1.      Shinseki Says VRM Will Improve Veterans' Experience Accessing VA Information. In continuing coverage, TCMNet (9/24, Vaid) reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs "is introducing a multi-year initiative called Veterans Relationship Management," designed to improve veterans' access to healthcare and benefits information. VA Secretary Shinseki "stated that Veterans Relationship Management will transform veterans' interactions with the VA by using innovative 21st century technologies, and provide veterans will have a better experience when they contact the VA for assistance" through call centers and the Internet.

2.      Michigan Military And Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill Signed. In an article on several 2001 appropriations bills signed into law by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Monroe (MI) Evening News (9/24) reports that the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs received $150 million, including $36.4 million in general fund money. The budget provides $43.2 million in funding is provided for military training sites, headquarters and armories for national security, $68.4 million for two veterans homes serving nearly 900 veterans, and $3 million for veterans' service organizations offering veterans benefit counseling and assistance.

3.      Illinois DVA Salutes Latino Veterans. A release from the Illinois Government News Network (9/24) announces that as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs hosted a "A Salute to Latino Veterans" to honor and recognize Latino Veterans in Illinois for their dedicated military service. A proclamation from Governor Pat Quinn declared September 24 to be "Latino Veterans Recognition Day" in the state, and Rodrigo Garcia, a Marine veteran with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, was honored as the veteran of the month. CLTV-TV Chicago (9/24) also reports the celebrations.

4.      Wisconsin DVA Chief, Other Backers Thank All Who Aided LZ Lambeau. In a guest column in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (9/24, Black, Brown, Barker, Steinbach), the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs and other sponsors of a "LZ Lambeau," a Welcome Home event for Wisconsin Vietnam veterans, write to express thanks for all who supported the event.

5.      Alabama Governor Joins Honor Flight. The Kansas City infoZine (9/24, Alberti, Aguirre) reports, "A planeload of World War II veterans from Alabama, escorted by the state's governor and others, spent a day in Washington to visit the World War II memorial and other sights." Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, R, "was the first governor to join a trip," serving as guardian for three of the World War II veterans making the trip.

6.      New Mexico Holds Conference For Women Veterans. The Las Cruces Sun-News (9/25, 22K) reports that the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services "honored women veterans Saturday at the Women Veterans Conference in Las Cruces," which "addressed such issues as military sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and homelessness -- issues that, according to the VA, have higher incidences in women veterans than their male counterparts."

7.      Connecticut To Hold Another Career Fair For Veterans. According to the New London (CT) Day , the state of Connecticut "will hold the fifth in its series of Heroes4Hire career fairs on Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the ballroom at Rentschler Field in East Hartford." More "than 50 employers are expected to attend the event, which is sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Labor, the Connecticut Veterans' Administration and CBS Radio." At the event, the "Department of Veterans Affairs' Vets Express bus will be available for anyone needing help filing a claim" with the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
     Connecticut VA Commissioner Heading National Association. The New London (CT) Day (9/27) reports, "Linda S. Schwartz, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans' Affairs, was recently installed as the president of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans' Affairs for 2010 to 2011." She is the "first woman to hold this position in the association's 65-year history and the first person from Connecticut to ever lead the nation's veterans' affairs directors."

8.      Work To Begin This Week On New Veterans Cemetery In Louisiana. According to the AP (9/26), work "on a new veterans cemetery begins this week next to Fort Polk. Mike Sewell -- project manager for Pat Williams Construction Inc. of Leesville -- says a survey crew should be preparing for timber clearing on or about Monday, with earth moving to begin in about two weeks." The Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs "says the cemetery is expected to provide for needs of 59,500 central Louisiana veterans and their families." KNOE-TV Monroe, LA (9/26, 10:24 p.m. CT) and KTBS-TV Shreveport, LA (9/26, 5:36 p.m. CT) aired similar reports.

9.      Land Rights Causing Controversy For Planned Veterans Cemetery In Alabama. The Mobile (AL) Press-Register (9/26, Baggett) reported, "Baldwin County commissioners voted last week to give the chairman and staff authority to do what is necessary to resolve the major hang-up in establishing a state veterans cemetery north" of Spanish Fort, Alabama. The Press-Register added, "After first asking for and accepting some donated rights" for the land on which the cemetery is to be built, the "county offered $2,000 per acre and threatened condemnation for anyone who didn't take the deal." Some "interested parties said, though, that they hadn't donated rights or accepted the offer because they questioned whether Eastern Shore dentist Barry Booth profited from the venture or gained a tax benefit."

10.    Senate Appropriators Seek Details Of DOD-VA Health Record Sharing.  Government Health IT (9/24, Mosquera) reports, "The Senate Appropriations Committee wants more details about how the Defense Department plans to modernize its electronic health record system, which DOD is upgrading in coordination with the Veterans Affairs Department. The committee is monitoring progress the two departments are making improving their electronic health record systems, but lacks details from them on how that will be accomplished, according to a report accompanying the 2011 Defense appropriations bill. The committee approved the spending bill last week."

11.    Bill Would Open State Veterans Homes To Gold Star Parents. The San Angelo (TX) Standard-Times (9/24, Choate) reports that a bill (HR 4505) sponsored by TX13 Rep. Mac Thornberry (R ) "to help Gold Star Parents gain access to state-run veterans homes awaits President Obama's signature. The bill legislates away red tape that has kept the parents out of state veterans homes unless every single one of their children has died in military service." The bill "changes the wording in federal regulations to allow a Gold Star Parent's admission to a state veterans home if the parent has lost at least one child in active military service." The Senate passed its version of the measure (S. 1450) unanimously on September 20; the House had acted unanimously on June 30. The president is expected to sign it.

12.    VA Doctor Touts Benefits Of Study On Pneumonia Treatment.  Science Daily (9/27) reports, "A structural molecule and the cellular pump that regulates its levels influence the severity of pneumonia and could provide new ways of treating the lung infection, which is a leading cause of hospitalization and death, according to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Iowa," whose "findings are available online in Nature Medicine. Despite decades of research, there has been little new information on what biological mechanisms make bacterial pneumonia get worse, said senior author Rama K. Mallampalli, M.D., a professor in the Acute Lung Injury Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and pulmonary division chief" at the Veterans Affairs "Pittsburgh Healthcare System. 'Our study reveals some of the molecular steps that can lead to lung injury after infection and shows us new avenues for pneumonia therapy that don't have to target bacteria, as antibiotics do,' he said."

13.    Prudential Responds To Death Benefit Controversy. In continuing coverage, the Army Times (9/24, Jowers) reports that Prudential Financial "has sent a letter to a number of military and veteran advocacy groups saying it 'deeply resents' allegations that the company has devised 'some elaborate scheme to make money from the deaths of fallen service members.' 'In fact, we have lost money under the SGLI contract over the last 10 years,' states the letter. Prudential, which administers the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program for the Veterans Affairs Department, has for more than a decade used 'retained asset accounts' as an option for beneficiaries to receive their funds after a death." But critics "contend that Prudential and other insurers using retained asset accounts make much more money on these accounts than they're paying to beneficiaries, and do not inform beneficiaries up front about their rate of return on these accounts." Prudential's "Open Letter to the Military Community" argues that misinformation "threatens to eliminate an important benefit for the life insurance beneficiaries of our fallen service members."

14.    Report: Efforts to Prevent Military Suicides Fail. In continuing coverage, AOL Health (9/24, Donaldson-Evans) reports, "Attempts to stop American veterans from committing suicide aren't working, with the numbers still climbing in part because distraught service members don't have faith that the military can help them. Military leaders said Thursday that efforts to curb the suicide rate among war vets are failing, and a new 76-pronged plan is in place to try to remedy the situation," noting a report by Walter Reed Army Hospital's chief of psychiatry, Colonel John Bradley, which "blamed shoddy training and coordination and overworked armed forces."

15.    At Veterans Fair, East Orange VAMC Officials Will Speak On Suicide Prevention. The Bergen (NJ) Record (9/24, Bautista) reports, "Suicides in the military will be among the topics addressed at a Veterans Fair on Saturday. Officials from the East Orange Veterans Administration Hospital will be on hand to talk about suicide prevention."

16.    Mental Health Group Works With VA, Says It Doesn't "Have A Lot Of Support" For Families. The Hemet, California-based Valley Chronicle (9/24, Helton) reports on a walk sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties that will raise funds for families affected by mental illness. It adds that the group "has been working with families who have service members returning from war and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. NAMI recently completed a family-to-family education program at the veterans hospital in Loma Linda." According to the coordinator of the fund-raising walk, "The Veterans Administration helps the veterans, but they don't have a lot of support for families."

17.    Families Get Tools To Aid Loved Ones With TBI, Mental Injuries. An American Forces Press Service release (9/24, Miles) reports, "Family support is a key factor in the long-term recovery process and success of wounded warriors suffering traumatic brain injuries and other mental health problems, said senior staff members at the National Naval Medical Center" in Bethesda, Maryland. As the hospital's psychological health and traumatic brain injury team collaborate with their trauma team counterparts, "they also work hand in hand with the family members they recognize as critical to the patient's recovery." This includes educating family members on PTSD and traumatic brain injury, so that they can better recognize symptoms requiring medical attention and build relationships with health-care providers.

18.    Providence VAMC Opens New Mental Health Unit. The third "Veterans Journal" item for the Providence (RI) Journal (9/27, Reilly) notes that on September 15th, the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center "opened its new fourth-floor inpatient mental health unit," which has "approximately 11,500 square feet of space" and "21 beds. All of the new unit's patient rooms have one or two beds with an adjacent bathroom, thereby offering increased privacy and security. Specially-designed fixtures, furniture, doors, and windows reduce the risk of injury while increasing patient comfort."

19.    Traumatized Female Veterans May Have To Fight For Care. The Salt Lake Tribune (9/24, LaPlante) examines what it says are the struggles that female combat veterans may encounter in seeking proper heath care in the VA system. It tells the story of Marie, a junior enlisted woman who received a civilian psychiatrist's diagnosis of PTSD after her service in Iraq, only to be denied disability compensation by the Veterans Benefit Administration. The article also notes that the women's clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City "has offered a range of services to qualifying women veterans for more than a decade. But Gina Painter, its manager for the past two years, said it's still not well-known. 'We have staff members who don't even know that we have a women's clinic,' she said." Even though studies show that women suffer from PTSD at least as much as men, and they made up about 14 percent of combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, "they comprise 6 percent of the patients from those wars who have been processed through a mental health intake clinic at the Salt Lake VA." A related problem is that the VA "has a long way to go before it reaches its goal of being a one-stop location for women's primary care. Only about a third of VA medical facilities have a gynecologist on staff. And according to a report from the Government Accountability Office earlier this year, the VA has done a poor job of protecting women's comfort and privacy." Compounding the problems are sexual harassment, which Marie says she faced, and sexual assaults, 80 percent of which go unreported, according to the Defense Department.
     Salt Lake City VAMC Reached Out To Female Vet Suffering From PTSD. The Salt Lake Tribune (9/24, LaPlante) reports, "Not every woman faces an uphill battle as she accesses Veterans Affairs treatment for the psychological wounds of war -- and that may indicate that things are slowly starting to change." Mary Hastert, an Army reservist who served in Iraq in 2004, had been exposed to the threat of rocket and mortar attacks, but tried to persuade the VA that she was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Back in the States, she experienced panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares and anger, but therapy through the VA has helped her learn to manage her symptoms. According to the Tribune, her experience "appears to be the exception, not the rule. Gina Painter, manager of the women's clinic at the VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City, said that while she knows some women find the help they need with few obstacles, 'they're really few and far between.' 'Women, in general, have to really fight to get what they need,' she said. 'They really have to have a lot of resolve.'"

20.    Wounded In Iraq, Double-Amputee Returns To War In Afghanistan. An Associated Press article (9/26, Pitman) that appears in over 150 media outlets, including the Washington Post and New York Times reports from Afghanistan that , "When a bomb exploded under Dan Luckett's Army Humvee in Iraq two years ago -- blowing off one of his legs and part of his foot -- the first thing he thought was: 'That's it. You're done. No more Army for you.' But two years later, the 27-year-old Norcross, Georgia, native is back on duty -- a double-amputee fighting on the front lines of America's Afghan surge in one of the most dangerous parts of this volatile country." According to the Pentagon, "41 American amputee veterans are now serving in combat zones worldwide."

21.    Ex-Wall Streeter Opens Ranch Home To Wounded Combat Soldiers. The Billings Gazette /Associated Press (9/25, Schneider) reports, "The owner of a south-central Montana ranch is offering injured soldiers a chance to enjoy the outdoors as part of their rehabilitation. Bill Cohen said he was inspired to provide a place where servicemen could find 'therapeutic recreation and rehabilitation' after reading reports of similar efforts around the country. 'I just knew there was a need out there,' said Cohen, a retired managing director of a Wall Street firm. Cohen has converted his six-bedroom home into a guest lodge of sorts for servicemen."

22.    Journalist Offers Update On Work In Vietnam On Agent Orange Project. In the San Francisco Chronicle 's "Bright Lights" blog (9/25) San Francisco State University journalism professor and memoirist Yumi Wilson offers another short post from Vietnam, where she is working to document third-generation effects of Agent Orange as part of the Vietnam Reporting Project. She states that "For more than a week, I had spent each day visiting orphanages, hospitals and other centers" with a photographer documenting deformities and birth defects.

23.    Fayetteville VAMC Director Defends Care At Facility. In a letter to the Jacksonville (NC) Daily News (9/24, Goolsby), the director of the Fayetteville VAMC responds to an earlier story about the difficulties getting care for a Marine who experienced seizures and PTSD after deployment to Iraq. While prevented by privacy laws from discussing the conditions or treatment of any individual soldier, wrote director Elizabeth Goolsby, "I can assure you that the

Department of Veterans Affairs in general, and the Fayetteville VA Medical Center in particular, take our responsibility to provide the finest medical care possible for our nation's veterans very seriously." Outlining care options, the director said identified as the bottom line: "we'll do whatever it takes to ensure that our veterans receive the health care they need, deserve and have earned."

24.    Wounded Warriors Compete At Summer Sports Clinic. A Department of Defense release (9/24, Miles) states that, "Traumatic brain injuries, amputations and other combat wounds aren't getting in the way of a good time -- and a great rehabilitative experience -- for 75 disabled veterans participating this week in the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic in San Diego. The clinic, sponsored by the Veterans Affairs Department, opened Sept. 18 and wraps up with closing ceremonies later today. About a third of the participants were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some still being processed through the disability evaluation system, officials reported. For many, the clinic is their introduction to adaptive sports and recreational activities, and the therapeutic value of sailing, surfing, cycling, kayaking and track and field events."

25.    WPost Opinion Writer Faults Maddow's Argument Against VA Privatization. In Washington Post 's "Post Partisan" opinion blog (9/24, Stromberg), a Post opinion writer notes that while MSNBC host Rachel Maddow "spent several minutes of her program Thursday night making clear" that she does not favor privatizing veterans' health care, he "was hoping Maddow would defend the VA with some reasoned argument -- stressing, maybe, that this government program is actually relatively innovative on care delivery and cost control. Instead she spent a lot of time snarkily suggesting that we ask the beneficiaries of government aid whether they'd like less aid:" Faulting this "slippery" logic, the writer says that merely gauging the success if a government program by consulting those it benefits ignores crucial questions of efficiency and sustainability, especially in programs like Social Security and Medicare, which "require some reform if America's safety net is to reflect its capacity to pay for it."

26.    Japanese-American Soldiers Honored At National Memorial Cemetery Of The Pacific. The KITV-TV Honolulu, HI (9/26, Leong) website noted that on Sunday, "Japanese-American soldiers and veterans who were racially segregated during World War Two...were honored" at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The "100th Infantry Battalion, which hosted this year's 5th annual joint memorial" service, "honored its own, as well as members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service and 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion." After noting that those "four units consisted of more than 12,000 soldiers who were forced to fight not only a war, but prejudice during World War Two," KITV added, "President Barack Obama is expected to sign off on a bill that grants the congressional gold medal," the "highest civilian award" in the country, "to the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service." The KHON-TV Honolulu, HI (9/26) website published a similar story.

27.    Medal Of Honor Winner Interred At Arlington National Cemetery. The Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review (9/25) reports, "A caisson drawn by seven white horses carried Vernon J. Baker to his final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery Friday under the solemn watch of the 3rd Infantry Regiment Honor Guard -- starched and sharp in full dress blues despite the stifling September sun. Four soldiers from the nation's oldest infantry regiment led the procession along Arlington's narrow asphalt lanes, followed by the U.S. Army Band, 18 white-gloved riflemen, the color guard and the flag-draped caisson. An eight-man casket team, a lone Medal of Honor flag bearer and three Vietnam Medal of Honor recipients came next." Baker "was the only living black World War II veteran to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest commendation for battlefield valor."

28.    New York Museum Head Sleuths Out Identities Of Veterans' Remains.  Newsweek /AP (9/24) reports from Buffalo that the "cremated remains of seven World War I, World War II and Korean War-era veterans were buried with military honors Friday in a long-overdue ceremony that organizers say was set in motion by ghost tales at a New York museum. The ashes were among 24 sets of remains discovered in a basement closet 10 years ago as the Iron Island Museum was settling into its new address, a former funeral home." Extensive efforts by the museum president, also a coordinator for the Patriot Guard Riders Veterans Recovery Program, eventually identified the remains, though she says that a psychic helped put her on the right trail, and allowed the remains to be buried in military honors in the Bath National Cemetery.

29.    New Memorial Honors Cold War Veterans. The Pocono (PA) Record (9/25, 14K) reports, "The Veterans Memorial Park and Education Center announces a presentation and dedication of the National Cold War Veterans Memorial Grave Marker at 11 a.m. today at the airport hanger, now the Matamoras Pennsylvania Fire House at the Airport Park Complex. The marker will honor Cold War Veterans."
     The Pocono (PA) Record (9/26, Sacco, 14K) profiles the designer of the National Cold War Veterans Memorial Grave Marker.

30.    North Dakota Veterans Plan All-Vets Reunion. The Williston (ND) Herald (9/25, 5K) reports, "The 21st Annual N.D. Korean Veterans Reunion will be held at the All-Vets Club in Jamestown Oct. 8 and 9. The reunion and commemoration includes all veterans of Korean service, Vietnam service, and Canadian Korean War veterans."