2.      Connecticut Holds Veterans "Stand Down" September 10. The Redding (CT) Pilot (8/25, Bartlett, 2K) reports, "Gov. M. Jodi Rell earlier this week said that Connecticut veterans in need will have access to dozens of vital social outreach services during 'Stand Down 2010' on Friday, Sept. 10, at the State Veterans Home campus on West Street in Rocky Hill." The governor said that the event "offers an effective way for veterans to regain their independence and dignity," with over 50 government and private agencies providing assistance there. It is the 15th year that the state has sponsored such an event, which will offer veterans free transportation from pick-up points around the state.

3.      Wisconsin County Offices Report Large Increase In Veterans Seeking Help. The Janesville (WI) Gazette (8/27, Birkelo) reports that a "growing number of Rock County's 14,000 veterans are seeking help through the Rock County Veteran's Service Office." The veterans service officer reports an increase in workers being laid off from General Motors and other firms checking to see if they are eligible for VA health care, while younger veterans are more interested in education and tuition benefits. The influx has meant increased office and in-home appointments, It has also led to federal benefit payments to county veterans more than doubling between 2001, when they were just over $17 million, and over $38 million in 2009.

4.      Small Business Wins Larger Share Of Federal Contracts In FY 2009. In a Business Wire (8/27) release, the Small Business Administration announces that small businesses "won a record $96.8 billion in federal prime contracts in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 (Oct. 1, 2008-Sept. 30, 2009), an increase of more than $3 billion from FY 2008." The agency's fourth annual small business procurement scorecard calculates that the amount "represents 21.89 percent of all federal spending – an improvement over FY2008."

5.      Two VA Initiatives Tagged As Riskiest Federal IT Projects. The Washington Post (8/30, Censer, 684K) reports, "More than two dozen projects across 15 federal agencies," including two at the Department of Veterans Affairs – one called "Benefits 21st Century Paperless Delivery of Veterans Benefits" and one called "Medical 21st Century HealtheVet Pharmacy" -- have "been tagged as the highest-risk federal information technology projects." After noting that the "Office of Management and Budget and agency chief information officers will be giving" those projects a "close look as they develop 2012 budget plans," the Post says Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO, recently "indicated the move reflects a significant change in the federal government's IT spending. 'We need to end a culture in Washington where we continue to throw good money after bad money,' he said, citing a Department of Veterans Affairs financial modernization program that was launched in 1998, killed in 2004, relaunched in 2005 and once again terminated last month."

6.      Iraq Leaves Generation Of US Army Officers Cautious, Humbled. According to a front page story in the Washington Post (8/30, A1, Jaffe, 684K), the careers of a generation of US Army officers "have been defined by the chaos and contradictions" encountered in Iraq, during "one of America's longest and costliest wars." The Post, which points out that Monday will "mark the official end" of US combat operations in Iraq, the Post says so far, the lessons US Army officers are "taking from their Iraq experience are ones of humility and caution that surpass the post-Vietnam War period." By way of example, the Post refers to Iraq veteran Capt. Casey Thoreen, who said that because a country can spend vast amounts of money fighting a counterinsurgency for many years and "still not get anything out of it," such a fight "better be worth it."

7.      Obama Recommits Country To Gulf Coast Repair, Notes Vets Hospital Groundbreaking.  McClatchy (8/30, Mascaro) reports, "Five years after Hurricane Katrina, President Barack Obama recommitted the nation to ongoing repair of the Gulf Coast as the region's fragile recovery hung in the balance and his own popularity needed shoring up amid disappointment with the administration's handling of the Gulf oil spill." During a speech in New Orleans, Obama "pledged to finish the largest civil-works project in the nation's history -- shoring up the failed levees -- by next year." He also "noted the June groundbreaking on a new veterans hospital." The Fox News (8/29) website published a similar story, noting that the President gave his speech at Xavier University.

8.      Research May Benefit Veterans, Others. Ron Seman's syndicated "Veteran's Beat" column, appearing in the Tallmadge (OH) Express (8/29, 8K).

9.      Veterans: The Blue Button Gets You Electronic Health Records. An op-ed for the Huffington Post (8/30) by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.

10.    Vets Cemetery Grant Praised. In the fourth "Beads & Boos" item, the Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (8/30, 30K) gave beads to the "approval of a $6.14 million grant to build the Louisiana State Veterans Cemetery at Leesville."

11.    Group Opposes VA Project For Homeless Vets. According to the Kerrville (TX) Daily Times (8/28, Armstrong, 9K), the Hill Country Veterans Council, a local veterans group, "says labeling the homeless housing project proposed at the Kerrville VA hospital site as transitional housing for veterans is misleading and that the program appears to be a merger" of the Veterans Affairs Department and "Obamacare." After "six months of meetings" with VA officials and the "preferred developer for the enhanced-use lease project proposed for a 5-acre site at the hospital, the 15-member Hill Country Veterans Council voted unanimously, with one member abstaining, to oppose the project. Retired Army Gen. Walter Schellhase, president of the Hill Country Veterans Council, said the group will not support the project on VA property unless it is for veterans only."

12.    Nonprofit Supporter Inspired By National Veterans Wheelchair Games. The Memphis (TN) Commercial Appeal (8/30, Manley) reports that last year, John Charles Payne, "one of a handful of wheelchair athletes in the Memphis area who regularly compete and win in a variety of athletic pursuits," was "invited to speak at Memphis' first Paralympics Academy, an informational gathering hosted" by Midsouth Adaptive Sports and Recreation (MASR). After noting that MASR is a "nonprofit organization whose focus is helping people with physical limitations find ways to compete or simply enjoy exercising and socializing," the Commercial points out that 39-year-old veteran Anthony Gilliam "helped MASR get off the ground six years ago." When Gilliam became disabled, he "heard about the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, and he has been active as an athlete ever since."

13.    Lost Quality-Of-Life Compensation Idea Fell Flat, General Says. The syndicated "Military Update" column, appearing in the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune and elsewhere (8/28, Philpott; 103K) reports, "Disabled veterans were thrilled in 2007 when the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission asked Congress to enact an immediate 'quality of life' increase to disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs." It would "be across the board, benefiting all veterans with service-connected health conditions, and it should be as large as 25 percent for the most severely disabled." But the retired Army general who chaired the commission, and who now chairs the Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation, said that the proposal went nowhere because the "terms 'across the board' and 'up to 25 percent' were not well-received anywhere outside the veterans community."

14.    Vietnam Veteran Buried 39 Years After His Death.  KTVQ-TV Billings, MT (8/27, Jay) reports, "Hundreds came out to honor Lt. Paul G. Magers, who was killed in action in Vietnam 39 years ago. Family, friends and citizens came out to the Yellowstone County Veterans Cemetery, Magers' final resting place. Magers died on June 1, 1971 when enemy fire shot down the Cobra helicopter he was piloting." Magers' remains were located in Vietnam this July. KULR-TV Billings, MT (8/27, Gravlee) reports, "The delay in identifying Magers' remains also allowed him to be buried in the Yellowstone County Veterans Cemetery, a facility that didn't exist until two years ago."

15.    Benefit Planned For Disabled Veteran In Milwaukee VAMC. The Fond du Lac (WI) Reporter (8/27, 14K) reports, "A benefit is being planned for Sept. 25 to benefit a Fond du Lac County veteran residing in a Veterans Administration hospital in Milwaukee. Ron Norman, who served as a Army sergeant in Korea during the Vietnam conflict was seriously injured in an automobile accident last March that left him a quadriplegic. Jake Henning, organizer of the event, is hoping to raise enough funds to help offset medical expenses and to make Norman's residence handicap accessible so Norman can return home."

16.    Veterans Seek Probe Of Drug Used To Treat PTSD-Linked Insomnia. The Marine Corps Times /AP (8/27, Perrone, 32K) reports that some veterans are seeking a Congressional probe of Seroquel, a powerful anti-psychotic drug that is increasingly being used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Government military medical spending on the drug has risen sevenfold since the start of the Afghanistan war in 2001; for the VA, it is now the second-costliest drug. But a Vanderbilt University study suggested a risk of sudden heart failure, some veterans have died suddenly while taking the drug, and its possible side effects--including diabetes, weight gain and uncontrollable muscle spasms--have brought thousands of lawsuits and raised concerns among some military families that the government is not fully disclosing the drug's risks. They are seeking an investigation by Congress.

17.    Following 2003 Limits On Hours, VA Residents Report Greater Satisfaction With Training.  AAFP News Now (8/27, Bein) reports that resident physicians rotated through VA medical centers between 2001 and 2007 "report being more satisfied with their clinical training environment after the 2003 implementation of revised duty hour standards from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education," according to a study published in the July issue of Academic Medicine. However, family medicine educators "caution that the finding may not hold true in non-VA settings." The study reported that 25 percent more residents in medical specialty and subspecialty and 33 percent more in surgical specialties reported being satisfied with the VA clinical environment after the 2003 changes, and 11 percent more medical students and 12 percent more surgical residents being satisfied with VA preceptors and faculty, but did not identify the reasons for increased satisfaction levels. The authors said that the changes might be attributable to "many factors in addition to duty hour limits, including changes in workload, work life, resident cross-coverage, night-float systems, redistribution of workload, reassignment of non-educational tasks to midlevel and lower-level providers, clinical schedules that minimize sleep interruption, or reduced in-house call duties."

18.    Rapid-Response Teams Lower Cardiac Arrests In VA Hospital.  MedPage Today (8/27, Walsh) reports, "Implementation of a rapid response system in a large Veterans Affairs hospital resulted in a significant reduction in the number of cardiac arrests, a study found. Compared with rates in the nine months before the introduction of the emergency response system, dubbed "the eTeam," the rate of cardiac arrests fell from a mean of 10.1 per 1,000 discharges to 4.36 per 1,000 (P<0.01), according to Geoffrey K. Lighthall, MD, PhD, of Stanford University in California, and colleagues. This represented a decrease of 57%, the researchers reported in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia." The researchers wrote that their "suggest that further reductions in morbidity can be realized" by use of rapid response systems throughout the VA network, and called for larger studies in the VA system to compare different system designs for the best outcome.

19.    New Study Says Only 2% Of US Hospitals Last Year Would Qualify For EMR Aid. The Wall Street Journal 's health blog (8/27,Hobson, 2.08M) notes that only 11.9% of US hospitals had by last year adopted even a rudimentary form of electronic medical records, and only 2% had taken enough steps to qualify for government financial incentives, according to a study published online in Health Affairs by Ashish Jha, "an associate professor of public health at the Harvard School of Public Health and senior adviser to the under secretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration." Since the federal officials overseeing the $27 billion in incentives that start next year for electronic medical records only defined last summer what hospitals must do to meet those "meaningful use" requirements, after the hospitals had responded to a survey used in the study, the lead researcher concedes that probably less than 2% of hospitals would have qualified.

20.    Truman VAMC Holds "Welcome Home" For Iraq, Afghan Vets. The website of KOMU-TV Columbia, MO (8/27, Curtis) reports, "Workers from the Harry S Truman Veterans Hospital in Columbia worked Friday to sign up veterans for services they may have missed out on in the past. The work was part of the annual 'welcome home' event for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to help register them for their benefits. But this year the VA teamed up with the Harley Owners Group rally to reach out to more vets. Veteran's decked out in all their Harley Davidson gear stopped by the VA's booth to hear about the benefits that they can receive."

21.    Tuscaloosa VAMC Holds Veterans Job Fair.  WIAT-TV Birmingham, AL (8/27) reports, "Tuscaloosa's VA Medical Center hosted a job fair to combat this challenge, offering veterans an exclusive one on one with some of Tuscaloosa's best employers." The VA hospital was also one of the employers accepting job applications at the event.

22.    Richmond Veteran Is Active Participant In Wheelchair Games. The Stafford County (VA) Sun (8/27, Van Duyne) reports on a veteran with a spinal injury who, although still receiving treatment at the Hunter McGuire VA Hospital in Richmond, actively participates in the sports programs of Richmond chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. This summer, he also participated for his third time in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Denver.

23.    Fundraising Project For Fisher House At Stokes VAMC Starts Soon. The website of WKYC-TV Cleveland (8/27, Maynor) reports that Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, in a speech at the City Club of Cleveland Friday, praised the Fish Houses built by the Fisher Foundation to give the families a free place to stay when they come to help a family member undergoing rehabilitation after being seriously wounded in military service. Mullen told his audience that "doctors and nurses do the medical healing, but the real healing takes place in the spirit families bring," and the Fisher Houses allow families to "focus on one thing, getting their wounded family member better." The article also notes that a $5 million fundraising campaign "will begin next week to build a Fisher House near the Louis Stokes Veterans Hospital."

24.    Fayetteville VAMC Open New Pharmacy Center. The Wilmington (NC) Star News (8/27, Hotz, 46K) reports, "The local chapter of the Disabled American Veterans sends three busloads of veterans to the Fayetteville VA Medical Center each week. The group has about 1,200 members and is growing every week with returning troops from Iraq and Afghanistan." To increase convenience, a new Pharmacy Customer Care Center is now open at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday."

25.    University Suspends Quarterback Who Got $1,500 Loan From Elderly VA Patient. In continuing coverage, the AP (8/28, Walker) reports that Middle Tennessee State University suspended its star quarterback Dwight Dasher indefinitely Friday "for accepting a $1,500 loan in violation of the NCAA's amateurism rules." A week earlier, university officials announced "that they were looking into a report filed with campus police involving an 80-year-old patient at a Veterans Administration hospital in town and Dasher. Middle Tennessee hired an outside company, The Compliance Group, to help investigate." The university athletic director said that the investigation found that both Dash and Oliver Donnell, the 80-year-old VA patient, agree that the quarterback got the loan because he is a football player.

26.    VA Hospital Joins NHIN Test. The "Health IT Update" blog for NextGov (8/28, Brewin).

27.    Coatesville VA Welcomes Vets Home. The Chester County (PA) Daily Local News (8/29, Dix).

28.    VA Clinic Relocating To Hospital Campus. The Brown County (OH) News-Democrat (8/29, Arthur).

29.    Best Friend, Bucket List Inspire Livingstone. The Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times (8/30, Blake, 45K) profiles 30-year-old Jennifer Livingstone, a social worker for Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Livingstone will run the "Citizen-Times Half Marathon" on "Saturday, Sept. 18," with her best friend, whom Livingstone said "definitely inspires" her. Livingstone told the paper a half marathon is on her bucket list.

30.    Surf Lessons Open New Vistas For Disabled Kids. The AP (8/30, Eltman) says that in recent years, in "communities from Long Beach, N.Y., to San Diego and Hawaii, children with disabilities ranging from near-blindness to autism have been...hopping up on surfboards and riding the waves," as part of programs like "'Surf for All,'" which "recently entertained participants in the Wounded Warriors program." According to the AP, the Wounded Warriors program "assists veterans injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

31.    A Saddle, Not A Couch, In Therapy For Veterans. The Sarasota (FL) Herald Tribune (8/30, BN1, Witz, 100K).

32.    Fallen Troops' Families Upset With Foundation Under Investigation. The San Antonio Express-News (8/30, Huddleston, 210K).

33.    Fayetteville Man Honored As National DAV Commander. The Fayetteville (NC) Observer (8/29, Brooks).

34.    Original Navajo Code Talker Still Tells His Story. The AP (8/30, Fonseca).

35.    Liberty Memorial To See $5M In Repairs. The AP (8/30).

36.    USS Oklahoma Survivors From Pearl Harbor Become Fewer. The Oklahoma City-based Oklahoman (8/29, Baker, 170K).

37.    Suburban Men Among The Last Survivors From The 104th Infantry. The Chicago Daily Herald (8/30, Madrzyk, 130K).

38.    Re-Enactors Keep Memory Of Black Civil War Troops. The AP (8/29, Smith).

39.    On the Hill for August 30, 2010: