Veterans Affairs
Increase in suicide rate of veterans noted
Jan 11th
By Kimberly Hefling, AP–Washington
The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who’ve left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday.
The rate for these veterans went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department. It’s assumed that most of the veterans in this age group served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If there is a bright spot in the data, it’s that in 2007 veterans in the group who used VA health care were less likely to commit suicide than those who did not. That’s a change from 2005.
The military in recent years has struggled as well with an increase in suicides, with the Army seeing a record number last year. While the military frequently releases such data, it has been more difficult to track suicide information on veterans once they’ve left active duty.
The VA calculated the numbers using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers from 16 states. In 2005, the rate per 100,000 veterans among men ages 18-29 was 44.99, compared with 56.77 in 2007, the VA said. It did not release data for other population groups.
The VA and the military have sought to more aggressively tackle the problem in recent years with measures ranging from a suicide hot line to educational campaigns.
At a conference on Monday in Washington dedicated to addressing the issue, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency needs to do a better job understanding what led to each suicide. He said he’d also like to see more stringent protocol put into place at VA facilities about how to handle a potentially suicide veteran, similar to what’s done with someone who’s having a heart attack.
He noted that of the 30,000 suicides each year in America, about 20 percent are committed by veterans.
“Why do we know so much about suicides but still know so little about how to prevent them?” Shinseki said. “Simple question but we continue to be challenged.”
Popularity: 17% [?]
GI Bill backlog climbs as new semester looms
Jan 7th
By Rick Maze – Military Times
With the latest numbers showing a still-rising backlog for Post-9/11 GI Bill claims, a key lawmaker says he doesn’t think the Veterans Affairs Department is ready for a flood of new claims for the spring semester.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel, said he is “disappointed” with VA’s performance in the fall semester, which left 26,000 people still waiting for benefits when classes ended.
VA officials said most of those 26,000 veterans have now been paid. But VA’s Jan. 4 report on pending benefits claims shows that more than 48,000 Post-9/11 GI Bill claims are still being processed. Some of those could be for the spring semester.
“With a second semester only weeks away, I believe the situation remains unacceptable,” Mitchell said in a letter to VA, in which he noted he continues to get complaints about long waits.
“The confusion and uncertainty about when checks will arrive, coupled with the need to meet immediate expenses, is adding stress to veterans at a time when many are already struggling with [post-traumatic stress disorder],” Mitchell said.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Is U.S. prepared to care for more casualties from troop buildup?
Dec 7th
WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration ramps up the war in Afghanistan, veterans advocates say the government must develop a better plan to handle the wounded when they come home.
Eight years of war have overtaxed the health care systems that treat service members and veterans, several said, and President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy 30,000 to 35,000 more troops in Afghanistan will compound the stress.
Treatment at medical facilities that the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs operate is viewed as world class despite its well-publicized lapses. However, both often struggle to care for large numbers of soldiers and Marines with devastating physical and mental injuries.
Coordination between the military and the VA is often slow, veterans groups say, and waiting times to see doctors and process benefit claims are long. A recent VA investigation found that 11,000 claims filed at offices around the country were still unresolved after more than a year.
More disturbing still is that suicides by combat veterans are at record levels.
“A war plan has to include the care of vets on the back end,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “What was lacking in the Iraq war was a plan for all the resources. We’re going to encourage them to not just think about bombs and bullets, but social workers and hospital beds.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Army Medical Command couldn’t be reached for comment. A VA spokeswoman declined to speak on the record, but said the Obama administration already had taken several steps to improve the delivery of health care to veterans.
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 14% [?]
Craigslist Founder Joins VA Innovation Search Panel
Nov 6th
Craig Newmark to Help Pick Winners of National Competition
Veterans Affairs, WASHINGTON – Craig Newmark, the founder of “craigslist” and a well-known technology visionary, has agreed to serve on the blue-ribbon panel of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will review and evaluate ideas to improve disability claims processing times and provide greater transparency to Veterans.
“Transforming VA into an organization that is Veteran-centric, results-oriented and forward-looking is my top priority,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Leveraging the talent, innovation and creativity of stakeholders, like Craig Newmark, is just one of the many ways VA can think outside of the box to help deliver tangible results to our nation’s Veterans.”
The innovation competition solicited ideas from VA employees and members of Veterans Service Organizations who are on the front lines every day, working with Veterans to help deliver benefits they deserve and need. VA officials from each of the 57 regional offices across the country have submitted promising ideas, which will be reviewed by Newmark and other panel members. The panel will be chaired by Patrick W. Dunne, the VA Under Secretary for Benefits.
“I look forward to working with VA’s leadership team to bring tangible results to our Veterans,” said Craig Newmark. “I am very encouraged by the fact that VA is embracing new ways to look at old problems.”
In 1995, Newmark launched the first community site on the Internet for people to share information about housing, jobs and other needs. By April 2009, craigslist received more than 22 billion page-views per month, with more than 50 million members worldwide.
Newmark is a vocal proponent of using the Internet and technology to support government innovation and maximize the utilization of human capital. Additionally, Newmark is a passionate supporter of Veterans causes.
VA has received and reviewed over 3,000 suggestions since Sept. 8th. The panel will review the top 17 submissions and chose 5 projects that will receive full funding for project development and execution at the Regional Office that submitted the idea.
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Popularity: 8% [?]
Shinseki Announces Veterans’ Stories Posted on VA’s Web Page
Nov 5th
Countdown to Veterans Day with Library of Congress
Veterans Affairs, WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will join with the Library of Congress to host a “Veterans History Countdown” on the VA Web site – www.va.gov – featuring the oral histories of Veterans from every state and U.S. territory.
“VA has partnered with the Library of Congress to honor our Veterans, preserve their histories and ensure that their service, sacrifice and heroism will never be forgotten,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We want to encourage Americans to record the oral histories of Veterans for future generations.”
Each day, beginning Nov.1, VA’s Web feature will introduce new personal histories, culminating on Veterans Day when a Veteran’s history from each state and U.S. territory will be available simply by clicking on the U.S. map in the display.
As Veterans Day approaches, the VA Web display will urge Americans to “Honor our Veterans. Record their Histories!” The display will link to the library’s Veterans History Project Web site — www.loc.gov/vets – which provides background about the program, a guide for volunteers to follow in recording and submitting Veterans’ oral histories and to access the project’s extensive digital archive.
VA has collaborated with the Veterans History Project since its implementing legislation was signed into law on Oct. 27, 2000. VA Voluntary Service has made oral history recording part of its program. VA offers Veterans the opportunity to record their histories at its facilities and special events. These collections of first-hand accounts are archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
We hope the Veterans History Countdown will serve as a call to action for volunteers to record the first-hand stories of the Veterans they know—relatives, neighbors, friends,” said Bob Patrick, director of the Veterans History Project.
The Veterans History Project collects and preserves the remembrances of American war Veterans and civilian workers who supported them.
The recordings make accessible the first-hand remembrances of American wartime Veterans from World War I through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Approximately 65,000 individual stories comprise the collection of the Veterans History Project.
The project relies on volunteers to record Veterans’ remembrances using guidelines accessible at www.loc.gov/vets/. Volunteer interviewers may request information at vohp@loc.gov or the toll-free message line at (888) 371-5848.
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Popularity: 8% [?]
Department of Veterans Affairs embraces Twitter
Nov 5th
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, has launched the first VA’s Twitter channels with their main page @DeptVetAffairs or http://twitter.com/DeptVetAffairs. The VA’s embrace of social media is a step forward to an increased and more transparent VA system that will most likely increase Veteran awareness and create an open conversation via this venue for Veterans across the world.
“Speaking for myself, I’m very interested to see what kind of interaction we can generate through this venue.” said Brandon Friedman, Director of New Media at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who alongside VA speechwriter Jim Moore, are the main driving force behind the main VA Twitter account.
Individual administration pages:
http://twitter.com/VeteransHealth
http://twitter.com/VAVetBenefits
http://twitter.com/VANatCemeteries
Popularity: 8% [?]
Illinois: Inquiry at Veterans Hospital
Nov 5th
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki ordered a high-level, quality-management team to assess problems at a troubled Veterans Affairs hospital in Southern Illinois, lawmakers said. Mr. Shinseki met with members of the state’s Congressional delegation and Gov. Patrick J. Quinn two days after the Veterans Affairs inspector general issued a report outlining serious problems at the Marion V.A. Medical Center, where major surgeries were halted in 2007 because of a spike in deaths. A review of the hospital found inconsistencies with reporting deaths and problems with patient safety, including surgeons performing procedures they were not authorized to do. The hospital has been under scrutiny since 2007, when a former surgeon resigned three days after a patient bled to death after gall bladder surgery. The administration found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 resulted from substandard care at the hospital.
Popularity: 9% [?]
VA’s bold goal: Eradicate homelessness among veterans in 5 years
Nov 4th
“General Shinseki is a soldier and treating this like a military operation, and in the
military you have to have hope for your missions,” said Justin Brown of Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Washington (CNN) — With a simple, declarative statement, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs announced his ambitious goal to eradicate one of the country’s most shameful problems.
“My name is Shinseki, and I am here to end veteran homelessness,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said Tuesday in a speech to the National Summit on Homeless Veterans.
But Shinseki indicated the challenge in meeting his goal by adding, “I learned long ago there are never any absolutes in life, and a goal of zero homeless veterans sure sounds like an absolute.”
The plan unveiled by Shinseki includes trying to leverage existing education and jobs programs, boosting the ability of veteran-owned businesses to compete for federal contracts and spend an additional $3 billion on medical services and homeless programs.
An estimated 131,000 veterans are homeless, according to the VA. That is an improvement from 2003, when the number was as high as 196,000. But the secretary warned that given the ailing economy, the number could increase by as much as 10 percent to 15 percent in the next five years.
The VA plans to focus its new efforts on preventing the problem.
“Our plan enlarges the scope of VA’s efforts to combat homelessness,” said Shinseki in a news release. “In the past, VA focused largely on getting homeless veterans off the streets. Our five-year plan aims also at preventing them from ever ending up homeless.”
The department plans to expand the recently passed educational grants program for veterans who served after September 11, 2001, to include not just college but vocational programs as well, according to VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts.
Steps that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki plans to take:
– Leverage existing education and jobs programs
– Boost the ability of veteran-owned businesses to compete for federal contracts
– Spend an additional $3 billion on medical services and homeless programs
– Expand educational grants to include not just college but vocational programs as well
“Not every veteran wants to spend four years pursuing a college degree, but they might be interested in learning a trade that would get them into the taxpaying work force sooner,” Shinseki said.
The VA will also try to win more federal contracts for veteran-owned businesses, encouraging other agencies to exceed the minimum goal of 3 percent of contracts to veteran-owned small businesses. The increase, the VA believes, will also help employ more veterans since “veterans hire veterans,” Shinseki said.
In addition, it is increasing the amount of vouchers for public-financed housing, adding 10,000 more vouchers in 2010. The plan also calls for more programs to aid transition from prison and psychiatric facilities, as well as a renewed call to treat veterans’ psychiatric conditions.
Popularity: 13% [?]
VA to lay out plan to end veterans’ homelessness in 3 day summit
Nov 3rd
Recieved from VA–
Today, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki will lay out his plan to end homelessness among Veterans within five years at the National Summit on Ending Veteran Homelessness. The first of its kind summit is drawing more than 1,200 homeless Veteran service providers and advocates from federal and state agencies, faith-based and community service providers and the business community. Media advisory attached and below.
This summit, from Nov. 3-5, will be an unprecedented gathering of government, business and community service providers. Secretary Shinseki will address the group at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. This is an opportunity to build support for combating homelessness and to increase community partnerships.
In his address, Secretary Shinseki will be outlining his framework for the plan to get Veterans off the streets, including preventing Veterans from becoming homeless in the first place. Preventative measures include discharge planning for incarcerated Veterans re-entering society and a national referral center to link Veterans to local service providers. The Post-9/11 GI Bill will help steer folks into classrooms and off the streets. Secretary Shinseki will also be speaking about VA’s partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the HUD-VASH program. Through this program, HUD provided 10,150 HUD-VASH housing vouchers for homeless Veterans in 2008, and the program is expanding to get more Veterans off the streets in 2010. Of course, VA will continue expanded efforts to provide education, jobs, health care and housing.
Popularity: 16% [?]
More delays possible in GI Bill payments
Oct 28th
By Rick Maze–Military Times–
Up to 14,000 students may not receive living stipends Nov. 1 as the Veterans Affairs Department continues to dig out of a backlog of claims for the Post-9/11 GI Bill — but there will be no more emergency payments for those who don’t get paid on time.
VA officials said Tuesday they have about 14,000 enrollment certifications pending final approval for tuition, book allowance and living stipends. The certifications are the final step for an eligible veteran enrolled in school to receive benefits.
“It is possible, if we have not worked their case by the end of the month, that some may not receive their housing payment on the first,” VA officials said in a statement, referring to Nov. 1.
Payments not made Nov. 1 will be made to the student as soon as final approval is given so they do not have to wait until Dec. 1 to receive a living stipend, VA officials said.
Popularity: 8% [?]
