1. Sears leads way with veteran programs.
2. VA expands grants to tackle veteran homelessness.
3. VA redoubles effort to combat homelessness.
4. Homeless shelter gets VA grant to help Utah veteran families.
5. VIDEO: What Do Homeless Veterans Need?
6. Fight Goes On Over Mall Visitors Center.
7. VA Expands Grants To Tackle Veteran Homelessness.
8. Veteran's New War Is Homelessness.
9. Business Help For Veterans.
10. 2012 Causey Awards Winner -- Mary Santiago.
11. Defense And VA Can't Track PTSD Treatments, Report Finds.
12. No Pot For PTSD, White House Says.
13. Bill Aims To Create Registry For Ft. McClellan Vets.
14. Backlog Of VA Disability Claims Grows Despite Effort To Trim.
15. VETS Act Seeks To Increase Access To Telemedicine For Veterans.
16. VA Launches Specialty Care Program For Veterans In Rural Areas.
17. Legislation On Lejeune Water Woes To Be Pushed Forward.
18. New Women Veterans Clinic In Tulsa Ensures Comfort, Safety.
19. Area Veterans Upset About Travel Reimbursement.
20. Cheyenne VA Seeks Caregivers For Wartime Veterans.
21. Coatesville Woman Turns Experiences In Afghanistan Into Mission To Help.
22. Woman Scores Gold Medal Sweep At National Veterans Wheelchair Games.
23. World War II Translator Honored For Service With Flying Tigers.
24. VA Fix-it Funds Help Modify Home For Vietnam Veteran.
25. US Lawmakers Eye Military Sports Sponsorship Budget For Cuts.
26. VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as July 19, 2012:
27. Today in History:
1. Sears leads way with veteran programs. Examiner.com When asked about the increasing unemployment rate among veterans, Aiello mentioned that despite the rise in veteran unemployment, Sears will even be more committed to hiring veterans and continue to set the example for other companies to follow. “It ...
2. VA expands grants to tackle veteran homelessness. The State The Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday it would award nearly $100 million in grants to groups that help homeless veterans as well as those at risk of becoming homeless. The grants will serve 151 community agencies in 49 states, ...
3. VA redoubles effort to combat homelessness. FederalNewsRadio.com The Veterans Affairs Department is giving $100 million in grants to help community organizations support at-risk veterans so they have stable housing. Leaders of the homeless veteran initiative at the VA and Department of Housing and Urban Development ...
4. Homeless shelter gets VA grant to help Utah veteran families. Salt Lake Tribune ... lives," the shelter's executive director says. The grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is a first for the shelter, although The Road Home has partnered with the VA on efforts to serve homeless veterans, says executive director Matt ...
5. VIDEO: What Do Homeless Veterans Need? Patch.com Harbor Homes in Nashua has been awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S Department of Labor as part of the Supportive Services for Veterans Families Program. The funding will allow ...
6. Fight Goes On Over Mall Visitors Center. Washington Times "An education center planned as a complement to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall earned an important go-ahead from the National Capital Planning Commission, which supporters say is one step closer to a dedicated space for all military services." Critics, however, "worry it could be a step backward for the sanctity of the memorial."
7. VA Expands Grants To Tackle Veteran Homelessness. McClatchy VA "said Tuesday it would award nearly $100 million in grants to groups that help homeless veterans as well as those at risk of becoming homeless." The grants, which "will serve 151 community agencies in 49 states, the District of Columbia," and Puerto Rico, "represent a major increase from the number of anti-homelessness grants awarded last year." In a news release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency is "committed to ending veteran homelessness in America." The agency is trying to do so by focusing "on prevention, quickly securing housing and keeping families together, according to VA spokesman Josh Taylor." Stars And Stripes VA "officials on Tuesday awarded nearly $100 million in new grant for homeless assistance programs throughout the country, an effort they say will benefit more than 42,000 veterans and their family members." "A full list is available online at the VA's web site." Federal News Radio Tuesday's announcement, says the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) is a "close ally" in VA's effort to assist homeless vets. Federal News Radio adds, "The two agencies identified the need and are working toward their goal, said Mark Johnston, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Community Planning and Development at HUD, during an interview with The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp. The Partnership for Public Service picked Johnston, his VA colleague Susan Angell and their Homeless Veterans Initiative Team as finalists for the Service to America Medal for their work in reducing veteran homelessness."
8. Veteran's New War Is Homelessness. New York Daily News 92-year-old Pearl Harbor veteran James Blakely, who is "homeless, sleeping in a rusty trailer without a toilet in a junkyard on Buffalo Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. 'I've been trying to get a real home for a long time now,'" said Blakely, who is one "of an ever-dwindling number of Pearl Harbor survivors." Blakely added, "I get Social Security and a 50% veterans' disability which Obama just raised from $797 a month to over $1,000. So I'm not complaining. A place with a kitchen and bathroom would be nice though."
9. Business Help For Veterans. Jackson (MS) Free Press "The US Small Business Administration and the US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have teamed up to launch a training program for transitioning veterans from service to entrepreneurship. The US Marine Corps will pilot" the nationwide initiative, which is called "Operation Boots to Business: From Service to Startup."
10.2012 Causey Awards Winner -- Mary Santiago. Federal News Radio Veterans Affairs' Veterans Employment Services Office Director Mary Santiago, one of six 2012 Causey Award winners. The "Causeys recognize the exceptional efforts of those distinguished individuals who work in the human capital management field specifically in pay, benefits, human resources and human capital issues in the federal government and in industry." Federal News Radio said Santiago "has spent the last year leveraging her passion and unwavering commitment to supporting veterans to implement VA for Vets," which is "transforming the way VA recruits, hires, retains and reintegrates veterans and military service members. As early as this summer, the federal government is set to fully adopt the VA for Vets platform as a full-lifecycle solution for veteran employment." Santiago told Federal News Radio that her office is trying to meet VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's goal of having veterans make up 40% of VA's workforce.
11.Defense And VA Can't Track PTSD Treatments, Report Finds. NextGov "Neither the Defense nor the Veterans Affairs department -- which operate the world's largest electronic health records systems -- tracks treatments used for post-traumatic stress disorder, according" to a recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The DOD, notes the report, "does not even know how many PTSD treatment programs it or the services provide." NextGov adds, "VA should expand its telehealth technologies to treat rural veterans who live far from department hospitals or clinics, IOM recommended."
12.No Pot For PTSD, White House Says. Military Times "An effort to persuade the Obama administration to legalize marijuana for sufferers of post-traumatic stress has met with a sound rejection from the White House. Responding to a petition signed by 8,258 people on the White House website, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske wrote last month that marijuana is not a 'benign drug' and does not meet standards of safe or effective medicine." The "Allow United States Disabled Military Veterans Access To Medical Marijuana To Treat Their PTSD" petition came from Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access Executive Director Mike Krawitz, who "said he launched the drive partially out of concern that veterans sometimes risk losing their Veterans Affairs Department medical coverage if they are found to smoke pot."
13.Bill Aims To Create Registry For Ft. McClellan Vets. KGTV-TV A "new bill in Congress would create a registry for veterans who went through Fort McClellan in Alabama because of the toxic chemicals used at the base and at a nearby chemical plant." The "base was closed in 1999."
14.Backlog Of VA Disability Claims Grows Despite Effort To Trim. USA Today "Although the Obama administration has stepped up efforts to process medical disability claims by US veterans, a top Department of Veterans Affairs official will tell lawmakers Wednesday that the agency's backlog continues to grow." Allison Hickey, VA's undersecretary for benefits, "said in written testimony submitted in advance of a hearing before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that the flow of VA claims has increased 48% over the past three years," in part because compensation for Agent Orange-related illnesses was expanded two years ago. Republicans, however, "increasingly point to the backlog as evidence that Obama has failed to fix the VA."
15.VETS Act Seeks To Increase Access To Telemedicine For Veterans. Healthcare IT News 14 members of the US House of Representatives "from both sides of the aisle are joining forces to sponsor a bill aimed at improving access to telemedicine services for veterans. The Veterans E-Health & Telemedicine Support (VETS) Act of 2012 (H.R. 6107) would enable providers affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs to deliver telemedicine services across state lines, eliminating a requirement that the providers be licensed in the same state as their patients." The bill, introduced last week by US Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Charles Rangel (D-NY), "follows several recent moves" by Veterans Affairs to "adopt telemedicine as a means of treating servicemembers, veterans and their families."
16.VA Launches Specialty Care Program For Veterans In Rural Areas. American Legion VA "recently announced it is launching a nationwide specialty health-care program for veterans in rural areas, based on the Project Echo pilot program currently operating at 11 VA medical centers. The new program, Specialty Care Access Network-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (SCAN-ECHO), will give training, advice and support to primary care providers (PCPs) so they can deliver specialty care to VA patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hepatitis C and congestive heart failure." Jacob Gadd, deputy director of health for The American Legion, says the "SCAN-ECHO model allows the VA medical community to treat a greater number of patients than the current structure."
17.Legislation On Lejeune Water Woes To Be Pushed Forward. McClatchy "Thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families may be on the verge of taking a giant leap toward receiving health care for illnesses they suffered from decades of water contamination at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. Legislation that has languished for years was expected to be voted on in the full Senate this week under an across-the-aisle deal between the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee."
18.New Women Veterans Clinic In Tulsa Ensures Comfort, Safety. Tulsa (OK) World "With wooden floors, walls painted in warm colors and photos of the nurses' families on the wall, it's not the typical Department of Veterans Affairs medical center waiting room. The locked doors also distinguish the new Women Veterans Clinic from the rest of the Tulsa VA outpatient clinic, a comfortable and safe place for one of the fastest-growing sectors of the veteran population." Sharalee Savage, a nurse practitioner and one of the three women's team providers, said, "This is absolutely a home for our veterans." KOTV-TV "Tulsa's Ernest Childers Veterans Outpatient Clinic held a grand opening for its Women's Clinic Tuesday." The "nurse practitioner for the Women's Health Team at the VA said that women veterans are notorious no-shows for healthcare appointments. She's confident this women-specific clinic will change that."
19.Area Veterans Upset About Travel Reimbursement. WRBL-TV "A recent policy change has some area veterans complaining about long delays for reimbursements." Prior to April, "Central Alabama vets could go straight to a cashier after their doctor's visit" and get their travel reimbursement money. But like Veterans Affairs "hospitals around the rest of the country, the Central Alabama System now issues checks or direct deposit," which veterans must wait to receive. Alan Bloom, public affairs officer with the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, says the new reimbursement method saves taxpayers money. WRBL noted that the office of US Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) says the lawmaker will look into the matter. WRBL-TV Columbus, GA (7/17, 6:08 p.m. ET) aired a similar report.
20.Cheyenne VA Seeks Caregivers For Wartime Veterans. Wyoming Public Media "The Department of Veterans Affairs is interviewing caregivers for wartime veterans who need to be placed in a supervised home situation, but not necessarily a nursing home." Irene Johnson, who coordinates the Medical Foster Home Program at the Cheyenne VA, "says some veterans have mental or physical disabilities that make it difficult for them to manage their medications or eat properly." Johnson "says she's spoken with caregivers in other states who have enjoyed the work."
21.Coatesville Woman Turns Experiences In Afghanistan Into Mission To Help. West Chester (PA) Daily Local News Afghanistan veteran Jennifer Crane is involved with Mission Continues, a program that challenges "post-9/11 veterans to continue to serve their country at home through community service." Crane "chose to volunteer 20 hours a week at the Coatesville VA in the physical therapy unit, which helped her get her own physical mobility back when she first returned from duty years before. For her service project, she helped revitalize the gardens in front of the VA Hospice Nursing Home, an experience she summed up as 'fantastic.'"
22.Woman Scores Gold Medal Sweep At National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Santa Fe New Mexican "Local athlete and veteran Buddy Hayes has returned from the 32nd annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games with five more gold medals to add to her collection." The New Mexican said that in "coming years, Hayes hopes that more veterans will compete with her at the games. She was the only person to represent team New Mexico this year."
23.World War II Translator Honored For Service With Flying Tigers. Denver Post
24.VA Fix-it Funds Help Modify Home For Vietnam Veteran. Modesto (CA) Bee
25.US Lawmakers Eye Military Sports Sponsorship Budget For Cuts. Reuters
26.VA / VSO-MSO Hearings as July 19, 2012:
July 25, 2012. The House Committee on Veterans Affairs and the House Armed Services Committee will hold a joint hearing titled “Back from the Battlefield: DOD and VA Collaboration to Assist Service Members Returning to Civilian Life.” 10:00 AM; 2118 Rayburn HOB
August 2, 2012 (Tentative). HVAC, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations may hold a joint hearing to discuss the SDVOSB/VOSB certification process.
A welcoming home for our Troops.
