2.      Iowa Seeks To Discipline Insurance Broker Over Deals With Elderly Veterans. The Des Moines Register (8/14, Witosky, 129K) reports that the Iowa Insurance Division is seeking to strip a VA-certified claims agent of his licenses as an insurance broker and investment adviser, claiming that he made misrepresentations to elderly veterans, failed to keep proper records and engaged in dishonest or unethical practices. The adviser, who had earlier surrender a stockbroker's license, had solicited business as an advisor on how veterans can receive VA's Aid and Attendance benefit, which that can be worth up to $1,900 per month "but it can involve shifting thousands of dollars in assets. According to an expert on elderly law, that opens the door for veterans to lose money on unnecessary investments pushed by financial advisers."

3.      Nebraska Dedicates Its First State Veterans Cemetery. The North Platte (NE) Telegraph (8/14, Wade, 12K) reports, "A World War II era P-51 Mustang roared across a blue sky Friday, to the delight of an estimated 3,000 people in attendance of the dedication ceremony held for the Nebraska State Veterans Cemetery at Alliance; the first in the state. The historic land in which the cemetery sits, once served as an air base and training center for the Army during World War II. The 20 acres of scenic Sandhills land was decorated with hundreds of American Flags and served as the backdrop for the nearly 90-minute ceremony." Frank Salvas, the Director of VA's Cemetery Grant Service, attended the ceremony, in which Gov. Dave Heineman, himself a West Point graduate, thanked the residents of the city of Alliance and Box Butte County for working 15 years to accomplish the project.

4.      Vietnam Veteran's Art Earns Gold Medal In National Contest. The Santa Fe New Mexican (8/15, Gonzales, 24K) reports that works of local artist Frank Erpelding-Chacon "for the second year, have won a gold medal in a national competition for veteran artists. Erpelding-Chacon will attend the 2010 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival Oct. 18-24 in La Crosse, Wis., where the piece will be displayed along with other gold-medal winners. The competition is part of a program run by the New Mexico Veteran's Affairs Health Care Facility and other facilities like it nationwide."

5.      County Veterans Department In Wisconsin Sees Changes. The Monroe (WI) Times (8/14, Gray) reports developments at the Green County Veterans Service Office, including the appointment of a new head of the office, its separation from the county's emergency management office and a larger grant for the veterans office.

6.      Medical Developer Wins Contract For Expanded Clinic In Newark, Ohio. The Columbus Business First (8/13) reports that Scout Development Ltd, the Columbus developer behind Central Ohio's only private for-profit general hospital, "has won a contract to triple the size of the US Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Newark, adding to the growth of a medical district on the city's west side." Construction is expected to begin next month on a $1.8 million, 10,000-square-foot replacement for the satellite of the Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center, with the facility opening next spring.

7.      Research Touts Effectiveness Of Telehealth Product Used By VA. The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (8/14, Harris) reported, "Today, five months after President Barack Obama signed landmark legislation intended to extend health coverage to nearly all Americans and bring rocketing costs under control, valley venture capital firms, startups and giants such as Intel are angling to apply tech know-how to an industry known for inefficiency and resistance to change." In the "near term, some companies see immediate cost-saving opportunities in 'telehealth' products that provide at-home monitoring of the chronically ill," including an at-home health monitoring system called Health Buddy. After noting that "Health Buddy is now used by tens of thousands patients, with the Department of Veterans Affairs its largest customer, said Suneel Ratan, who directs marketing and government relations in Bosch Healthcare's Palo Alto office," the Mercury News added, "A clinical study found that the system...reduced the rate of re-hospitalization for chronic illness within 90 days by more than 60 percent."

8.      "Daunting" Challenges Ahead For Comparative Effectiveness Research. In its cover story, CQ Weekly (8/16, Adams) reports, "Supporters of comparative effectiveness research," which involves "studies comparing different" treatments, "hope the data will become far richer in coming years as electronic health records and health information technology become increasingly sophisticated. But the challenges ahead are daunting," because, among other things, "some physicians and hospitals, comfortable with a format they understand and trust, are sticking with paper records." CQ Weekly goes on to say that while researchers "have tried to use a wide range of existing patients' medical records," including "those held by federal agencies such as the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments," to "conduct comparative studies," there are some difficulties, such as that the people served "may not reflect" the US "population as a whole."

9.      Station Looks AT Local Veteran's PTSD.  KURL-TV Billings, MT (8/14, Stoner, 10:01 p.m. EDT) briefly examined PTSD, by speaking with one local veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who suffers from the condition. "The biggest part of my PTSD is that I believe my nightmares at night, and the fact that I have a hard time being around crowds of people I don't know.," says Danyel Gaede. He adds, "There are certain stores I can't go to, because of the people." According to the segment, although Gaede returned to the US in 2004, but refused to seek treatment until 2008, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Now seeking treatment for a condition which his military training had led him to view as "a weakness of the mind, something that only people who aren't mentally prepared get," Gaede says that the biggest help from therapy "was learning the triggers as far as, before I start to go through a flashback or an episode, to see the triggers and be able to pull myself out of it."

10.    Advocates Concerned About US Soldiers Discharged For Personality Disorder. In a story run by at least 50 news outlets across the country, the AP (8/16, Flaherty) reports, "At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely dismissed hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggests." And, while under "pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation," advocates for veterans "say an unknown number of troops still unfairly bear the stigma of a personality disorder, making them ineligible for military health care and other benefits." After stating Army officials "deny that soldiers were discharged unfairly," the AP points out that Chuck Luther, one soldier discharged for having a personality disorder, "says the Veterans Administration agreed to reevaluate him and decided that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome coupled by traumatic brain injury."

11.    Doctor Praises Relaxed PTSD Regulations. The Southtown (IL) Star (8/16, Fitzpatrick) reports, "Combat doesn't always mean firing at the enemy across a battlefield, and weapons aren't as obvious as in past conflicts, said Dr. Sudip Bose, an Iraq war veteran." The Star continues, "So it follows that instances of post-traumatic stress disorder...are on the rise, and it's lifesaving, Bose said, that the US Department of Veterans Affairs has relaxed its regulations for making a post-traumatic stress disorder claim for treatment." According to the Star, the "new rules, supported by the Disabled Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, are retroactive."

12.    Iraq Vet Worried VA Appointments Hurt His Job Search. The Salem (OR) Statesman Journal (8/16, Liao, 44K) notes that 48-year-old Iraq veteran Julio Najera Jr. "has been on unemployment benefits for the last year and a half." Najera is "upfront with prospective employers when he tells them about his military experience and that he has eight or nine appointments each  

month" with the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center - he "worries that it's his biggest hurdle." Najera "knows how some other veterans struggle emotionally, physically and financially with readjusting back to civilian life; they can be vulnerable to becoming homeless."

13.    At Event In New Jersey, VA Welcomes Vets Home. The Caldwell (NJ) Patch (8/16, De La Cruz) reports, "Caldwell College hosted" an "annual homecoming event in honor of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom" veterans "on Saturday at the George Newman Center. The event was presented by the US Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System."

14.    Pot Doctors' Group Calls For Withdrawal Of DEA Nominee. The Independent website (8/14) reports that, claiming that a new VA policy on use of medicinal marijuana "gives tacit recognition to the beneficial effects of treating pain and PTSD with cannabis," the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine "calls upon President Obama to withdraw his nomination of Michele Leonhart for Head of the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency," whom it brands a "known prohibitionist" whose stance is "inconsistent with President Obama's stated policy on medicinal cannabis: that the federal government would stop wasting time, money and staff on medical marijuana raids in states where medicinal cannabis use is legal."

15.    VA Converts Contract Clinic Into Outreach Clinic. The San Angelo (TX) Standard-Times (8/16, Waller, 24K) reports, "Out in the countryside, help can be hard to come by, and it may be especially hard to find needs met available through the specialized care of the veterans services. That's one reason why the West Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care System has converted the Fort Stockton VA Contract Clinic to the Fort Stockton VA Outreach Clinic. 'The main difference is that our contract clinic was in a physician's private office,' said Daniel Marsh, West Texas VA Health Care System director," who went to say the outreach clinic will give "us a lot better insight into what's going on with our" patients and let "us know what additional resources we need in the Fort Stockton area."

16.    VAMC's New Baby Program Aids Pregnant Veterans. The Erie (PA) Times-News (8/15) reports that the Erie VAMC's New Baby Program, begun in 2009, "guides expectant veterans through their pregnancies. It also covers all of their medical costs, including prenatal visits and delivery." From June 2009 to June 2010, it has aided 29 veterans, the most the VAMC says it's ever seen.

17.    Study: DoD, VA Hospital Patients Most Likely To Start Dialysis Via Best Access Method.  MedPage Today (8/14, Neale) reports, "Patients who start dialysis through the VA or Department of Defense healthcare systems are more likely to have an arteriovenous fistula -- the preferred method of access -- than those with other types of insurance, researchers found. More than a quarter (27.2%) of such patients started dialysis with a fistula, Frank Hurst, MD, of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. That compares with 8.2% of those with no insurance, 13% of those with Medicaid, 15.6% of those with Medicare, 16.7% of those with 'other' insurance, and 18.5% of those with employer group insurance." The study noted that low complication rates, superior access survival, decreased mortality and lower costs make an arteriovenous fistula the best access for hemodialysis.

18.    DAV Chapter Commander In Georgia Faults VA On Disability Ratings, Prescriptions.  Access North Georgia (8/14, Gunn) reports that, at the annual Disabled Veterans Appreciation Day picnic, one DAV chapter commander "said the Veterans Administration needs to increase eligibility for medical care and stop issuing prescriptions that overdose veterans." Also at the gathering, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp "told Gainesville area disabled veterans Saturday that for the first time Georgia service members overseas get to cast electronic ballots and speed up the election process." The state's new Military Overseas Voting Empowerment Act enable service members overseas to receive ballots electronically, which they can download, fill out and mail back, in about half the time formerly required.

19.    VJ Day Commemorations Are Being Held Around The World. The Daily Mail (UK) (8/15, Hastings) reports that, in England, Prime Minister David Cameron, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall "will today join hundreds of Second World War veterans at a special service at the Cenotaph to commemorate the 65th anniversary of VJ (Victory over Japan) Day. The ceremony, which will include representatives of all three Services, will remember the hundreds of thousands who fought for Britain in the Far East campaign after Japan declared war in 1941." Almost 30,000 British military service members died in the Pacific theater, around 12,500 of them as prisoners of war.
     The BBC News (8/15) reports that another observance will "be held later at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, where a memorial building for Far East prisoners of war opened in 2005," with participation by the Malayan Volunteers Group, the Far East Prisoners of War Association, and members of the Children (& Families) of the Far East Prisoners of War.
     Canada. Via a Marketwire release (8/14), Canada announced that five of its citizens were honored for devotion to the nation's veterans in a ceremony in Ottawa on VJ Day.
     Japan. AFP (8/15, Ozawa) reports, "Japan on Sunday commemorated the 65th anniversary of its surrender in World War II without the ministerial visits to a controversial war shrine that regularly provoke outrage across Asia. For the first time in at least a quarter of a century, no government minister went to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, a place dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese killed in conflicts, including 14 of Japan's top WWII criminals."
     United States. The Gaston County (NC) Gazette (8/14, Friedman, 28K) reports that "dozens" of World War II veterans "gathered at Gaston Memorial Park Saturday evening to mark the 65th anniversary of the day that World War II ended. Spirit of '45 Day was observed nationwide, with taps played at 7 p.m. in cemeteries, parks and veterans' memorials from the Outer Banks to the Pacific Northwest."
     The Associated Press (8/14) reports, that in New York's Times Square, "Hundreds of couples donned sailor hats and nurse's caps and smooched in Times Square on Saturday to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The couples were re-enacting the famous Life magazine photograph of a nurse being passionately kissed by a sailor at the end of the war. A 26-foot statue replicating the original photo was also erected for the celebration."

20.    Anniversary Of Allies' Victory Over Japan Marked In Europe, Asia. In continuing coverage, AFP (8/16) reports, "Veterans of World War II marked the 65th anniversary of the Allies' victory over Japan on Sunday in a solemn ceremony attended" by Britain's Prince Charles and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The two men "were among those who laid wreaths at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London in memory of nearly 30,000 Britons who died in the campaign in Asia, which ended with Japan's surrender on August 14, 1945."
     Japanese Prime Minister Apologizes For Suffering Caused In Asia During WWII. Also on Sunday, according to the AP (8/16, Kageyama), Asia "paused...to remember Japan's surrender to the allied forces," while the "Japanese prime minister apologized for wreaking suffering on the region and the South Korean president said Tokyo's remorse was a step in the right direction." The "reckoning with history has taken special meaning this year as it comes amid a global effort to realize a world without nuclear weapons, a resolve backed by President Barack Obama."
     Japanese Conservatives Criticize Apology, Visit Controversial Religious Shrine. The New York Times (8/16, A6, Fackler, 1.09M) reports, "Angering his nation's conservatives, Japan's left-leaning new prime minister marked the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II on Sunday by shunning" the religious Yasukuni Shrine, which has been "linked to Japan's militaristic past," and "instead expressing regret for the suffering the war caused across Asia." Since taking office in June, Prime Minister Naoto Kan "has made conciliatory gestures toward Asia, including an apology last week to South Korea for Japan's 1910-45 colonization." The "apology was criticized" by Japan's Liberal Democrats, who "have criticized...Kan's softer stance on history issues."
     The AP (8/16, Kageyama) says, "Members of the now-opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan nearly continuously since the end" of WWII, "made a point by carrying out their own trip to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. The Shinto shrine - a spectacular building with sweeping roofs and a museum in its grounds that glorifies kamikaze pilots - has set off controversy by honoring the 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including Class A war criminals such as Hideki Tojo, Japan's wartime prime minister who was executed in 1948."
     War Souvenirs Posing Danger To Veterans' Loved Ones. The New York Times (8/16, A9, Zezima, 1.09M) reports, "Many veterans of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam brought home tales of heroism and valor and, unbeknownst to their loved ones, potentially explosive war souvenirs." The Times adds, "Calls about old ammunition and shells have become a regular occurrence for many law enforcement agencies in recent years, officials said, especially in areas with a large number of veterans or old military installations."

21.    VA Studying Gulf War Veterans Illness.  KOAA-TV Colorado Springs, CO (8/15, 5:35 p.m. MT) broadcast, "Nearly 700,000 men and women served in...the first Gulf War. The Department of Veterans Affairs says nearly a quarter of them ..suffer symptoms related to what they call the Gulf War Veterans Illness." According to KOAA, VA is "paying to $2.8 million dollars to research" the illness.

22.    VA Will Start Offering Surgery At Air Force Academy. The website of KOAA-TV Colorado Springs, CO (8/14, Amos) reports that VA's Eastern Colorado Health Care System "is now offering ambulatory surgery services at the US Air Force Academy 10th Medical Group facility. Both organizations will host an open house Monday at 10:30 a.m. at the facility." As a result, veterans from southern Colorado may opt to receive surgery in Colorado Springs rather than traveling to Denver. In the first year, the Air Force Academy site is expected to provide general surgery to about 1,000 veterans; in later years, it is expected to broaden offerings to include orthopedics, urology, and ophthalmology.

23.    Oregon Counties' New Veterans Service Officer To Press Full Staffing At Dalles VAMC. The Dalles (OR) Chronicle (8/15, Brenner) reports that Wasco-Hood River counties in Oregon have hired a retired Army command sergeant major as their new veterans service officer. The 27-year veteran with two Vietnam tours says his early priorities will be to review the disability ratings for area veterans and to "help local veterans get full medical staffing at the federal Veterans Administration clinic next to the Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles." The account notes that a meeting with federal and state officials on that issue is set for Monday.

24.    Columnist Says Her Dad's Final Illness Proved Quality Of Seattle VAMC's Care And Caring.  The Oregonian (8/14, 276K) columnist Elizabeth Hovde relates her father's final illness and death at home shortly after spending eight days in the Seattle VAMC. She writes, "When I walked into the VA for what would be a week of sitting by my dad's hospital bed, I was concerned that his care wouldn't be good enough. The hospital looked much different than the Taj Mahospitals I had come to know giving birth to two children in the past five years and in visiting area children's hospitals. ... It was dilapidated and far less private." But over time, she says she "stopped being concerned about where my dad was receiving care. While the hospital wasn't as pretty or private as other facilities, the doctors, nurses, interns and housekeeping staff were amazing. My dad received professional, compassionate, respectful care. And when it was clear that my dad was on his way out, this crew of kind people shared our determination to get him home to die, per his wishes, teaching us how to make him comfortable after he made the move." She concludes with a reminder that VA facilities can always use help from volunteers.

25.    Bath VAMC Hosts Welcome Home Event For Veterans, Families. The Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette (8/14, Whong, 22K) reports, "Music filled the air as hundreds of veterans, their families and friends came together to enjoy a picnic and gather information Saturday at Denison Park in Corning." The Welcome Home event for veterans in seven counties "thanks veterans for their service and offers information from the VA and other organizations." The account notes that 14-year-old Abigail Breslin, nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress for 2007's "Little Miss Sunshine," "came from Manhattan for the event at the invitation of her uncle, who works at the VA."
     The Corning (NY) Leader (8/15, Wensel., 13K) reports on another attendee of the Welcome Home event, local resident Herbert Thorpe, a member of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.