpatriots.com]

May 05, 2008

PTSD suicides may top combat deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan

Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD, echoes an earlier study by the Rand Corp. which said about 20% of returning veterans had PTSD. Insel said, 'The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care.' [Bloomberg News]

WW2 Veteran commits suicide over benefits rejection letter

89 year old Grover Cleveland Chapman served the Army and the Navy, was honorably discharged and shot himself in a response, so his daughter says, to two rejection letters from the Veterans Administration. One letter denied him "100 percent disability." [Greenvilleonline.com]

One hospital offers free brain screenings for veterans

The Hospital for Special Care in New Britain, Connecticut has been contacting veterans groups to offer free sceenings to 'service members who were exposed to roadside blasts or other head trauma' for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) [Hartford Courant]

May 02, 2008

Advocate for the homeless speaks at the Senate

Paul Lambros, executive director of the Plymouth Housing Group in Seattle spoke to the U.S. Senate about the problems facing veterans who are homeless and the solutions that the Seattle-area have come up with. [Associated Press]

Hospitalized veterans can get voting help

A change in policy will enable veterans in VA facilities to vote.

The ''VA’s Veterans Health Administration requires the agency to help patients unable to leave a facility in registering to vote and voting by absentee ballot...

VA will use volunteers rather than paid workers to provide the voting assistance.

Before any VA worker or volunteer can help a veteran, they must read and sign a document that explains they may perform only nonpartisan activities.' [Army Times]

May 01, 2008

Watch industry looks to veterans for help

A dying industry would like veterans to save it. Watchmaking.  'U.S. watch sales are at an all-time high, boosted by exceptional growth in mechanical watches. That has generated rising demand for qualified watch professionals to service timepieces bought by U.S. consumers. However, North America's 11 watch training schools graduate only a few dozen people annually, half their enrollment capacity.'  [JCKonline.com]

VA Inspect General reports on brain injuries

'Many Iraq war veterans with traumatic brain injury are not getting adequate health care and job assistance for their long-term recovery despite years of government pledges to do so, Veterans Affairs Department investigators say.' [Associated Press]

Psychiatric Association study says war tours have negative impact

The American Psychiatric Association study says that 32% of those veterans families surveyed say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have "negatively" impacted their family life. Almost 75% said seeking counseling would negatively impact their careers. Lots of good facts. [Wall Street Journal]

April 29, 2008

New initiative starts for regrowing lost body parts

The  Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine has been given a new initiative - regrowing body parts for wounded veterans. The $250 million initiative 'aims to heal soldiers and civilians by using a patient's own cells to regenerate lost body parts, starting with skin and ending with entire limbs.' [Discovery News]

April 28, 2008

PTSD can be with you for a lifetime

A look at a veteran of the Korean war and the struggles he still faces fifty years later. A new awareness of PTSD has spurred veterans from other wars - WW2, Korea and Vietnam - to file for help with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

April 24, 2008

Vroom! Wounded vets tackle BMW course

Some BMW-loving wounded Marines getting a chance to 'skid a sporty BMW around the automaker's high-performance driving course in South Carolina.

'The luxury automaker has retrofitted five 650i two-door coupes with special hand grips and other controls so vets who have lost the use of their legs can hone their driving skills on a specially configured two-mile course. Those who don't need the special controls will drive sporty 335i sedans or the high-performance M3, M4 and M5 coupes and sedans.' [Myrtle Beach online]

April 23, 2008

New legislation proposed to track all veterans suicides

Two prominent Congressmen have introduced a bill to get Veterans Affairs to track veteran suicides. Currently the suicides that happen in VA hospitals are tracked; those outside are not. The new legislation would ask that all suicides be tracked. [Des Moines Register]

April 21, 2008

Talking them down from suicide

A Veterans Affairs telephone hotline has been set up to help veterans who are contemplating suicide. [New York Times]

SF lawsuit will soon have its day in court

'Veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere who say they have systematically been denied proper medical care will get their day in federal court starting on Monday in San Francisco.' [Reuters}

Veterans who are lost need 'a network of healing'

There is a new branch of 'The Soldiers Project, a network of licensed mental-health counselors who offer free psychological treatment to active-duty soldiers, National Guard members, reserves, veterans and their families.' [Seattle Times]

April 18, 2008

Grant given out to study new ways to help soldiers

Wake Forest University  has just received a ' $42 million grant to study new ways to treat soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.' It's for treating burns, transplantation and regeneration. [AP via Raleigh News & Observer]

April 17, 2008

New Rand study says one in five veterans reports mental problems

'Roughly one in five U.S. troops is suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an equal number have suffered brain injuries, a new study estimates. Only about half of them have sought treatment, says the study released Thursday by the Rand Corp.' [AP via USA Today]

April 16, 2008

Psych ward shut after 4 suicides

'The psychiatric unit of the Dallas Veterans Administration hospital has stopped admitting patients following its fourth suicide this year.'  This is after the hospital spent $250,000 replacing 'door knobs, shower heads and other fixtures that could be used for suicide.' [UPI]

Befuddled by 'a 29 page application form'

Many retired veterans are missing out on pension funds because of a daunting amount of paperwork.

'The Department of Veterans Affairs' Form 21-526 -- a combined application for compensation and/or pension -- has seven pages of instructions, five pages of personal information required, two pages of compensation criteria to review, three pages of dependency questions and four pages for the actual pension application. This is followed with five pages of authorization to release information forms and three pages of required online application criteria.' [Caller-Times]

New legislation aimed at helping veterans facing foreclosure

A bill passed in the U.S. Senate aims at preventing the foreclosure mess from hitting veterans.

'The bill, HR 3221, would delay foreclosure action against a service member for up to nine months after they return from deployment — six months longer than under current law. It also provides one year of relief from increases in mortgage interest rates for returning service members and would establish a special counseling program for service members and veterans with financial problems.'

[Navy News]

A veteran's frustration

An Iraq veteran faces frustrations with the VA bureaucracy. In this case he has a wife, four children under 6 and a trailer with no power but is working 12 hour days to try and get ahead. He plans on serving if he is called again. [Mountain Press}

21st Century G.I Bill

Positive movement on the new 21st Century GI Bill sponsored by Sen. James Webb (a former veteran.)