Monday, 27 April 2015
Did you know:
- 'The truth needs to be told' about Japan's war history, some vets say.
- 'Operation Babylift' kids, soldiers reunite 40 years later.
- Pentagon: US military sending aid to earthquake-ravaged Nepal .
- Supporters of Senate Iran bill swatting away amendments.
- VA Chief: Aging Vietnam Vets Straining System. McDonald blames crisis on demographics, budgets, and legislative mandates.
- VA Wastes Millions, But Still Wants More as Vets Wait for Care.
- Debating the VA health care system and Aurora VA hospital (5 letters).
- Hostility at VA lingers, panel told.
- For this Veteran, the VA has been a constant source of singular care.
- Veteran: 2014 law hasn’t cured health care access problems.
- Suicidal Vets who heeded call can’t be placed on hold.
- Abrupt closure of Corinthian Colleges, including Heald, shocks students.
- Agent Orange: 40 years later Veterans, families still learning of its deadly impact.
- Gross, yes, but Buffalo doctor says a ‘poop pill’ could one day save your life.
- Coalition plans resource center for homeless.
- Veterans Village helps homeless Vets find housing.
- Philadelphia VA to be re-named for soldier who died saving others.
- Ex-Oklahoma Investigator Accused of Lying About Credentials.
- Ex-Ranger gathers veterans in long march to honor WWII hero.
- Veterans take on the civilians in sled hockey.
- Military vets plan to summit peak in Memorial Day tribute.
- Roanoke Vet receives Purple Heart for Korean War wound.
- Military Service Dog To Be Named Hero Dog of the Year.
Did you know:
Frequently asked questions from VA Careers Twitter Chats: VA Careers hosts monthly Twitter Chats that afford candidates the opportunity to chat directly with VHA recruiters, as well as answer questions about the application process. Various areas of employment opportunities and specialties are covered, and the most recent chat on April 16th focused on the transition from VHA trainee to employee. Below, we’ve included six frequently asked Twitter Chat questions, that we hope you will find a useful resource throughout your VA job search: Q: I see that all jobs are posted on USAJobs, when available. Is this the correct place to look for VA jobs? A: You must …
Stars and Stripes: 'The truth needs to be told' about Japan's war history, some vets say. As Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to address Congress next week, in the 70th anniversary year of the war's end, something rankles U.S. military veteran Lester Tenney about Japan's attitude toward its past.
Stars and Stripes: 'Operation Babylift' kids, soldiers reunite 40 years later. Vietnamese orphans airlifted to the United States in the frantic final days of the Vietnam War have been reunited with some of the soldiers who helped evacuate them.
Stars and Stripes: Pentagon: US military sending aid to earthquake-ravaged Nepal . The Pentagon says a U.S. military plane has departed from the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware bound for earthquake-stricken Nepal.
Stars and Stripes: Supporters of Senate Iran bill swatting away amendments. Senate proponents of a bill empowering Congress to review and potentially reject any Iran nuclear deal must first win a battle with some colleagues determined to change the legislation in ways that could sink it.
MedPage Today: VA Chief: Aging Vietnam Vets Straining System. McDonald blames crisis on demographics, budgets, and legislative mandates. The struggles veterans face in accessing healthcare are a harbinger for all American medicine, and the problem won't be resolved without adequate funding, said [VA] Secretary Robert McDonald. "VA is the canary in the coal mine…" McDonald told a roomful of reporters at the annual conference of the Association of Health Care Journalists here on Friday.
The Fiscal Times: VA Wastes Millions, But Still Wants More as Vets Wait for Care. Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald says his department is so cash-strapped that it’s struggling to accommodate the massive number of veterans seeking treatment from the health system. At the same time, the agency continues spending nearly $25 million a year on hundreds of vacant or underused facilities across the country.
The Denver Post: Debating the VA health care system and Aurora VA hospital (5 letters). “Veterans should get care at University of Colorado Hospital,” April 19 Perspective article… Consideration should be given to streamlining the VA by using and paying private providers for routine treatments, reducing the need for expensive facilities like the one in Denver… Terrence Batliner’s guest column on his efforts in the 1990s…to merge the VA hospital with UCH is revealing and important.
TribLive (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) (The Washington Post): Hostility at VA lingers, panel told. Veterans Affairs whistle-blowers from two regional offices — Philadelphia and Oakland, Calif. — said at a House committee hearing this week that management at their benefits claims offices “created a hostile work environment” that has left employees “very demoralized” and that they endured psychological abuse because they reported failures to process thousands of claims.
The Kansas City Star: For this Veteran, the VA has been a constant source of singular care. In journalism, as in the conduct of public affairs, broad conclusions drawn from anecdotal and unverified information are of marginal value. In that regard, I have been seriously troubled over the last few years by the endlessly repeated assertion that the [VA] is falling short of its obligation to provide first-class health care to former members of the U.S. armed forces.
Albany Herald: Veteran: 2014 law hasn’t cured health care access problems. [Neil] Thompson, whose diabetes has been linked to Agent Orange exposure, is frustrated at the lack of communication between the Veterans Administration and local health care providers since the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014.
Orlando Sentinel: Suicidal Vets who heeded call can’t be placed on hold. Despairing over his wife's recent death from cancer, [Ted] Koran phoned the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa, needing an uplifting voice. Instead, a canned message pointed him to a toll-free veterans' suicide hotline. He called the number. Waited on hold 10 minutes. Hung up.
The Sacramento Bee: Abrupt closure of Corinthian Colleges, including Heald, shocks students. Some were only weeks away from graduation. Others were just beginning their quests for a higher degree. But on Sunday, scores of Heald College students in Roseville, Salida and statewide were left feeling bitter and bewildered at finding their campuses would immediately close.
PennLive (The Patriot-News): Agent Orange: 40 years later Veterans, families still learning of its deadly impact. On Saturday evening close to 150 Vietnam-era veterans and their wives, as well as widows of men who served and have died came together for a town hall meeting designed to educate veterans and their families of the medical and financial resources available to anyone who was exposed to the herbicide or was born with health complications as a result of their father's exposure.
The Buffalo News: Gross, yes, but Buffalo doctor says a ‘poop pill’ could one day save your life. It may seem hard to imagine that inserting healthy stool into someone’s colon could dramatically improve their health, but doctors already have started using the practice to treat a stubborn, sometimes fatal infection called Clostridium difficile... “It’s extremely effective…” said Dr. Thomas Mahl, chief of gastroenterology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center…
Alexandria Daily Town Talk: Coalition plans resource center for homeless. The Department of Veterans Affairs has earned lots of criticism recently in the wake of a scandal concerning care at its medical facilities, but the department can claim a success in the Ending Veteran Homelessness initiative.
Ocala Star-Banner: Veterans Village helps homeless Vets find housing. The Ocala Ritz Veterans Village…was built in 1919 and has served as an apartment complex, hotel and troop barracks during World War II… Residents are allowed to stay six months, which can be extended in six month segments. The facility is supported by a Veterans Administration grant.
Press of Atlantic City: Philadelphia VA to be re-named for soldier who died saving others. Congress passed a bill last year renaming the Philadelphia VA Medical Center after Crescenz. Members of Congress, local veterans and Crescenz’s surviving family members will attend Saturday’s ceremony. Most veterans in South Jersey go to this hospital for treatment ranging from chronic care and rehabilitation to major surgery.
The New York Times (AP): Ex-Oklahoma Investigator Accused of Lying About Credentials. A former Oklahoma Veterans Affairs Department chief investigator who was fired after authorities said they discovered he had faked his credentials and was actually a convicted felon is facing new criminal charges.
Stars and Stripes: Ex-Ranger gathers veterans in long march to honor WWII hero. For years after Col. William O. Darby was killed in World War II, fellow soldiers would make a pilgrimage to his family's home just to talk to his mother about the fallen hero credited with forming the U.S. Army Rangers.
Centralmaine.com (Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel): Veterans take on the civilians in sled hockey. Mike Davis never played sports, and wasn’t thinking about starting. Then Christy Gardner smiled and made a suggestion. “I don’t have any sports background,” Davis said. “She come to me at the VA one day and said, ‘You look like you could be a goalie!’
Stars and Stripes: Military vets plan to summit peak in Memorial Day tribute. Four military veterans are aiming to summit North America's tallest mountain on Memorial Day, armed with the names of hundreds of Americans who have died while serving their country. The Mission Memorial Day team is collecting the names of fallen veterans to be inscribed on flags the climbers plan to carry May 25 to the top of Alaska's 20,320-foot Mount McKinley.
The Washington Post (AP): Roanoke Vet receives Purple Heart for Korean War wound. An 85-year-old Roanoke veteran has received the Purple Heart six decades after he was wounded during the Korean War. Media outlets report that Herman Prillip received the Purple Heart on Saturday during a ceremony at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem.
WUSA-TV (CBS-9): Military Service Dog To Be Named Hero Dog of the Year. There are heroes among us and in all different forms. To Fredericksburg, Va. Marine Veteran, Jason Haag, his hero is his dog, Axel. But this relationship is not one-sided. Axel is up for a big honor, to be named the National Hero Dog of the Year… Haag was diagnosed with PTSD… Like many veterans, he went to the VA for help.