• 'Captured by Grace': How Louis Zamperini survived the unthinkable by the grace of God

    Zamperini

     

    He outran opponents and outlived a war, but he could never escape God’s love

    Louis Zamperini was many things over the course of his almost-century-long life: at one time, the fastest man in the world. At another, a war hero.

    At another, a drunk-turned-Christian.

    Seven years ago today, the Torrance Tornado, known for his record-breaking 4-minute-21-second mile, passed away at the age of 97. But with his longevity came a series of unexpected, harrowing events that would make his life one of the most memorable in American history.

    During his service in World War II, Zamperini was one of only a few survivors of a military plane crash. The crash left him stranded on a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean alongside two other American soldiers for what amounted to a terrifying 47-day-stint.

    Zamperini and his fellow comrades shared the small raft - which drifted a total of 2,000 miles over the course of their traumatic journey. They survived on a little rainwater, a few fish, and an occasional bird - and were even circled by a Japenese plan for 30 minutes.

    Bullets rained down on them in that half-hour time span, putting 48 holes in the raft — but miraculously leaving Zamperini unscathed.

    "It was the first time in my life that I began to pray," Zamperini said in the Fox Nation documentary, ‘Captured by Grace.’ "I said, ‘God, if I survive this ordeal, get back to America alive - I’ll seek you and serve you."

    Zamperini indeed survived and returned to the United States a hero — but not before enduring further torture at the hands of a sadistic Japanese corporal, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, known as 'The Bird,' who captured Zamperini after his stretch at sea. The events of his time with ‘The Bird’ were chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand’s book, "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption," which later inspired Angelina Jolie's film of the same name.

    For a time, Zamperini enjoyed the celebrity of heroism and hob-knobbing with Hollywood. He met and married a beautiful woman named Cynthia Applewhite, and life was good.

    But when all the glitz and glamour faded and reality set in, reoccurring nightmares of war and memories of Zamperini's torture by his enemies tormented him. He turned to alcohol, a choice that put a strain on his marriage — and his hope.

    The Zamperinis thought they were out of options - until a concerned neighbor invited them to a sermon by a young, little-known evangelist named Billy Graham.

    When the invitation came, Zamperini recalled the broken promise he had made to God while he was kept alive while drifting on the Pacific. Remembering his vow to seek and serve God, Zamperini went to hear Billy Graham speak.

    Graham's sermon sparked a radical shift in Zamperini, who internalized that no man ‘can solve the problems of life without Jesus Christ.’

    The former prisoner of war had discovered the joy of freedom found in Christ and desired to pass it on to others.

    And, in the end, Zamperini returned to Japan and forgave the guards who had inflicted tremendous suffering on him years earlier.

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  • 'Center of the Veteran homelessness universe': VA resumes homeless count with focus on Vets in Los Angeles

    Vet Homelessness Universe 

    LOS ANGELES — Teams of Department of Veterans Affairs employees, wearing reflective vests and carrying flashlights, assembled at each corner of the VA campus in West Los Angeles on Wednesday night with the mission to find and count every homeless Veteran within the 388-acre site.

    Dressed in coats, gloves and hats on what was an abnormally cold night for Southern California, about 50 people trekked through wooded areas, parking lots and along stretches of grass abutting Interstate 405. The teams dodged holes left in the dirt by ground squirrels and gophers as they searched crevices between buildings and behind heating and air-conditioning units. It was their responsibility to lay eyes on every square foot of their zone, looking for tents or other makeshift dwellings where Veterans could be.

    One group of seven logged nine Veterans. They were assigned to the south side of campus surrounding the main hospital, and all the Veterans in their zone were staying inside their vehicles in a “safe parking” lot, where they’re allowed to sleep overnight and are provided restrooms and security. Los Angeles County estimates roughly 15,700 people — about 25% of the area’s homeless population — sleep in their vehicles nightly. Safe Parking LA operates nine lots in the greater Los Angeles area, including one on the VA campus. About 220 people stay on their lots every night.

    “By you going out in this area where there’s a lot of concentration of Veteran homelessness, it helps us to paint this picture of what we’re trying to do,” Steven Braverman, director of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, told the teams before they scattered across the campus. “It helps us to set goals, it helps us to get funding, it helps us to know where we need to go in order to ultimately eliminate Veteran homelessness.”

    The effort, known as the point-in-time count, is typically held every year but was on hiatus after the coronavirus pandemic began nearly two years ago. The endeavor resumed this year, and thousands of volunteers combed the nation in January and February to count the country’s homeless population.

    Information from the count will be shared with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and used as the basis for federal, state and local governments to allocate funding and other resources to fight homelessness.

    Veterans experience homelessness at a disproportionately high rate compared with the rest of the population. Two years ago, the count showed 10% of all homeless Veterans in the U.S. resided in Los Angeles County.

    During the past four months, VA Secretary Denis McDonough has put more focus toward housing Veterans in Los Angeles, hoping any progress there would create momentum to end Veteran homelessness nationwide.

    Before scattering across the West Los Angeles VA Campus on Wednesday night, employees congregated in an administrative building, where they were assigned to zones and taught how to upload their counts into a mobile app, which would automatically be shared with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

    “The secretary of the VA has made it very clear that from his perspective, we’re the center of the Veteran homelessness universe,” Braverman told the group. “We have the most homeless Veterans of any other community.... If we can succeed here, the VA can succeed anywhere.”

    Los Angeles is expected to release their results in May or June, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will issue a full report, with Veteran-specific data, this fall.

    McDonough started his efforts in Los Angeles by promising to get all homeless Veterans living in the area known as “Veterans row” into housing by Nov. 1, 2021. About 40 people were living along Veterans row, a homeless encampment just outside the West Los Angeles campus, when McDonough visited the facility in October. In addition to eliminating Veterans row, he urged local VA officials to house another 500 homeless Veterans in Los Angeles in time for the holidays.

    The VA surpassed those goals and got more than 700 Veterans into temporary or permanent housing by the end of 2021. Some individuals living along Veterans row moved inside VA grounds, where they now sleep in 8-by-8-foot shelters.

    McDonough traveled to Los Angeles last week to see the progress and build a greater sense of urgency for homelessness efforts at the campus.

    “I feel like our team is doing very important work, but that doesn’t mean there’s not work left to be done — there is,” he said. “What remains is for us to underscore that we will not tolerate the idea that there’s a homeless Veteran in this country. When we internalize that and we apply urgency … we have all the other ingredients to get it done.”

    In Los Angeles County, where there were about 67,000 homeless people in 2020, the point-in-time count was a three-day effort.

    McDonough joined Thursday and counted encampments in Skid Row, a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles. Within the neighborhood’s five city blocks is one of the largest communities of homeless people in the country.

    McDonough was part of a group that included Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. They crisscrossed through a section of Skid Row while staff of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority tallied the number of people they came across.

    Some individuals in Skid Row huddled around small fires, rested against buildings or slept on flattened cardboard. In a few shelters, televisions played or music blasted. McDonough’s group, which totaled a dozen people followed by three security vehicles, drew attention from some of the people settling in there for the night. They yelled a greeting or inquired about what was happening, looking wary.

    After about two hours, the group had counted about 100 tents, campervans and other makeshift shelters.

    McDonough said Thursday that he didn’t want to speculate about what the count might reveal about the number of homeless Veterans in and around Los Angeles.

    As of January 2020 — the time of the last complete count — 3,681 homeless Veterans were living in Los Angeles County, a slight increase from 2019.

    Los Angeles didn’t conduct a full point-in-time count in 2021 because of the pandemic. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released results of a limited count, which logged only people living in emergency shelters or temporary lodging.

    The results of that count, which were released earlier this month, showed a 10% drop in the number of Veterans in homeless shelters. On a single night in January 2021, 19,750 Veterans were staying in emergency shelters or temporary housing, down from 22,048 in 2020.

    However, HUD emphasized the limited scope of last year’s count meant its findings weren’t completely reliable and didn’t reflect “the full impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of homelessness.”

    The numbers could be even more unreliable for determining the scope of Veteran homelessness in Los Angeles, where 76% of the homeless Veterans counted in 2020 were living on the street.

    Given the gaps in data since 2020, the information collected last week is “vital” for the VA’s policymaking, McDonough said.

    “By being here on the street, carrying out these counts, we want to demonstrate that we’re very serious about this,” he said. “We take very seriously not only the challenge, but the stewardship of the resources the American people have given us to dedicate to this challenge.”

    In its 2022 budget request last year, the VA asked Congress for $2.2 billion for homelessness programs, a 16% increase from 2021. Congress, however, has yet to pass a full budget for 2022 and has instead approved multiple continuing resolutions, which keep the government operating at last year’s funding amounts.

    While Congress is set to reconsider a 2022 budget in March, federal agencies, including the VA, are preparing to release their 2023 priorities and funding requests.

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  • 'Do you know these WWII veterans?': Missouri historical society asks for help in identifying unnamed heroes

    WWII Veteran

     

    Can you help solve the mystery of these American veterans from Missouri?

    A historical society in Missouri is hoping to place names to the American soldiers' faces as part of a neighborhood mystery linked to World War II.

    The McDonald County Historical Society is asking for the public’s help in identifying 65 veterans — all included in a photo album created during the war, as local boys and young men left their homes in the southwest corner of Missouri to serve their country.

    "There are roughly 115 veterans in the album that needed to be identified," Hazel Sheets, director of the McDonald County Library in Pineville, Missouri, told Fox News Digital.

    When she inherited the project — known as the "Bonnibel Sweet Album" — Sheets began submitting photos of the unidentified veterans, one at a time, to the local newspaper and posting them on social media in the hope that someone might recognize a family member or family friend.

    "As of today, 50 of the photos have been named," Sheets said.

    "Since I started posting the photos, I have received help in identifying 21 [more] of those photos. There are still about 65 photos that need to be identified."

    The photos are part of an album compiled by Bonnibel Brown Sweet, who helped run her family's business, a drug store called Brown’s Sundries. It was located in the town square, according to Lynn Tatum, board chair of the McDonald County Historical Society.

    "The drug store was kitty-corner from the old courthouse where our museum is housed now," Tatum told Fox News Digital.

    "Bonnibel ran the place with her sister for, I think, 50 years," Tatum added.

    "She was a surrogate mother to all of the kids walking to school — and became more than that," Tatum went on. "She was like a counselor. Kids would go in and practice their speeches for school and she gave advice. She became a very beloved character in our county."

    During WWII, Sweet watched from her corner store as young men waited for a bus to take them away from the wooded hills of Pineville to basic training and then off to wherever they were stationed for service.

    "Many of those kids that she had been nurturing had grown up and had signed up to go to war," Tatum said.

     

    "She was a surrogate mother to all of the kids walking to school and became more than that … She became a very beloved character in our county."

    — Lynn Tatum

    "They were so dear to her that when they went off to war, she gave each one of them a silver dollar to remind them that they had someone back home who loved them," she said.

    She told them to use the silver dollar for anything they needed during their service — a phone call, a cab ride or a bite to eat.

    In return for her love and the silver dollar, many of them sent her letters and photographs, which she collected in an album.

    "Some of the photographs had no names with them," Tatum said, "but she knew their names. She also put up a great big map of Europe on her wall in the drug store. It included France and Italy and all of those countries where so many of them went."

    Tatum explained that Sweet, after receiving word from a local serviceman, would put a push pin on the map, marking where that person was stationed.

    "So people could come into the store and it was like a little news outlet for where the young men were," Tatum said.

    Over 120 young men mailed their photos to the drug store. There are also two servicewomen's photos in the album.

    Sweet ran the business from 1929 to 1978.

    After she died in 1996, the album was passed along to her daughter, Donna Lou Sweet Goodman, who moved to the East Coast after she got married.

    Members of the McDonald County Historical Society led an effort to recreate Brown’s Sundries, the drug store where so many soldiers said their goodbyes and returned home to Pineville.

    "Donna Lou was very helpful to us when we started the big exhibit," Tatum said. "She gave us some money and some artifacts from the drugstore."

    Today, when kids visit the museum, they can pretend to order a soda at the fountain, sit at a booth or on stools at the counter, pay at an old-fashioned cash register and listen to music on a jukebox.

    Before Sweet Goodman died, she passed the album along to her son, Bonnibel Sweet’s grandson, Michael Goodman, who today lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

    "He decided he would donate the album to the McDonald County Historical Society, so that he did," Tatum said.

    Tatum said that when she and Sheets got the album a few years ago, about a third of the photos had names.

    She added that the society is a long way from identifying all of the veterans.

    "Every once in a while we hit gold and somebody calls in."

    Still, she applauds Sheets for launching a plan to try naming them all.

    "Every once in a while we hit gold and somebody calls in, and then Hazel [Sheets] will do her best to research," Tatum said.

    "We listen carefully to the wording when people say, ‘I think this is someone I know,’ or ‘This person looks like this family.’ And we wait until we've got a pretty clear identification of the person."

    With the album back in Pineville, lots of stories surrounding Bonnibel Sweet have been uncovered, Tatum said.

    "A friend of mine, who now has passed, came into the museum one day and said, ‘Here’s a story,’" Tatum said. "He said, ‘Bonnibell was gone somewhere and her pipes broke. She had a flood in her house, so somebody called a handyman.'"

    "He was moving furniture around in her living room, and when he lifted the coffee table, the top came off," Tatum continued. "The legs of the coffee table were hollow and inside were stacks of silver dollars.’

    Tatum said that a neighbor reportedly called the bank president, who safeguarded the silver dollars until Sweet returned from her out-of-town trip.

    "We try to keep those fun stories alive," Tatum added.

    If you recognize any of the service members shown in the photos in this article, please contact the McDonald County Library at 417-223-4489.

    (Please click on source to see if you know any of these heroes!)

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  • 'I Am Not Invisible': VA photographer looking for women Veterans to sit for campaign in Lincoln

    Not Invisible

     

    LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) -- In an effort to increase awareness and dialogue about women Veterans, a photographer from the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs is documenting the "many faces of the roughly 2 million living women Veterans" from across the nation.

    The "I Am Not Invsible" photo project is supported by the Center for Women Veterans.

    USVA photographer Gene Russell will be in Lincoln from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, at the Lincoln Community-Based Outpatient Clinic at 600 S. 70th St. to take portraits of the first 100 women Veterans to register. Elligible photo subjects can sign up online at Veterans.nebraska.gov or call the Nebraska Department of Veterans' Affairs State Service Office at 402-420-4021.

    Russell is the primary photographer for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and has honored Veterans in 20 cities in 14 states. He has taken portraits of more than 700 women Veterans during the course of this project.

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  • 'I'm gonna carve your (expletive) heart out' — Navy Vet sentenced for racist threats to VA centers days after Veterans home mass shooting

    Justice 014

     

    SAN FRANCISCO — Just days after a Veteran receiving PTSD treatment walked into the Yountville Veterans Home with a rifle and opened fire, killing three women and taking his own life, threats started pouring in to other Veterans Assistance centers around the Bay Area.

    In addition to threatening shootings, the calls and voice mails contained hundreds of racial, anti-semitic, and homophobic slurs. In recorded messages, the man told staffers he would "carve your (expletive) heart out," using slurs against African-Americans, Jewish people and others.

    The caller threatened to show up at a VA center in the Bay Area armed with an assault rifle and randomly shoot people. For a while, workers at VA centers across the region were concerned that a Yountville copycat shooting could be around the corner, according to court records.

    Eventually, the threats were traced back to a man named Ronald Joseph Lafaye, a U.S. Navy Veteran who prosecutors say has a 20-year history — including multiple convictions — of threatening people. As prosecutors were bringing a federal case against Lafaye for the VA threats, there was a simultaneous state case against him for making threats to kill staffers at U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier's office, authorities say.

    Last week, Lafaye was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for the VA threats. Combined with his state prison sentence, he will serve a total of 10 years. Last year, he was sentenced to seven years and eight months in state prison for the threats on Speier's staffers, court records show.

    In a sentencing memo asking for 41 months, assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Shepard wrote that Lafaye had, "threatened a mass shooting, at a time when society can longer safely assume that these are idle threats." The threats were made in person and on the phone, Shepard wrote.

    "He threatened to assault and kill three VA officials, threatened their children, spit in one of their faces, and cautioned them to practice their active shooter drills because he was going to come back to a VA facility with an assault rifle and kill people," Shepard wrote. "Lafaye's threats affected one of the victims enough that they declined to speak at the hearing or even submit a written Victim Impact Statement, out of concern that it would aggravate Lafaye even further."

    Lafaye's attorney, assistant federal public defender Candis Mitchell, wrote that Lafaye was the product of a "horrific" childhood that included extreme levels of abuse. Mitchell said Lafaye's intent was to speak out on behalf of Veterans who he felt were ignored or neglected by the VA system.

    "These statements and his actions were not the actions of a rational man guided by rational thoughts—but rather reflect the sum totals of a lifetime of trauma coupled with an ill-conceived attempt to make the lives of others better," Mitchell wrote, adding that Lafaye has battled alcoholism since he was a teenager.

    Mitchell also quoted a medical professional who wrote that Lafaye has a "delusional disorder," and included a brief statement from Lafaye where he admitted to sometimes having poor impulse control.

    "I get on a roll, I can't shake it. All the inhibitions go because of my background. I have to retrain myself," Lafaye said, according to Mitchell's sentencing memo.

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  • 'People don't respect the park': Vandalism at Veterans Memorial Park prompts outcry in Las Cruces

    Los Cruces Vandalism

     

    LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Following multiple acts of vandalism at Veterans Memorial Park, Las Cruces might place protections on the public site.

    "People don't respect the park," said Rod Gajewski, a Vietnam Veteran who survived prostate cancer after exposure to Agent Orange.

    In May 2018, police arrested teenagers in connection with stealing letters from the Vietnam Memorial and damaging the Huey helicopter that overlooks the memorial.

    "Those are all monuments that have a degree of sacredness to all of us," Gajewski said.

    This past summer, he told councilors that a group spray painted parts of the sidewalk and grass while directing participants in a run.

    "As far as defacing city property... if they are not willing to make it right, I have no problem in coming up with a resolution in banning them," said Mayor Ken Miyagishima.

    It might be a public park, but councilors acknowledged the importance of preserving the space that displays the monuments.

    "The vandalism really, really bothers me a lot," said Councilwoman Yvonne Flores, who represents district six.

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  • 'The Father of Naval Special Warfare' Almost Changed the History of the Vietnam War

    Phil H Bucklew

     

    Phil H. Bucklew was a World War II Veteran with a few good years left by the time the United States got involved in Vietnam. The frogman already had a storied military career, but America’s latest conflict showed there was still more for him to do.

    Bucklew saw exactly how the North Vietnamese were infiltrating South Vietnam, because that’s exactly how he, a longtime irregular warrior, would have done it. The Navy disregarded his assessment, and it might have changed the war forever.

    As a young man, Bucklew first joined the Naval Reserve in 1930 while playing football in what one day would become the NFL. But his life took a total turn for the military after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. As a new naval officer, he would learn not only to work in the burgeoning field of special warfare, but he also would shape its entire future.

    The Navy Scouts and Raiders were one of the precursors to the Navy SEALs the U.S. employs around the world today. During World War II, the concept of special warfare was far from refined, but the job of these combat swimmers was simple enough on most occasions: scout the beach for its defenses and return with the information.

    That was the kind of work Bucklew and other frogmen did before planned amphibious landings throughout the war. Bucklew served with the Scouts and Raiders during Operation Torch, the American invasion of North Africa, as well as at Sicily, Salerno and Normandy.

    Bucklew actually landed on Omaha Beach many times before the actual D-Day invasions, taking samples of sand, getting information on the metal obstacles and booby traps that awaited Allied tanks so they could clear the way for landing craft.

    When D-Day came, Bucklew led a series of landing craft carrying tanks onto the beaches at Normandy. Having been briefed on the overall invasion plans, he was not allowed to land himself, for fear of being captured.

    After his tanks were on the beach, he helped save drowning infantrymen trying to wade ashore, using his boat and rendering similar assistance all along the beaches. A trip to China to gather information and train the Chinese Nationalists there rounded out Bucklew’s World War II missions, but not his military career.

    By the early 1960s, Vietnam was becoming the next Cold War flashpoint, and Bucklew’s skills were sorely needed. The Viet Cong, communist guerrillas operating openly in South Vietnam, were moving men and supplies south around the Vietnamese demilitarized zone just by moving them through Cambodia in local fishing boats along the Mekong River.

    The U.S. Navy’s efforts to stem the flow of these supplies only caused the communists to increase the flow. It launched Market Time, a Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and South Vietnamese monitoring and interdiction operation that searched coastal vessels and captured tons of materials headed to communist units in South Vietnam. The U.S. Navy also launched Operation Game Warden, a similar operation used to patrol the Mekong River and its delta.

    Bucklew argued that these patrol operations were not sufficient, and more concrete, thorough steps were necessary to control communist supply routes. He argued for things such as checkpoints, barricades and curfews to control traffic. The Navy disregarded his recommendations.

    The seaborne infiltrations by communist forces went on for years. Despite the U.S. Navy’s patrols successfully intercepting communist supply runs for eight years, the North still stockpiled what it needed to launch the 1968 Tet Offensive. The surprise attack turned American public opinion against the war for the first time.

    Had the United States prevented the Tet Offensive by choking its shallow water supply points, the entire history of the war might have been different from 1968 onward.

    But Bucklew was long gone before 1968, having been reassigned to the Pentagon before retiring from the military altogether in 1969. He is remembered as the “Father of Naval Special Warfare,” and the Coronado, California Naval Special Warfare Center is named for him, so Phil Bucklew is the first name SEAL recruits learn when they head off to BUD/S or SWCC training.

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  • 'They feasted on him': Cancer-stricken Veteran bitten 100 times in VA facility ant infestation before dying

    Joel Marrable 03

     

    An Air Force Veteran battling cancer was bitten more than 100 times by ants days before he died at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Georgia, according to his daughter.

    Laquna Ross found her father, Joel Marrable, covered in swollen bite marks while visiting him at the Eagle's Nest Community Living Center in Atlanta last week.

    "When I took his hand out, it was really swollen, and he flinched," she told the New York Daily News. "I was really worried and asked a staffer if she could come take a look."

    The staffer told Ross that "it's getting better... you know... from the ants."

    Days earlier, one of the nurses had gone into Marrable's room and discovered him "covered in ants," the staffer said.

    "She told me, 'We thought Mr. Marrable was dead. We didn't know what happened with all the ants. We jumped into action, took him into the shower and covered his nose so he could breathe while we washed them off," Ross said.

    Terrified by the description, Ross went to hospital administrators, who agreed to move her father to a new room in the middle of the night of Sept. 6. Marrable, 74, would die hours later, on Sept. 7.

    Ross recalled her father keeping a good attitude throughout his battle with cancer.

    "He had cancer for three years and spent 14 months at the VA. We made a bucket list and went to the Bahamas and laughed and joked up until the end. He was at peace with dying, so it's so unfortunate this happened right at the end," Ross said.

    The Atlanta Veterans Affairs Health Care System issued a statement apologizing for the ant infestation.

    "We would like to express our heartfelt remorse and apology to the Veterans' families and have reached out to them to offer appropriate assistance," the statement said.

    The bedrooms at the center have since been cleaned and a pest control company was hired to address the problem.

    Ross said she spoke out to increase awareness and prevent other patients from suffering the same fate.

    "I understand mistakes happen. I've had ants. But he was bit by ants two days in row," she said. "They feasted on him."

    The VA has spent the last five years trying to improve the conditions of its facilities after suffering a series of high-profile scandals starting in 2014. President Trump has issued several directives and signed into law various measures aimed at improving the well-being of Veterans, including the VA Accountability Act, which makes it easier to fire VA employees who engage in misconduct. In addition to improving its facilities, the VA is working to address the suicide epidemic among Veterans.

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  • 'We kept the ship running': Navy Vietnam War Veterans relive battles during reunion

    Bill Moore

     

    Bill Moore has no regrets joining the U.S. Navy to fight in the Vietnam War.

    “I will never regret going into the military,” the 73-year-old New Jersey resident said during the annual gathering of six Navy buddies held in late October at the home of Chuck and Jan Smiley of Newport. This year's reunion was Oct. 23-26.

    “A lot of good memories, laughs and tears,” said Cam Borruso, 73, of New York. “We got to see the world – Asia, Australia, Philippines, Guam and Pearl Harbor.”

    All of the six were electrical mechanics who served on the USS Hopewell destroyer that was commissioned in 1943 and served as their home away from home during multiple six-month-long tours overseas between 1968 and 1971.

    “We kept the ship running,” said Mike Creech, 75, of Texas, who came the farthest for the reunion. “You might say we were the unsung heroes.”

    Creech said he was the only one drafted into service. The rest of the friends – Larry Cox, 74, of Lapeer, MI, and Leo Labbe, 75, from Akron, Ohio – all enlisted.

    “Nobody wanted to be drafted,” Smiley said. “We went on our choice. It was hard, a good character-building experience. You learned how to grow up and wear big-boy pants.”

    “It taught us patience,” said Borruso, who enlisted at 17. “It was something I always wanted to do. I lost one of my cousins in Okinawa in World War II.”

    Every fall, the six get together for a few days at the Smiley home and reminisce about their war experiences, sleeping in close quarters, bombings and current events in the world.

    “We mostly talk about old times and rag on each other,” Creech said with a laugh. “We can’t remember what happened yesterday, but 50 years ago we can.”

    “There’s never a lull in the conversation,” Borruso chimed in.

    After meeting in 2015 at the Smiley home for the first time in over 50 years since they left the military, some of them got emotional when the first reunion ended, said Creech.

    “When you live together like we did, you get close,” Smiley said. “We slept in the same compartment three racks high with our foot lockers on the floor. We slept head to toe to not spread disease. The guy next to me, his feet were about a foot from my head. Today’s ships aren’t like that.”

    They recalled their ship at sea firing missiles and shells 10-12 miles away at targets that included Viet Cong supply depots and troop concentrations.

    “We’d drop anchor and our guns would rotate and shoot day and night,” Smiley said. “Our salvos were most accurate. We got a lot of commendations for our accuracy.”

    Citing a book published about the USS Hopewell, Borruso said the vessel had 67 firing missions recorded in 1968-69 in the West Pacific Ocean while encountering Russian ships a dozen times. He said naval gunfire is “most accurate” among the Armed Forces.

    “We were constantly moving” to position itself for the bombings, Moore said.

    Labbe remembered one Viet Cong bunker that was targeted on a Saturday.

    “We wiped it out from the face of the earth,” he said emphatically.

    On the less serious side, the men recalled fun shaving cream fights, initiations, sea bat jokes and other comical pranks that occurred on board. Liberty weekends and drinking with their buddies were among the good times shared.

    “That’s what kept us sane,” Borruso said. “It’s a wonder we won the war… did we win? They called us every name in the book when we came back.”

    Moore remembered getting spit on when he returned and being called “baby killers.” Borruso said the nation’s acceptance of Vietnam War Veterans changed for the better about 10 years ago with more people acknowledging the many trials, difficulties and trauma soldiers and sailors faced. Moore said all but Labbe was exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant spray that caused cancer in thousands of war Veterans.

    “Almost all of us got some form of disability” from work because of Agent Orange, Moore said. “If the wind blew, you got it. Leo may have escaped it because he was always below deck.”

    Cox said he’s currently dealing with diabetes, one of the lingering effects of Agent Orange.

    The USS Hopewell was 376 feet long, 39 ½ feet wide and drew a draft 17 feet deep.

    “We were the fasted destroyer on the West Coast,” Labbe beamed with pride. “We could sail 41 knots.”

    The ships don’t last forever. In 1972, 30 years after it was built, the Hopewell was destroyed, but it didn’t go down without a fight, the men said.

    “They hit it with a missile off the coast, but that wasn’t enough,” Creech said. “They had to hit it again. It’s down at the bottom of the ocean near San Clemente Island.

    “We felt bad” after hearing about it later, Smiley said. “That was our home. You got attached to each other."

    All of the men sat at the kitchen table wearing dark T-shirts Borruso obtained online with a photo of the Hopewell emblazoned on them. Moore found caps, Cox got mugs and Creech obtained fountain pens with the Vietnam ribbon on them. All nice souvenirs of the ship to remember it by in between reunions.

    Cox brought his wife, Judy, and daughter, Becky, with him to Sunday dinner with the guys. The two ladies kept Jan Smiley company while the men carried on. Jan spent nights with her son, Scott, a Monroe firefighter. She said she enjoys the men's get-togethers when she is with them.

    "Oh yeah, I get a big kick out of it," she said. "I love seeing them together. I don't know where they come up with (so much) to talk about."

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  • ‘A national outrage’: Lawmakers seek solutions to food insecurity in military, Veteran families

    Food Insecurity

     

    There’s scant information on how widespread the problem of hunger is among currently serving military families and Veteran families, but there are some actions that could help those who are struggling to put food on the table, advocates told lawmakers.

    One such suggestion is providing automatic SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, to service members in the lower ranks as they separate from the military, said Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs at Syracuse University. She and other advocates participated in a roundtable discussion of hunger in the military and Veteran communities before the House Rules Committee.

    They discussed the stigma in asking for help that’s perceived by service members, Veterans and their families; difficulties families face in qualifying for assistance; and lack of real data to quantify the extent of the problem.

    “Across America today, there are spouses and children of service members who may not know where their next meal is coming from,” said Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass. “And for too many men and women who served our nation and are back in the civilian community, they and their families are struggling to put food on the table.

    “Too often, hunger is hidden among these communities. Service members are taught to make good with what they have. Numbers are hard to come by, because those who serve don’t want to risk their futures by coming forward, or struggle to ask for help.”

    McGovern called the situation “a national outrage.” He and other lawmakers asked for suggestions from the advocates in addressing the issue.

    There’s a clear need for more data about the problem, advocates said. “We suffer from a lack of systematic information about the level of food insecurity among active-duty members. This means we can’t identify and focus on the pockets of where it be higher than others,” said Heflin.

    “If DoD collected systematic information and made it available on food insecurity and food assistance participation, this would identify the problem,” Heflin.

    Some limited information has been available in recent surveys. For example, 14 percent of active-duty enlisted family member respondents to the online 2020 Blue Star Family Lifestyle Survey said they had food insecurity within the past 12 months, according to the organization’s CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet. That 14 percent isn’t necessarily representative of the entire population — it’s 251 people out of the 1,757 who identified themselves as active-duty enlisted family members in the online survey. The survey was available online from September 2020 to October 2020, so the responses also reflected pandemic experiences.

    The percentage of those experiencing food insecurity was highest in the E1-E4 respondents, at 29 percent — 46 people out of 158 in the Blue Star Family survey. Food insecurity reports weren’t limited to junior enlisted families: 16 percent of E5-E6 family respondents, and 8 percent of senior enlisted, reported low or very low food security. The Blue Star Family survey “is an essential part of what we know, but it can’t be as comprehensive as what our government could do,” said Abby Leibman, president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. She suggested calling on the Government Accountability Office to provide comprehensive, updated data on food insecurity among Veteran and military families, and said the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture should collaborate and share data and information. The issue has been a priority for MAZON for nearly 10 years.

    Leibman also suggested reexamining the pay levels in the military.

    Kathy Roth-Douquet said the military lifestyle of frequent permanent change of station moves contributes to the financial insecurity of military families, with spouse unemployment, the lack of affordable child care, high out-of-pocket housing expenses, and other issues. Too many families are forced to make the impossible choice between affordable housing and more expensive housing in safe areas with school districts that provide a quality education for their children, she said.

    Thus, Roth-Douquet offered up one solution that would address a number of financial issues with military families: Slowing down the rate of PCS moves, or allowing for some predictability and control over service members’ careers. “There’s lots of evidence this would increase financial security and would save [the government] those high moving costs,” she said.

    Two other suggestions deal with service members’ allowances.

    • The Basic Allowance for Housing shouldn’t be counted as income when determining a military family’s eligibility for federal nutrition assistance programs like SNAP, formerly referred to as food stamps, said Abby Leibman. This has long been an issue for military families, she said. While she believes U.S. Department of Agriculture could make the change, it may require a change in law, she said.
    • Leibman and other advocates have been pushing for a military basic needs allowance, which has been proposed in Congress for the last several years. It’s part of the proposed Military Hunger Prevention Act being considered now by lawmakers, and would provide extra money for groceries for low-income military families. It would create an allowance that would supplement troops with a household income of less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line, which varies by family size.

    Veterans’ food insecurity and a transitional SNAP benefit?

    A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report stated that 11 percent of Veteran households were food insecure in the 2015-2019 period, said Syracuse’s Heflin. Food insecurity is higher among female Veterans, minority Veterans and disabled Veterans, she said. There’s increased likelihood of hardship and food insecurity after separation from the military, she said, and SNAP participation among Veterans is 10 percent higher in the first year after leaving the military than for the general Veteran population.

    She proposes creating an automatic transitional SNAP benefit for about six months for all families leaving the military, limiting those eligible to perhaps those in pay grades of up to E4 or E6, she said.

    Based on the 2019 average SNAP household benefit of $258 a month, if there were 100,000 service members separating from the military a year within that general pay band, and the benefits continued for six months, it would cost about $154 million a year in taxpayer dollars, Heflin said.

    It reduces the stigma because everyone would qualify, she said. “It’s a small dollar item that could really help service members during this critical transition period.” It would help provide some extra dollars as they establish themselves, and serve as an extra benefit to thank them for their service, she said. It might also make them more likely to apply for SNAP benefits if needed in the future

    Heflin also suggested a categorical eligibility for SNAP benefits among different disability programs, for example, Veterans with high levels of service-connected disabilities.

    It appears that when programs are built specifically for Veterans, the Veterans are more accepting of the services, said Chad Morrison, CEO of the Mountaineer Food Bank in West Virginia. “They don’t want to take away from someone else, but when it’s built for them, there’s less of a stigma, and they’re much more accepting.” He said he’s found that with their food distribution program, which participates in a program that provides a monthly food box for Veterans and households of Veterans.

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  • ‘Afraid and overwhelmed’: A look inside one hospital on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic

    Front Lines Coronavirus Pandemic

     

    In the war against coronavirus, doctors and nurses do battle not only against the disease – they battle exhaustion, too.

    Nurses meticulously take swabs at mobile testing sites and comfort those racked with fear. Doctors consult patients in triage tents via iPads. Emergency room nurses and doctors examine the critically ill patients. Support staff clear hallways and deliver coVeted ventilators, tubing, and protective gear. And so it continues, hour after hour, day after day.

    Those suffering need comfort. Many are dying – and dying alone. However, one thing is clear: precious lives are being saved by the hospital staff risking their own.

    We go inside one Florida hospital to document these medical heroes doing everything they can to save people.

    After comforting a woman she swabbed for COVID-19 testing, registered nurse Jenna Puckett takes a momentary rest before resuming testing at a mobile site in Cape Coral, Fla. "She was afraid and overwhelmed," Puckett said of the woman she tested. "She just needed someone to listen."

    Monitoring equipment cords from outside a COVID-19 patient's room are pushed under the door to registered nurse Aubry Sander in the intensive care unit at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. This is done to reduce the number of times a patient's door is opened and helps prevent cross-contamination.

    Physician assistant Allison Ridgway reads a COVID-19 patient's x-ray at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla.

    Advance provider Brittiany Garrett listens intently to a coworker’s question about a COVID-19 test sample at a mobile site in Fort Myers, Fla. The increasing number of people being tested requires nurses to pay extreme attention to detail when gathering and transporting test samples.

    A patient with COVID-19 symptoms is prepared for admission by emergency room nurses at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla.

    Registered nurse Aubry Sander cares for a COVID-19 patient in a negative pressure room (NPR) at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. NPRs help prevent cross-contamination from room to room. The room's ventilation system generates pressure lower than of the surroundings, allowing air to flow in but not out.

    "Yes. I will pray for you," Chaplin Michael Schorin tells a COVID-19 patient who requested spiritual comfort at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Schorin says he's been praying a lot lately. "God hasn't forgotten you," Schorin told the patient before leaving.

    Emergency room nurse Tristan Manbevers checks in a woman complaining of COVID-19 symptoms at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla.

    Bags containing sterilized N95 masks await pick up by nurses and doctors at Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. Masks can be recycled twice before they are thrown away.

    A triage tent to examine potential COVID-19 patients is set up outside Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla. The tents help prevent the virus from spreading into the emergency room and main hospital.

    Dr. Karen Calkins and Kathy Richards-Bessshare give COVID-19 testing updates on a conference call at a mobile testing site setup in a park in Cape Coral, Fla.

    Medical assistant Karen Spradlin and registered nurse Chris Blue input COVID-19 testing data at a mobile testing site in Cape Coral, Fla.

    "We're saving everyone we can"

    As COVID-19 spreads across Southwest Florida, so does the courage of nurses, doctors and staff at Lee Health, the area's largest healthcare system.

    They're fighting for the lives of loved ones, co-workers and friends infected by disease, which attacks the respiratory system without warning. It's like the wind – invisible, far-reaching, uncontrollable.

    Inside the COVID intensive care unit it is surprisingly quiet. Only the hopeful whooshes of ventilators sound off in the negative-pressure rooms. Nurses monitor vitals, adjust fluids and carefully reposition patients. Outside the rooms, they turn their protective gear inside out and get back to the fight.

    This war is ongoing. More than 15,000 confirmed cases in Florida alone, more than 300 deaths. This week, the U.S. surpassed 10,000 deaths, topping the number of battle deaths from six U.S. wars combined.

    How we did this project

    In tents, emergency rooms and intensive care units, a war is taking place.

    Visual journalist Kinfay Moroti, who photographed the Iraq War, now finds himself on the front lines in Southwest Florida, documenting the doctors, nurses and all who support them as they deploy everything they have against an invisible enemy — the novel coronavirus.

    He gowned up, used his own N95 mask and spent several hours in the ICU observing these newfound soldiers to provide these moments exclusively to the USA TODAY NETWORK. They offer rare, unfettered access into one hospital system’s battle against the odds.

    As our country makes its way through the coronavirus pandemic, history is happening fast. Generations from now, these days will make up whole chapters in the story of America. In this ongoing series, titled An Uncertain Distance, USA TODAY NETWORK photographers document the faces, the families, the playing fields, the farms, the factories – most of them in surreal states of being.

    We found kindness, grief, boredom, puzzlement. We saw togetherness, aloneness, helpfulness, alienation. We captured scenes reflecting a common yet alien experience, where everything we see takes on a different shape, a new color, a newfound dimension. One overarching question looms: What will our “new normal” look like?

    An insidious outbreak

    The novel coronavirus, unknown to Americans earlier this year, has thrown every aspect of our society into turmoil. The strains on all corners of the economy have evoked comparisons to the Great Depression, as five years of employment growth and stock market gains were wiped away in days. Nearly every student in the country is out of school. Parks, roads and beaches are empty – often by order of local or state authorities. Most of what people so recently took for granted now hangs in question.

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  • ‘Devastating, tragic, and deadly’: VA leaders in Arkansas allowed impaired pathologist to harm hundreds of Veterans, watchdog finds

    Impaired Pathologist

     

    Oversight failures, a fearful workplace culture and lax quality standards for years at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Arkansas allowed a pathologist who was routinely drunk on the job to misdiagnose thousands of Veterans — sometimes with dire or deadly consequences, a new investigation has found.

    Hospital leaders “failed to promote a culture of accountability” that would have led more of the doctor’s colleagues to come forward with accounts that his behavior was putting patients at risk, according to the report released Wednesday by VA’s Office of Inspector General. But the staff members at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville feared that reporting their concerns would lead to retaliation from their bosses.

    “Any one of these breakdowns could cause harmful results,” Inspector General Michael Missal’s staff wrote in an 86-page report about the failures to stop the pathologist, Robert Morris Levy. “Together and over an extended period of time, the consequences were devastating, tragic, and deadly.”

    For more than a decade, hospital officials led by Levy’s supervisor, former chief of staff Mark Worley, ignored red flags that allowed the pathologist to make tragic mistakes, delaying medical care for cancers and other illnesses for some Veterans and leading to unnecessary treatment for others, the report said.

    Levy, 54, who rose from temporary contract pathologist to chief of pathology during a 13-year tenure until his firing in 2018, was sentenced in January to 20 years in federal prison for involuntary manslaughter and mail fraud, following a plea agreement with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty last year to diagnosing lymphoma in an Air Force Veteran who actually had a small-cell carcinoma. Levy admitted to falsifying the patient’s medical record to state that a second pathologist agreed with his diagnosis; the patient later died. Levy also admitted to scheming to cover up his substance abuse problem.

    When a team of outside pathologists reviewed almost 34,000 cases Levy had diagnosed since his hiring, they found that more than 3,000 had errors, 589 of them major mistakes that caused medical harm to Veterans. At least 15 died.

    In 34 of the most serious cases, VA called the patients or their surviving family members to tell them what happened. It is unclear from the report whether any of the other patients with serious misdiagnoses were formally notified.

    The Washington Post reported many of Levy’s misdiagnoses in 2019.

    The Arkansas report comes three weeks after the release of another blistering investigation by Missal’s office of oversight failures at a VA hospital in West Virginia. That report found cascading mistakes in quality control and patient care at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg that failed to stop a former nursing aide from injecting lethal doses of insulin into frail, elderly Veterans in her care.

    In Reta Mays’s case, her actions went undiscovered for almost a year. After confessing to her crimes, Mays was sentenced in May to seven consecutive life terms and an additional 20 years in federal prison.

    VA press secretary Terrence L. Hayes said the agency was “truly saddened at the pain victims and families endured at the hands of this pathologist.” He reiterated that VA is “fully committed” to improving protections for patients.

    “The investigations into this matter revealed that the pathologist sought to deceive the government, and VA was not aware of the actions he took to conceal his errors,” Hayes said. “Once the full extent of his actions was known, VA worked immediately to enact process changes at [the Arkansas facility] and nationally that would prevent any provider from causing tragic patient harm.”

    Worley’s attorney, Shane Wilkinson, said that Worley had cooperated with federal investigators and that “after a thorough investigation, it was very apparent Dr. Worley did a thorough job, but within the constraints of the Federal employment rules and regulations.”

    “It is my understanding that there have been recommended changes to certain policies that would allow supervisors more leeway in the future,” Wilkinson said. “Dr. Levy’s actions were tragic with tragic results. . . . I understand that a report was probably necessary, but it is also easier to play armchair quarterback a few years later when all the facts and circumstances are known.”

    Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) whose district includes Fayetteville, said the investigation depicted so many failures that VA leaders need to be held accountable.

    “The report details an abject failure of leadership that led to the misdiagnosis and subsequent harm to hundreds of Veterans who rely on the VA health system for care,” Womack said in a statement. “It is unacceptable to limit accountability to the criminal conduct of Dr. Levy.”

    Following the failures in Fayetteville, VA agreed to make multiple agencywide changes on the inspector general’s recommendations, including better competency assessments for newly hired and temporary medical staff, stricter protocols for pathologists, broad alcohol testing and better management of staff with drug or alcohol issues.

    Missal’s office also recommended administrative actions for agency leaders involved in the Levy case. Hayes said that is under consideration.

    “VA is reviewing the actions of employees involved in this matter and, as we agreed with the OIG’s recommendation, will pursue administrative action if warranted,” he said.

    The long-awaited investigation — on hold as the criminal case against Levy unfolded — brings more closure to a rare criminal case against a government physician. It also underscored a common failure by the agency to hold its medical staff accountable for administrative misconduct, audits and interviews show.

    The case demonstrated the staffing challenges VA faces in rural communities, where it is often hard to recruit qualified specialists. When he arrived in Fayetteville in 2005, Levy was a star hire, an Air Force Veteran with degrees from top medical programs.

    But he also had jumped from job to job and acknowledged a previous arrest and conviction for drunken driving, warnings in his background that investigators said should have guided the hospital staff when trouble started.

    Levy’s eventual firing after an arrest for driving under the influence followed a tumultuous tenure during which colleagues in the pathol­ogy lab complained of witnessing his erratic behavior on the job. On multiple occasions, their complaints were not fully investigated — and Levy continued to read pathology slides while impaired, the report found.

    In 2014, Worley told investigators that he heard “episodic, informal reports related to Dr. Levy’s smelling like alcohol or other possible signs of impairment.” But the chief of staff concluded that the complaints were “not actionable,” according to the report.

    On one occasion, Worley evaluated Levy after receiving a complaint that he smelled of alcohol. The pathologist “gave an implausible excuse for his smelling like alcohol (drinking a lot of juice),” according to the report. Worley concluded that Levy did not smell of alcohol, and he did not take further action, the report said.

    During one incident on duty in 2015, Levy smelled of mouthwash, had red glassy eyes and exhibited hand tremors, the report found. He agreed to alcohol testing. But Worley did not have him tested, concluding that VA policy prohibited drug testing of its medical staff. But in this case, the conclusion was incorrect: There is no prohibition when an employee agrees to take a test. The episode represented another missed opportunity to stop Levy, investigators said.

    The hospital allowed Levy to enter a program for impaired physicians after another incident in 2016. A VA team did a limited review of his cases while he was in treatment, finding some misdiagnoses. But nothing further was done, the report said.

    The eventual look at the full 12 years of his work in Fayetteville would find a consistent clinical error rate that hovered at 10 percent of his diagnoses — more than 10 times the normal misdiagnosis rate of 0.7 percent for pathologists.

    At the time, the hospital also was learning that Levy was using his role as chief pathologist to subvert quality control in the lab. As a safeguard against errors, Levy and his deputy were required each month to review a random sample of 10 percent of each other’s cases, a routine practice among pathologists.

    The results of these “second reads” were communicated by sticky notes, a system of informal documentation that allowed Levy’s misconduct to fester. It turned out that he was altering his deputy’s reviews to show them as concurring with all of Levy’s diagnoses, according to the report.

    Levy consistently had a tiny official error rate, at times even zero. No one with the power to dig deeper noticed.

    The peer review system was further flawed, investigators found, bythe randomness of the samples. The sample should have targeted cases with a higher risk of interpretation error — or ones that could result in clinically significant consequences.

    Levy and his deputy did not get along, presenting another problem: A third pathologist should always join peer reviews to examine discrepancies in opinion on diagnoses in such a small practice, the report said. Otherwise, as the mounting problems in Fayetteville showed, there are no guardrails on the physician in charge.

    “Dr. Levy developed quality management policies and controlled all aspects of the quality management program in a service with only one other pathologist (a subordinate of Dr. Levy), which made the process susceptible to subversion,” the report concluded.

    When investigators interviewed Levy’s colleagues, they said they had been terrified to report more of what they witnessed, the report found.

    “The OIG concluded that facility leaders did not meet [the Veterans Health Administration’s] goal to establish an environment in which staff act with integrity to achieve accountability,” it said.

    To hidehis severe substance abuse problem, Levy came up with a way to elude detection once he returned from rehab and agreed to regular drug and alcohol testing.

    He acknowledged to prosecutors that he routinely took a substance called 2-methyl-2-butanol (known as 2M2B), which he bought online, to mask the alcohol level in his blood. The substance, which is not approved for individual use, cannot be detected in routine tests for drugs and alcohol.

    When Levy came up for recredentialing every other year, the hospital did not ask other pathologists to review his work or assess his performance, instead turning to physicians without a background in his specialty, another failure investigators cited.

    The case drew attention to what investigators, Congress and Veterans groups have called a lax system of oversight of poor-performing VA physicians, who often are reassigned rather than dismissed.

    Worley retired from the Fayetteville hospital in 2018 and now practices psychiatry at a local community clinic, his attorney said.

    As the case first made headlines, Bryan C. Matthews, then-director of the Fayetteville hospital, was transferred to lead VA’s Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi, Miss., where he still works.

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  • ‘Don’t nobody listen’: Why a disabled Mississippi Veteran is fighting to buy a new home — with his own money

    Anthony Burkett

     

    SEMINARY, Miss. — U.S. Army Veteran Anthony Burkett, 53, lives in a musty trailer with sinking floors, soft walls and leaky windows off a gravel road in rural Covington County.

    He has about $30,000 saved up in his bank account and receives a $3,171 monthly disability check from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, likely enough for a new home.

    But Burkett can’t spend his own money. For the past 30 years, a local court has controlled his finances after the VA found him incapable of managing his own estate.

    And 13th Chancery District Judge David Shoemake — who was nearly removed from office in 2016 after facing accusations he mismanaged a similar case — hasn’t approved the purchase of a new home.

    “I get over $3,000 a month … And I feel like I don’t get nothing. They won’t give me the opportunity to be over my own money,” Burkett said.

    After graduating from Seminary High School in 1985, Burkett joined the U.S. Army as a cook stationed in Germany. Less than a year later, then 19-year-old Burkett caught a ride home from a nightclub with some fellow soldiers from their barracks. The driver of the souped-up Pontiac Firebird Trans Am hit a bend at over 100 mph, lost control of the car and hit a tree. Burkett’s friend died in the crash; he was left in a coma.

    “I broke almost every bone in my body,” Burkett said.

    He was in a Jackson hospital for roughly three years. At one point, Burkett’s family chose to take him off life support. He woke up from the coma on his own but was severely paralyzed, having also suffered brain damage. A year after leaving the hospital in 1989, he purchased his two bedroom trailer with financial support from the U.S. Veteran Benefits Administration, which rated him 100 percent disabled. “I thought I would get treated better than I’m treated now,” he said.

    Today, Burkett wears a bald head, thin black mustache on an otherwise clean-shaven face and slightly yellow-tinted glasses. His walking is shaky and he talks as if his mouth is full. He has difficulty pronouncing words, but understands and answers questions well.

    His home had been a comfortable place to live until the years wore on the trailer’s roof, windows and plumbing. The dingy walls are covered in white, black, blue, pink and green tape, where Burkett has patched holes himself. Rainwater seeps into the house through the windows. Last spring, a corroded pipe burst, exacerbating the existing water damage. Mold is growing.

    In 2018 alone, Burkett spent $1,300 on nine home repairs by Jerry Mooney of Collins Housing Services.

    “How can you live in a place, man, that leaks all the time?” Burkett said. “I go through my house everyday checking on that mold … That mold will do something to you.”

    Burkett’s finances are managed by a conservator, an attorney named Matthew Alliston. In May, Alliston asked Judge Shoemake for permission to use Burkett’s funds to purchase a new home. Before the county elected Shoemake judge in 2010, he was the attorney serving as Burkett’s conservator.

    Shoemake requested justification for the purchase from the Veterans affairs department, which sent a letter in July confirming the current trailer needed to be replaced. Shoemake has yet to set a hearing on the issue.

    “I would rather be dead than going through this crap,” Burkett said. “Don’t nobody listen to you. And people think you’re stupid and stuff. That’s a bad feeling.”

    In 2016, the Mississippi Supreme Court found that Shoemake had mismanaged the finances of a woman who was incapacitated by improperly signing orders that cost her $23,000 she was unable to recuperate.

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  • ‘Forever chemicals’ detected in groundwater from 13 DoD sites in Gulf of Mexico

    Forever Chemicals 02

     

    High levels of toxic chemicals, known as “forever chemicals,” have been found in groundwater from at least 13 Department of Defense sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

    According to Environmental Working Group (EWG), perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS — found in the groundwater adversely affect Gulf fish and residents who subsequently consume any contaminated seafood.

    The 13 defense department sites that have had serious levels of PFAS contaminations detected are Silverhill Navy Outlying Field, Correy Station, Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Hurlburt Field AFB, MacDill AFB, Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, NAS Pensacola-Bronson Field, NAS Pensacola-Saufley Field, Tyndall AFB, Gulfport Naval Construction Battalion Center, Gulfport Regional Airport, Keesler AFB, and NAS Corpus Christi.

    Reports cited by EWG show that the levels of PFAS contamination detected from these sites are hundreds of times higher than groundwater safety standards in states such as California and Vermont.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PFAS have been used in the United States since the 1940s, and there is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects, although most studies have been conducted on animals.

    Studies conducted on laboratory animals cited by the EPA have found that PFAS such as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) can cause reproductive and developmental issues, tumors, negative effects on the immune system and liver and kidney diseases.

    PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe. Everyday sources of PFAS include kitchenware and pizza boxes, and on DOD sites they are commonly found in firefighting foams.

    While there are currently no federal regulations regarding standards of PFAS contamination in groundwater, President Joe Biden’s Environmental Justice Plan includes a pledge to establish “enforceable limits for PFAS in the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

    These recent contamination discoveries underscore the need for a swift PFAS cleanup by the Department of Defense, Jared Hayes, a policy analyst at the Environmental Working Group, wrote in his recent report regarding DOD sites and PFAS contamination.

    “Even at very low doses of PFAS in drinking water, our service members and their families are at risk of the suppression of their immune system and an elevated risk of cancer, increased cholesterol, and reproductive and developmental harms, among other serious health issues,” Hayes said in his analysis.

    Although PFAS contamination in the Gulf is not solely the fault of defense department sites — contamination is suspected from hundreds of industrial sites throughout the region — recent DOD records show that levels of PFAS in groundwater from these 13 sites are reaching maximum detections ranging from 718 parts per trillion (ppt) to 877,000 ppt.

    For context, states such as Michigan have set drinking water standards and groundwater cleanup criteria at 8 ppt for PFOA and 16 ppt for PFOS.

    DOD assessments additionally show that PFAS may be present in the groundwater at several other Gulf sites. Results from detection tests have not been released for NAS Key West, Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Panama City Naval Surface Warfare Center Division and NAS Pensacola-Ellyson Field.

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  • ‘I am Navy Medicine’ – helping another in need - Hospitalman Grace Pridmore of NMRTC Bremerton

    Grace Pridmore

     

    It takes more than just awareness to respond to someone showing signs of distress. It takes conviction of care, compassion, and competence to help that someone in need, which describes precisely what Hospitalman Grace Pridmore did.

    Pridmore, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Bremerton Detachment Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, was acknowledged for her selfless effort by Capt. Shannon J. Johnson, NMRTC Bremerton commanding officer, for identifying another sailor at risk and taking quick action to help get the sailor to the appropriate level of care, possibly saving a life.

    “I knew my friend had been going through a lot since she arrived to her command and sadly her condition got worse as time went on” said Pridmore, of Kellyville, Oklahoma, and a 2019 graduate from Kellyville High school.

    “I saw her well-being starting to quickly depreciate. Seeing this problem rapidly spiral out of control, I knew I had to be there for her as much as I possibly could,” explained Pridmore. “She fully explained everything she was going through, and I took quick action to get her to someone with the appropriate level of training to help her. I knew from my training that this was the right decision. I contacted my chain of command for additional guidance to ensure we were complying with the COVID-19 guidelines.”

    Pridmore declares her chain of command went above and beyond – just as she did ­ to help out the sailor in need. “I stayed with her until she got transferred to higher care. I continued to talk and visit with her as she was receiving this care so she wouldn’t be alone. With the resources and training my chain of command provided me I knew I could be the friend to help her. I will always stick by her side no matter how hard times get,” stated Pridmore.

    During the ongoing effort to help stop the spread of COVID-19, Pridmore has also found herself providing daily support against the pandemic, from directing traffic to assuring personal protection equipment is worn in order to ensure worker and patient health is maintained.

    “At the clinic, we continue to see patients during this time. I ensure that our employees, active duty and civilian, remain healthy to go to work. Without them the shipyard could not operate properly, so their health is extremely important,” said Pridmore.

    Although Pridmore has only been part of Navy Medicine for approximately one year, her interest in the career field has been long term. During high school, she attended Central Technology Center, a vocational school, for additional nursing and medical education and training.

    “I have been interested in the medical field since as long as I can remember. I have been actively chasing this goal since I was a junior in high school, getting my certified nursing assistant, certified medical assistant, and phlebotomy licenses before I graduated high school. I’d seen other students in my school make the decision to join the Navy. I started researching everything the Navy had to offer. I didn’t have any money for college, and I didn’t want to be in debt so this just made sense to me. I could become a corpsman, and do what I love then eventually get a degree,” related Pridmore, convinced that the Navy was for her.

    “The Navy to me seemed like the best route for medical in comparison to the other branches,” continued Pridmore. “I also see it as a steppingstone to my bigger goals of the future, like becoming a registered nurse. Being in the military was a way for me not to do the traditional thing and go straight to college after high school, but I get the opportunity to travel and learn about life.”

    Pridmore attests her personal story is simple, growing up in a ‘very small town’ in Oklahoma with her mom and sister, proving herself in school and employed by age 16 as a waitress until entering the Navy.

    “I have always put my full effort into everything I do, that’s how I was raised. I’ve been blessed enough to be surrounded by people that love and support me and made me into the person I am today. They taught me good moral values that I always keep in mind,” said Pridmore, adding that Navy Medicine has shown what it takes to be in her chosen field.

    “I have gained leadership skills and learned how to push myself. You can’t get this kind of experience anywhere else,” Pridmore said. “I find it very gratifying that I can make people feel safe in their workplace and the satisfaction of helping others to feel safe in their occupation.”

    When asked to sum up her experience with Navy Medicine in one sentence, Pridmore replied, “Life’s not about how hard of a hit you can give, it’s about how many you can take and keep moving forward.”

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  • ‘The military is much more entrepreneurial than people think’—How 2 Veterans are helping other former service members transition to civilian life

    Vets Helping Vets

     

    Their helping Vets to create a purposeful future

    Career transitions are hard for everyone, but the shift from military to civilian life can be particularly challenging.

    Soldiers coming back from the Vietnam War were too often treated as damaged goods by employers, according to research by Alair MacLean, sociology professor at Washington State University, it remains to be seen how welcoming employers will be to service members returning from the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — especially those in the second half of life.

    I grew up in a Navy family (and then Dad worked in the shipping industry). We moved every two or three years, living in places ranging from Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Guam. Perhaps that’s why I was so taken by the efforts being made by two military Veterans working with their peers to help them transition to a purposeful civilian life.

    Michael Zacchea, 53, director of the University of Connecticut’s Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, and Larry Steward, 78, founder of ReinventU and the Officers Transition Alliance — are doing important work, and I’d like you to hear from them about how, and why, they’re assisting Vets; you’ll see their interviews below.

    Veterans, generally speaking, bring many skills to their future employers, including an ability to work in multigenerational teams. Many Vets are worldly, having been exposed to different cultures and parts of the world during tours of duty. That said, some Veterans with combat experience can’t deal with loud noises; others may find it difficult to be surrounded by too many people in a crowded office.

    For Vets, finding jobs in the U.S. workforce means starting with career-transitions basics such as explaining how their skills translate into job attributes, learning how to network, and figuring out which type of employment could be fulfilling.

    Joyce Cohen, co-founder of the My Future Purpose membership organization and creator of Boots to Backyards, a mentoring program helping Veterans find new purpose, asks Vets: “What are the skills you picked up that you could use in the future?” She adds: “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.”

    Now, let me introduce you to Michael Zacchea and Larry Steward:

    Michael Zacchea: Director of the Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities

    U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Michael Zacchea was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1990. His military career included deployment to Somalia and Haiti. He was sent to Iraq in 2004 to build and lead in combat the first Iraqi army battalion trained by the U.S. military and was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade during the second battle for Fallujah.

    He’s now medically retired and was awarded two Bronze Stars and Purple Heart for his service, as well as Iraq’s Order of the Lion of Babylon.

    Zacchea’s first job after the military was on Wall Street, working on a trading desk at an energy firm. He hated it, especially because soldiers he knew were still being wounded and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, Zacchea began earning his M.B.A. at the University of Connecticut part-time and got his degree in four years.

    A professor at the school encouraged him to research Veteran entrepreneurship programs. He learned there wasn’t one in Connecticut, despite a documented track record of success elsewhere. So, in 2010, Zacchea created a local program targeted at disabled Veterans: the Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans With Disabilities, which mostly helps Vets and family members start businesses.

    “On the face of it you’re starting a business, but what it’s really about is creating a community of Veterans,” he says. “We believe entrepreneurship is a really significant force in the reintegration into civilian society.”

    The first boot camp cohort had 13 graduates. The latest class is online because of the pandemic; it numbers 21 Veterans and one caregiver.

    Most of Zacchea’s classes include caregivers, actually. The spouse of a disabled Veteran often must leave their job to be a caregiver, but starting a home-based business lets them generate an income while caring for the Vet.

    Zacchea’s grads have started nearly 190 businesses, although only about 150 are still operating. Most of the shuttered businesses happened for health reasons.

    About a quarter of the home-based businesses are in architecture, construction and engineering; another quarter are in IT; another quarter involve supply chain management or brokering and the remaining are an eclectic mix ranging from dog businesses to concierge services.

    Why entrepreneurship?

    Many Vets are comfortable with advanced technologies; they’ve been trained to act independently on missions and military leaders learn multiple skills, from supply chain management to project planning.

    “The military is much more entrepreneurial than people think,” says Zacchea. “Especially small-unit leaders in the military, who are essentially running a small business.”

    Another reason: building a business is an inherently optimistic act. You’re creating something that didn’t exist. Zacchea says entrepreneurship is “not just economic integration to create a new identity for Veterans, but it’s also a service program to build something.”

    Larry Steward: Founder of ReinventU

    Steward joined the Navy in 1962 after graduating from high school in Scottsdale, Ariz. In those days, young men either joined the military or waited to be drafted.

    Steward became a medic, attended a Naval medical school and spent time in Okinawa, Japan. Eventually, with the Vietnam War heating up, he found himself in Da Nang.

    Steward was involved in a battalion-size operation when a Marine buttonholed him and said his group needed medical help. He managed to get to the Marines under fire, but then got shot in the back.

    “The immediate sensation was like being hit by a hot ax,” he recalls. “The other thing is I got my ticket home.”

    Steward was awarded several medals for his service, including a Silver Star.

    He then went to college and proceeded to work in the advertising industry. Steward enjoyed it but felt his career didn’t have much purpose. He wanted to find a way to help others with their careers, so he opened a career-consulting shop. “It never got off the ground,” he said.

    Next, Steward worked for a corporate outplacement firm, became a home improvement contractor in Connecticut and New York and eventually decided to his own encore-career advising business focused on working with Veterans looking to help with the greater good.

    That’s what he’s been doing since 2017, through ReinventU, working out of his home in Aiken, S.C. and through the national Encore Network organization.

    “I have a career full of transitions,” Steward says. “That’s why I consider myself a transition expert.”

    The military officers he consults with typically have a long launchpad for their transition to civilian life, perhaps as much as a year or two. His job is helping them figure out their skill set and finding an organization with a culture reflecting their values.

    The four officers in his Officers Transition Alliance group are in their late 40s; one will be 51 when he leaves the military.

    Steward notes that much of preparing for a transition involves cultivating an entrepreneurial mind-set, whether the goal is to start a business or not.

    “The process of getting a job or starting a business is similar,” says Steward. “The process you’re learning is preparation for future transitions.”

    As for himself, Steward has no intention of retiring. “Right now, this is the most exciting period of my entire career, my entire life cycle,” he says.

    After speaking with Steward and Zacchea, I’m more convinced than ever that Veterans finding purpose and a paycheck are essential to the health of the U.S. economy.

    It’s important to remember what we owe military retirees as a society. And thinking about the U.S. economy, it’s critical for us to understand how much better off we’ll be when our Vets have successful transitions to civilian life.

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  • ‘They don’t know us’: With a VA hospital threatened with closure, Veterans warn that community caregivers are not prepared to treat those with military experience

    Do Not Close VAMC

     

    About 15 years ago, a woman working for Steven Connor, the director of Central Hampshire Veterans’ Services, was commuting to the office through downtown Northampton when she ran into trouble.

    The woman had recently returned from a military deployment in Iraq, where she ferried supplies for the Army across the border from Kuwait. There she learned not to drive on the right side of the road — where insurgents would bury improvised explosive devices — but down the middle.

    Coming through Northampton Center, Connor said the woman heard something on the radio, her mind returned to a dusty Iraq road, and by the time she snapped back to Main Street, a police officer was pulling her over for driving over the double yellow line.

    To Connor, the situation illustrated how anyone potentially working with Veterans needed to understand military service and how it can sit with a person years later.

    At a Veterans Affairs hospital, staff members have that training and experience with Veterans, he said. Everyone from the secretary to the physician can recognize the signs of a service member in distress.

    In private health care practices, not so much.

    In a report published March 14, the Department of Veterans Affairs recommended shuttering its century-old hospital in Northampton, one of just three medical centers it slotted for closure across the country.

    The future of the Edward P. Boland VA Medical Center is far from settled. It will need to pass multiple rounds of review by federal officials before its fate is final. But the possibility that it shuts down still has many Veterans concerned.

    More than 24,000 former service members rely on treatment at the medical center. If it were to close, some of the hospital’s services would be redirected to VA facilities in Springfield and Connecticut. For urgent care needs, or for the Veterans who hope to receive their primary and specialty care closer to home, the VA intends for community providers to absorb the additional load of patients.

    But going to a standard doctors’ office — whether it be the local community chiropractor or Main Street optometrist — is not as simple as it sounds for many Veterans.

    “It’s not that they don’t know what they’re doing medically,” said James Oliver, a 65-year-old former military police officer living on the VA’s Northampton campus. “They don’t know us that well.”

    After years of Western and Central Massachusetts Veterans getting treatment at a VA hospital, Connor worries many will be dispersed to community doctors’ offices and urgent care facilities where few of their care providers grasp what service members have been through.

    Not many health care employees are skilled in working with people who have undergone military training or seen war, he said. Most are not prepared to recognize the effects that remain with a person long after leaving those environments.

    “Under stressful situations, [Veterans] are trained to act a certain way, different from everyone else,” Connor said. “If they’re stressed, if their family is stressed in a doctors’ office or in a clinic, to the staff it could look very foreign. But to them, it’s the way they’re trained to cope.”

    ‘I wasn’t the same person’

    When John Paradis, a retired Air Force Lt. Col., returned from overseas, he was elated to see his kids and wife, to sleep in his own bed, to eat a home-cooked meal.

    “I thought I was the same man,” Paradis said. “But there were things I didn’t even notice were happening, things my family observed, and they knew I wasn’t the same person.”

    Paradis would find himself falling into mood swings, he told a group of health care workers last year as he tried to describe the struggles of reentering a community after going to war. Sometimes he would tear up; other times he would get angry at things he may have previously smiled at or never even noticed.

    “When you’re in a deployed environment overseas, you’re extremely vigilant about your surroundings, you’re in that battle mind situational awareness where you’re totally immersed into what’s right in front of you and around you,” Paradis said. “When you come back to your community, and you’re in a so-called ‘benign environment,’ you still have hyper-vigilance tendencies.”

    The effects may be short-term for some Veterans. But many others feel the weight of their service long after they return home.

    One evening, Paradis and his wife took their kids to the Friendly’s restaurant in Florence. In the booth beside them was a kid just being a kid — jumping around, tapping Paradis on the shoulder.

    But Friendly’s was crowded, and in that stressful moment, Paradis was no longer in a family restaurant. He was back on the streets of Kabul or Baghdad or Sarajevo.

    “I had a complete meltdown,” he said. “My kids had never seen me like that before and I really scared them and my wife.”

    The moments can come with little warning.

    He was in crowded, confined Big Y last year when he got that pit in his stomach.

    “It felt like the shelves were crashing in on me and people were too close to me,” he said. “I told my very understanding and amazingly loving spouse I needed to leave. I think my words were, ‘Hey I’m not feeling well.’ And she knew. I didn’t have to say anything more.”

    Understanding how trauma can interrupt daily life can be difficult for nonVeterans, but a 2017 video from the David Lynch Foundation (linked here) tried to illustrate the idea.

    It shows scenes from a Middle East battlefield: a helicopter flying low over the desert, gunshots, mortars, explosions, the hum of a machine gun, the whoosh of a rocket taking off. But then a message comes across the screen — “These images are from the battlefield. The sounds are not. Listen once again.”

    Suddenly, the sounds don’t seem so foreign.

    The helicopter rotors are a ceiling fan. The gunshots are everything from a washing machine clanging around to a basketball hitting a backboard. The rockets are from the Fourth of July.

    “Daily sounds can bring Veterans right back to war,” the video says.

    But few public-facing employees can recognize the signs of a Veteran in an uncomfortable situation, Paradis said, and service members may struggle to connect with a doctor who cannot relate to their background.

    “It took me some time to find someone for myself outside the VA system who I felt comfortable with,” he said.

    ‘It’s not the same as the service up here’

    James Oliver lives on the VA’s Northampton campus in permanent housing built by Soldier On, a nonprofit providing shelter to otherwise homeless Veterans. He still feels the physical results of his military career.

    In a combat training situation in the mid-1970s, he fell into a deep hole and was medevacked out. Between the lower leg damage from that accident and the results of two major car crashes later on, “everything hurts,” he said. “It’s kind of a struggle to get anywhere.”

    From the porch of his unit in the Soldier On housing, Oliver can see the medical facilities where he visits a half-dozen providers. At the VA, he has known some of the doctors for more than a decade, and they know about the complications that weigh on him morning and night — ligament damage, spinal injuries, knee and shoulder surgeries.

    As the VA has in recent years expanded Veterans’ ability to seek medical care locally, Oliver has seen “some great doctors in the community,” he said. “But it’s not the same as the service up here.”

    Oliver trusts the VA doctors to understand military service and military training, to know how it changes a person’s way of looking at the world. He has not seen that level of experience with service members in the community.

    “You never know what you’re going to get when you’re out there,” Oliver said.

    William LeBeau first began his care at the VA in 2010. It was 15 years past his last service in the Army Reserve and nearly 20 years after he returned from overseas deployment. For years since, he suffered chronic migraines.

    “On the civilian side, they would treat the migraine but they were never really worried about the cause of the migraine,” LeBeau, the state adjutant of the Massachusetts Veterans of Foreign War, said.

    The VA determined his migraines likely were caused by chemicals he encountered during military service.

    “They changed my treatment, rediagnosed me, gave me proper treatment for my condition,” he said. “I felt the VA was just more aware of many Veterans having similar complaints. Your regular doctor may not see another Veteran beside you. The VA would.”

    LeBeau was 26 when he left home for the First Gulf War. He had never had asthma — in fact, he could have been disqualified from military service for the condition. Coming home, his breathing was not the same.

    “I’ve had civilian doctors tell me I didn’t even have asthma. It turns out many of us who were serving in the Middle East now have asthma who didn’t grow up with it,” he said. “The VA has been doing this for a long time. When you go to a community provider you can get a different perspective and care, and it can be frustrating to many Veterans out there explaining things the VA would know.”

    A future yet to be determined

    The VA hospital’s closure is far from certain.

    Recommendations to shutter the facility emerged in a report by VA Secretary Denis McDonough, the result of a nationwide assessment to “modernize or realign facilities” in the coming years to meet future needs. The study was mandated by the VA MISSION Act of 2018, which passed the House of Representatives and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan majorities before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.

    An independent commission will now review the report and make its recommendations for the Northampton hospital and other VA facilities to President Joe Biden early next year. Federal officials, including Massachusetts Congressmen Richard Neal and James McGovern, have pledged to fight to keep the hospital in Northampton.

    With the hospital’s ultimate fate yet undecided, LeBeau said his organization was “not necessarily for or against any changes at this point.”

    “We need to study it more,” he said. “We’re aware of the proposed changes. Our national office is aware. Our whole goal is to make sure that Veterans can receive the best care they can possibly get and have access to the care.”

    “Whether these changes are the right way to go, we’re watching and will try to have some input on that,” he continued. “This is the preliminary report and no decisions have been made.”

    Complicating the report, a subsequent finding by the U.S. Government Accountability Office suggested local providers may not be equipped to handle a sudden influx of patients from VA hospitals.

    From 2014 to 2020, the number of Veterans receiving medical care in their local communities increased 64%, from 1.1 million to roughly 1.8 million patients, the GAO said.

    In examining whether community care providers could treat more Veteran patients, the congressional watchdog said it found gaps in the VA’s data collection during its nationwide review of facilities.

    The GAO said federal officials used data that did not reflect the increased number of Veterans eligible as of 2019 to access local care outside the VA. The result, according to the GAO’s assessment, was that the VA lacked “a full understanding” of community care providers’ ability to supplement VA care.

    The VA told MassLive that its study of health care facilities across the country, which began in December of 2018, included interviews with more than 1,800 experts. But the VA plans to establish a team to further review its market assessment and to delve into how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the data.

    Sarah Robinson, a spokeswoman for the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System, said that any recommendations about the future of the hospital “are just that — recommendations.”

    “Nothing is changing now for Veteran access to care or VA employees. Any potential changes to VA’s health care infrastructure may be several years away and are dependent on Commission, Presidential, and Congressional decisions, as well as robust stakeholder engagement and planning,” she said.

    Barely two miles from the VA facilities is Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which would likely absorb more Veteran patients if the VA closed.

    Cooley Dickinson spokesperson Christina Trinchero said that the hospital’s leadership would be closely watching the decision and thinking about how to best serve and establish trust with Veterans and military families.

    “Working with any specific population with unique needs requires understanding those needs and putting in place systems and training to best serve those patients,” she said. If the VA closure were approved, she said Cooley Dickinson would be proactive in training staff to understand Veterans and their families.

    Just Ask

    Have you or any member of your family ever been in the military?

    That is the question the Western Massachusetts Veterans Outreach Project wants health care providers to ask anytime they meet a new patient. They say the answer may dramatically change how a doctor interacts with and treats a patient.

    Connor, the director of Hampshire County Veterans Services, is also a leading member of the Western Massachusetts Veterans Outreach Project, an organization he said has recognized that many public-facing employees — not solely those in health care facilities — do not know how to work with former members of the armed forces.

    The WMVOP — whose ranks include social workers, rehabilitation specialists, and many Veterans themselves — has worked for more than a decade to change that. The group has trained probation officers, first responders, and hospital employees on how to interact with and assist someone who may carry the burdens of military service. It has also launched the Just Ask Campaign to prompt health care providers to ask their new patients whether they had military service, so they can approach treatment accordingly.

    “You’ve got about two minutes as the provider to gain [a Veteran’s] trust,” said Larry Cervelli, the lead member of the WMVOP.

    “If you don’t get it in two minutes, you’ll never see them in a follow-up visit,” he warned.

    In a series of trainings in recent years, the WMVOP has discussed with Baystate Health and Cooley Dickinson employees topics including the impact of military culture on mental health and the challenges military families face.

    “The VA closure, if it happens, is going to be another shockwave through the Veterans community,” Cervelli said. “We’re trying to get the civilian health care community more efficient and more capable of caring for Veterans.”

    Cooley Dickinson Nurse Practitioner Casey Fowler, a Navy Veteran, is also a WMVOP member. She said that “asking the question” can open the door to providing better, more informed care of Veteran patients. As the hospital’s Veteran liaison, she is working to make the Just Ask practice a standard.

    “You need to be aware and sensitive to them as a Veteran as well as a patient,” Fowler said. “You listen to all they have been through and need to be aware of their families [and] support system as well. Families often get left out. They are important too.”

    As a major in the Army Reserve, state Sen. John Velis, is aware that many Veterans can be hesitant to bring up their military experience. But with a VA doctor, Veterans may bring up concerns they wouldn’t share with another physician, the Westfield Democrat and chair of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs said.

    “Providers who specialize in Veteran care do that for a reason,” he said. “It’s a calling. They know the population and speak the language and it’s absolutely critical that we maintain that.”

    For some Veterans who now work in health care, the need for more trained civilian caregivers is clear.

    Cindy Foster — a Williamsburg resident, paramedic and Army Veteran — was transporting a Veteran at risk of suicide to Baystate Medical Center three years ago when she realized the changes needed to sufficiently treat other Veterans.

    In the hospital, she held the Veteran in her arms, trying to calm him down, Paradis recounted in a 2019 column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Of the police officer at the door, the Baystate nurse, the attending physician — no one could help.

    “Why?” Paradis asked. “Because they weren’t trained in how to relate with Veterans and how to listen — really listen.”

    Without knowing military culture and Veteran background, well-meaning caregivers can do more harm than good. Yelling at a Veteran or using physical constraints, for example, can push a Veteran to their limit, Foster said.

    She told Paradis: “This is a kind of post-traumatic stress that no one understands until you’ve had it yourself and been there or have had the training or experience in working with Veterans.”

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  • ‘This is not a hoax’: Local Covenant health experts debunk COVID-19 misconceptions

    Lubock VA

     

    Wearing a mask important for those with lung related illnesses

    LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Covenant health experts wanted to clear up COVID-19 related misconceptions based on research and their experience with Lubbock coronavirus patients they have treated.

    The top three misconceptions: masks are ineffective, masks are harmful to those with lung related illnesses and hospitals are profiting from COVID-19. All of these statements are completely false, according to local health experts.

    During a press conference, Dr. Craig Rhyne displayed an experiment that shows how effective a mask is at eliminating the spread of bacteria. Three petri dishes were displayed, each was sang on, talked on and laughed on with and without a mask. The differences are shocking. Very little bacteria was passed onto a petri dish near a person with a mask.

    A similar experiment was displayed with petri dishes that were coughed on from two feet, four feet and six feet. The six foot away petri dish had the least amount of bacteria growth.

    This science experiment proves that masks can not only prevent someone from getting the virus, but also slow the spread on surfaces.Another misconception is that those with lung related illnesses like asthma, could face difficult consequences while wearing a mask.

    Dr. Brian Williams, Covenant Pulmonologist, said if you have a lung related illnesses, there is no serious side effect that would prevent you from wearing a mask. Not wearing a mask and exposing yourself to the virus is much worse for your condition.

    ”There is no underlying medical condition that would give you a free pass to go out in public without a mask,” Williams said.

    The most alarming rumor hospitals face is that hospitals profit from the coronavirus pandemic. Covenant CEO Walt Cathey said it’s actually the opposite. Hospitals are losing money due to the coronavirus.

    This for two reasons.

    Hospitals are allotted the same amount of money for each person from the government. They spend money testing people and trying to find out why that person is sick and then how to treat that sick person.

    Since the coronavirus is a new disease and there isn’t enough information available on how to treat it, hospitals are using lots of different resources and sometimes expensive resources like EC-MO to treat that person. The cost of these resources often exceed the allotted money from the government.

    Kathey admits that the government is helping fund hospitals, but its not enough to make a profit.

    The second way hospitals are losing money is because people are delaying early treatment. Illnesses that can be treated sooner are often delayed because people are scared to go to the hospital.

    More people are going to the hospital with accelerated levels of preventable sickness and this costs hospitals more money.

    Kathey said the best way for hospitals to make money, is for the community to be healthy and get early treatment.

    ”My advice is go to your regular physician, get checked on sooner,” Kathey said.

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  • ‘Veterans here are tired of being guinea pigs’: New health record system still causing problems at Spokane VA hospital after a year

    Guinea Pigs

     

    Mike Tonkyn had to go to Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center three times to get his blood drawn.

    Charlie Bourg’s cancer diagnosis was delayed several months, and now he needs surgery.

    Heather Hill saw several of her patients suffer withdrawals after going weeks without medications to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Others went months without insulin, accidentally got a double-dose of remdesivir to treat COVID-19 or went through withdrawals after going without anti-seizure medication.

    More than a year after the Department of Veterans Affairs began testing a new electronic health record system at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, Veterans who rely on the Spokane hospital and the health care workers who count on the software to do their jobs say flaws in the system continue to threaten patients’ safety, even as VA last week announced plans to roll it out in Walla Walla and other cities early next year.

    Some Mann-Grandstaff employees believe it’s only a matter of time before a death or serious harm occurs as a result of problems with the system, which they use to coordinate care and track patients’ medical histories, test results, medications and other information.

    “This is dangerous, and they’re going to inflict it on my fellow Veterans if we just sit back and we’re silent,” Monica McLaughlin, a Navy Veteran and nurse at Mann-Grandstaff, told The Spokesman-Review.

    When VA announced in June 2017 it would award a $10 billion contract to Cerner Corp. to replace its existing electronic health record system, then-President Donald Trump promised it would mean “faster, better and far better quality care” for the 9 million Veterans VA serves and called the move “one of the biggest wins for our Veterans in decades.”

    Instead, more than a year after the department started piloting the system at Mann-Grandstaff and its outpatient clinics in Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint, Wenatchee and Libby, Montana, Veterans and VA employees say it continues to cause safety risks and delays in care for 28,000 Veterans and has left their roughly 1,700 employees exhausted and demoralized.

    Despite deciding earlier this year the system was not ready to safely deploy at other VA facilities, which still use an older system, the department has continued to use the Inland Northwest as a testing ground to help other clinics and hospitals avoid the problems that have made about two-thirds of Mann-Grandstaff employees consider quitting, according to a recent internal survey.

    VA Secretary Denis McDonough has said he remains committed to the program, which aims to improve coordination between VA and Defense Department medical facilities by adopting a similar system in both agencies. The program, far behind schedule, is now projected to cost at least $21 billion.

    Meanwhile, two former senior VA officials who oversaw medical records say the project was misguided from the start and unlikely to improve on the system it was meant to replace.

    In more than 40 interviews with The Spokesman-Review, Veterans and current and former VA employees described a system that slows treatment and threatens patient safety more than a year after a transition VA officials described as “flawless.” While some declined to speak on the record, fearing retribution, others chose to come forward after months of warnings they said fell on deaf ears within VA, and because they believe the system’s flaws endanger Veterans.

    The problems described in those interviews have been corroborated by congressional oversight hearings, reports from government watchdog agencies and a “strategic review” VA conducted earlier this year.

    “It’s got to be fixed,” said Bob Bossi, a 75-year-old Army Veteran in Coeur d’Alene. “Veterans here are tired of being guinea pigs. Either give us back the old system or fix this one.”

    Like other Veterans who spoke with The Spokesman-Review, Bossi has struggled to access and use a new online portal to contact his doctors, schedule appointments and reorder prescriptions. In interviews, Veterans almost universally praised the efforts of Mann-Grandstaff employees, who collectively worked 61,000 hours of overtime in fiscal year 2020.

    In written responses to questions from The Spokesman-Review, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes emphasized that VA prioritizes patient safety and is working with Cerner “to address the numerous issues identified by the staff and leadership” at Mann-Grandstaff.

    “We have listened to our team at Mann-Grandstaff and will continue to provide support and resolutions for Mann-Grandstaff while applying their lessons learned to future site deployments,” said Hayes, declining to give a specific timeline for resolving the issues.

    A spokesman for Cerner declined to answer detailed questions on the record, deferring to VA. But in a written statement, Brian Sandager, general manager and senior vice president of Cerner’s government services division, said the company “remains dedicated to VA and takes our responsibility to Veterans and providers seriously.”

    “We continue to engage on-site at Mann-Grandstaff, working alongside providers and staff to gather lessons learned and implement changes as directed by VA,” Sandager said. “It’s important to get this right and we are committed to the mission.”

    McDonough, who took the helm at VA in February, said Nov. 9 the department is “listening very closely to our personnel in Spokane” and thanked employees at Mann-Grandstaff for their “forbearance” and “dedication to testing out this new capability,” assuring them “the lessons that you’re providing us will be implemented before we deploy to any further sites.”

    After initially planning to roll out the Cerner system at its much larger network of facilities in Western Washington shortly after Mann-Grandstaff, VA says it will deploy the system only when each facility has completed training in a simulated “sandbox” environment that doesn’t involve real patients.

    Although the two former VA officials say Mann-Grandstaff could go back to the system other facilities still use — known as VistA — within a matter of days, Hayes confirmed Thursday that “VA does not plan for Mann-Grandstaff to revert back to VistA while the issues are being resolved.”

    According to a schedule VA released Wednesday, which the department said is subject to change, the system is slated for deployment in March 2022 at facilities in Walla Walla and Columbus, Ohio, followed by others throughout Western Washington and in Idaho, Oregon, Alaska, Ohio and Michigan.

    ‘The Cerner system works’

    On the morning of Nov. 2, VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy, who was confirmed by the Senate in July to lead the health record program, told a House subcommittee charged with overseeing the effort that the department was on track and “learning from the implementation mistakes of the past.”

    “The Cerner system works,” Remy said, “and I believe we’ve properly positioned it for success.”

    An hour later in Spokane, the Cerner system went down.

    Hayes confirmed that the outage, which lasted 80 minutes, followed 10 days in September and October where “parts of the Cerner system were inaccessible.”

    In addition to four “full outages tied to the Cerner system” since it was implemented at Mann-Grandstaff on Oct. 24, 2020, Hayes said there have been “several downtime episodes where access to the Cerner system or part of the Cerner system was impacted,” either by a Cerner outage or a connectivity problem related to systems at VA or the Defense Department, which started transitioning its health care system to a similar Cerner platform in 2017.

    When the system goes down, work grinds to a halt across the medical center and its clinics.

    Gary Bilendy, a Marine Corps and Army Veteran who has worked as a nurse for nearly 20 years and the past five at Mann-Grandstaff, said because staff members don’t know if the system will take minutes or hours to get restored, they have to write notes and enter information into a patient’s chart by hand, then enter it into the Cerner system or scan it in when it comes back online. That process takes extra time as the workers take special care to enter patients’ information correctly.

    “I am a Veteran, and I like taking care of Veterans,” Bilendy said. “And I feel like we’re the last line of defense. If they get good health care, it’s the people doing it, not the VA.”

    Mike Tonkyn counts himself lucky to be “pretty darn healthy,” but the 71-year-old Spokane resident goes to Mann-Grandstaff for a yearly checkup, aware that he is at risk of diabetes, cancer and other health problems because he was exposed to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange during his time in the Marines.

    In September, Tonkyn headed to the lab at Mann-Grandstaff after his doctor ordered some blood work, but when he sat down and rolled up his sleeve, the phlebotomist told him they couldn’t do a blood draw because the order was missing, apparently lost in the new health record system.

    When he returned several days later to try again, the waiting area was packed. After a while, an employee came out and explained that the Cerner system had gone down and anyone who wasn’t there for an urgent blood draw would have to come back another day.

    “They were just as frustrated as us,” said Tonkyn, who finally got his blood drawn on his third trip to the lab. “Of course, there were some noncognizant people in the waiting room yelling at them. I could see why their morale would go down.”

    VA’s Office of Inspector General, an independent watchdog agency within the department, warned in an April 2020 report that “critical physical and information technology infrastructure upgrades had not been completed at Mann-Grandstaff” and its associated clinics.

    Current and former VA employees say the outages are just one example of a system that was brought to the Inland Northwest without being proven safe and before VA facilities had even the basic IT infrastructure — like computers and reliable high-speed internet connections — they needed to use it.

    Despite VA twice delaying the rollout in Spokane — originally scheduled for March 2020, just as COVID-19 arrived in Spokane County — Carolyn Clancy, who served as VA’s acting deputy secretary until Remy’s confirmation, acknowledged to lawmakers in July that Mann-Grandstaff “probably was not ready to go live.”

    While D.C. officials debated and delayed the Cerner rollout, staff at Mann-Grandstaff were treating Veterans sick with COVID-19 from the Spokane Veterans Home, which in April 2020 was in the midst of a large outbreak that claimed 10 lives and sent many residents to the medical center for hospitalization. The virus would find its way back to the care home just a few months later.

    Oversight agencies, lawmakers and VA employees raised numerous red flags in the months ahead of the Oct. 24, 2020, “go-live” date at Mann-Grandstaff, but the department forged ahead even as the staff faced the additional strain of providing care during a pandemic.

    “Despite the uncertainties of COVID-19, we have endeavored to move forward with no stoppage in work, no pause, no delay, and without safety issues to VA facilities and trainers,” John Windom, executive director of VA’s Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization, told lawmakers Sept. 30, 2020, three weeks before the Cerner launch at Mann-Grandstaff.

    In that same congressional hearing, Travis Dalton, then president of Cerner’s government services division, said the company was “pleased with our accomplishments to date” and would “continue our march forward to the deployment of the electronic health record solution next month at Mann-Grandstaff.”

    “Many lessons have been learned and incorporated,” Dalton told lawmakers. “We are ready.”

    In a July hearing, Clancy suggested Windom’s office, which led the Cerner rollout until a reorganization VA announced Wednesday, had expected a rocky transition and figured problems were inevitable.

    “I think they believed that it was important not to keep delaying the initial deployment, that we would learn a great deal, and they didn’t expect it to go well,” she said. “I would have to surmise that they believed that we should get on with it and learn more, because this is how we actually deploy systems like this on the ground.”

    Ed Meagher, who served as VA’s deputy chief information officer and chief technology officer between 2001 and 2006, said the department could have foreseen the problems by building a model based on what it knew about VA and Cerner’s IT infrastructure and the expected workload.

    “From a technology point of view, it’s absolutely malpractice that you haven’t modeled this,” Meagher said in an interview. “If you don’t have that, you’re working off of Cerner marketing material, and you’re putting the future of the VA at stake.”

    ‘They are so lucky no one died’

    For Veterans enrolled at Mann-Grandstaff, the most immediate change with the advent of the Cerner system was a new online portal to schedule appointments, order prescription refills and send secure messages to their doctors.

    To inform Veterans of the change, VA hosted virtual “town hall” meetings on three consecutive Wednesdays in October 2020. Joe Harmer, a 76-year-old Army Veteran who lives in Greenacres, was on all three calls and said VA and Cerner representatives spent more time extolling the virtues of the new system than explaining how to use it.

    “You couldn’t believe how much they glad-handed each other,” Harmer said. “I mean, ‘This is the greatest program, and I want to introduce so-and-so, they’re with that company and, wow, this is gonna be dynamite.’ And they’d come on and just romance the hell out of it.”

    Harmer relies on several prescriptions to treat post-traumatic stress disorder related to his time in Vietnam and peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition linked to Agent Orange exposure he describes as feeling like walking barefoot on broken glass. When he struggled to log into the new portal to reorder his medications, he drove to Mann-Grandstaff with his computer and asked for help, but even the VA employee there couldn’t figure out how to log in.

    Sarah Simonson, 41, served in the Air Force and works as the sole Veterans service officer in mostly rural Douglas County in central Washington, where the more limited services of the Wenatchee clinic make the online portal a vital tool for Veterans to access care.

    While it’s not part of her official scope of work, Simonson said she’s frequently had to help Veterans log into the portal over the past year, as VA — like other health care providers — has scaled back in-person treatment and encouraged patients to use online services.

    “That transition has been extremely difficult, and I don’t consider myself technologically inept,” she said. “It was difficult enough for me.”

    In interviews, more than a dozen Veterans described struggling to navigate a confusing series of login screens. Those who successfully logged in experienced repeated freezing and a messaging system that worked only intermittently.

    One of the most common problems after the Cerner transition was that medical records and prescriptions failed to transfer to the new system, forcing employees to enter that information manually. Many Veterans count on VA to send their prescription refills by mail, and in some cases incorrect information resulted in medication being mailed to the wrong addresses.

    Elizabeth Parker waited as long as she could to log into the new patient portal, knowing it might have some kinks. When she finally logged in for the first time, the 63-year-old Army Veteran realized none of her prescriptions had transferred to the new system.

    Running low on important medications, she frantically called her doctor, the pharmacy at Mann-Grandstaff and finally the office of U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Spokane Republican. It took a week before a VA doctor manually entered her prescriptions into the system.

    In a hearing Nov. 2, McMorris Rodgers said her office had by then received 138 complaints from Veterans directly related to the Cerner system.

    The prospect of not having her medications was immensely stressful for Parker, who has post-traumatic stress disorder and diabetes and is a breast cancer survivor. It took a week of crying and advocating for herself on countless phone calls to get her medications. The fighting took a toll, she said, and left her contemplating suicide.

    Earlier this fall, Parker had to go through the same process again to get supplies to treat her diabetes, which were also not listed in her patient portal.

    “When I am trying to stick up for myself, I am pretty feisty,” Parker said. “But what about the people that can’t do that, who are really sick and old?”

    Heather Hill, a psychotherapist in Wenatchee, said many of her patients went for months without important psychiatric drugs and other medications after the Cerner transition.

    “At the very beginning, all of them got screwed,” Hill said. “Things that were preserving people’s lives now were just falling through the cracks.”

    Hill, who owns Central Washington Veterans Counseling and works with VA patients through a program that lets Veterans see private providers, said the scariest case was a Veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, nerve damage and a traumatic brain injury from being hit by an improvised explosive device.

    Hill said that Veteran, a Bronze Star recipient, called her two months after he stopped receiving his prescriptions from VA, suffering severe withdrawals from multiple psychiatric and nerve pain medications and confused about how to get refills through the new system.

    “My fear was that somebody was going to die.” Hill said. “They are so lucky no one died.”

    In response to a question from The Spokesman-Review in February, Laura Kroupa, then chief medical officer for VA’s Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization, said approximately 24,000 Veterans received medications through the Spokane VA when the Cerner system launched in October 2020. As of Feb. 9, more than three months later, Kroupa said Mann-Grandstaff reported providing pharmacy services to roughly two-thirds of those Veterans.

    When Veterans had trouble ordering prescriptions or messaging their providers through the online portal, they often turned to calling VA, but the influx of calls left the phone lines overwhelmed. Out of options, many wound up going to Mann-Grandstaff or its clinics for help.

    Jerry Ring, a 77-year-old Army Veteran who lives in Spokane, gave up on the new patient portal after seeking help from a patient advocate at Mann-Grandstaff and has taken to walking into the pharmacy with a bag full of pill bottles when he needs refills.

    Dick Edwards, an 88-year-old “atomic Veteran” with cancer linked to radiation exposure from his Army service during nuclear bomb tests in the Marshall Islands, was used to sending his doctor secure messages through the old patient portal. After making several calls that were routed to other VA facilities, apparently because phone lines in Spokane were overwhelmed, he gave up on the new web portal and now drives from his South Hill home whenever he needs help.

    “It’s just utter chaos,” Edwards said. “They really fouled things up when they changed that. It’s not good at all.”

    ‘I feel so sorry for the employees’

    This summer, a patient in the Mann-Grandstaff urgent care went into a fatal heart rhythm, and the team jumped into action to save their life.

    McLaughlin, a nurse there, was caring for additional patients, providing backup and looking on while the team worked to save the Veteran’s life.

    The prepared medication was ready to go, rolled out on a cart. The team had practiced for these moments.

    The physician set up the medication drip and tried to scan it into the patient’s health record. It wouldn’t scan. More staff came down to help. In the meantime, the experienced team began administering the medication they knew would save the patient’s life, all while trying to make sure the proper dose got recorded in the patient’s record.

    The Cerner system has created an added stress when it comes to transferring patients out of the hospital. Mann-Grandstaff does not have a 24-hour emergency department, and some patients have to be transferred to other local hospitals for care if it exceeds the service capacity at VA.

    When the patients are transferred, it’s vital that their records are accurate, so they don’t receive a double-dose of certain medications when they arrive at the new hospital, McLaughlin said.

    This has meant, at times, that VA staffers have had to write the dose information, manually enter it into a patient’s record after the fact and send details via fax after the patient has left in the ambulance. It also has meant a stressful phone call to an already busy nurse at the transfer hospital to communicate what the Cerner system will not.

    “Time is of the essence with these meds, with the right dosage and time,” McLaughlin said. “Something as simple as an antibiotic, if they get a double dose, they could have consequences.”

    The urgent care clinic at Mann-Grandstaff has become a repository for patients who can’t reach their primary care doctor, especially when they can’t get refills for important prescriptions for things like insulin, antidepressants and medicine to treat heart conditions or prevent seizures. And while patients coming to urgent care for medication refills is something that happened pre-Cerner, the new system has exacerbated the issue, McLaughlin said.

    Pharmacy staff sometimes send Veterans home with a short-term supply of their medications while they sort out errors in the Cerner system. When that doesn’t happen in time, hospital employees often must deal with the results, caring for patients suffering withdrawals or other effects of missing medications.

    Staff who spoke to The Spokesman-Review said that the full impact of the new electronic health record system is likely not fully known due to the rural nature of the Inland Northwest VA region. Many Veterans who use the Spokane VA live counties away.

    “We don’t know the effect this has had on Veterans in rural areas with limited means of communication and limited means of travel,” McLaughlin said.

    McLaughlin recalled one Veteran who hadn’t received their regular insulin supplies for half a year, who arrived in urgent care looking for treatment. When this happens, staff file patient safety reports.

    In an email sent to staff Oct. 8, Mann-Grandstaff Director Robert Fischer said employees had filed 576 patient safety reports related to the Cerner system in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Some of those reports are likely duplicates warning about the same issue, but despite repeated requests from Congress, VA has yet to release the details of those reports.

    In that same email, Fischer emphasized to staff that patient safety is a top priority and “care delivery moves at the speed of safety at Mann-Grandstaff.”

    As a result of that cautious pace, doctors and nurses have seen fewer patients. In a hearing just before the Cerner launch, Fischer told lawmakers Mann-Grandstaff had “an initial marching order that will put us at 25% of productivity at least for the first week.”

    A July report by VA’s Office of Inspector General said while the department had failed to provide reliable data to show just how sharply productivity had fallen, Mann-Grandstaff leaders estimated providers were seeing half as many patients as they did before the facility made the switch to the Cerner system. An analysis of available data in the report noted that although some of the drop-off was due to the pandemic, the new system had caused a “significant decrease” in productivity.

    VA spokesman Hayes declined to provide details on how productivity has changed since the Cerner launch, citing “intrinsic differences between the two platforms and how appointments and encounters are counted,” but said trends show an “increase in provider appointments and capacity compared to the first three months following initial implementation.”

    While Fischer told lawmakers in September 2020 that Mann-Grandstaff had hired more than 100 additional staff to offset that lost productivity, Veterans described having to wait longer than usual for appointments.

    The failure of VA facilities to accurately report wait times was the subject of a national scandal in 2014, yet Mann-Grandstaff has been removed from the VA wait time website since the Cerner launch.

    When The Spokesman-Review asked why that information was not publicly available, Hayes said the facility was “exempted” from reporting wait times as a result of the transition to the Cerner system. He added the Veterans Health Administration is “exploring the different functionality” of the Cerner system to determine how to measure wait times.

    A survey of 833 Mann-Grandstaff employees, whose results were shared internally in October and obtained by The Spokesman-Review, shows the Cerner system has had a devastating effect on employee morale: 83% of staff said their morale had worsened as a result of the Cerner system, 81% said it had increased burnout and nearly two-thirds said it had made them consider quitting.

    Jason Ernsting, a Navy Veteran who lives in Nine Mile Falls, sees that impact each time he goes to Mann-Grandstaff.

    Ernsting, 53, relies on VA to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and debilitating pain from a back injury from his time in the Navy. After living in several parts of the country, he raved about the care he’s received in Spokane and called Mann-Grandstaff “the best VA out of all of them.”

    “I feel so sorry for the employees,” Ernsting said. “I don’t see them smiling anymore. They’re beaten up, because they spend too much time having to reboot their system, wait for that to get up, or something that used to take two to three clicks now takes four times more.”

    When care is delayed

    Along with Cerner’s electronic health record system, Mann-Grandstaff also adopted a new scheduling system developed by Cerner, which was piloted at a facility in Columbus, Ohio, before the rollout in Spokane.

    “We should all be proud of the (Cerner scheduling system) deployment,” Windom told lawmakers in September 2020, adding it “makes the scheduling experience and appointment management seamless for our Veterans, increases scheduler productivity and tracks provider utilization to ensure efficient use of VA resources.”

    The reality was just the opposite, according to a November report from VA’s Office of Inspector General that found the department “knew of but did not fully resolve significant limitations before and after implementing the system at the Columbus and Spokane facilities, leading to reduced effectiveness and increased risk of patient care delays.”

    Charlie Bourg knows he’s been a thorn in the side of Mann-Grandstaff administrators since he and other Veterans staged a protest outside the building in 2017 to demand more transparency from the administration and better care, but the 67-year-old Army Veteran from Chewelah, Washington, has nothing but good things to say about the VA health care workers he has counted on for more than a decade.

    During a routine checkup in December 2020, Bourg’s primary care doctor at Mann-Grandstaff put in a referral for him to see a urologist in the same building after noticing the results of a blood test for prostate health.

    It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and in the past the specialist’s office had reached out to Bourg to schedule an appointment. But that never happened, and when he saw his doctor for a different issue nine months later, she realized the referral had never reached the urology clinic.

    Within a week, Bourg finally saw the urologist. Soon after, a biopsy found that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He’s scheduled for surgery in January and hopes an upcoming test will find the cancer hasn’t spread, but he’s preparing for the prospect of radiation.

    After seeing the biopsy results, Bourg said, his doctor told him the cancer likely could have been caught months earlier had the test been done when she first ordered the referral.

    The Spokesman-Review could not confirm the cause of the lost referral, but in a July report VA’s Office of Inspector General quoted an official in the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization saying that the version of the Cerner system employees were trained on was missing the “referral management” component, an issue the official admitted was “the biggest gap” in the training program.

    “We’ve seen Cerner do so much damage to Veterans where they’re not getting the care they need,” Bourg said, before quickly pivoting to the impact on health care workers. “They’re understaffed, they’re being run ragged and they don’t have any faith in the system anymore.”

    Current and former Mann-Grandstaff employees reported a growing number of their colleagues quitting or reducing their hours in response to burnout and concerns about the Cerner system.

    Hayes confirmed there has been “a recent trend of increasing staff departures from Mann-Grandstaff VAMC for a number of possible reasons, including but not limited to retirements, transfers to other VA facilities and resignations,” noting that burnout and resignations due to the pandemic are a problem throughout the U.S. health care sector.

    In his Oct. 8 email, Fischer thanked his employees for helping to make the electronic health system “safer and more efficient” for all VA patients, but acknowledged that the Cerner transition has been difficult, testing “our collective resilience.”

    ‘We are the beta test’

    According to VA officials, Congress and federal watchdog agencies, a major cause of all these problems has been inadequate training for VA staff and a lack of outreach to Veterans to explain the perks of the Cerner system.

    In a survey conducted by the Office of Inspector General after staff had used the new system for two or three months, just 5% of employees said they were able to use all four core functions of the system: finding relevant patient information, sharing that information, navigating the system’s different applications and documenting patient care.

    The July report also noted VA officials had altered the results of a Cerner proficiency test to show 89% of employees had passed in their first three attempts. In reality, only half that amount — 44% — had passed in three tries or fewer.

    In his Oct. 8 email to staff, Fischer said Mann-Grandstaff employees had attended 44,238 staff hours of training on the new system, or an average of about 26 hours for each of the roughly 1,700 employees.

    But some employees at Mann-Grandstaff and a doctor who was involved in testing the Cerner system starting in 2017 say the real problem is the system they are being trained to use was never designed to meet VA’s needs.

    In a lecture to the Association of VA Anesthesiologists in October, Art Wallace, the chief of anesthesiology at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, said the problems with the Cerner system start with the contract. The Spokesman-Review obtained slides and the text of Wallace’s lecture after they were shared among current and former VA employees.

    In his presentation, Wallace explained that while most commercial electronic health record systems are essentially accounting software “with a text editor tacked on,” VistA — the system replaced by Cerner in Spokane — was written by clinicians with the goal of providing the best care possible, “with some accounting tacked on.”

    “Cerner is providing an accounting system,” Wallace said. “The VA is trying to buy an electronic health care record system to provide clinical care. If the two parties have fundamentally different ideas of the purpose of a system, the customer will not get what they want.”

    Cerner’s system is used in some 27,000 facilities around the world, but like other commercial health record systems, it is designed to bill insurance companies to pay for patients’ care.

    Meanwhile, VA is essentially a single-payer health system akin to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.

    That difference, Meagher said, is at the crux of the problems Mann-Grandstaff employees are having with the Cerner system, which requires far more steps for each process than VistA does.

    “What Cerner does best is capture billable events via exhaustive questions and back-and-forth as you input things,” said Meagher, the former VA deputy chief information officer. “That’s what ties them up. They’re answering questions that are meaningless to them. They’re very meaningful to a commercial organization, because that’s how they get paid, but they’re meaningless to the VA.”

    Wallace said in the lecture he was one of some 500 VA employees who made 10 weeklong trips to Cerner headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri, starting in 2018 to provide feedback on the system. Over the course of those sessions, Wallace said, he and other doctors made requests to improve the system that were repeatedly denied.

    “When we examined forms and asked Cerner how long they took to fill out, on one form there were thousands of questions and Cerner estimated it would take 90 minutes,” Wallace said in the lecture. “We indicated the nurse had under five minutes to examine the patient, educate them, and fill out the form. Cerner indicated we should hire more staff.

    “Rather than make the software compatible with people,” he said, “Cerner expects the VA to make the people compatible with their software.”

    Other requests that were denied, according to Wallace’s lecture, included adding a field to specify a patient’s diagnosis when booking a surgical procedure — “essential in planning a case” — using consistent terms throughout the system and removing a “birth weight” field to make room for more relevant information.

    Wallace told his colleagues he was concerned enough about the new system’s effect on anesthesiology, in which “loss of situational awareness from computer problems is dangerous,” that he pushed to visit Mann-Grandstaff and was eventually allowed to test the system for two days in Spokane.

    “Testing at the Spokane VA identified more than 80 problems that made the system unusable and unsafe for clinical care,” he said, citing the example that 80% of common anesthesia medications were missing from the system. “None of the configuration changes we had agreed on were made.”

    The Cerner system that launched at Mann-Grandstaff in October 2020 was what VA officials called “capability set 1.1,” an unfinished version of the software that did not include functions needed in larger hospitals. Months after go-live, VA officials said the parts of the system deployed in Spokane were working well.

    “In the areas of the hospital that are very similar to the commercial system — for example, urgent care and inpatient care — it’s going very smoothly,” Kroupa told lawmakers in April.

    But McLaughlin and Bilendy told The Spokesman-Review the system still crashes and glitches regularly, still won’t allow providers to scan some medications and takes much longer to use than VistA.

    Kroupa retired in September and declined to comment for this story.

    Current and former employees described training exercises that couldn’t be completed in the months leading up to October 2020 because the system wasn’t fully functional, while they were assured things would be ready by the go-live date.

    Wallace said in his lecture VA and Cerner management did not allow testing of the software used at launch in Spokane, “violating multiple best practices in clinical informatics.” While he and other doctors in the rest of the nation’s VA facilities are still using VistA, Mann-Grandstaff employees continue to fight the erratic new system, coming up with workarounds and sharing them with each other.

    “We are the beta test,” Bilendy said. “That’s what we’re doing now, and it’s not going well.”

    McLaughlin likened the rollout of the Cerner system to the military’s development of the V-22 Osprey aircraft, which killed 30 people in training exercises between 1991 and 2000 and cost billions of federal dollars.

    Despite the 576 Cerner-related patient safety reports, many requests to change the system have apparently been ignored or denied. One reason is that changes aren’t entirely up to VA.

    “Changes are something that we are usually negotiating with the Department of Defense,” Clancy said in a July hearing. “We have to notify them because, again, we’re trying to create this seamless experience for the servicemember who then becomes a Veteran and so forth, so we don’t want to have two unique, customized systems.”

    More than a year after the Cerner launch, VA officials have continued to chalk up the problems to inadequate training.

    “We’re trying to make sure that we provide them with the information that they need,” Remy said in a November hearing, “so that they can understand how the system can actually make their jobs easier.”

    For experienced health care professionals, some of them Veterans themselves, this feels like gaslighting.

    “These are people used to plugging bullet holes or doing their jobs under fire before they were medical professionals,” McLaughlin said. “When they tell us we don’t understand — or it’s a lack of comprehension and if we would just learn — we’re talking about people who worked with advanced weapons systems in the military.”

    U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat who represents Wenatchee, used a Cerner system in her work as a pediatrician at Virginia Mason Medical Center before entering Congress in 2019.

    After meeting with doctors and nurses at the Wenatchee VA clinic Nov. 9, Schrier said the problems they described were not a matter of user error.

    “I don’t think this is a lack of training,” Schrier said. “I think this is a Cerner problem. It is the system that has a problem.”

    Roger Baker, who served as VA’s chief information officer from 2009 to 2013, said the main mistake VA leaders have made is failing to understand why health care workers have not embraced the new system.

    “It’s because they will not compromise one -tenth of 1% of care quality for Veterans in order to roll out a new system,” Baker said. “The medical people just will not do that, and you can look at that as resistance to change, but I think it’s resistance to any reduction in care quality for the Veterans they care for.”

    On Wednesday, VA announced it would eliminate the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization in favor of a new “program executive director” and three other new management positions.

    In a progress report that accompanied the reorganization move, Remy acknowledged deploying a new health record system can be “highly disruptive” and restated that “VA remains committed to the Mann-Grandstaff implementation.”

    According to an updated schedule included in the progress report, VA will deploy the Cerner system in Columbus, Ohio, on March 5, followed on March 26 by the Walla Walla VA Medical Center, including its clinics in Lewiston, Richland, Yakima and three more in northeastern Oregon.

    The next rollouts are slated for Roseburg and White City, Oregon, on June 11, Boise on June 25 and Anchorage, Alaska, on July 16.

    VA’s Puget Sound facilities, including its Seattle and American Lake hospitals and eight other facilities that serve about 120,000 Veterans, are scheduled to make the switch Aug. 27. The final planned launches of 2022 are in Battle Creek, Saginaw and Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Oct. 8 and in Portland on Nov. 5.

    Later on Wednesday, McDonough testified before the Senate VA Committee for an end-of-year update on the department.

    “Our mission at VA is very simple,” he said in his opening remarks. “We must serve Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors as well as they have served us. That’s the promise we make at VA.”

    Like other Veterans who rely on Mann-Grandstaff, Joe Harmer, the Army Veteran from Greenacres, said he’s worried the Cerner system could jeopardize that mission as VA expands its use around the country.

    “The VA’s telling them they have to take on this system, but they’re just gonna punish these other Veterans in these other areas if they do it, because it’s just not working,” Harmer said. “I really feel that the VA is giving us a second chance to die for our country.”

    Source

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  • ‘Wars are fought by humans’: Veterans lead new campaign against endless war in Afghanistan

    Endless War in Afghanistan

     

    Dan Caldwell looks like a Veteran.

    That struck me the moment he sat across from me in the Washington Examiner office, noticing his plain navy suit, short black hair, camo-colored watch, and serious demeanor.

    “Wars are fought by humans,” he replied almost instantly, after I asked him what Americans are missing about foreign policy. “A lot of people think that wars have almost become like a video game,” he said, “but the brunt of these conflicts has been borne by actual real human beings, not machines.”

    Caldwell didn’t always understand this, but he saw it firsthand when he joined the Marine Corps after graduating high school in Arizona. He spent two years in D.C. before deploying to Iraq.

    “I was in an infantry unit, a member of Fox company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. We were spending a lot of time in Humvees and driving around, we were all over the country,” he said. “I was very... lucky for the most part, you know, to have a mostly quiet deployment. But at the same time, you know, I saw a lot there that kind of made me wonder. When I got back from Iraq, I started to learn more.”

    Caldwell told me how he made a “concerted effort” to learn more about the conflict and its history. After doing so, he said it “became very apparent” that “the invasion of Iraq was probably one of the worst national security decisions in the history of the United States.”

    Caldwell, like many Veterans, came to embrace a foreign policy philosophy that he said is “rooted in realism and restraint.” In his telling, “It’s not isolationism, it's not noninterventionism, and it's not weakening the military," but "if there is not a clear threat to our national interest, we should not be getting involved in a conflict.”

    These foreign policy views led Caldwell to get involved with Concerned Veterans for America. He served as executive director of the Veteran's advocacy group for almost two years but then transitioned to a role as senior adviser.

    Concerned Veterans for America, or CVA, works on three main issues, Caldwell said: reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, addressing the growing national debt, and advocating for a restrained foreign policy and an end to what he calls “endless war.”

    The national debt?

    I asked Caldwell to explain because all the economic arguments aside, I didn’t understand what he meant when he said that debt could be a security threat.

    “A lot of other military leaders have said that if we don't get our fiscal situation under control, then our economy is going to suffer and therefore our national defense is going to suffer,” he said. “The best way I can describe it is actually by telling a story from another country, and that's Greece.”

    “The Greeks were in such bad financial shape, primarily because of their inability to control their national debt, that they could not afford fuel for their fighter jets. There's nothing that says that we, as the United States, could not reach that point.”

    But while their debt advocacy is certainly interesting, CVA has made more headlines recently for their foreign policy efforts.

    On Wednesday, the organization launched a massive paid media campaign to lobby the White House and congressional Republicans to pull our troops out of Afghanistan. The campaign is called “Honor Their Sacrifice,” and it urges policymakers to honor the sacrifice of our Veterans by pursuing better, more restrained foreign policy.

    “Now we have a six-figure television ad that's playing in the D.C. area on Fox News,” Caldwell said. “And this is coupled with an intense grassroots push, contacting members of Congress, making phone calls, office visits, and so on.” He described impressive advocacy efforts, with over 15,000 Veteran activists working with CVA regularly, all across the country. The goal of this campaign, more particularly, is to end the war in Afghanistan.

    American troops first invaded Afghanistan in 2001, in the wake of 9/11. The invasion was a response to the Taliban’s harboring of the al Qaeda terrorists who planned the terrorist attack. But we punished the Taliban and all but defeated al Qaeda in the first few years of the conflict. The decade since has been spent in a failed nation-building attempt to prop up an Afghan government that’s still faltering.

    This brought Caldwell and me to the discussion of President Trump, who broke with long-standing Republican orthodoxy to campaign against endless war and nation-building in his 2016 campaign.

    I pressed Caldwell on this because all his noble promises aside, we’re over two years into Trump’s presidency, and we still have roughly 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. This is, in part, because the administration’s attempts to broker a peace deal with the Taliban have broken down.

    But Caldwell doesn’t think this is prohibitive. “Our view is that we should get out of Afghanistan, peace deal or no peace deal. It's not in our national interest to still be there,” he insisted.

    He was high on praise for President Trump when it comes to foreign policy, at least.

    “President Trump deserves a lot of credit for both campaigning on ending some of these endless wars and not starting any new wars, despite intense pressure from the national security establishment to do so.”

    He said that Trump owes his 2016 election to his anti-war stances, at least in part.

    “One of the reasons Trump won in 2016, especially in key states like Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, was because of his advocacy of a more restrained foreign policy,” Caldwell said.

    “You saw that some of the counties that he flipped for Republicans in 2016 had higher levels of residents who were killed in action or wounded in action. And that you saw that those voters and their families were more inclined for President Trump.”

    It remains to be seen, however, whether Trump follows through on his promises. Still, President Trump loves Veterans, and many of them are calling on him to end the failed war in Afghanistan.

    In fact, Caldwell said that most Veterans agree with the work Concerned Veterans for America is doing. He cited a recent poll they conducted in April, which showed that 60% favor exiting Afghanistan, with only 30% in favor of remaining. This, Caldwell said, “is just not an issue where you see a 50-50 split anymore.”

    CVA’s new campaign makes it clear that thousands of Veterans such as Caldwell have seen the cost of war up close and are clamoring for an end to the forever war in Afghanistan as a result. But only time will tell if President Trump heeds their call.

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  • ‘We fought for liberty:’ Michigan WWII Vets welcome memorial

    Art Fishman

     

    ROYAL OAK, Mich. — Officials in Michigan are ready to get started on the construction of what they say is one of the few state-specific World War II memorials in the country.

    Art Fishman is excited that the project is taking another step toward reality.

    The Oak Park resident, who sailed on a Navy destroyer in the Pacific theater as an 18-year-old, was to be among those on hand Thursday afternoon when ground is broken for The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial.

    “It’s more important than people think. Why? Because, if it’s handled right, it will teach the next generation what the war was about, why we were there, what did we fight for. We fought for liberty,” said Fishman, 95, who sailed aboard the USS Robinson in 1945 during its stops in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and China.

    The groundbreaking is for the first phase of the memorial, which includes the laying of more than 1,200 donated Walk of Honor paver bricks and the installation of both a statue called “Joe,” which depicts a soldier in a foxhole reading a letter from home, and flagpoles representing all military branches.

    Future phases are to feature a Wall of Stars honoring the 15,000-plus Michigan lives lost during World War II; additional statues, including one dedicated to Rosie the RiVeter; an amphitheater and a colonnade of pillars.

    The memorial, which is recognized by the Legislature as the state’s tribute to the war, is to be built in Memorial Park in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.

    Members of the committee that is overseeing the project said the U.S. does not have many state-specific World War II memorials, but some do, including New York and Washington.

    “Michigan had such a significant impact on the war front, with brave men and women fighting against tyranny, and also at the homefront with the Arsenal of Democracy and other contributions across the state,” said John Maten, president of The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial.

    Ethel “Cricket” Poland, 102, is one of those who served an important role on the homefront, as a code-breaker with the Navy.

    Poland, who has lived in Michigan since the 1960s, served for three years in Washington, D.C., as part of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) program.

    “Although my part in the war was very small, I feel that it was worthwhile,” said Poland, who planned to be in Royal Oak for Thursday’s ceremony.

    More than a dozen Veterans organizations are to be present, including members of the American Legion, Tuskegee Airmen, Disabled American Veterans and Michigan Jewish War Veterans.

    Fishman was scheduled to speak on behalf of the assembled World War II Veterans.

    “Maybe that was the reason I’ve lived this long is I could see something I felt so sincere about that should happen,” he said. “So that everybody else could see what the great generation really was.”

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  • ‘Welcome Home’: Vietnam Veterans to Be Honored on the National Mall

    VVA Welcome Home

     

    Americans are flocking to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from May 11-13 to thank Vietnam veterans for their service and sacrifices 50 years ago.

    The national “Welcome Home” event was planned by the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration, a congressionally-authorized organization launched by former President Barack Obama in 2012 to honor and pay tribute to Vietnam-era veterans, prisoners of war, and MIAs, as well as their families.

    The opening ceremony begins May 11 at 11 a.m. with a flyover of four Vietnam-era Huey helicopters and a ribbon-cutting of “Camp Legacy,” on the west end of the Mall, where attendees can explore static helicopters and vehicles, military museum displays, and more than 40 exhibit tents.

    The three-day event will also feature drill teams and service bands playing live music, the U.S. Army Golden Knights conducting daily precision parachute drops, and Vietnam veterans gathering at “rally points” to honor fellow service members who remain unaccounted for.

    Eight panel discussions will also take place, focusing on different historical aspects of the war. Topics range from the ongoing mission of accounting for MIAs to the legacy of servicewomen and journalists during the Vietnam War. The full schedule of events can be found here.

    One panel, organized by the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), is hosting six Vietnam veterans, all retired four-star officers from different military branches: former Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman; Army Gen. Dennis J. Reimer; Marine Corps Gen. John J. Sheehan; Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen; National Guard Gen. Craig R. McKinley; and Coast Guard Adm. James M. Loy.

    “Some 2.7 million Americans veterans served in Vietnam. Many returned home wounded, physically and emotionally, only to face further injury and insult from the very citizens they had served,” said AFA President & CEO retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright. “The observance and ‘Welcome Home’ now may be 50 years late, but it is nonetheless welcome and deserved. Together, we as a people owe our veterans a debt of gratitude. As Americans we must all recognize the sacrifices made by those who serve their nation. The men and women who served in Vietnam—and those who did not make it home—must be recognized as the true heroes that they are.”

    The commemoration ends the afternoon of May 13 with a crowning “Welcome Home” concert. The full-stage celebration will pay tribute to all Vietnam veterans and families with live music and multimedia entertainment from Broadway star Jon Hacker, TV star Lauren B. Martin, The New York Tenors, country music performer and U.S. Naval Academy graduate Chris Nurthen, and The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own.”

    The commemorative event is open to the public, but those who cannot attend in person can livestream the May 11 opening ceremony and May 13 “Welcome Home” celebration on the organization’s Facebook page.

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  • “There aren’t many of us left anymore”: Once stoically silent, Palo Alto World War II Veteran opens up about Normandy Invasion, other battles

    Wilton Johnson

     

    Wilton Johnson, a corporal with the 82nd Airborne Division, jumped on D-Day and reached Germany before the war’s end

    While King George VI visited victorious Allied troops in Normandy 10 days after they drove the Nazis off French beaches, Wilton Johnson of Menlo Park marched north on the peninsula toward his next mission past tall hedgerows on war-torn roads with the faint rat tat tat of gunfire in the distance.

    As part of a machine gun platoon for the 82nd Airborne Division, Johnson and his men — just hours after landing in France during the historic Normandy Invasion — attacked a roadblock set up near the German-occupied town of Sainte-Mère-Église.

    They took the town and Johnson was photographed in front of the town’s church. Then more danger lurked, as he and his squad walked in drainage ditches next to a road amid the thuds of artillery in the distance.

    Suddenly there was a flash of light and everything went dark. A mortar shell tore through his friend Herman Young of Texas, killing him, and left Johnson with a gaping wound in his back.

    “It just happened, like that,” Johnson, now 97 and one of the few remaining World War II Veterans in the Bay Area, said in a recent interview at his Palo Alto home. “Fortunately someone, one of the members in my squad, stuffed a piece of cloth or something in my back to stop the bleeding. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve died.”

    “That was all of Normandy for me,” he said.

    Like many people of his time, Johnson has never told the story of his war days. “It’s something you’d rather forget,” he said with a distant look in his eyes. But with memories from the war fading, Johnson felt the urge to tell his story ahead of Memorial Day.

    “There aren’t many of us left,” he explained. “It’s time.”

    Johnson recalled jumping out of an airplane with more than 13,000 other paratroopers right after midnight on June 6, 1944, taking part in the enormous invasion that turned the tide of the European Theater and has been mythologized in American film, video games and popular culture since.

    The jump on D-Day wasn’t his first and the wounds he suffered in France wouldn’t be his last.

    He was just 18 when he felt compelled by patriotic pressure to enlist and fight in the war. At the time, he was living with his parents — Dust Bowl refugees from North Dakota — and working for Southern Pacific Lines in San Francisco while also helping out at a gas station in Menlo Park when he could. Then one day in April 1942, Wilton took a train to an office building in downtown San Francisco and signed up.

    “I thought about enlisting after Pearl Harbor, but I wasn’t old enough,” Johnson said. “When I turned 18, I just felt it was my duty to serve. I wasn’t nervous or anything. I was determined to do it. I had accepted it was what I had to do.”

    At first, he operated a watchtower over Menlo Park at a time when California feared a Japanese attack. But before he knew it, Johnson was headed to Monterey and later San Miguel for basic training at Camp Roberts.

    After months of training and doing five qualifying jumps out of a Douglas C-47, Johnson went overseas to Casablanca, though he didn’t see any fighting. But when Allied troops readied for an assault on mainland Europe in July 1943, Johnson found himself in an olive orchard outside Tunisia preparing to jump into Sicily.

    Those jumps were nothing compared to the one in Normandy.

    Having staved off serious war injuries until then, Johnson wasn’t expecting the months-long, harrowing recovery he’d go through after that mortar shell punched a hole into his back. He received his first Purple Heart medal in England and a Bronze Star a couple of weeks after fighting deep inside enemy territory in Normandy.

    On the Ruhr river near the town of Schmidt, Germany, he was wounded again. It was an injury he couldn’t bring himself to talk about, and by the time he recovered, the war was winding down and Johnson was sent home.

    There, Johnson started working at the old gas station again before joining the fire department. Transitioning from the battlefields to buying groceries in Menlo Park after 1945 “was a little difficult,” Johnson said.

    “I guess I still had itchy feet,” he said.

    Johnson went through multiple jobs — including as a mortician at one point and a merchant marine sailor at another — until finally settling down as a U.S. Post Office mailman for 27 years. He married his wife, Clara Johnson, after the war and had three daughters, Sharon Webster, Hannah Limon and Judith Johnson, and bought a home in Palo Alto where he’s lived since.

    Webster, Johnson’s eldest daughter, said in an interview that her father never talked about the war to any of his children. Describing him as a quiet, reserved father, Webster said Johnson “was there, but he wasn’t really there.” Johnson would come home, read the mail, pay the bills, watch the news and eat dinner, always asking about how everyone’s day went but never talking about how his went.

    Webster suspects her dad has pent-up emotions he’s never dealt with, and skeletons in closets they’ll likely never know about. As the wife of a Vietnam War Veteran, Webster said she can tell her father “definitely” showed signs of post-traumatic stress.

    “But he covered it well,” Webster said. “Very well. My dad would’ve been a different person if he’d talked about it. I don’t think World War II Veterans got the counseling they really needed.”

    It was only after she’d grown older and went with Johnson to the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy in 1994 that she truly got to know her dad. Touring different cemeteries across northern France, Webster watched as Johnson — stoically silent and somber — suddenly teared up remembering the people he lost.

    “It was something that I’ll never forget,” Webster said. “It just opened my eyes to what my dad went through. We loved and respected him very much, but none of us really knew him. That’s the first time he opened up, and it was the first time I really got to know him as not my dad but as a person.”

    “I didn’t know my dad was a hero,” Webster added. “He was just Dad.”

    Jerome Strom, a Korean War Veteran and close friend of Johnson for 50 years, told him candidly during a joint interview, “I know you don’t talk about it much, but I’ve always admired you.” Whenever they talked, it was mostly business.

    Asked why Veterans like him don’t talk about the war, Johnson said, “Some of them, like me, have had experiences they would just as soon forget. … I haven’t talked much about it with anyone before. We had an organization (of Veterans), but it has dwindled and is probably depleted now. Time does that.”

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  • “Walking Marine” walks to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness of Veteran suicide rates

    Terry Sharpe

     

    RUCKERSVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A Marine Veteran walking from North Carolina all the way to the White House made a pit stop in Ruckersville today.

    Terry Sharpe, aptly known as the “Walking Marine,” is walking to Washington, D.C., covering between 10 to 16 miles a day, to raise awareness about high suicide rates among Veterans.

    “I’m bringing awareness to the fact that we’re losing 22+ Veterans to suicide every day. There are so many people who don’t have an idea that this is happening,” Sharpe explained. “So everybody that we can make aware of it, that more many people will know that we are losing our Veterans at a rapid rate.”

    Sharpe is aided by support vehicles that follow him to provide assistance when needed.The former marine is also raising to support housing and rehabilitation efforts for former service members. This is Sharpe’s eighth and final year walking to Washington, D.C., but he said the walk will still continue every year.

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  • #VeteranOfTheDay Air Force Veteran Chuck Norris

    Vet Chuck Norris

     

    On his 80th birthday, today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Air Force Veteran Chuck Norris, who served as air police before becoming a karate champion and movie star.

    Carlos “Chuck” Norris was born March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma. Norris enlisted in the Air Force in 1958 after graduating high school. He joined as an air policeman and hoped to train as security police. The Air Force stationed Norris at Osan Air Base in South Korea. It was there that a fellow airman gave him the nickname “Chuck.”

    Osan Air Base is also where Norris picked up his martial arts skills and earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do, a form of Korean karate. Norris trained with Grandmaster Jae Chul Shin, founder of the World Tang Soo Do Association, as well as Grandmaster Do Sik Mun. After his service in South Korea, Norris served at March Air Force Base, now March Air Reserve Base, in Riverside County, California. He continued to serve as an air policeman until his discharge from service in August 1962 at the rank of airman first class.

    Following his military service, Norris applied to be a police officer but ended up on the waiting list. While he waited, Norris decided to open a martial arts studio in his town of Torrance, California, which led to his opening a chain of studios. He started to enter martial arts competitions. After several years, he won his first World Middleweight Karate Championship title in 1968. Norris held the title of Karate World Champion for six consecutive years and retired after his victory in 1974.

    It was during this time that Norris met Bruce Lee, which led to Norris’ breakout role as Lee’s nemesis in the 1972 film Return of the Dragon, roundhouse kicking him into stardom. Norris went on for several decades to star in action movies and television shows like Walker, Texas Ranger and The Delta Force. He also still appears in advertisements.

    Norris’s brother, Wieland Norris, was killed in action during the Vietnam War. Norris dedicated his Missing in Action films to his brother’s memory.

    In 2001, Norris received the Veteran of the Year award from the Air Force. In 2007, Commandant Gen. James T. Conway made Norris an honorary United States Marine. In 2011, Governor Rick Perry named Norris an honorary Texas Ranger.

    Happy 80th birthday, Chuck. Do you still blow out your birthday candles with a roundhouse kick?

    Visit RallyPoint at https://www.rallypoint.com/topics/chuck-norris to join the discussion about Chuck Norris.

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  • $1B in technical debt driving VA’s massive IT modernization efforts

    Technical Debt

     

    Count them all: the Department of Veterans Affairs is juggling a mile-long list of seemingly massive technology modernization projects.

    It’s knee-deep in the modernization of its human resources systems, an ongoing financial management business transformation and an overhaul of its medical logistics supply chain.

    Other modernization initiatives have been tied to major pieces of Veterans legislation, like the IT capabilities needed to consolidate community care programs under the VA MISSION Act or the Appeals Modernization Act.

    And then there’s that 10-year, $16 billion effort to implement a new, commercial electronic health record and achieve interoperability with the Defense Department.

    An increasingly long to-do list from Congress is driving much of VA’s push to modernize, but so is nearly $1 billion in technical debt across the department, Dominic Cussatt, VA’s deputy chief information officer and principal deputy assistant secretary for information and technology, said last week at AFCEA’s Bethesda’s annual Health IT Summit.

    It’s why the department is trying to strike the delicate balance of not only unifying active directories and increasing bandwidth at certain medical centers but also build or adopt entirely new systems that can handle VA’s growing desire to explore emerging IT.

    “We’re really looking at how to re-architect our network,” Cussatt said. “As we do this modernization we don’t want to replace, we want to improve.”

    VA, for example, is on track to move roughly half of its portfolio — about 350 applications and systems — to enterprise cloud by 2024, said Jim Gfrerer, the department’s CIO.

    “That is not about cost savings; that’s about capabilities delivery,” he said. “Every system we have [for example] is dependent on a single-sign-on. Before we migrated to the cloud, we were at 70% availability. That is horrendous.”

    The move to an enterprise cloud is part of a broader push to standardize IT programs and procedures across the department.

    “We’ve shown that we can normalize our cybersecurity policies and our interoperability policies and get the things connected seamlessly and consolidate things in a way that makes it easier for us to manage the data and use things like artificial intelligence and RPA,” Cussatt said. “VA is in the midst of a huge transformation in terms of moving to an enterprise approach for everything that we do. We’ve set up a new enterprise portfolio management function. We’re moving to a product line management approach in how we service our customers.”

    The department is also trying to embrace the enterprise approach as it begins to move to a new EHR in the coming months. A change management working group made up of clinicians and others from VA’s EHR modernization office meet regularly to develop common workflows and procedures for the new electronic record.

    The department is on track to achieve initial operating capability with the new EHR at its first medical centers in the Pacific Northwest in less than two months.

    “We really have an increased imperative to make sure that our infrastructure is sufficient,” Gfrerer said. “When you look at what we’ve done in Spokane and Seattle, the amount of resources we’ve poured in to make sure that the entire infrastructure — all the way from the pipes and the bandwidth going in to the endpoints and everything in between — it’s been an almost 100% refresh to make sure that the environment is stable.”

    A new IT scorecard, which Gfrerer said VA is nearly finished developing, will help the department better track the department’s multi-faceted digital transformation strategy.

    That, coupled with its embrace of technology business management (TBM) standards, should help the department better estimate and manage the costs and timelines associated with VA’s long IT to-do list.

    “We’re going to get a lot more focused around those measures, those metrics and those outcomes around the specific projects. [We’ll] start to be probably a bit more deliberate on whether programs are succeeding or not,” Gfrerer said. “As we’ve moved to our DevSecOps model — and ultimately within the next we’re going to be better postured around our product line management — that’s going to create additional levels of accountability.”

    Meanwhile, the sheer size, scope and number of major IT modernization initiatives aren’t lost on VA’s deputy secretary.

    “I worked for a defense contractor before I joined the government. I can tell you … if we were undertaking all the modernization efforts at the same time that we are at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the board of directors would fire the leadership team,” Jim Byrne, VA’s deputy secretary, said. “We have to do it. It has to be done. But it’s in the ridiculously hard category to build a VA for the 21st century.”

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  • 10 Legendary Heroes of the US Air Force

    10 Legend Heroes

     

    At 72, the Air Force may be technically the youngest branch of the five services, just a fraction of the Army's age, but the service's roots are well over a hundred years old. Here are 10 men who became legends in that time:

    1. Eddie Rickenbacker

    A race car driver turned self-taught pilot, Rickenbacker joined the military immediately after the United States entered World War I. In less than a year, he earned a promotion to an officer's rank and shot down his fifth enemy aircraft, earning him the title of "Ace." A year later, he was in command of his entire Aero Squadron.

    By the time of the November 11, 1918 armistice, Rickenbacker racked up 26 aerial victories, a record he held until World War II. His tactic was to charge right at enemy flying squads, whatever the odds, winning every time. Rickenbacker was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with six oak leaf clusters, the Croix de Guerre with two palms, the French Legion d'Honneur, and was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

    2. Billy Mitchell

    General William "Billy" Mitchell is known as the "Father of the Air Force." He was a turn-of-the-20th-century pilot who advocated for a separate, independent Air Force. He argued that airpower would be a revolution in modern warfare, but was dismissed as a radical by his peers. Mitchell became an Army aviator at a time when he was considered too old to go through pilot training. He paid for lessons himself and led more than 1,400 planes against the Germans during the World War I Battle of St. Mihiel.

    His experience flying planes in combat led to his idea of a separate Air Force, even demonstrating the power of airplanes against naval battleships. When he criticized the War Department for incompetence and negligence, he was sensationally court-martialed. He resigned his commission instead of accepting a humiliating sentence.

    3. Henry "Hap" Arnold

    A protégé of Gen. Billy Mitchell's, Hap is probably the only airman on this list who needed to overcome a fear of flying to reach his legendary Air Force status. Arnold oversaw the expansion of the Army Air Corps in the years between World War I and World War II to its position as the world's largest Air Force.

    Arnold oversaw development of intercontinental bombers, radar, airlift capabilities, and the use of nuclear weapons in modern air combat. His wartime job was so stressful, he experienced three heart attacks in three years, but survived to become a five-star General of the Army, which was later changed to General of the Air Force after it became an independent branch in 1947. He remains the only person to ever hold the rank and title.

    4. Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr.

    Though Chappie did not see combat until the Korean War, he was one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, training pilots in the Army Air Corps' 99th Pursuit Squadron, the famous Red Tails. In Korea, he flew 101 combat missions and then another 78 missions as vice-commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing during the Vietnam War. In the 8th TFW, he served under none other than then-Col. Robin Olds, including during Operation Bolo, the highest single MiG sweep ever. The duo were so successful their men nicknamed the team "Blackman and Robin."

    During his command of the U.S. Air Force Base in Libya, he stared down Muammar Qaddafi in a stand-off, admitting later that he almost shot the dictator with his .45. Chappie became the first African-American to reach the rank of four-star General and the third person of African descent to reach the highest ranks in the Western world.

    5. Robin Olds

    Olds joined the military through The U.S. military academy at West Point, an all-star linebacker for the football team who was anxious to get into the fight raging in World War II Europe. His legacy was larger than life. He was a triple ace fighter pilot with 16 kills in WWII and married Hollywood actress Ella Raines.

    He stayed in the Air Force when it became independent from the U.S. Army and then commanded a fighter wing during the Vietnam War. He is remembered by the Air Force today during "Mustache March," for the distinctive mustache he wore in Vietnam, sported as a way to boost morale among his men and thumb his nose at the media.

    6. Curtis LeMay

    LeMay was the youngest four-star general in American military history. He served with four stars longer than anyone ever had — a big deal for a general who didn't go to a service academy. He earned the nickname "Iron Ass" for his stubbornness and shortness once his mind was made up.

    When he did speak, the stout, cigar-chomping, stone-faced general had a reputation for his outspoken manner. He is not always remembered fondly by history, as seen through the silver screen depiction of him as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, but LeMay led the U.S. military through some of its most trying times.

    LeMay's leadership revolutionized the tactics and effectiveness of the 8th Air Force in World War II Europe, giving the Allies the decisive edge over the Nazi Luftwaffe. In the Pacific Theater, LeMay's strategic planning crippled the Japanese war effort. He saw the U.S. through the Berlin Airlift and Cuban Missile Crisis.

    The Soviet Union would not have gone to war with a man who was famous for saying "If I see that the Russians are amassing their planes for an attack, I'm going to knock the shit out of them before they take off the ground."

    7. Chuck Yeager

    Charles Elwood Yeager began his Air Force career as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces. His time as an aircraft mechanic probably gave him a good idea of what planes could handle, information he would need later down the line as a USAF test pilot. He entered the enlisted flying program in 1942 and became at test pilot at war's end.

    Two days before he famously broke the sound barrier, Yeager broke two ribs and had them treated at a Veterinarian's office rather than risk losing that flight by going to an Air Force doctor.

    8. William H. "Pits" Pitsenbarger

    "Pits" was a U.S. Air Force Pararescue Jumper from Piqua, Ohio during the Vietnam War. He joined the Air Force right after high school and became a Pararescueman right after basic training. Less the a year after receiving orders to Vietnam, he set out on a mission to extract Army infantry casualties in the jungles near Cam My. He dropped into the trees, tended to some wounded and then loaded them onto his helicopter.

    When it came time for Pits to be extracted, his helicopter was hit by small arms fire and had to leave. Instead of leaving with the helo, Pits stayed with the infantry. For an hour and a half, he tended to the wounded, built improvised stretchers, and redistriubuted ammo. When everyone was set, Pitsenbarger joined the firefight. He was killed by a VC sniper during the night.

    9. John L. Levitow

    Levitow was a Loadmaster on board an AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship during the Vietnam War. In an engagement with Viet Cong guerillas in February 1969, Levitow and the plane's gunner started deploying flares during an bank when the gunship was hit by VC mortar fire. The entire crew was wounded by shrapnel and the gunner dropped a flare inside the gunship. Its fuse burned next to 19,000 rounds of ammunition which would surely take out the gunship when it exploded. Levitow, despite not being able to walk and fighting the plane's 30-degree bank, crawled over to it, hugged the flare close to his body, and crawled to the rear toward the cargo door, dropping it out just before it ignited. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions and now the top graduate of all Air Force Enlisted Military Education courses receive the "John L. Levitow Award" for exceptional performance.

    10. George Everett "Bud" Day

    Though he retired an Air Force Colonel, Day started his military career as an enlisted Marine, joining in 1942 at age 17. After World War II, he went stateside to earn a law degree. At the onset of the Korean War, he joined the Air National Guard and was activated the next year. He flew combat sorties as an Air Force fighter pilot throughout the Korean War. He stayed in the Air Force through 1967, flying combat missions over North Vietnam.

    Day was shot down, captured, tortured, beaten, and sent to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton." A year later, he was sent to "The Zoo," a punishment camp for the most defiant POWs. At his most defiant, he would stare down his guards, singing the Star-Spangled Banner in their face. He was released in 1973, and returned to a flying status a year later.

    Source

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  • 11 Defendants Plead Guilty in $300 Million Healthcare Fraud

    Justice 010

     

    Just two months after being charged, all 11 defendants implicated in the $300 million Spectrum/Reliable healthcare fraud have pleaded guilty, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

    Ten defendants, including two medical doctors, were indicted February 9. An eleventh defendant was charged on March 16.

    Six of the original ten defendants – Laredo-based internal medicine doctor Eduardo Canova, family medicine doctor Jose Maldonado, nurse practitioner Keith Wichinski, Reliable Labs cofounder Abraham Phillips, marketing firm owner Juan David Rojas, and marketing employee Laura Ortiz – filed plea papers on February 11, just two days after being indicted. The final defendant – Reliable Labs cofounder Biby Kurian – filed plea papers on April 6 and entered her plea on April 13.

    “The swift resolution of this case is a testament to both our office and to the investigative agencies that worked diligently to ensure our case was airtight,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. “We cannot allow physicians’ judgement to be clouded by financial considerations.”

    “This proactive investigation identified an illegal kickback conspiracy that resulted in substantial evidence and a guilty plea from each defendant,” said Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno. “I commend our partners and the Northern District of Texas for their meticulous work in unraveling the schemes perpetrated by these defendants, and for their work to protect American taxpayers and the integrity of our healthcare system.”

    According to court documents, the founders of several lab companies, including Unified Laboratory Services, Spectrum Diagnostic Laboratory, and Reliable Labs LLC, paid kickbacks to induce medical professionals to order medically unnecessary lab tests, which they then billed to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.

    The medical professionals -- including Dr. Canova, Dr. Maldonado, and Mr. Wichinski – accepted the bribes and ordered millions of dollars’ worth of tests.

    Meanwhile, Unified, Spectrum, and Reliable disguised the kickbacks as legitimate business transactions, including as medical advisor agreement payments, salary offsets, lease payments, and marketing commissions.

    The labs, through marketers, paid doctors hundreds of thousands of dollars for “advisory services” which were never performed in return for lab test referrals. They also paid portions of the doctors’ staff’s salaries and a portion of their office leases, contingent on the number of lab tests they referred each month. In some instances, lab marketers even made direct payments to the provider’s spouse. (When the labs threatened one provider that payments would cease if he didn’t refer more tests, he immediately increased his lab referrals, averaging approximately 20 to 30 referrals per day.)

    Knowing they could disguise additional kickbacks using a provider-ownership model, the founder of Spectrum and Unified, Jeffrey Madison, convinced the co-founders of Reliable to convert Reliable into a physician-owned lab. Reliable offered physicians ownership opportunities only if those physicians referred an adequate number of lab tests. In some cases, they made advance disbursement payment to physicians in an effort to appease the physician and ensure he would not send samples to other labs.

    As a result of these kickbacks, laboratories controlled by the defendants were able to submit more than $300 million in billing to federal government healthcare programs.

    In plea papers, Dr. Maldonado admitted he received more than $400,000 in kickbacks for ordering more than $4 million worth of lab tests; Dr. Canova admitted he received more than $300,000 in kickbacks for ordering more than $12 million worth of lab tests.

    Defendants’ pleas are as follows:

    • Jeffrey Paul Madison, founder of Unified Laboratory Services and Spectrum Diagnostic Laboratory – conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and a substantive count of paying and receiving healthcare kickbacks (two counts)

    • Mark Christopher Boggess, chief operating officer for Spectrum and Unified – misprison (concealment) of a felony

    • Biby Ancy Kurian, co-founder of Reliable Labs, LLC – conspiracy to pay kickbacks

    • Abraham Phillips, co-founder of Reliable Labs, LLC – conspiracy to pay kickbacks

    • Dr. Jose Roel Maldonado, family medicine doctor based in Laredo – conspiracy to solicit and receive illegal kickbacks

    • Dr. Eduardo Carlos Canova, internal medicine specialist based in Laredo – conspiracy to solicit and receive illegal kickbacks

    • Keith Allen Wichinski, board-certified nurse practitioner based in San Antonio – conspiracy to solicit or receive kickbacks

    • David Michael Lizcano, owner of DCLH, a marketing firm engaged by Unified, Spectrum, and Reliable – conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks and a substantive count of paying and receiving healthcare kickbacks (two counts)

    • Laura Ortiz, sister of David Lizcano and employee at his marketing firm – conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks

    • Juan David Rojas, owner of Rojas & Associates, another marketing firm engaged by Unified, Spectrum, and Reliable – conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks

    • Sherman Kennerson, investor in Unified (charged via criminal information) – conspiracy to pay kickbacks

    Under the applicable statutes, Mr. Madison and Mr. Lizcano face up to 15 years each in federal prison. Mr. Kennerson, Ms. Ortiz, Mr. Phillips, Ms. Kurian, Dr. Maldonado, Dr. Canova, Mr. Wichinski, and Mr. Rojas face up to five years; Mr. Boggess faces up to three years.

    “The expeditious resolution of this matter is a testament to the thorough investigation and valuable collaboration between investigative partners and prosecutors,” said Miranda L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Health and Human Services. “We will continue working with our partners to protect federal health care programs and the beneficiaries who depend on these programs for treatment and care.”

    “As the investigative arm of the DoD Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and our colleagues work hard to hold accountable those who undermine Federal health care programs such as TRICARE, “said Acting Special Agent in Charge Gregory P. Shilling of the DCIS Southwest Field Office. "Safeguarding TRICARE not only protects our warfighters, their families, and retirees, but it also preserves valuable taxpayer resources."

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office – Fort Worth Resident Agency conducted the investigation with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Investigations, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and the Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney P.J. Meitl is prosecuting the case.

    Source

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  • 12 senators oppose moving forward with VA plan to close hospitals, other facilities

    Plan to Close

     

    WASHINGTON — A Department of Veterans Affairs plan that contains nearly $2 trillion in recommended facility closures, consolidations and upgrades across the country could be in jeopardy after 12 senators announced they oppose the agency’s reassessment of its facilities.

    “As senators, we share a commitment to expanding and strengthening modern VA infrastructure in a way that upholds our obligations to America’s Veterans,” according to the joint statement by the senators. “We believe the recommendations put forth [by the Asset and Infrastructure Review] Commission are not reflective of that goal, and would put Veterans in both rural and urban areas at a disadvantage, which is why we are announcing that this process does not have our support and will not move forward.”

    The statement was issued by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Joe Manchin, D-W.V.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; John Thune, R-S.D.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio. Six of the senators — Tester, Rounds, Brown, Murray, Manchin and Hassan — are members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

    In May, Manchin, Rounds, Heinrich and Capito introduced a bill, "Elimination of the VA Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission," which would remove the commission. Thune, Lujan and Hassan are cosponsors. The bill doesn’t say why they want to eliminate the commission, but the senators have been vocal about their opposition to the VA’s closure recommendations in their respective states.

    The VA was required to establish the Asset and Infrastructure Review as part of the Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018, or MISSION Act. The review was designed to analyze the health care needs of Veterans as well as the department’s infrastructure. That same year, Congress approved the creation of an Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission to work on the "modernization or realignment" of VA properties.

    The review of VA facilities determined which facilities were underutilized, outdated and should be closed, where to invest more resources, the demand for which services, and the needs of the Veteran demographic in each market.

    The VA released the commission’s report in March, which recommended facility closures and upgrades to provide better services to Veteran patients in their respective markets across the country. The report listed 35 medical center closures. However, some closures are recommended to be replaced by new buildings and, in some cases, other locations. Other medical centers were recommended to close permanently.

    The VA report cited old, deteriorating buildings and a projected decrease in demand for VA services in the areas where it is suggested hospitals be closed. Furthermore, the Veteran population in each market varied.

    Additionally, the VA proposed more than 100 multi-specialty, community-based outpatient clinics. The agency also recommended clinic closures and consolidation of services to other nearby VA clinics or medical centers.

    But two different independent reports examining the VA’s review found the work was deficient.

    The VA Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Government Accountability Office in December and March, respectively, issued reports that found the VA's infrastructure recommendations were incomplete, inaccurate and outdated.

    VA Secretary Denis McDonough acknowledged the data was outdated at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing in April. He said he had a team of health care experts and former VA senior officials look at the data.

    “They came back with an answer that I feared, which is that they think the data is not up to speed in light of the [coronavirus] pandemic,” McDonough told House lawmakers.

    The senators in their statement Tuesday said they feel because the review is flawed the commission is not needed.

    “The commission is not necessary for our continued push to invest in VA health infrastructure, and together we remain dedicated to providing the department with the resources and tools it needs to continue delivering quality care and earned services to Veterans in 21st century facilities — now and into the future,” according to the senators’ statement.

    Because of this, the senators said they will not move forward with nominations to fill empty posts on the review commission.

    There was supposed to be nine members on the review commission. The White House and the VA provided five nominees for the commission. Four others are nominated as commission members by leaders in the House and Senate. The final nominee was announced June 22.

    Melissa Bryant, acting assistant secretary for VA’s public and intergovernmental affairs, said President Joe Biden requested nearly $20 billion in new VA infrastructure spending to replace and upgrade old buildings.

    “President Biden has insisted that our Veterans in the 21st century should not be forced to receive care in early 20th century buildings,” Bryant said. “The median age of VA’s hospitals is nearly 60 years old, and that’s why the president requested nearly $20 billion in new VA infrastructure spending last year and it is why he has requested the largest ever investment in VA infrastructure in his [fiscal 2023] budget. Whatever Congress decides to do with the AIR Commission, which was called for in the 2018 MISSION Act, we will continue to fight for the funding and modernization that our Veterans deserve.”

    The American Federation of Government Employees, a government employee union representing VA workers, applauded the announcement by the senators to block the review commission nominations.

    “We thank the committee for listening to the voices of Veterans and front-line workers who have been rallying for months against rubber-stamping the VA’s recommendations to close Veteran hospitals and send our nation’s heroes into the private sector where they will pay more for worse outcomes,” Everett Kelley, the union’s president and an Army Veteran, said in a prepared statement.

    But Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said he was disappointed the committee will not hold confirmation hearings on the commission nominees.

    “Many of the VA's facilities are empty, underutilized and severely outdated,” he said in a prepared statement on Monday. “We passed the VA MISSION Act to address these issues but by refusing to confirm commissioners, we are essentially shutting down the work of the AIR Commission and possibly our only opportunity to fix this long-standing issue."

    Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, also released a statement Monday that condemned the senators' opposition.

    "The MISSION Act was signed into law with broad support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and every major Veterans service organization,” he said. “It established an Asset and Infrastructure Review — or, AIR — process with nine Senate-confirmed commissioners to recommend updates to VA's failing medical care infrastructure. This process is vital for the future of modern, state-of-the-art VA care. It is wrong for these senators to outright refuse to even consider the nominees put forth by the Biden administration. This decision does an immense disservice to Veterans and VA staff who will feel its repercussions for years to come."

    Source

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  • 20 Months in Prison for Memphis Area Man Offering Kickbacks

    Justice 003

     

    Sought TRICARE Beneficiaries to Receive Expensive Compounded Drugs

    LITTLE ROCK-United States District Judge Brian S. Miller sentenced Bradley Fly, 36, of Germantown, Tenn., to 20 months in federal prison for violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. In July 2019, Fly pleaded guilty to offering two TRICARE beneficiaries’ money in exchange for signing up to receive expensive compounded drugs.

    At sentencing, the United States introduced evidence that Fly bribed two people: his longtime friend (then a Marine reservist), plus an Army National Guardsman, whom Fly solicited while seated courtside at a Memphis Grizzlies game. Fly then facilitated prescriptions for both men and their wives, for which TRICARE paid over $500,000, earning himself over $180,000 in commission.

    Judge Miller heard testimony from the Marine reservist and from a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) that the prescriptions were part of a larger network of prescription generation, including recruiters whom Fly paid for TRICARE beneficiary information and a group of doctors whom Fly used to sign prescriptions without consulting patients.

    “There is no room for kickbacks in the healthcare marketplace,” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan D. Ross. “Serious penalties and prison await those, like Mr. Fly, who fail to abide by the law. This office and its partners at the FBI and HHS-OIG are committed to rooting out such criminal conduct.”

    “Mr. Fly paid kickbacks generating fraudulent claims to line his pockets without concern for the health and welfare of the patients,” said Miranda L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge of the HHS-OIG Dallas Region. “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to pursue individuals defrauding federal health care programs.”

    “By defrauding TRICARE, Mr. Fly disgracefully cheated U.S. Veterans, their families, and American taxpayers,” said FBI Little Rock Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Van Goor. “We are grateful for our state and federal partners who help us both investigate these cases and protect the financial integrity of our nation’s health care systems.”

    In addition to the 20-month prison sentence, Fly was sentenced to three years of supervised release. The investigation was conducted by HHS-OIG and the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alexander D. Morgan.

    Source

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  • 2019: Big year with big changes ahead for VA loan program

    VA Loan Program 001

     

    A year full of milestones for the historic VA loan program was also a big one for Veterans and military homebuyers nationwide.

    The VA backed more than 624,000 loans in Fiscal Year 2019, with loans to purchase homes up for the eighth year in a row. Younger Veterans and service members are fueling the continued growth of the program.

    Nearly half (45 percent) of all VA purchase loans in FY19 went to millennial and Generation Z Veterans, a burgeoning trend that shows how this hard-earned benefit is still meeting its original mission.

    So many younger civilians are stuck on the homebuying sidelines, unable to build the kind of credit and savings needed for conventional financing. With the VA loan benefit, younger Veterans and service members don’t face the same hurdles, making homeownership a possibility today rather than years from now.

    VA loans give qualified buyers the ability to purchase with:

    • No down payment
    • No mortgage insurance
    • More forgiving credit guidelines
    • The lowest average fixed interest rate on the market

    Another major obstacle for civilian buyers is student loan debt. That landscape looks a lot different for VA buyers because of their education benefits.

    Younger Veteran buyers have emerged as an economic force in communities across the country. But so many of them wouldn’t be in position to plant roots without a benefit introduced two weeks after D-Day.

    Celebrating 75 Years of Success

    VA loans celebrated their 75th anniversary this year, and in many ways they’re more important than ever. The program was part of the original GI Bill of Rights signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on June 22, 1944.

    The Loan Guaranty Service marked this special milestone with a 75th anniversary celebration in early June in Washington, D.C. Speakers included Dr. Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and VA Under Secretary for Benefits Dr. Paul Lawrence.

    At the same ceremony, attendees also marked the VA’s 24 millionth loan guaranty, which came earlier this year.

    While the loan program looks different three-quarters of a century later, the basic idea is still so relevant and vitally important. VA loans exist to level the playing field for those who serve and sacrifice to protect the American Dream.

    That mission has proved critical in the wake of the housing crisis a decade ago. Veterans have turned to VA loans in waves during a time of tight credit and tough lending. Historically, VA loans have accounted for about 2% of the mortgage market. They’re now about 10%.

    This program has backed more than 8 million loans over the last two decades, with nearly 70% coming within the last 10 years.

    Greater awareness of the benefit and what it can do for Veteran buyers has been a key byproduct of all that growth. VA loans aren’t the right fit for every Veteran, but knowing about all of your mortgage options ensures you can make the best financial decision possible.

    Big Changes for 2020

    This year also brought some important updates to the loan program that take effect in 2020. The biggest win: Effective loan limits are going away for qualified buyers.

    In previous years, Veterans who wanted to purchase above their county loan limit needed to make a down payment for what’s otherwise a $0 down program. Removing these limits helps Veterans and military families maximize their budget and their benefit, especially those stationed or living in more expensive housing markets.

    Changes are also coming to a key loan fee.

    Congress slightly increased the VA Funding Fee for most buyers for the next two years. But there’s also a new exemption for Purple Heart recipients on active duty, and National Guard and Reserve loans now have the same fee structure as regular military.

    The VA Funding Fee applies to most purchase and refinance loans and helps keep the program running. Veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability and select others don’t pay the fee at all.

    After a decade of incredible growth, the VA loan benefit heads into a new one stronger than ever.

    Source

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  • 2020 Blue Water Navy Agent Orange Update

    BWN Agent Orange Update

     

    Blue Water Navy Agent Orange Update

    In the past year, a lot has changed for U.S. Navy Veterans who served during the Vietnam War era and did not go ashore in Vietnam or into the inland waterways / rivers (brown waters) of Vietnam. These sailors, known as Blue Water sailors have been denied VA benefits due to Agent Orange exposure for many years by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but now the law has recognized that anyone who served within 12 nautical miles in the territorial sea of the Republic of Vietnam was likely exposed to Agent Orange and is, then, entitled to service connection for those diseases known to be caused by that exposure. This change in the law by Congress will lead to grants of service connection for many Veterans, but it’s important to know how to get those disability benefits. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act says:

    Blue Water NavyVietnam Veterans must have served within 12 nautical miles

    Start this process by figuring out where you served. It’s been many years, and not everyone remembers exactly where their Navy ship was if they even knew at the time. A little internet research, however, can tell you when your ship was in or near the waters of Vietnam. Unfortunately, the VA has not made a ship list available to the public. We reached out to Blue Water Navy expert Ed Ball, Director of Research of MVA & BWNA, who has and continues to work on compiling over 1,700 Blue Water ship deck logs since 2016 and he had an important observation ” The Navy and Coast Guard Ships Associated with Service in Vietnam and Exposure to Herbicide Agents, aka ‘the ship list,’ previously used by all claims processors to concede qualifying service, is now restricted to the Records Research Team and designated legacy appeals personnel”. Because of this, our team has been hard at work putting together an interactive map tool using research such as Mr. Ball’s. You can request the deck logs for your ship and find out latitudes and longitudes and input them into our interactive map to find out if and when your ship was within the 12-mile limits.   If your ship was in the right place while you were aboard, VA will concede that you were exposed to Agent Orange.

    Blue Water Navy Veterans Must Have A Current Agent Orange-related disability

    VA has also conceded that certain diseases are caused by Agent Orange exposure. Exposure alone is not sufficient to qualify for benefits, but if you have been diagnosed with one of the presumptive conditions, such as diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, Prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, or one of a number of cancers, VA will concede that these disabilities were caused by Agent Orange. Of note, VA is currently considering a number of new disabilities to add to the list of presumptive diseases, such as bladder cancer and hypertension. If you have been diagnosed with one of those conditions, go ahead and file now and get in line to preserve your effective dates. In addition, even if a condition is not listed as a presumptive condition, if your physician has told you that your disability is related to your exposure to Agent Orange, it is worth filing a claim. Service connection can be awarded for a condition if a Veteran can provide a medical nexus between exposure to Agent Orange and the current disability, even if the condition is not presumptive.

    How Can Blue Waters Get VA Disability Benefits?

    Our understanding is that the VA is not going to seek out Vietnam-era Navy Veterans and reevaluate their cases for Veterans benefits unless a claim has been filed. If you served in the territorial sea and you have an Agent Orange-related disability, and you don’t currently have a pending appeal for those conditions, you should file one as soon as possible. If you filed a claim years ago that was denied by VA, you still need to file a claim to reopen that previously-denied claim. Even if you have a pending appeal for one condition, you need to make sure that you have filed a claim for any other Agent Orange-related conditions as soon as possible. Sadly, many Veterans who filed claims years ago have since passed away, but spouses may file to reopen these claims as well, so go ahead and file these claims in case you are entitled to any accrued benefits (those to which the Veteran would have been entitled) or DIC benefits (if the Veteran’s Agent Orange-related disability contributed to his cause of death).

    What Evidence Can I Use to Prove Agent Orange Exposure?

    VA is supposed to be doing their own research into which Navy ships qualify for benefits due to herbicide exposure (Agent Orange) and for what time periods, but if you have already determined this information for yourself, submit evidence along with your claims. This could speed up your claim. In addition, make sure that you provide VA with the best medical records that you can obtain. You want to provide evidence as far back as you can, showing when you were diagnosed with the relevant conditions and, to the best of your ability, how severe your condition was over time. If you received health care at VA facilities, this kind of evidence is usually available. Gathering these records can be much more difficult if you received health care from private doctors who may have destroyed records after 7 years.   These records can be the key to maximizing your rating.

    Carefully Review Any Blue Water Decision You Receive

    Once VA decides your claim, it is important to review carefully to make sure that you have received the earliest effective date possible and the highest rating possible for your disability compensation.   Check to see if the effective date matches the date when you first filed your claim or when you first developed the Agent-Orange related disability. If not, you may need to appeal the decision. Similarly, check to see if the rating reflects the severity of your condition across time. For instance, if your Parkinson’s disease is rated at a flat 30%, VA probably didn’t consider how this condition affects each individual body part. Similarly, if your heart condition is rated 10% for a 20 year period during which you suffered heart attacks or congestive heart failure, or if your cancer is rated less than 100% for a period of time while you were receiving chemotherapy, you may need to appeal that decision. If you don’t know what the correct effective date or rating should be, or if you don’t know how to prove your case, then consult an expert to help you with your appeal for disability benefits due to Agent Orange herbicide exposure.

    Source

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  • 2020 HIRE Vets Medallion Award application now open

    Medallion Award

     

    HIRE Vets Medallion Award recognizes employers who hire and retain Veterans

    The 2020 HIRE Vets Medallion Award application is now open to employers until April 30, 2020. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is a Labor Department recognition for employers that commit to hiring and retaining Veterans into meaningful, family-sustaining careers.

    There are many Veteran employment-related awards, lists, and rankings. However, it can be overwhelming for Veterans (and others) to differentiate between the employers committed to providing jobs and the employers committed to providing meaningful, long-term careers. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is the only federal Veterans’ employment award that recognizes and honors employers’ commitment to Veteran hiring, retention, and professional development—and it carries the full weight of the federal government.

    In 2019, DOL recognized over 400 large, medium, and small employers that earned the HIRE Vets Medallion Award–an increase from the 200 employers it saluted in 2018. These companies came from 48 states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, to hire more than 52,000 Veterans. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award recipients have demonstrated they understand the challenges that Veterans face when entering the workforce, as well as how to address those challenges and how to help Veterans succeed.

    Long term

    It’s easy for many companies to hire Veterans; it’s much harder to retain and train those Veterans for long-term prosperity. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award Program recognizes the employers that focus on this long-term goal. They are the companies that provide leadership opportunities, host Veteran resource (affinity) groups, offer professional development and training, and more:

    These companies have Veterans on staff to help new Veteran employees become more well-rounded leaders in the company and their community.

    They group employees into small teams, similar to the small unit leadership skills Veterans learn in the military.

    They work to ease the transition from military to civilian life by providing a structured work environment that also focuses on the camaraderie service members love.

    Lastly, they help their Veterans set specific career goals and plans, and identify training opportunities to achieve those goals.

    Other resources

    There are also a number of resources for service members to help them navigate their transition to civilian careers. DOL partners with agencies and programs, such as the VA and Department of Defense, to ensure transitioning service members and Veterans have access to world-class resources that support their skill sets. DOL’s Veteran’s Employment and Training Service (VETS) offers access to both employer and future employee resources such as American Job Centers and Employment and Vocational Training Track workshops for transitioning service members.

    Now, with the HIRE Vets Medallion Award Program, DOL can provide these resources while helping Veterans more easily identify employers dedicated to furthering their careers. One way to do that is by visiting the newly added Awardee page at HIREVets.gov, which allows recipients to add a hyperlink to the map listing and allows potential employees to find them at HIREVets.gov/Awardees.

    The HIRE Vets Medallion Award Program isn’t just about hiring – it’s about Veteran careers. Visit HIREVets.gov to learn more about the 2020 program, requirements, and to see the list of 2019 and 2018 HIRE Vets Medallion Award recipients.

    Source

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  • 2020 Updates to VA Home Loan Benefits

    VA Home Loans

     

    OnJune 25, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Blue Water Navy Act into law. This act was to increase and expand VA benefits for Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members.

    Funding Fee Changes

    The new law came into effect onJanuary 1, 2020, and has brought temporary changes to the VA funding fee with an increase to the amount that is paid by qualifying Service Members from 0.15% to 0.30%. These changes will last for at least the next two years. They have also brought a decrease to the amount that National Guard and military reserves members must pay to their funding fee.

    Also, disabled Veterans who were already not subject to the funding fee have not been affected by the new law’s changes to the funding fee. Active-Duty Service Members who have earned a purple heart can have their funding fee waived if they close on their home while they are still in active duty.

    Removal of Loan Limits

    Perhaps the biggest and most significant change to the VA home loan program is the removal of loan limits, which were previously determined by the property’s county. This removal of loan limits has enabled borrowers to look for homes in more affluent areas. Before the loan limit removal, they would not have been able to look at those areas due to their costs exceeding the loan limits for that specific county.

    However, the government does not administer the VA loan; qualified lenders provide them. These lenders are still required to make sure that the borrower can afford to make their monthly loan payments. Also, even though the VA has removed all loan limits for first-time borrowers, specific lenders can still set up their loan limits. One such lender is https://www.vahomeloancenters.org/ VA Home Loan Centers, which has a VA loan limit of $5,000,000.

    Additionally, Native American Veterans onFederalTrustLand who want to build or purchase a property in have had their loan limits entirely removed by this new law. Furthermore, borrowers who already have one existing VA home loan are still subject to their county loan limit, which is currently at $510,400 in most of the country.

    VA Benefits  

    Currently, VA loans are amongst the best home loans available. Meant for Veterans, Active-Duty Service Members, and surviving spouses of Service Members who are either deceased or are missing in action. These loans offer several benefits which include:

    -       $0 Down Payments.

    -       Low Monthly Payments.

    -       15- to 30-year Fixed Mortgages.

    -       No Prepayment Penalties.

    -       Low-Interest Rates.

    -       No Mortgage Premiums.

    Also, as a government-guaranteed home loan, lenders are protected in case the borrower ends up not being able to make their monthly payments. As a result, lenders are more lenient with their eligibility requirements.

    VA Eligibility

    If you’re a Veteran or an Active-Duty Service Member, you will most likely qualify for a VA home loan. You must meet one of the following requirements:

    -       Served for at least 90 consecutive days of active duty service during wartime.

    -       If your service was during peacetime, you must have served for at least 181 days in active duty.

    -       If you are in the national guard or the reserves, you must have at least six years of service.

    -       If you are the spouse of a Veteran who is deceased, your spouse must have passed away while in active duty or as a disability-related to their service.

    VA Credit Score Requirements 

    VA home loans do not have any credit score requirements. However, lenders, on average, require a credit score of 640 or above. Some VA lenders will approve borrowers who have lower credit scores. Still, they will be required to provide further explanation as to why their credit score is the way it is.

    VA Property Requirements 

    Properties you apply for must meet the requirements that are set out by the VA. Qualifying homes include single-family residences, multi-family dwellings, and condos. Although condos must be VA approved, however, if they are not accepted, you can apply for approval at https://www.vahomeloancenters.org/instructions-to-submit-condo-pud-or-cic-for-expedited-military-loan-approval VA Home Loan Centers.

    Conclusion

    In a concerted effort to improve the rate of homeownership for our brave Service Members, VA home loans have had its loan limits removed. By signing this act, President Trump has emphasized the country’s dedication to members of our military and their families.

    Phil Georgiades is theCLS for VA Home Loan Centers, a government-sponsored brokerage specializing in VA home loans. He has been practicing real estate professional for 22 years. To learn more about whether a VA loan is right for you or to apply for a VA loan, here.

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  • 23 things Veterans may carry for life

    Christopher Allen

     

    In the back of every Veteran’s closet, you’re likely to find some old uniforms, dusty caps, a stack of medical, training, and discharge records... maybe a few ribbons or medals. But these are just a few of the typical things that separated or retired service members keep with them. Other things, they’re stuck with forever.

    So, we compiled a list of the more non-traditional things that Veterans carry for life.

    1. An incessant need to roll socks
    2. Bad knees
    3. The misguided idea that ibuprofen and fresh socks will cure any ailment
    4. Tinnitis. ZNNNNNNNNNG.
    5. The ability to sleep anywhere
    6. The plight of not being able to sleep at all
    7. Old combat boots. They’re great for mowing the lawn or a trip to Home Depot.
    8. Fear of tape tests
    9. Issues with authority figures
    10. Back pain
    11. T-shirts from strange events and places they don’t remember going
    12. A woobie that has seen better days.
    13. A swearing problem that is FUBAR
    14. A love/hate relationship with acronyms
    15. Total disdain for PowerPoint
    16. Scars from barracks shenanigans gone awry
    17. A few ugly divorces
    18. A truck they bought after gaining some sense and selling that Camaro they financed at 27% APR
    19. Some weird strip club stories
    20. Sleep apnea
    21. Bad tattoos that seemed like a really good idea at the time
    22. Boxy brown t-shirts that somehow have sweat stains in a different, more gross shade of brown
    23. A deeply stained, never-before-washed coffee mug that they tell everyone is “seasoned”

    Source

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  • 3 VA Mental Health Counselors Kept Their Jobs After Starting Relationships with Patients, Watchdog Finds

    VAMC Danville Illinois

     

    Three mental health counselors were allowed to keep practicing at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Danville, Illinois, despite leaders knowing they had engaged in inappropriate relationships with patients, the VA's top investigator found.

    One counselor had a baby with a former patient, and another continued to live with a former patient while working at the VA facility for years after complaints were filed by a whistleblower.

    Though leaders "took initial actions" to address what is considered a breach of professional ethics, an investigation wasn't launched until after the whistleblower filed complaints in 2018 against the first two providers and in 2019 after the third provider's patient died from an overdose.

    From 2013 to 2020, two licensed clinical social workers and a certified addiction counselor at the VA Illiana Health Care System each developed personal relationships with patients.

    In its investigation, the VA Office of the Inspector General found that the addiction counselor remained on staff providing substance abuse counseling and was living with their once-patient as of early 2020.

    One of the licensed clinical social workers was reassigned to a lower position at the facility and had a baby with their patient as of early 2020. The other licensed clinical social worker resigned abruptly after their patient died of an overdose in 2019.

    According to the report, released May 3, the therapist who resigned continued to have "full unrestricted license to practice social work" in the state of Illinois as of early 2020.

    Facility leaders took some actions to address the inappropriate relationships after complaints were lodged, said Dr. John Daigh, the VA's assistant inspector general for health care, in the report, but "multiple factors affected the effectiveness of those actions."

    Daigh said that, while leaders put new plans in place to prevent future ethical lapses, they did not take the important step of reporting the employees to licensing and certification boards.

    "Given the egregious nature of the providers' behaviors, facility leaders failed to report Providers B and C to their state licensing boards in a timely manner and failed to report Provider A to the appropriate professional certification board," Daigh wrote.

    In some states, sexual or romantic relationships between a provider and their patient are a criminal offense.

    In Illinois, such relationships are not unlawful, but they are deeply unethical: A therapist can lose their license or have it suspended if they engage in a sexual or romantic relationship with a client or engage in sexual activities with former clients up to five years after they stop their professional relationship.

    Daigh said the behavior should have sparked a report to the state licensing board within five days of the employees' removal from clinical duties while an investigation was underway.

    One provider was not removed from their job until 314 days after a fact-finding review was launched; the other resigned before disciplinary action could be taken. VA Iliana leadership completed the reporting process 97 days later.

    The substance abuse counselor was never removed from their job, and the VA reported the ethical breach to the employee's professional certification board several years later, and only after finding out that the board had a process for filing complaints.

    "Sexual contact between providers and patients is considered to be "unethical, exploitative, and harmful with the potential for injury such as mental health disorders, sexual dysfunction, and increased risk of suicide," according to the report.

    This was the case for the patient romantically involved with one of the licensed clinical social workers. During the hospital's fact-finding investigation, those interviewed said the patient had relapsed, was homeless and had expressed thoughts of suicide, and they believed that the relationship contributed to this instability.

    Investigators recommended an intervention, and there was a record of one attempt to reach the patient. But a connection was never made, and the patient died of an overdose nine days later.

    The report on the Illiana VA follows a lawsuit filed last December by three Veterans against the federal government and a former psychiatrist at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, alleging medical malpractice and sexual abuse.

    According to court filings in the Northern District of California, former VA psychiatrist Dr. Ferda Sakman had sex with at least one patient and pressured another for sex. One patient reported that Sakman used astrology as part of her therapy and incorporated hallucinogenic drugs in her practice while also taking them herself.

    Sakman worked for the VA from 2014 to 2016, and from 2018 to 2020.

    She surrendered her medical license in July 2020 after the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct found her negligent on "more than one occasion," for her "care and contact with a male patient which was contrary to the accepted standards of medicine and for having failed to adhere to professional boundaries."

    In Danville, the VA OIG recommended that the regional director at the Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 evaluate the processes that led to the facility's failure to identify and respond to inappropriate relationships on staff.

    The OIG also made recommendations to the facility director to improve the timing of reports to state licensing or certification boards.

    In the response, VA officials concurred with the recommendations, saying they planned to implement them this spring.

    "We deeply regret the circumstances that impacted the care of these Veterans. As health care professionals, we are committed to providing quality care, maintaining patient well-being, and collaborating for positive patient outcomes," wrote Staci Williams, executive director of the VA Illiana Health Care System.

    A spokesman for the VA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday the recommendations are to be completed this month.

    According to VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes, the hospital has taken "swift action to address inappropriate relationships," to include revising policies, conducting "professional boundary training," and making changes to its reporting system.

    "VA continues to place the highest focus on providing safe, quality care for our patients," Hayes wrote in an email.

    Source

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  • 300 birthday cards for a 100-year-old World War II Veteran

    300 B day Cards

     

    VA North Texas Health Care System patient, James South, loves playing golf and eating chicken fried steak. On October 7th, South enjoyed both of these activities as he celebrated his 100th birthday!

    South, a World War II Veteran of the Invasion of Normandy, also spent part of the day reading some of the 300 birthday cards he received from VA North Texas Health Care System employees and patients. VA North Texas’ Veteran and Employee Experience team saw South’s plea on social media and answered the call for birthday cards through donations from staff and other Veterans.

    These cards represented a small fraction of the nearly 100,000 cards he received after a simple Facebook posting asking for 100 birthday cards went viral and garnered national and international attention.

    “What an honor it is to celebrate the 100th birthday of a true American hero like James South,” said Dr. Stephen Holt, VA North Texas Health Care System Director. “It’s so great to see our patient, Mr. South, thoroughly enjoying life and playing golf with his son at 100 years—we should all be so fortunate.”

    South, who resides in a Watauga, Texas, retirement home, became a fan of regular written correspondence during his military service overseas when his then girlfriend would write him a letter every day. He would later marry that girlfriend, Sophie, and they enjoyed 55 years before her death in 2001.

    “I’m so happy to get all of these cards,” said South. “I want them up on my walls so I can enjoy them every day.”

    South is one of 134,000 active patients that utilize VA North Texas Health Care System for their health care over 1.5 million times per year.

    Source

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  • 300 Veterans Lay Fellow Soldier to Rest Who Had No Immediate Family

    Corporal Charles York

     

    The call went out in September for help, and days later, 300 Veterans helped lay a soldier to rest who had no immediate family.

    According to the Southwest (Oklahoma) Ledger in Lawton, Corporal Charles York was a dual service Veteran who was a part of the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Fort Sill National Cemetery officials reached out on Facebook for Veterans to attend the service. Conversely, they could not locate any living members of the man’s family.

    York’s obituary and his birthdate were not available.

    One Facebook user got the message and said, “Many of our Blue Knights Oklahoma IV members are Veterans. We will make every effort to have a representative there.”

    Around 300 Veterans attended the man’s funeral at the Fort Sill National Cemetery. Further, the service lasted 20 minutes, and officials said it was the largest group ever to attend an unaccompanied Veteran’s service in the cemetery’s history.

    The newspaper published several photos of men on their motorcycles at the funeral. They likely were part of a procession at York’s service.

    Veteran’s Legacy

    York grew up in Wewoka before his enlistment.

    The Facebook post listed his PN2 rank with the U.S. Navy and the corporal rank with the Marines.

    After his discharge, the man continued his education. Eventually, York became a teacher. He taught math at Broken Arrow High School for nine years before resigning to focus on his family.

    Marilyn Woods, the recreation director and programs administrator for the Lawton/Ft. Sill Veterans Center also said the man was at the center as a resident for 17 years.

    “He is deeply missed by the residents and staff of the facility,” she said in an email.

    Subsequently, York enjoyed spending time outdoors, visiting the casino, watching sports and reading.

    Unaccompanied Vets Come to Fort Sill Cemetery

    The Fort Sill National Cemetery regularly holds memorial services for unaccompanied Veterans. These are former service members whose next of kin is unknown or who have loved ones that cannot attend their service.

    Often, a public administrator, VA medical center, or another official will make the burial arrangements.

    According to the Veterans Administration, every Veteran has earned a final burial place in a national cemetery.

    Each memorial service includes full military funeral honors, the playing of “Taps,” the presentation of a folded American flag as well as bagpipes.

    The 391-acre Fort Sill National Cemetery in Elgin had a dedication on Nov. 2, 2001. The cemetery is home to more than 8,000 interments of Veterans and eligible dependents.

    Burial in a VA national cemetery is open to all armed forces members and Veterans who have met minimum active-duty service requirements. This term is applicable by law. Another key point of the burial is that Veterans had to be discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.

    Source

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  • 3D printing helps VA doctors treat heart conditions

    3D Printing 001

     

    Veterans will soon hold models of their own hearts pre-surgery

    Veterans with heart conditions will soon be able to hold a 3D model of their own heart while talking with their doctor about possible treatments, thanks to 3D printing.

    VA Puget Sound Health Care System doctors, researchers and engineers are working with their counterparts at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine to use 3D printing to diagnose and treat complex heart conditions.

    Hold your heart in your hands

    “Imagine the power of holding a life-sized 3D model of your own heart in your hands while your cardiologist discusses your treatment plan and walks you through your upcoming procedure step by step. This is the reality that we want for all of our patients,” said VA Puget Sound radiologist Dr. Beth Ripley.

    Currently, without a 3D model, a surgeon creates a plan for surgery by looking through hundreds or thousands of CT or MRI scans, putting together a rough picture of the actual organ from a series of flat images. To create a model, a radiologist uses those same images to make a 3D blueprint, which is then sent to a 3D printer. The result is an almost perfect copy of the patient’s body part.

    Reducing costs and shortening surgery times

    Three-dimensional heart models will come in handy for a procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, in which the surgeon replaces a narrow heart valve that no longer opens properly.

    “Beyond improving our understanding of a patient’s anatomy, it allows us to know which catheters and replacement valves will fit, and how best to approach the particular structure,” said UW research scientist Dmitry Levin. In turn, he said, that knowledge helps reduce the cost of devices and shorten the length of surgery.

    3D frontier

    VA Puget Sound doctors already print 3D kidney models that they use for planning kidney surgery. They also print 3D foot orthotics that prevent amputations for Veterans with type 2 diabetes.

    The VA-UW team expects the partnership to result in new techniques and treatment approaches. As a result, it could eventually help heart patients worldwide.

    Ripley said the next frontier is 3D printing of living tissue. “In the near future, we will be able to make living bone,” complete with blood vessels, she said.

    Source

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  • 3D printing solutions exceed Veterans’ expectations

    3D Printing Solutions

     

    David Cromwell has always had a keen eye for the fine details in life. With the help of the Prosthetics Service at the San Antonio VA, the Army Veteran has cultivated a passion for sharpshooting.

    Even though Cromwell has been in a wheelchair for the last 33 years, he hasn’t let that slow him down. Traveling all over the world, from Thailand to Dubai, he recently made the Para-Shooting National Developmental team and is exceeding expectations while also creating tools that help him along the way.

    “These guys make sure that I’m up and able to do the things that I’m doing,” Cromwell said. “I have to confess: Sometimes I come in just to check and see how they are doing because they’re friends. They are our extended family. They care as much about what’s going on with us as we do.”

    Over the years while competing, Cromwell realized that many components of his rifle didn’t conform to the challenges he faced with his hands. It wasn’t until he started asking around the Prosthetics Service at the San Antonio VA about 3D printing that he discovered a solution.

    “I spent three days carving, shaping and fine-tuning a foam block for a grip with a dremel and sandpaper to make it a grip to work properly with my hand. Prosthetics Service worked with it and added a composite material around the model grip. It’s been a little trial and error, making adjustments, and it has helped me so much,” he said.

    Since then, Cromwell made the National Development Team and even qualified for the Pan American Games and World Championship in Sydney, Australia.

    Gordon Bosker, a supervisor in Prosthetics Service at the San Antonio VA, says the caring attitude amongst employees is extremely high.

    “People say it’s weird, but it’s cutting edge. I’m hoping with the new 3D printer that we get that we can start scanning him and doing some real weird stuff,” Bosker said.

    Like family

    Cromwell said he is looking forward to the opportunity of utilizing a 3D printer and says he has been chomping at the bit for it to arrive.

    “I didn’t know they did it here. With adaptive shooting, they don’t have any specific for what we’re doing. We’re a very small niche and so we’re having to create everything,” he said.

    “We can do a lot of things if they want to and he wanted to,” Bosker said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to be sure that we meet his needs.”

    Even during a health scare two months ago, Prosthetic Service staff members checked in on him, something Cromwell said they didn’t even need to do, but wanted to.

    “It’s making sure we’re squared away. There’s that aspect, but I think they genuinely care too. They are outstanding, I know they are trying. The frontline people are incredible, and Bosker is like a big brother. This is like a family,” he said.

    Source

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  • 3M ordered to pay $110 million to 2 Army Vets in latest earplug suit

    Earplug Suit

     

    A Florida jury handed down a $110 million verdict against 3M in the latest trial over the company’s allegedly defective earplugs — a sum twice the size as all other related earplug verdicts combined.

    The case was the latest in a series of bellwether trials that are meant to shape potential settlements for large-scale litigation on the issue. Claims have been filed by more than 250,000 Veterans and military personnel alleging they suffered hearing loss while wearing a certain type of Combat Arms earplugs.

    3M, which stopped selling Combat Arms CAEv2 earplugs in 2015, has maintained the product was effective and that “in some situations, such as combat scenarios, it is undisputed that even robust protection cannot prevent some hearing loss.”

    Ronald Sloan and William Wayman, both Army Veterans, late Thursday were awarded compensatory and punitive damages after convincing the jury the Maplewood-based company was to blame for their hearing loss.

    “A jury of eight people held 3M liable for its conduct and awarded each soldier $55 million for a combined judgment of $110 million, much of which was to punish the company for its conduct and concealing its knowledge of a defective earplug for 15 years,” said attorney Michael Sacchet of Ciresi Conlin LLP, the firm representing both soldiers in a consolidated trial.

    The company said in a statement Friday it will appeal the verdict.

    “While we are disappointed with the verdicts, the overall mixed record in the bellwether process thus far shows that plaintiffs face significant challenges in this litigation and each case must be considered on its own facts and circumstances,” 3M said. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously throughout this litigation.”

    Plaintiffs have won six cases against 3M to date with $160 million awarded, while the company has received five favorable verdicts.

    Another five trials are scheduled this year.

    When the bellwether trials are over, thousands of cases could begin proceeding.

    “These verdicts only strengthen our resolve to try these cases in front of juries nationwide to hold 3M fully accountable for putting profits over the safety of those who served our nation,” attorneys for Sloan and Wayman said in a statement.

    The company contends its “commitment to keeping our military safe has been misconstrued by plaintiffs and their lawyers who have financial stakes in this litigation.”

    3M became a major player in the military earplug market in 2008 when it bought Aearo Technologies. Ten years later, the company settled a government whistleblower suit over the earplugs, which opened the door to a flood of claims now pending around the country.

    3M stock fell more than 4% on Friday, ending the day at $163.12, its lowest closing price in the last 52 weeks. Chief executive Mike Roman told anxious investors earlier this week: “We believe our product was safe and effective in its use, and we’re vigorously defending ourselves.”

    Source

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  • 40 Years Later, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Stands as Lasting Statement on War and Remembrance

    VV Memorial

     

    President Ronald Reagan wasn't coming because of what the White House called "security concerns" and so it fell to a veteran who had been a prisoner of war for more than eight years to represent the administration at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Nov. 11, 1982.

    Retired Navy Cmdr. Everett Alvarez, the first U.S. aviator to be captured by the North Vietnamese when his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down in August 1964, took on the task of speaking at the dedication with some doubts about the memorial's design.

    But his main concern was with how veterans, and the nation, would react to a shiny black granite wall dug into the earth that listed the names of more than 57,900 U.S. service members who lost their lives in a divisive conflict, a number that would grow over the years.

    "The Wall" has since become the most visited memorial in Washington and maintains its iconic grip on the national conscience. But back in 1982, "Oh yeah, I had concerns. It was a tumultuous time," the 84-year-old Alvarez recalled in a recent phone interview with Military.com.

    In more normal times, the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, known as the Veterans Administration back then, would have been the logical choice to represent the government at the memorial's dedication in the president's absence, but VA Administrator Bob Nimmo had resigned abruptly in October 1982 after enraging veterans with his comments and conduct in office.

    He had called veterans organizations "greedy," and written off the aftereffects of Agent Orange as cases of "a little teenage acne."

    Nimmo "had basically been run out of town," said Alvarez, who had been confirmed in July 1982 as deputy administrator, or No. 2, at the VA.

    It was his job to go to the dedication despite his misgivings with the design by Maya Lin, a 21-year-old Yale undergraduate architecture student, whose concept was chosen in an arts competition.

    "At the time, I had to deal with this trench. Initially, I thought it was unkind," Alvarez said of the memorial's black walls, which extended along a walkway and reached out to grasp at ground level.

    The unconventional design broke with what many thought of as war memorial tradition -- white marble columns in a Greco-Roman motif, or maybe the great man on a horse.

    "To me, it was representative of how veterans were being depicted in the media and Hollywood -- in other words, losers, drug addicts, homeless, living in the woods," Alvarez said, and that was not how he viewed Vietnam veterans.

    "They gave their lives; they did their jobs," he said. "They were asked to go, and a lot of them got drafted, a lot of them volunteered. And they went and did their jobs, and it was basically to preserve freedom. You can argue one way or another whether it was successful."

    Some of the commentaries from pundits and Vietnam veterans also were highly critical, suggesting that the memorial was a "monument to defeat," a "black gash of shame," or a "wailing wall for draft dodgers."

    But all of that angst appeared to dissolve when veterans themselves and the parents, relatives and friends who had waited in vain for the return of those listed on the walls -- in chronological rather than alphabetical order, without ranks to distinguish the officers from the privates and lance corporals -- saw the monument.

    At the ceremony on Nov. 11, 1982, the crowd surged forward at the conclusion of the remarks, taking down, with the help of the National Park Service, the snow fence that separated them from the walls. They reached out to touch, chiseled into the granite, the names of those they knew -- to speak to them, to leave behind a note, or maybe their jungle boots, or a pack of cigarettes, or a can of beer.

    As he watched the emotional response, Alvarez said, "I changed my view" on the memorial as he "realized how it affected the public," and what it would mean to future generations.

    "What struck me was the tremendous outpouring of the people, the veterans that came for the dedication and their families," he said. "That was heartwarming. It is, I would have to say, very therapeutic in a way for a lot of people."

    'We Shouldn't Have Been Able to Do It'

    Veterans who come to the memorial, located off Constitution Avenue NW near the Lincoln Memorial, for the first time can find the experience overwhelming.

    "I felt like I had walked into a cathedral," former Army 1st Lt. Marsha Four, a nurse who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970, said of her first sight of the memorial in 1992. "At night, I came up over a rise and, all of a sudden, the wall comes up out of the earth. I literally fell down on my knees. It was so powerful to see the wall and all those names.

    "It's simple, it's blunt and it's the truth," she said of the memorial. The message is that "this is what happened. This is the sacrifice we made."

    Four, now 75, has been coming back to the site on the National Mall every year since 1992, and she'll be coming down from Philadelphia, where she's in a chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, for the 40th anniversary.

    The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, or VVMF, has planned a series of events for the anniversary, beginning with a reading of the more than 58,300 names now listed on the memorial's walls on Nov. 7 and concluding at midnight Nov. 10, followed by ceremonies and speakers at the memorial on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. (More info can be found at vvmf.org.)

    Former Army Sgt. Grant Coates, who served with the 78th Combat Tracker Team from September 1968 to September 1969, will be coming to the anniversary from Oneonta, N.Y. He has been coming every year since 1986, when he visited with his mother, wife and daughter.

    "Personally, it's a pilgrimage to me," Coates said. He looks at the names and wonders: "Each person would have had a life, would have had a future." Every time he visits, he searches out the name of a buddy, Spc. 4 Edwin Erlin Cox Jr., to say hello. Cox was killed by a booby trap that also wounded Coates.

    The memorial's reflective walls also invite engagement from visitors, and that can be tough for some veterans, said former Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class John P. Brown of Youngstown, Ohio, who ran cargo and troop carrier craft around Danang and along the coast in support of the 3rd Marine Division.

    "When you see yourself reflected in that wall, it hits hard," he said. "It's tough, but you've got to keep fighting on for yourself and your family. You can't let the war take over your life. You have to seek help when you need it. I got the help, and I continue to get the help," said Brown, a former national commander of the AMVETS organization.

    Then there are the Vietnam veterans for whom it is still too painful to visit the memorial, even after 40 years. Former Marine Staff Sgt. Sheldon Hartsfield, who served with the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, said that he eventually wanted to visit the memorial in Washington but did not think he was ready.

    As a past Missouri state commander for AMVETS, he has visited the "Traveling Wall" version of the memorial when it comes to Missouri, and he continues to serve at funerals for veterans in the state. But "personally, it's difficult for me" to make the trip to Washington. "I'm here, I made it home," he said, but "I have not successfully defeated all my demons yet."

    The wall's impact on veterans and how the memorial would be received by a nation still mired in endless debate over the war, how it was fought, and who was to blame for the chaotic withdrawal that saw Vietnamese clinging to the skids of departing helicopters, was an issue for the small and sometimes fractious group of veterans who advocated in the late 1970s for the project.

    But the main concern was to get approval for a site on the National Mall and to set the politics aside. What the design would be and how they'd raise the $8 million that would eventually be needed to complete the memorial -- well, they'd figure it out.

    "We were too dumb and too naïve to realize we shouldn't have been able to do it," said Robert Doubek, a former Air Force intelligence officer who would become executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

    "We were just junior officers and enlisted," he said, "entrusted with two acres of the most valuable land in the country" on the National Mall when Congress and President Jimmy Carter gave approval for the site.

    "The whole idea was Scruggs,'" Doubek said, referring to Jan Scruggs, who founded the VVMF and was the driving force behind the effort to create the memorial. Scruggs is an enlisted Army veteran who served in Vietnam in 1969 and received a Purple Heart for wounds from a rocket-propelled grenade.

    At a 1979 White House Rose Garden ceremony where Carter signed the bill approving the site, Scruggs gave his vision for the meaning behind the memorial: "We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war. Rather, by honoring those who sacrificed, we hope to provide a symbol of national unity and reconciliation," he said.

    Shortly after the White House ceremony, the VVMF announced that there would be an open arts competition for the design and issued a booklet setting out parameters for what the artists should consider in submitting proposals.

    The memorial should seek to inspire contemplation and reflection, the booklet said. "Finally, we wish to repeat that the Memorial is not to be a political statement, and that its purpose is to honor the service and memory of the war's dead, its missing, and its veterans -- not the war itself. The Memorial should be conciliatory, transcending the tragedy of the war."

    In Doubek's estimation, the design by Maya Lin met and exceeded the expectations of the VVMF. "I would simply say it's had a profound effect on the soul of the country. It's a sacred place of healing, remembrance and homage for veterans, their families and all Americans," he said.

    "It represents immense pain and sacrifice, and it's played a pivotal role in our country's cultural shift to separate the war from the warrior because nobody anymore puts down Vietnam veterans for the war," Doubek said.

    For West Point English Professor Elizabeth Samet, whose books "No Man's Land" and "Looking For the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness" have explored the interplay and influence of war and literature on the national memory, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place apart from monuments to previous wars.

    Speaking personally, and not as a representative of the Army or the U.S. Military Academy, Samet said, "The first time I went, I remember it remaining for me the most powerful war memorial I have ever visited.

    "It seems to me that Maya Lin's wall does two things: It acknowledges the sacrifice of those who fought and honors that sacrifice," she said. "It's also a monument to the real horrors of war. It doesn't celebrate, it commemorates, and for that reason I think it seems to be starkly honest.

    "The names are about memory. They're about commemoration, about not forgetting," Samet added. "Most memorials have to represent the many, but this monument by mentioning, by naming all those who died, gives an individual kind of honor that one normally doesn't think of as possible in a memorial. So it's quite extraordinary for that reason."

    A Place to Let Go

    In his remarks at the dedication of the memorial on the afternoon of Nov. 11, 1982, Alvarez said that "many Americans today still have a difficult time dealing with that war, but no one can debate the service and sacrifice of those who fell while serving."

    He regretted that veterans returning from Vietnam did not receive "the type of welcome given to the veterans of other wars or even to those of us who were prisoners in Vietnam," but with the dedication of the memorial, “America is saying 'Welcome Home.'"

    As the crowd began to press forward at the close of the ceremony, Army Chaplain Max Sullivan, who received the Silver Star and Purple Heart while serving with the 11th Brigade of the Americal Division in 1968, gave a benediction that sought to address what he believed many of the veterans present were feeling.

    "Standing before this monument, we see reflected in a dark mirror dimly a time that was, and we remember ourselves, our lovers, our friends, our nation," Sullivan said. "We remember our enemies, our leaders, our buddies, our families. We remember the dreams we shared, the fear and the terror we endured, the lovemaking, the frivolity, the hate and the anger, the desire for survival and its uncertainty, the desperate need to understand."

    The memorial offered "a chance now to let go -- to let go of the pain, the grief, the resentment, the bitterness, the guilt. To let go of impossible dreams, old realities, lost innocence, the loss of unity, the loss of wholeness."

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  • 50 of the Best Online Resources for Senior Citizens

    50 Best Online Resources

     

    According to an article published by the University of Minnesota, as people get older they face a myriad of challenges linked to the problem of ageism. The same article notes that the psychological and biological effects of aging result in pronounced mental and physical health challenges for many (Source).

    Apart from dealing with health issues, as people get older, they have to deal with other challenges linked to consumer protection, access to education and jobs, and finding affordable housing. Senior citizens also have to think about tax and legal matters, and life after retirement. On the brighter side, they also have lots of time to travel and to get involved in their hobbies. So, they need information about travel and recreation activities which meet their specific needs.

    To help seniors navigate life’s challenges, the U.S. government used to have a website called Seniors.gov. Unfortunately, however, the site is no longer published. So, where do senior citizens go if they want to find curated resources linked to housing, legal issues, money and taxes, travel and leisure, and others? We did our research and put together a list of the most reputable and helpful sites.

    Table of Contents

    • What Happened To Seniors.gov
    • Consumer Protection for Seniors
    • Education, Jobs and Volunteering
    • End-of-life Issues
    • Federal and State Agencies for Seniors
    • Health for Seniors
    • Housing for Seniors
    • Laws and Regulations
    • Money and Taxes
    • Retirement
    • Travel and Recreation
    • Conclusion

    What Happened To Seniors.gov

    The website, Seniors.gov appeared on the internet in 1999 as part of a response to the promise made by the then U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 1997. In the introduction to his report entitled, Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology, Gore wrote that his view of the government of the future was one that would ensure that all Americans had access to services through electronic technology.

    During its early days, Seniors.gov, operated under the tagline “Access America for Seniors is a government-wide initiative to deliver electronic services from government agencies and organizations to seniors.” Visitors to the site could access information about benefits for seniors, employment opportunities, and education and training, among others (Source).

    By 2000, the website was describing itself as “The website to conduct business with & get information from the government…all in one place!” (Source). However, by the end of the same year, the site was redirecting to FirstGov.com. Between 2007 and 2015, the website had a new home at usa.gov/Topics/Seniors.shtm. As the year 2015 came to an end, launching the site simply produced an error message.

    It isn’t clear why the website was consolidated into other sites and what eventually happened to it. What we do know, however, is that there are many credible resources on the internet that senior citizens can use to accomplish their tasks.

    Consumer Protection for Seniors

    Using Federal funds provided by the United States’ Department of Justice, four authors, Kristy Holtfreter, Michael Reisig, Daniel Mears, and Scott Wolfe, produced a report entitled, Financial Exploitation of the Elderly in a Consumer Context. All four authors work in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in their respective universities.

    Even though this 186-page report is aimed at “researchers, practitioners, and policymakers,” there’s useful information for elderly people looking for ways to protect themselves from fraud. It also provides some information about state-based programs that the elderly can use if they have been victims.

    CreditUnion.gov has produced a video providing information about scams targeting seniors. You can watch the video below.

    The AARP Foundation defines its work as involving “tackling senior poverty by sparking bold, innovative solutions that help vulnerable older adults build economic opportunity and social connectedness.” According to the foundation, it works with hundreds of volunteers to help seniors identify, circumvent, and report fraud scams. The foundation’s website provides tools and additional information to help protect consumers against financial exploitation.

    Education, Jobs and Volunteering

    The internet has opened up a myriad of opportunities for older people who want to continue their education and learn new skills. One of the leading organizations involved in helping seniors use their existing skills, hobbies, experience, and knowledge to create sustainable incomes is Udemy. Udemy is an educational technology company which connects instructors to students across the world.

    An example of a great course for seniors on the Udemy platform is the Work from Home Ideas for Retired Seniors. Even though this course offers a certificate upon completion, students don’t have to pay anything to enroll.

    The SeniorJobBank describes itself as “a meeting place for over-50 job seekers and the employers seeking their services.” According to the owners of the service, they aim to offer opportunities for a full range of employment disciplines and types. Hence, the facility could be useful for people looking either for part-time opportunities or for fulltime work.

    VolunteerForever is an online resource for seniors seeking volunteer opportunities and source funding for those initiatives. This resource provides a chance for volunteers to leave reviews about experiences they have had working on different projects. You can learn more about the best volunteer programs, organizations, and projects here.

    End-of-life Issues

    Seniors looking for wide-ranging information regarding end of life issues can consult an array of books which can help them come to terms with the inevitability of death. We identified a few books that can be useful in this regard.

    • Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Access it here)
    • Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death (Find the book here)
    • Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communication of the Dying (Gain access here).

    The University of California San Francisco Health (UCSF) provides resources for end of life. Some of the resources available include the following.

    Family Caregivers Online provides free courses dealing with end of life. These courses are mostly aimed at caregivers. They provide skills related to funeral planning, talking about death, and how caregivers can take care of themselves while they are also taking care of an older person.

    Federal and State Agencies for Seniors

    Seniorliving.org provides a comprehensive guide to government aid for seniors. The website offers some information about how the government helps seniors to access services like housing, health, nutrition, and employment. According to the owners of this site, what makes it different is that it doesn’t operate from direct paid advertising; hence, it is unbiased.

    Eldercare Locator is a resource that describes itself as a “nationwide service that connects older Americans and their caregivers with trustworthy local support resources.” This resource is mostly useful for people looking for information about local and state agencies for aging, and community-based organizations which assist seniors and their caregivers.

    The National Center on Elder Abuse, established in 1988 by the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA), provides information about research, resources, training, and news on elder abuse. The primary principle guiding this organization is that every individual, no matter what their age is, has the right to live a full and independent life, where they control the choices they make about their experiences.

    Health for Seniors

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides access to agencies that have programs which give seniors a better quality of life. Seniors can learn more about the programs offered by the state and locate resources here.

    Among seniors, Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia (Source). The National Institute on Ageing website provides more information about the condition. It also delivers tips, news, and resources for healthcare professionals and caregivers. If you’d like to get more information about Alzheimer’s and Dementia, you can send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the Alzheimer’s & Related Dementias Education & Referral Center at 1-800-438-4380 during the week. They are open between 8:30 am-5:00 pm Eastern Time.

    Housing for Seniors

    Seniors and their families can seek a home through the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The program pays part of the cost of accommodating an individual to the landlord, and the family pays the difference. To find out if you could be eligible for this benefit, you can answer some questions here.

    FindLaw’s Elderly Rental Assistance Programs platform provides other options for housing for seniors. This housing resource also educates seniors on tenants’ rights and housing/age discrimination.

    Laws and Regulations

    One of the challenges seniors often face is age discrimination, particularly in the workplace. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides details about Age Discrimination in Employment Act which protects employees over 40 from being treated unfavorably based on their age.

    Seniors can get more information regarding elder abuse from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative (EJI). Interested individuals can access highlighted EJI resources here.

    The Pro Bono Project provides legal services to senior citizens who can’t afford to pay for a lawyer. Interested individuals can apply for free services on this page.

    The Area Agency on Aging also provides legal assistance for seniors. This organization has many branches across America. The Florida-based Alliance for Aging is one of these branches. Elders seeking answers to legal questions can also contact lawyers directly on Elderlawanswers.com.

    Money and Taxes

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a money and tax resource guide which can be downloaded as a PDF here. The guide is useful for someone who wants to know:

    • Why seniors are at risk of being financially exploited
    • Who the perpetrators of senior financial exploitation usually are
    • The methods criminals typically employ when they exploit seniors
    • How to plan for unexpected events

    Taxes can often be tricky, and even more so when you are older. Seniors can get tax counseling free of charge through the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Program. The program provides help with filing tax returns electronically or manually with the assistance of volunteers who have been trained by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

    Retirement

    The Center for Retirement Research is well-suited to an academically-inclined senior. It provides annual reports, graphs, and other data related to retirement. It also provides users with access to research papers and information on public pension plans. This resource also offers a tool to help you reach retirement targets.

    Several websites have a wide range of news articles for seniors to help them manage their retirement better. One source is the USNews. This site has a dedicated retirement section and a retirement calculator which gives users an idea of how long their retirement savings are likely to last them.

    Travel and Recreation

    You finally have time to see the world! However, before you pack your bags, please visit Travel.State.gov to prepare for your trip. This site helps users ensure that they have the right documents for different destinations. It also deals with issues linked to being prepared for emergencies.

    TravelSassySeniors.com provides information that makes traveling easier for seniors. Some helpful articles featured on the website include:

    SeniorLiving.org has a dedicated page with a broad range of leisurely activities for seniors. The page provides information about activities that can be done from the comfort of your home, such as arts and crafts, gardening, and cooking. It also advises on places you can visit around America such as Florida, Alaska, and New York City. For those seniors who want to broaden their horizons, it has information about England, Italy, and France.

    Conclusion

    Getting older can be daunting for some people, especially if they are unsure of what to expect. However, being armed with information can make the process easier. With the help of the resources provided in the article, we hope that your experience as a senior citizen will be a much more enjoyable one.

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  • 501 deaths + 10,748 other injuries reported following COVID vaccine, latest CDC data show

    501 Deaths

     

    The numbers reflect the latest data available as of Jan. 29 from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System website. Of the 501 reported deaths, 453 were from the U.S. The average age of those who died was 77, the youngest was 23.

    February 5, 2021 (Children’s Health Defense) — As of Jan. 29, 501 deaths — a subset of 11,249 total adverse events — had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) following COVID-19 vaccinations. The numbers reflect reports filed between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 29, 2021.

    VAERS is the primary mechanism for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before confirmation can be made that an adverse event was linked to a vaccine.

    As of Jan. 29, about 35 million people in the U.S. had received one or both doses of a COVID vaccine. So far, only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorization in the U.S. by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). By the FDA’s own definition, the vaccines are still considered experimental until fully licensed.

    According to the latest data, 453 of the 501 reported deaths were in the U.S. Fifty-three percent of those who died were male, 43% were female, the remaining death reports did not include the gender of the deceased. The average age of those who died was 77, the youngest reported death was of a 23-year-old. The Pfizer vaccine was taken by 59% of those who died, while the Moderna vaccine was taken by 41%.

    The latest data also included 690 reports of anaphylactic reactions to either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Of those, the Pfizer vaccine accounted for 76% of the reactions, and the Moderna vaccine for 24%.

    As The Defender reported today, a 56-year-old woman in Virginia died Jan. 30, hours after receiving her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Doctors told Drene Keyes’ daughter that her mother died of flash pulmonary edema likely caused by anaphylaxis. The death is under investigation by Virginia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and the CDC.

    Last week, the CDC told USA TODAY that based on “early safety data from the first month” of COVID-19 vaccination the vaccines are “as safe as the studies suggested they’d be” and that “everyone who had experienced an allergic response has been treated successfully, and no other serious problems have turned up among the first 22 million people vaccinated.

    Other vaccine injury reports updated this week on VAERS include 139 cases of facial asymmetry, or Bell’s palsy type symptoms, and 13 miscarriages.

    States reporting the most deaths were: California (45), Florida (22), Ohio (25), New York (22) and KY (22).

    The Moderna vaccine lot numbers associated with the highest number of deaths were: 025L20A (20 deaths), 037K20A (21 deaths) and 011J2A (16 deaths), 025J20A (16 deaths) . For Pfizer, the lot numbers associated with the most reports of deaths were: EK5730 (10 deaths), EJ1685 (23 deaths), EL0140 (19 deaths), EK 9231 (17 deaths) and EL1284 (13 deaths). For 135 of the reported deaths, the lot numbers were unknown.

    The clinical trials suggested that almost all the benefits of COVID vaccination and the vast majority of injuries were associated with the second dose.

    While the VAERS database numbers are sobering, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study, the actual number of adverse events is likely significantly higher. VAERS is a passive surveillance system that relies on the willingness of individuals to submit reports voluntarily.

    According to the VAERS website, healthcare providers are required by law to report to VAERS:

    • Any adverse event listed in the VAERS Table of Reportable Events Following Vaccination that occurs within the specified time period after vaccination
    • An adverse event listed by the vaccine manufacturer as a contraindication to further doses of the vaccine

    The CDC says healthcare providers are strongly encouraged to report:

    • Any adverse event that occurs after the administration of a vaccine licensed in the United States, whether or not it is clear that a vaccine caused the adverse event
    • Vaccine administration errors

    However, “within the specified time” means that reactions occurring outside that timeframe may not be reported, in addition to reactions suffered hours or days later by people who don’t report those reactions to their healthcare provider.

    Vaccine manufacturers are required to report to VAERS “all adverse events that come to their attention.”

    Historically, fewer than fewer than 1% of adverse events have ever been reported to VAERS, a system that Children’s Health Defense has previously referred to as an “abject failure,” including in a December 2020 letter to Dr. David Kessler, former FDA director and now co-chair of the COVID-19 Advisory Board and President Biden’s version of Operation Warp Speed.

    A critic familiar with VAERS’ shortcomings bluntly condemned VAERS in The BMJ as “nothing more than window dressing, and a part of U.S. authorities’ systematic effort to reassure/deceive us about vaccine safety.”

    CHD is calling for complete transparency. The children’s health organization is asking Kessler and the federal government to release all of the data from the clinical trials and suspend COVID-19 vaccine use in any group not adequately represented in the clinical trials, including the elderly, frail and anyone with comorbidities.

    CHD is also asking for full transparency in post-marketing data that reports all health outcomes, including new diagnoses of autoimmune disorders, adverse events and deaths from COVID vaccines.

    Children’s Health Defense asks anyone who has experienced an adverse reaction, to any vaccine, to file a report following these three steps.

    Source

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  • 51 years ago, this airman threw himself on a burning flare to save his crew

    John Levitow

     

    The annals of the infantry and special forces community are filled with tales of heroes throwing themselves on grenades to save their buddies. Just in the past 20 years, four Medals of Honor were earned by service members who dove onto explosives, knowing full well what the consequences would be.

    But 51 years ago today, an airman proved that such heroism isn’t limited to troops on the ground. Sgt. John Lee Levitow (then an Airman First Class) saved his entire aircrew in the skies above Vietnam by throwing himself on a flare that was mere seconds from igniting into a 4,000 degree fireball that would have melted right through their aircraft.

    How did such a strange situation come to be? According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, on February 24, 1969, Levitow was a loadmaster aboard an AC-47 gunship flying a night mission in support of Long Binh Army post, in the country’s south.

    Troops at Long Binh were besieged by enemy mortar fire, wrote Air Force Magazine in a 1984 article. The AC-47, using the call sign Spooky 71, was loaded up with 7.62-mm Miniguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition to help them out.

    To guide their aim and provide illumination for troops on the ground, Air Force Magazine explained, the AC-47s used Mark 24 magnesium flares, which were three-foot long metal tubes that weighed 27 pounds a piece.

    On a normal day, an airman would trigger the arming mechanism of the flare and chuck it out the plane’s cargo door. Ten seconds later, an explosive charge would open the flare’s parachute, and 10 seconds after that, the magnesium would ignite, generating a light of 2,000,000 candlepower and a heat of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Air Force Magazine.

    But February 24, 1969 was not a normal day.

    While flying over Long Binh, one of Levitow’s crewmates, Airman Ellis Owen, had his finger in the safety pin ring of a flare, getting ready to toss it through the cargo door when an enemy mortar round smashed into Spooky 71, ripping a two-foot hole through the right wing and perforating the fuselage in over 3,500 places, according to Levitow's Medal of Honor citation.

    The explosion wounded all five of the crew and slammed them to the floor as Spooky 71 fell into a steep, descending turn to the right, momentarily out of control, Air Force Magazine wrote.

    The 23-year-old Levitow, though stunned by the blast concussion and peppered with over 40 fragment wounds in the back and legs, “staggered to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him who had been knocked down and was bleeding heavily,” the citation read.

    Levitow dragged his crewmate away from the opened cargo door, but he noticed that the flare Owen had been holding was now rolling around the aircraft floor amidst thousands of Minigun rounds.

    The flare was armed and smoking, and Levitow had no way of knowing how much time was left before it blew. The igniting mechanism could have been damaged too, which might ignite the flare even faster, wrote Air Force Magazine.

    “Realizing the danger involved and completely disregarding his own wounds, Sgt. Levitow started toward the burning flare,” the award citation read. “The aircraft was partially out of control and the flare was rolling wildly from side to side.”

    Maybe it was because of the roller coaster airplane, or the loss of blood, or the partial loss of feeling in his right leg, but Levitow just couldn’t grab the rolling flare with his hands. Instead, he dove on the burning flare and hugged it to his body as he dragged himself to the cargo door.

    With a last burst of strength, the airman hurled the flare, which ignited immediately after leaving the aircraft. As Levitow lapsed into unconsciousness, the pilot regained control of the plane, wrote Air Force Magazine. They landed at Bien Hoa, Spooky 71’s home base, and the wounded Levitow was flown to a hospital in Japan.

    But that mission wasn’t enough for the airman. When he recovered from his wounds, Levitow, who had already flown 181 combat sorties, flew another 20 before returning stateside and completing his enlistment as a C-141 loadmaster at Norton Air Force Base, Calif., according to Air Force Magazine.

    On May 14, 1970, just over a year after nearly dying over Long Binh, Levitow was awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House by President Richard Nixon.

    “Sgt. Levitow, by his selfless and heroic actions, saved the aircraft and its entire crew from certain death and destruction,” read the citation. “Sgt. Levitow's gallantry, his profound concern for his fellowmen, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.”

    Levitow passed away from cancer in 2000, according to We Are The Mighty. But his legacy burns bright today due to all the awards, buildings and bridges named after him.

    So next time you see the airman’s name or face anywhere, remember that heroism aims high.

    Source

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  • 6 Physical Therapists And 2 Acupuncturists Charged in Over $20 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

    Justice 010

     

    Leader of Scheme Also Charged with Fraudulently Obtaining COVID-19 Unemployment Benefits

    Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Scott Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), announced the unsealing today of an indictment charging acupuncturists JUNYI LIU, a/k/a “Jenny,” and HONGXING WANG, as well as physical therapists GLEEN ANCIRO, NOEMI ALGODON, MOHAMED ELMANDOUH, GERARD ESTRELLA, RAMON GARCIA III, and HENLER DATU TAHIL, and cashier ZIHAO CHEN with operating an over $20 million health care fraud scheme at fraudulent medical offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. As part of the fraud scheme, CHEN and other of the defendants’ co-conspirators paid cash kickbacks to patients (the “Paid Patients”) who were insured by Medicare and/or other insurance providers (collectively, the “Insurance Providers”), and the defendants and their co-conspirators then billed Medicare and the insurance providers for physical therapy and acupuncture services related to the Paid Patients that were unnecessary or never performed. LIU was additionally charged with unlawfully enriching herself and a family member through a COVID-19 unemployment benefit scheme.

    The defendants were arrested earlier today and will be presented this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein. The case is assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain.

    U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants perpetrated a multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme in which they billed Medicare and other insurers for physical therapy and acupuncture services that were either not rendered in the manner purported or not rendered at all. Large-scale insurance frauds of the type alleged here impose hidden but very real costs on the public as well as insurers. Thanks to our partners in this case, the defendants are in custody and facing serious federal charges.”

    HHS Special Agent in Charge Scott Lampert said: “These allegations describe a greed-fueled scheme that undermined our health care system and the people it serves. Health care providers participating in the Medicare program are trusted to furnish medically necessary services and to make beneficiaries collaborators in their care, not conspirators in fraud. HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners proudly work to protect federal health care funds by identifying and quelling fraudulent billing of providers.”

    According to the allegations contained in the Indictment[1] and statements made during court proceedings:

    Between 2018 and 2021, LIU, a licensed acupuncturist, operated medical offices (the “Offices”) from which LIU and her partners fraudulently billed the Insurance Providers for physical therapy and acupuncture services that were not rendered in the manner represented or not rendered at all. During the scheme, LIU partnered with other licensed medical professionals, including ANCIRO, ALGODON, ELMANDOUH, ESTRELLA, GARCIA, and TAHIL, all of whom were licensed physical therapists, and WANG, who was a licensed acupuncturist (collectively, the “Partners”). The Partners’ roles in the scheme typically included: (i) allowing the Offices to use their enrollments with the Insurance Providers to submit to the Insurance Providers materially false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for physical therapy and acupuncture services that were not rendered in the manner represented or were not rendered at all; (ii) creating materially false medical documentation, which stated that certain physical therapy and acupuncture services had been rendered, when such services in fact were not rendered in the manner represented or were not rendered at all; and (iii) contributing financing for the Offices, including for the payment of cash kickbacks to the Paid Patients to induce those patients to provide their insurance information and receive medically unnecessary and/or non-existent services at the Offices. LIU and certain of the Partners also agreed to give kickbacks, including cash and expensive wine, to employees of Insurance Providers to enable the scheme to continue.

    In furtherance of the scheme, LIU employed receptionists, cashiers, marketers, financial and billing personnel, acupuncturists, massagists, and other personnel. The cashiers included CHEN, who on numerous occasions distributed tens of thousands of dollars in cash kickbacks to the Paid Patients. In some instances, these Paid Patients visited the Offices, signed in, and received unnecessary physical therapy and acupuncture services. In other instances, the Paid Patients visited the Offices, signed a sign-in sheet and other documents, and then left without receiving any services at all. In yet other instances, the Paid Patients did not visit the Offices at all and instead signed sign-in sheets and other documents brought to them elsewhere. Regardless of whether the Paid Patients received any services or even visited the Offices at all, the Partners used the Paid Patients’ insurance information to fraudulently bill the Insurance Providers for unnecessary and/or never rendered services.

    While LIU and her Partners were defrauding the Insurance Providers of millions of dollars, from April 2020 through September 2021, LIU also engaged in a scheme to obtain COVID-19 unemployment benefits for herself and a family member (the “Family Member”) by fraudulently submitting and causing to be submitted to the New York Department of Labor materially false online applications and certifications for COVID-19 benefits. Among other things, the applications and/or certifications represented that LIU was unemployed when, in fact, she continued to operate the Offices for all or nearly all of this period, and that LIU’s Family Member was unable to work because of COVID-19 during a five-month period when the Family Member was in China.

    *               *               *

    JUNYI LIU, 67, of Great Neck, New York, GLEEN ANCIRO, 50, of Floral Park, New York, NOEMI ALGODON, 49, of Mineola, New York, MOHAMED ELMANDOUH, 48, of Staten Island, New York, GERARD ESTRELLA, 39, of West Hempstead, New York, RAMON GARCIA III, 39, of Merrick, New York, HENLER DATU TAHIL, 38, of East Meadow, New York, HONGXING WANG, 61, of Brooklyn, and ZIHAO CHEN, 20, of Queens, are each charged with: (1) conspiring to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; (2) conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison; and (3) conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. LIU is also charged with wire fraud, which has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and theft of Government funds, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

    The statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants would be determined by the judge.

    Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of HHS-OIG’s New York Office and the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Ms. Strauss also thanked the New York State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, for their assistance.

    The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy V. Capozzi is in charge of the prosecution.

    The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    Source

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  • 63,000 Veterans benefit from VA’s Compensated Work Therapy

    Compensated Work Therapy

     

    Saluting the 1,000 team members who make it happen

    Compensated Work Therapy Vocational Rehabilitation Week is a time when we acknowledge the more than 63,000 Veterans who benefit from the program each year. We salute the approximately 1,000 VA Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) vocational rehabilitation counselors, managers and peer support specialists who make their participation possible.

    VA’s CWT services are integral to helping Veterans overcome employment barriers and return to meaningful employment. CWT programs are located at all VA medical facilities and focus on each Veteran’s strengths, abilities, needs, and preferences rather than on illness and symptoms.

    “The Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program taught me how to retrain my mind to doing the right thing, how to be a team player, and how to be accountable,” said Jerry Weaver, a CWT graduate and VA employee. “The CWT staff didn’t give up on me and kept welcoming me back with open arms.”

    Weaver credits CWT with helping Veterans finding their way back from mental health, substance abuse, and other employment challenges.

    Keith LaFlamme is in the photo above. LaFlamme’s HUD-VASH case manager referred him to the CWT Transitional Work (TW) program. His case manager placed him in a TW position at the main clinic in Anchorage, Alaska. His success in the TW position landed him a job with VA in 2017 as an environmental health technician. In a short time, he exceeded income limits for the VASH program. His continued success has landed him another promotion as maintenance mechanic. During his time as a VA employee, he has been a mentor and a resource to other TW Veterans.

    Focus on strengths, rather than illness

    Weaver’s journey with CWT began in spring 2017 after completion of the Substance Treatment and Recovery (STAR) program at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. Two years later, he was a full-time VA employee.

    He says his current success contributes to the self-esteem, self-confidence and determination he gained through showing up for work each day. He is the perfect example of how important CWT can be for a Veteran’s wellness and recovery.

    “They believed I could be a valuable commodity. Hopefully, I have proved myself to my teammates.” CWT has really helped me discover new things about myself. It helps Veterans find their way back from mental health and substance use issues.”

    Weaver celebrated his one-year work anniversary in May 2020.

    For more information about the benefits of VA’s CWT program, visit https://www.va.gov/health/cwt.

    Source

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  • 7 Important Benefits Veterans’ Survivors Should Know

    7 Important Benefits

     

    From health care to education, help is available to military families

    Felicia Mullaney remembers trying to help the widow of a veteran who had died at a young age of cancer.

    The widow was attempting to claim a state property tax break that was designed to help veterans and their survivors, but there was a problem. To qualify, she needed proof that her husband had been totally disabled, but her husband had never applied to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for a total disability rating before he died.

    As a result, the widow could not get the benefit.

    “We’re seeing a lot of people not aware’’ of what they need to do to claim benefits, says Mullaney, deputy director of veteran benefits for Vietnam Veterans of America. “It’s a pretty common problem.’’

    Jim Marszalek, national service director for Disabled American Veterans, is familiar with the problem. He says that even though the VA conducts classes for service members before they leave the military to acquaint them with benefits, many service members are focused on immediate concerns, not on benefits that might help them and their families in the future.

    “When you get out, it’s stressful. You want to look for a job and move on,’’ he says.

    Plus, Marszalek says, many benefits hinge on having a condition that the VA labels a disability, and “there’s a stigma associated with disability.’’

    Such feelings, combined with the complicated rules involved in qualifying for benefit programs, often mean that survivors of veterans end up like the widow whom Mullaney was trying to help, missing out on benefits they deserve, experts say.

    Some of the most important benefits that survivors should explore include:

    Compensation for survivors

    Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is one of the most valuable benefits available to veterans’ survivors. People who meet the criteria for DIC can get as much as tens of thousands of dollars a year in tax-free payments.

    The program provides lifetime benefits ranging from about $1,280 a month to $2,940 a month to eligible surviving spouses, depending on the deceased veteran’s pay grade. Additional payments are available for dependent children. Some parents of deceased veterans also may get benefits if their income is low.

    DIC payments are not automatic, and not everyone is eligible. Survivors must apply for the benefit, and the sooner they do it, the better. If they apply more than 12 months after the service member’s death, payments are retroactive only to the date they applied, not the date the veteran died.

    The program is designed to compensate survivors when service members die during their service, or as a result of a service-connected disability. It also compensates survivors in cases where veterans die from a cause unrelated to their service but were rated by the VA as being totally disabled from a service-connected disability for a certain amount of time immediately before their death.

    Experts cite the program as one of the reasons veterans should apply for total disability ratings as soon as they are eligible.

    “If you don’t have permanent and total, try to get it,’’ says Mullaney. “Don’t wait until you think you are dying.”

    Health care

    Another valuable benefit available to eligible survivors is comprehensive health coverage from the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). Under this program, the VA shares the cost of most health care services and medical supplies that it considers necessary for eligible surviving spouses and children. In most cases, eligibility for the coverage depends on the degree of a veteran’s service-connected disability.

    Comprehensive health coverage is also available under the VA’s Spina Bifida Health Care Benefits Program to children of Vietnam veterans and certain Korean War veterans who have been diagnosed with spina bifida.

    More limited health coverage is available in specific situations. For example, service members’ spouses and children who lived at Camp Lejeune between August 1953 and the end of 1987 can get reimbursement for certain out-of-pocket health care costs because of contaminated drinking water there. The benefit applies to treatment of 15 specific illnesses and medical conditions, including several forms of cancer, infertility and miscarriage.  

    Another targeted health benefit applies to children with certain birth defects other than spina bifida who were born to female Vietnam veterans. The Children of Women Vietnam Veterans (CWVV) Health Care Benefits Program covers services necessary for treatment of the covered birth defect and associated medical conditions.

    Education and training

    Substantial financial help is available for survivors of service members interested in pursuing education or vocational training. The government in some cases will pay all or a large part of tuition costs for college and other educational programs.

    Two key programs that eligible surviving spouses and children should explore are the Fry Scholarship and the Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) Program.

    Under the Fry program, the government pays the full cost of in-state tuition at public institutions, or more than $20,000 a year toward the cost of tuition at private institutions, as well as a monthly housing allowance, and an annual stipend for books and supplies. This scholarship, paid directly to the school, was expanded to include surviving spouses in 2014.

    Eligible survivors who choose the DEA program instead of the Fry scholarship can get a monthly check sent directly to them to pay educational costs. The maximum amount for full-time students currently is about $1,200 per month.

    The DEA and Fry programs can be used for college, vocational and business technical programs, apprenticeship programs, certification tests and tutoring.

    Recent legislation also has made it easier for survivors to transfer benefits under the GI Bill after the death of service members.

    Eligibility for educational benefits depends on factors including the circumstances of veterans’ deaths, ages of the dependents and marital status of spouses.

    Home loans

    Surviving spouses who meet certain criteria can get a VA-guaranteed home loan to buy, build or improve a home or to refinance a mortgage.

    VA loans have important advantages over other home loans. In most cases, the buyer does not have to make a down payment on the home. Home buyers using these loans also do not have to pay monthly mortgage insurance premiums.

    For those who are refinancing, one option is a cash-out refinance loan, which enables homeowners to get cash from the equity in the home and use it, for example, to pay off debt, pay for education or make home improvements.

    Pension

    Survivors of veterans who served during wartime can apply to receive a tax-free pension, known as a Survivors Pension or Death Pension. The pension provides a monthly payment to surviving spouses with modest incomes who have not remarried. The benefit is also available to unmarried dependent children of wartime veterans.

    The amount of the pension is set each year by Congress and eligibility is determined by a complex calculation that considers net worth as well as various kinds of income and expenses. What counts as income can be reduced, for example, by certain expenses, such as unreimbursed medical care. For surviving spouses without a dependent child, the maximum annual pension is currently about $9,000.

    Those who are homebound or who require assistance for basic daily activities may qualify for an additional payment.

    Burial benefits

    Eligible veterans and their spouses and dependents can be buried in one of the 136 national cemeteries maintained by the VA. Burial benefits for veterans in these cemeteries include opening and closing of the grave, perpetual care, a Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate (PMC), at no cost to the family. Burial benefits available for spouses and dependents buried in a national cemetery include burial with the veteran, perpetual care of the gravesite, and the spouse or dependents' names and dates of birth and death inscribed on the veteran's headstone, at no cost to the family. Eligible spouses and dependents may be buried in a VA national cemetery even if the veteran is not buried there.

    When veterans are buried at private cemeteries, the government provides a headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a PMC. The VA also may pay for some of the burial and funeral expenses. Many states have state veteran cemeteries, which may have residency requirements.

    Life insurance

    Veterans who receive a disability rating connected to their service can qualify for a Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance (S-DVI) life insurance policy, which provides up to $10,000 of coverage. Veterans who are totally disabled are eligible to have their premiums waived.

    Totally disabled veterans who are approved for a premium waiver can apply for up to $30,000 in additional coverage, but premiums for the supplemental coverage cannot be waived.

    Source

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  • 7 stress resources Veterans can use right now

    7 Stress Resources

     

    VA offers a variety of mental health resources for Veterans, family members, and friends

    As a Veteran, you might experience difficult life events or challenges after leaving the military. We’re here to help no matter how big or small the problem may be. VA’s resources address the unique stressors and experiences that Veterans face — and we’re just a click, call, text, or chat away.

    Seven mental health resources Veterans can use right now

    1. Just show up to any VA Medical Center. Did you know that VA offers same day services in Primary Care and Mental Health at 172 VA Medical Centers across the country? VA Secretary Robert Wilkie has made Same-Day 24/7 access to emergency mental health care the top clinical priority for VA staff. “It’s important that all Veterans, their family and friends know that help is easily available.” Now, all 172 VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) provide Same-Day Mental Health Care services. If a Veteran is in crisis or has need for immediate mental health care, he or she will receive immediate attention from a health care professional. To find VA locations near you, explore the facility locator tool.
    2. Make the Connection is an online resource designed to connect Veterans, their family members, friends and other supporters with information and solutions to issues affecting their lives. On the website, visitors can watch hundreds of Veterans share their stories of strength and recovery, read about a variety of life events and mental health topics, and locate nearby resources.
    3. The Veterans Crisis Line connects Veterans in crisis and their families and friends with qualified, caring VA responders through a confidential toll-free hotline, online chat, and text messaging service. Veterans and their loved ones can call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
    4. Vet Centers provide community-based counseling for a wide range of social and psychological services, including confidential readjustment counseling, outreach and referral to eligible Veterans, active duty service members, including National Guard and Reserve components and their families. It offers individual, group, marriage and family counseling. And you can get a referral and connection to other VA or community benefits and services at no cost. Vet Center counselors and outreach staff, many of whom are Veterans themselves, are experienced and prepared to discuss the tragedies of war, loss, grief and transition after trauma.
    5. Coaching Into Care provides guidance to Veterans’ family members and friends on encouraging a Veteran they care about to reach out for mental health support. Free, confidential assistance is available by calling 1-888-823-7458, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
    6. The Veteran Training online self-help portal provides tools for overcoming everyday challenges. The portal has tools to help Veterans work on problem-solving skills, manage anger, develop parenting skills, and more. All tools are free. Its use is entirely anonymous, and they are based on mental health practices that have proven successful with Veterans and their families.
    7. AboutFace features stories of Veterans who have experienced PTSD, their family members, and VA clinicians. There, you can learn about PTSD, explore treatment options, and get advice from others who have been there.

    Learn more

    For more information about VA’s mental health resources and behavioral health services, please visit VA’s Mental Health Services website at MentalHealth.va.gov, or the Vet Center website (for combat Veterans) at www.Vetcenter.va.gov. For a more detailed view of VA mental health service offerings, explore the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Guidebook.

    Source

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  • 7-year-old girl helps raise money for homeless Veterans: ‘Help home first’

    Jade Britt

     

    Jade Britt raised $700 to make care packages for homeless Veterans

    This 7-year-old girl is helping Veterans in her community.

    Jade Britt, 7, from Marietta, Georgia, has raised $700 to help homeless Veterans in her area, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

    The station reported that Britt raised the money from her community to make care packages for the Veterans.

    According to the station, Britt and her mom, Holly Britt, brought some of those care packages to the Marietta Veterans Center on Thursday.

    FOX 5 reported that helping Veterans, in particular, is special to Britt, whose grandfather served in the Vietnam War.

    Holly told FOX 5: "The Marietta Veterans Center, that’s important because it’s part of our community and we always want to help home first."

    "And the people here help people," Holly added. "They really actually help. They don’t talk about helping, they help with so many resources that they have for Veterans."

    Source

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  • 91 Years of Corruption: The VA's Brutal History in Military

    I Pretend to Care

     

    Author’s note: Before we jump in, I want to make absolutely clear that the VA is full of amazing, compassionate people who extract real joy from helping our nation’s Veterans. In fact, many VA employees are themselves, Veterans. Having said that, the Department of Veterans Affairs has a dark history of scandal, fraud and controversy.

     

    The purpose of this article is not to act as a scathing indictment of the VA; instead, we should learn from the agency’s past mistakes in order to forge better outcomes for the men and women who have answered the call of duty. And it is our duty, as Americans, to hold such agencies accountable in its failings.

    1921 — Congress creates the Veterans Bureau to administer assistance to World War I Veterans. It quickly devolves into corruption, and is abolished nine years later under a cloud of scandal.

    1930 — The Veterans Administration is established to replace the troubled Veterans Bureau and two other agencies involved in Veterans’ care.

    1932 — Thousands of World War I Veterans and their families march on Washington to demand payment of promised war bonuses. In an embarrassing spectacle, federal troops forcibly remove Veterans who refuse to end their protest.

    1945 — President Harry Truman accepts the resignation of VA Administrator Frank Hines after a series of news reports detailing shoddy care in VA-run hospitals, according to a 2010 history produced by the Independent Institute.

    In 1932, 10,000 WWI Veterans, many unemployed, protest over pay.

    1946 — The American Legion leads the charge seeking the ouster of VA Administrator Gen. Omar Bradley, citing an ongoing lack of facilities, troubles faced by hundreds of thousands of Veterans in getting services and a proposal to limit access to services for some combat Veterans, according to the 2010 history.

    1947 — A government commission on reforming government uncovers enormous waste, duplication and inadequate care in the VA system and calls for wholesale changes in the agency’s structure.

    VA head Gen. Omar Bradley at a congressional hearing in 1945 asking for the creation of VA Medical Corps.

    1955 — A second government reform commission again finds widespread instances of waste and poor care in the VA system, according to the Independent Institute.

    1970s — Veterans grow increasingly frustrated with the VA for failing to better fund treatment and assistance programs, and later to recognize exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange by troops in Vietnam as the cause for numerous medical problems among Veterans.

    1972 — Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic, the subject of the book and movie, “Born on the Fouth of July,” interrupts Richard Nixon’s GOP presidential nomination acceptance speech, saying, according to his biography, “I’m a Vietnam Veteran. I gave America my all, and the leaders of this government threw me and others away to rot in their VA hospitals.”

    1974 — Kovic leads a 19-day hunger strike at a federal building in Los Angeles to protest poor treatment of Veterans in VA hospitals. He and fellow Veterans demand to meet with VA Director Donald Johnson. The embattled director eventually flies to California to meet with the activists, but leaves after they reject his demand to meet in the VA’s office in the building, according to Johnson’s 1999 Los Angeles Times obituary. The ensuing uproar results in widespread criticism of Johnson. A few weeks later, Johnson resigns after President Richard Nixon announces an investigation into VA operations.

    A VA patient wheeled into an outpatient clinic in Boston in 1961. The American Medical Association said Vets should be treated in private hospitals

    1976 — A General Accounting Office investigation into Denver’s VA hospital finds numerous shortcomings in patient care, including Veterans whose surgical dressings are rarely changed. The GAO also looked at the New Orleans VA hospital, and found ever-increasing patient loads were contributing to a decline in the quality of care there, as well.

    1981 — Veterans camp out in front of the Wadsworth Veterans Medical Center in Los Angeles after the suicide of a former Marine who had rammed the hospital’s lobby with his Jeep and fired shots into the wall after claiming the VA had failed to attend to his service-related disabilities, the New York Times reported at the time.

    President Jimmy Carter after signing the 1980 Veterans Rehabilitation and Education Amendment, which increased job training and educational benefits for Vets.

    1982 — Controversial VA director Robert Nimmo, who once described symptoms of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam war as little more than “teenage acne,” resigns under pressure from Veteran’s groups. Nimmo was criticized for wasteful spending, including use of a chauffeured car and an expensive office redecorating project, according to a 1983 GAO investigation. The same year, the agency issues a report supporting Veterans’ claims that the VA had failed to provide them with enough information and assistance about Agent Orange exposure.

    1984 — Congressional investigators find evidence that VA officials had diverted or refused to spend more than $40 million that Congress approved to help Vietnam Veterans with readjustment problems, the Washington Post reports at the time.

    1986 — The VA’s Inspector General’s office finds 93 physicians working for the agency have sanctions against their medical licenses, including suspensions and revocations, according to a 1988 GAO report.

    1989 — President Ronald Reagan signs legislation elevating the Veterans Administration to Cabinet status, creating the Department of Veterans Affairs.

    Air Force Veteran Joseph Parnell Sr., visits the grave of his son, Joseph Parnell Jr., at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

    1991 — The Chicago Tribune reports that doctors at the VA’s North Chicago hospital sometimes ignored test results, failed to treat patients in a timely manner and conducted unnecessary surgery. The agency later takes responsibility for the deaths of eight patients, leading to the suspension of most surgery at the center, the newspaper reported.

    1993 — VA Deputy Undersecretary of Benefits R.J. Vogel testifies to Congress that a growing backlog of appeals from Veterans denied benefits is due to a federal court established in 1988 to oversee the claims process, the Washington Post reports. The VA, Vogel tells the lawmakers, is “reeling under this judicial review thing.”

    1999 — Lawmakers open an investigation into widespread problems with clinical research procedures at the VA West Los Angeles Healthcare Center. The investigation followed years of problems at the hospital, including ethical violations by hospital researchers that included failing to get consent from some patients before conducting research involving them, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    2000 — The GAO finds “substantial problems” with the VA’s handling of research trials involving human subjects.

    2001 — Despite a 1995 goal to reduce waiting times for primary care and specialty appointments to less than 30 days, the GAO finds that Veterans still often wait more than two months for appointments.

    2003 — A commission appointed by President George W. Bush reports that as of January 2003, some 236,000 Veterans had been waiting six months or more for initial or follow-up visits, “a clear indication,” the commission said, “of lack of sufficient capacity or, at a minimum, a lack of adequate resources to provide the required care.”

    2005 — An anonymous tip leads to revelations of “significant problems with the quality of care” for surgical patients at the VA’s Salisbury, North Carolina, hospital, according to congressional testimony. One Veteran who sought treatment for a toenail injury died of heart failure after doctors failed to take account of his enlarged heart, according to testimony.

    Walter Reed Army Medical Center was consolidated with another facility in 2005 and renamed Walter Reed National Medical Center.

    2006 — Sensitive records containing the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of 26.5 million Veterans are stolen from the home of a VA employee who did not have authority to take the materials. VA officials think the incident was a random burglary and not a targeted theft.

    2007 — Outrage erupts after documents released to CNN show some senior VA officials received bonuses of up to $33,000 despite a backlog of hundreds of thousands of benefits cases and an internal review that found numerous problems, some of them critical, at VA facilities across the nation.

    2009 — The VA discloses that than 10,000 Veterans who underwent colonoscopies in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida were exposed to potential viral infections due to poorly disinfected equipment. Thirty-seven tested positive for two forms of hepatitis and six tested positive for HIV. VA Director Eric Shinseki initiates disciplinary actions and requires hospital directors to provide written verification of compliance with VA operating procedures. The head of the Miami VA hospital is removed as a result, the Miami Herald reports.

    2011 — Nine Ohio Veterans test positive for hepatitis after routine dental work at a VA clinic in Dayton, Ohio. A dentist at the VA medical center there acknowledged not washing his hands or even changing gloves between patients for 18 years.

    2011 — An outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease begins at the VA hospital in Oakland, Pennsylvania, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. At least five Veterans die of the disease over the next two years. In 2013, the newspaper discloses VA records showed evidence of widespread contamination of the facility dating back to 2007.

    2012 — The VA finds that the graves of at least 120 Veterans in agency-run cemeteries are misidentified. The audit comes in the wake of a scandal at the Army’s Arlington National Cemetery involving unmarked graves and incorrectly placed burials.

    2013 — The former director of Veteran Affairs facilities in Ohio, William Montague, is indicted on charges he took bribes and kickbacks to steer VA contracts to a company that does business with the agency nationwide.

    January 2014 — CNN reports that at least 19 Veterans died at VA hospitals in 2010 and 2011 because of delays in diagnosis and treatment.

    Double amputee Bradley Walker goes through physical therapy to get used to a computerized prosthetic leg.

    April 9 2014 — Lawmakers excoriate VA officials at a hearing. “This is an outrage! This is an American disaster!” says Rep. Jackie Walorski.

    April 23 2014 — At least 40 Veterans died while waiting for appointments to see a doctor at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, CNN reports. The patients were on a secret list designed to hide lengthy delays from VA officials in Washington, according to a recently retired VA doctor and several high-level sources.

    April 28 2014 — President Barack Obama calls for an investigation into the situation in Phoenix.

    April 30 2014 — Top officials at the Phoenix VA deny the existence of a secret appointment waiting list.

    May 1 2014 — Shinseki places the director of the Phoenix VA and two aides on administrative leave pending the investigation into the Veterans’ deaths.

    May 5 2014 — Veterans groups call for Shinseki’s resignation. American Legion National Commander Daniel Dillinger says the deaths reported by CNN appear to be part of a “pattern of scandals that has infected the entire system.”

    May 6 2014 — Despite the clamor for Shinseki’s ouster, White House spokesman Jay Carney says Obama “remains confident in Secretary Shinseki’s ability to lead the department and take appropriate action.” Shinseki tells the Wall Street Journal he will not resign.

    May 8 2014 — The House Veterans Affairs Committee votes to subpoena Shinseki and others in relation to the Phoenix scandal.

    May 9 2014 — The scheduling scandal widens as a Cheyenne, Wyoming, VA employee is placed on administrative leave after an email surfaces in which the employee discusses “gaming the system a bit” to manipulate waiting times. The suspension comes a day after a scheduling clerk in San Antonio admitted to “cooking the books” to shorten apparent waiting times. Three days later, two employees in Durham, North Carolina, are placed on leave over similar allegations.

    May 15 2014 — Shinseki testifies before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “Any allegation, any adverse incident like this makes me mad as hell,” he says. At the same hearing, acting Inspector General Richard Griffin tells lawmakers that federal prosecutors are working with his office looking into allegations Veterans died while waiting for appointments.

    May 19 2014 — Three supervisors at the Gainesville, Florida, VA hospital are placed on paid leave after investigators find a list of patients requiring follow-up care kept on paper, not in the VA’s computerized scheduling system.

    May 20 2014 — The VA’s Office of Inspector General says it is investigating 26 agency facilities for allegations of doctored waiting times.

    May 21 2014 — Obama says he “will not stand” for misconduct at VA hospitals, but asks for time to allow the investigation to run its course. The same day, Shinseki rescinds Phoenix VA director Sharon Helman’s $8,495 bonus. Helman got the bonus in April, even as agency investigators were looking into allegations at the facility.

    May 22 2014 — The chairman of the House Veteran Affairs Committee says his group has received information “that will make what has already come out look like kindergarten stuff.” He does not elaborate.

    May 28 2014 — A preliminary report from the VA inspector general’s office finds systemic problems at health facilities nationwide, and serious management and scheduling issues in Phoenix.

    May 29 2014 — Political pressure mounts from Senate Democrats and others for Shinseki to go.

    May 30 2014 — President Barack Obama accepts Eric Shinseki’s resignation. Obama says he did so with regret, and said that Shinseki offered to step down at a White House meeting with the President so as not to be a distraction going forward. Obama said that Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson will temporarily fill Shinseki’s role as the search is launched for a permanent replacement.

    June 2014 — Two Top Veterans Affairs Officials Leave Agency, Robert Jesse, the acting undersecretary for health and Will Gunn, the department’s general counsel.

    July 2014 — Veterans Affairs Employees Falsified Data To Hide Delays: Employees at more than 100 medical centers run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs falsified appointment data and hid evidence of delayed medical care, according to a USA Today analysis of government data.

    March 2015 — Obama Visits Phoenix Hospital At Center Of VA Scandal

    June 2015 — Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) suggested Friday that the leaders who run the Department of Veteran Affairs should also run ISIS because they’re so incompetent and would presumably run the terrorist group into the ground.

    July 2015 — Leaked Document: Nearly One-Third Of 847,000 Vets With Pending Applications For VA Health Care Already Died: More than 238,000 of the 847,000 Veterans with pending applications for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs have already died, according to an internal VA document provided to The Huffington Post.

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  • 94% of Veterans at VA don't qualify for dental care. VA opposes Congress changing that

    94 of Vets

     

    About 534,000 Veterans qualify for dental care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But that leaves about 94 percent of Veterans without dental care from VA.

    Members of Congress want to change that, but VA leaders objected, arguing the department doesn't have the capacity, staff or money to provide more dental care, which they said could cost tens of billions.

    VA officials argued they don't have the resources to provide dental care to more Veterans.

    Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., introduced a bill, H.R. 96, which would require VA to furnish dental care to eligible Veterans like any other medical care.

    "94 percent of Veterans enrolled at VA... don't have dental care at VA, leaving many Veterans with no dental care at all," or forced to pay for private dental care, Brownley said during a legislative hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee July 23.

    A previous VA report also showed that providing dental services "could result in a reduction of overall medical costs," Brownley said. That report noted that neglecting oral health can contribute to health problems, cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and other health concerns.

    "We must treat Veterans' dental care just as integrally to their overall health" as standard health care, Brownley said.

    But VA's written testimony submitted to Congress said VA opposed expanding dental care to more Veterans.

    "I'm puzzled why VA is not looking at this holistically," Brownley said, considering VA's internal report showed possible overall cost savings on Veteran medical care if oral health needs were also addressed. "VA has a report that actually says the VA can save money when you look at the whole health of a Veteran."

    Dr. Maria Llorente, Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Health for Patient Care Services at the Veterans Health Administration, said that while Brownley's proposed bill was "in keeping with our desire and mission to serve the needs of our Veterans... in a nutshell, VA does not have the resources to be able to expand dental care services," even just by priority group.

    Llorente said VA does not have the capacity or money to provide dental care for more Veterans.

    "Most of our clinics nationwide are already at or near capacity," Llorente told lawmakers Thursday. Expanding dental care would require more clinical staff, space and costly equipment.

    Brownley asked if VA would be willing to seek feedback from the "entire Veteran population" on whether Veterans would like VA to expand dental care.

    "VA is always willing to accept feedback, information and opinion from our Veterans," Llorente said.

    To find out if you are eligible for VA dental care, contact your local VA.

    Other bills discussed by the committee Thursday included:

    • The Brian Tally VA Employment Transparency Act would allow any Veteran or family member who has filed a claim against VA for damage, injury or death to be entitled to receive, within 30 days, a notice from VA about legal council, the employment status of anyone involved in the claim (including whether they work for VA or are a contractor) and the statute of limitations for the claim.
    • H.R. 6039, which would require VA to take over the Mare Island Naval Cemetery from the city of Vallejo, Calif.;
    • The Forgotten Vietnam Veterans Act, which would extend VA benefits to thousands of "forgotten" Vietnam Veterans by changing the cutoff dates for the war to match the Pentagon's;
    • The Native American PACT Act, which would prohibit VA from collecting healthcare copays from a Veteran who is also a member of a Native American tribe;
    • The Department of Veterans Affairs Tribal Advisory Committee Act, which would establish such a committee to advise VA on matters related to tribes and Native Veterans;
    • H.R. 3582, which would expand the scope of the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans to include LGBTQ Veterans;
    • The Access to Contraception Expansion for Veterans Act, which would require VA to fill prescriptions for a year's supply of contraceptive pills or other forms of contraception;
    • The Honoring All Veterans Act, which would alter the VA motto to be more inclusive;
    • The VA FOIA Reform Act, which would require the department to reduce its backlog of Freedom of Information Act requests by 75 percent within three years and make frequently requested information publicly available;
    • The Veterans Economic Recovery Act, which would require VA to carry out a retraining assistance program for unemployed Veterans;
    • The Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act, which would require VA to establish a task force on the use of public lands to provide medical treatment and therapy to Veterans;
    • H.R. 7287, which would clarify license requirements for contracted medical professionals to perform disability exams for VA;
    • The VA Mission Telehealth Clarification Act, which would allow health professional trainees to provide treatment via telemedicine;
    • The Protecting Moms Who Served Act, aimed at improving maternity care coordination provided by VA;
    • The Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act, which would require VA to publish its disability benefits questionnaire form in a central location on the VA website;
    • H.R. 7445, which would expand VA home loan eligibility to some members of the Reserve;
    • The Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act, which would extend VA burial benefits to those service members;
    • A draft bill that would extend certain employment and reemployment rights to certain activated National Guard members;
    • A draft bill to clarify the rights of service members and their employment and reemployment rights.

    Source

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  • 95-year-old grandmother makes masks for Veterans with hearing loss

    95 Year Old

     

    Donations part of community support to Truman VA

    When Meredith Willcox learned some Veterans had issues with comprehension because of COVID-19 masking policies, she did something about it.

    Willcox, of Kirksville, Missouri, is the 95-year-old grandmother of a health provider at Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital. She used the internet and her sewing skills to make specialized masks to help Veterans with significant hearing loss.

    “Hearing aids are wonderful tools,” said Laura Jacobs, an audiologist at Truman VA and Willcox’s granddaughter. “We use them to treat hearing loss in our Veteran patient population.

    “The VA offers our Veterans state-of-the-art hearing devices that utilize Bluetooth technology. Our devices are the best of the best in hearing aids. However, even with extremely high-quality aids, some of our Veterans have such significant hearing loss that this technology isn’t enough for them to comprehend speech.”

    Reading lips impossible with standard mask

    Jacobs said that in extreme cases, some Veterans must rely on a combination of hearing aids and visually reading a speaker’s lips to understand conversations. This is extremely important during clinic visits with their providers. However, because clinicians must wear a mask, reading lips has been impossible ― that is, until now.

    “After mentioning this issue to my grandmother, she went online and learned how to make masks that incorporate a clear mouth covering,” Jacobs said. “So far, she has made 40 specialized face masks for our clinic. I’ve always known that she was an amazing person. However, for her to take the ball and run with it as she’s done with these masks. Well, let’s just say I’m extremely proud of her!”

    In the photo above, Jacobs wears one of her grandmother’s handmade masks while caring for a Veteran with profound hearing loss.

    Generous support

    Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Truman VA has received an outpouring of support from the mid-Missouri community.

    “I can’t put into words what it means to have this level of support,” said Patricia Hall, medical center director of Truman VA. “So many have come forward at a time of extreme uncertainty. I believe without a doubt that their generosity and support helped our team get through these dark times.”

    “We truly appreciate everyone’s generosity,” said Ron Graves, Chief of Voluntary Services at Truman VA. “I especially want to thank Veterans United Home Loans. They provided daily meals for our front line staff for almost three straight months. They also made sure to use area businesses to help stimulate our local economy. I thought that was an amazing gesture.”

    “There are too many individuals to name who have made reusable cloth face masks for our Veterans, visitors and staff,” Graves said. “But just to show you the level of support we’ve received in this area, Quilts of Valor, Central Missouri Mask Makers and Hanes Brands, Inc., together provided us with more than 3,000 donated cloth masks.”

    Nurse sewed over 600 masks…on her breaks!

    Graves said Truman VA staff also should be recognized. Housekeepers, warehouse employees, frontline staff and other support personnel ― all have been important in the fight against COVID-19. However, he acknowledged one individual for going above and beyond in support of her colleagues and the Veterans that receive care at Truman VA.

    “Heather Black, a nurse in Specialty Care Clinic, donated 623 hand-sewn masks,” Graves said. “She works full time on-site. She brought her sewing machine to work and makes masks before and after her shifts. Also, during her breaks. How can you not be awed by such dedication?”

    “For those individuals who have made masks for us, provided meals or in any other way supported us throughout this global pandemic, we truly appreciate your efforts,” Hall said. “Each one of you has made such a positive impact on our team, and we thank you!”

    Source

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  • A $10,322 Tab for A Sleep Apnea Study Is Enough to Wreck One Patient's Rest

    José Mendoza

     

    José Mendoza's snoring was bad — but the silence when he stopped breathing was even worse for his wife, Nancy. The sudden quiet would wake her and she waited anxiously for him to take another breath. If too many seconds ticked by, she pushed him hard so that he moved and started breathing again. This happened several times a week.

    Diagnosed with severe sleep apnea 15 years ago, Mendoza was prescribed a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, device to help him breathe easier. But the machine was noisy and uncomfortable. After a month, he stopped using it.

    Late in 2019, Mendoza, 61, went to an emergency department near the family's Miami home with an excruciating headache. He thought it was related to his high blood pressure, a condition sometimes linked to obstructive sleep apnea. But after a battery of tests, clinicians concluded his obstructive sleep apnea itself was likely causing his headache and cardiac problems. He needed a new CPAP machine, they said.

    But first, he had an at-home sleep test. Mendoza's pulmonologist said it was not detailed enough and ordered a visit to an overnight sleep lab to get extensive data.

    Mendoza arrived at the sleep center at about 8 p.m. one night in early February and was shown into a spacious room with a sofa, a TV and a bed. After he got into his pajamas, a technician attached electrodes to his head and chest to track his brain, heart, lung and muscle activity while he slept. The technician fitted him with a CPAP with two small cannulas for his nose. Despite the unfamiliar setting and awkward equipment, Mendoza slept that night.

    After the study, Mendoza started using the same, more comfortable CPAP model he'd used during the study.

    "Now I'm not snoring. I feel more energetic. I'm not as tired as I was before," he says.

    The new CPAP was helping both Mendozas get a better night's sleep — until the bill came.

    The Patient: José Mendoza, 61, has a Humana HMO plan through the construction company where he works as a truck driver. It has a $5,000 deductible and an out-of-pocket maximum of $6,500 for covered care by in-network providers. Once his deductible is satisfied, he owes 50% in coinsurance for other billed charges. (Nancy Mendoza, who works as a social worker, and their two teenage children are covered under her employer plan.)

    Medical Service: An overnight sleep study at a hospital sleep center to determine the type of mask and the proper levels of airflow and oxygen needed in Mendoza's CPAP to treat his severe obstructive sleep apnea.

    Total Bill: $10,322, including a $9,853 outpatient charge for the sleep study and a $469 charge for the sleep specialist who interpreted the results. Humana's negotiated rate for the total was $5,419. Mendoza owed the bulk of that: $5,157, including $262 in coinsurance and $4,895 to satisfy his deductible. Humana also paid $262.

    Service Provider: University of Miami Health System's sleep medicine facility at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami

    What Gives: Sleep studies are somewhat controversial and have been flagged in the past as being overused. Not everyone who snores needs this evaluation. But with Mendoza's pauses in breathing and hypertension, he likely did.

    According to Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a think tank that analyzes low-value health care, sleep studies fall into a gray zone.

    "They are incredibly useful and necessary in certain clinical circumstances," he says. "But it's known to be one that can be overused."

    But how much should it cost to be monitored at home or in a hospital sleep lab? That's the question. The Office of Inspector General at the federal Department of Health and Human Services has identified billing problems for the type of sleep study Mendoza had that led to Medicare overpayments.

    The University of Miami Health System's total charge was high by nearly every measure, but so was the allowed amount that Humana agreed to pay the health system for the study. And because Mendoza's skimpy health plan has a deductible of $5,000, he's on the hook for paying almost all of that hefty bill.

    Mendoza's Humana plan agreed to pay the hospital $5,419 for the sleep study he had. That's nearly six times what Medicare would pay for the same service nationally — $920 — according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

    Private insurers typically pay higher rates than Medicare for care, but that multiple is "much higher than what other insurers would pay," says Jordan Weintraub, vice president of claims at WellRithms, a company that analyzes medical bills for self-funded companies and other clients.

    Consider the total facility charge of $9,853. The average charge in the United States for a sleep study of the same type is just over half that amount at $5,384, according to Fair Health, a national independent nonprofit that tracks insurance charges.

    Charges in the Miami area are on the high end of the national range. The average billed charges for similar hospital sleep studies in Miami range from $2,646 to $19,334, Weintraub says. So Mendoza's bill is not as high as the highest in the area, and is just under the average in Miami.

    "Billed charges are just completely fictitious," says Weintraub. "There's really no grounds for charging it other than that they can."

    More telling than what other Miami hospitals are charging for sleep studies is what the University of Miami Health System reports it actually costs the hospital to do the procedure. And that figure was just $1,154 on average in 2019, according to WellRithms' analysis of publicly available cost report data filed with CMS. That year, the hospital's average charge for the type of sleep study Mendoza had was $7,886, according to WellRithms.

    Mendoza doesn't pay premiums for his health plan, but his "free" coverage has a cost. The $5,000 deductible and high coinsurance leaves him woefully exposed financially if he needs medical care, as the family discovered. Nancy Mendoza's plan has a lower deductible of $1,350, but her employer charges extra to cover spouses who have coverage available to them at their own jobs.

    Obstructive sleep apnea is often undiagnosed, sleep medicine experts agree, and sleep studies can result in a diagnosis that leads to necessary treatment to help prevent serious problems like heart attacks and diabetes.

    "From that perspective, sleep testing is actually underprescribed," says Dr. Douglas Kirsch, medical director of sleep medicine at Atrium Health in Charlotte, N.C., who is past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional group.

    After strong growth by independent and hospital-affiliated lab-based sleep centers over several years, there's been a shift toward home-based sleep tests recently, says Charlie Whelan, vice president of consulting for health care at Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm.

    "The entire sleep medicine field is deeply worried about a future where more testing is done at home since it means less money to be made for in-center test providers," Whelan says.

    Resolution: When the bill arrived, Nancy Mendoza thought it must be a mistake. José's home sleep test hadn't cost them a penny, and no one had mentioned their financial responsibility for the overnight test in the lab.

    She called the billing office and asked for an itemized bill. There were no complications, no anesthesia, not even a doctor present. Why was it so expensive? But what they received wasn't any more enlightening than the summary bill.

    She got a clear impression that if they didn't pay they'd be sent to collections. To avoid ruining their credit, they agreed to a two-year payment plan and got their first installment bill, for $214.87 in April. Nancy thinks the overall charge is too high: "It's not fair [for] people who are in the low end of the middle class."

    Lisa Worley, associate vice president for media relations at the University of Miami Health System, said in a statement that Mendoza "does not qualify for financial assistance because he has health insurance."

    But the health system's posted financial assistance policy clearly states that financial assistance is available to "underinsured individuals with a balance remaining after third party liability of $1000 or more, whose family income for the preceding 12 months is equal to or less than 300% [of the federal poverty guidelines]."

    Under a less detailed version of the hospital policy included in one of their bills, the Mendozas meet the income threshold for "assistance provided on a sliding scale."

    In her statement, Worley referred to Mendoza's sleep test as an "elective service." The health system website says it "provides financial assistance for emergency and other medically necessary (non-elective) care."

    Mendoza's sleep study was medically necessary. The emergency department staff evaluated him and determined he needed a new CPAP to deal with serious medical problems caused by his obstructive sleep apnea. His pulmonologist concurred, as did his insurer, which preauthorized the sleep study.

    In a statement, Humana wrote: "With sleep studies, there can be a wide range of costs, depending on the complexity of the case and the setting."

    The insurer refused to comment on Mendoza's case specifically, even though the Mendozas had given permission to discuss it.

    The Takeaway: The Mendozas followed the rules: They used an in-network provider and got prior authorization from their insurance company for the test.

    Unfortunately, they are caught between two financial traps of the U.S. health care system: high-deductible health plans, which are increasingly common, and sky-high billing.

    With a high-deductible plan, it's crucial to try to learn what you'll owe before receiving nonemergency medical care. Ask for an estimate in writing; if you can't get one, try to shop for a different provider who will give you an estimate.

    Be aware that insurance plans that may have zero or low premium costs may not be your best option for coverage.

    Once you are stuck with a high bill that hits a high deductible — as is the case with the Mendozas — remember you can still negotiate with the hospital. Find out what a more reasonable charge would be and ask for your bill to be adjusted. Also inquire about payment assistance from the hospital: Most hospitals must offer this option by law (though they often do not make it easy to apply for it).

    If a doctor suggests a sleep study, ask if you can do one at home, and whether it's really needed. And, remember: Not every snore is sleep apnea.

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  • A 103-year-old World War II Veteran finally gets his combat medals, 75 years later

    103 yr old WWII Vet

     

    A 103-year-old World War II Veteran is finally being honored for his time in the military -- 75 years later.

    Peter Fantasia, of Somerville, Massachusetts, received eight medals including the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal and American Defense Service Medal. US Rep. Seth Moulton presented him with the medals at a special ceremony Monday.

    Fantasia previously received his Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor in combat, Tim Biba from Moulton's office told CNN.

    Fantasia served in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division as a US Army medic, according to CNN affiliate WHDH.

    Fantasia was captured in Rodalbe, France, in 1944 while tending to a wounded sergeant and lieutenant in a foxhole and was held as a prisoner of war until he was liberated by Russian forces on April 28, 1945.

    It took so long for Fantasia to get home that he didn't seek after his medals.

    "God has been good. I don't know what to say," Fantasia told WHDH.

    He expressed gratitude for his comrades and said they were with him in spirit.

    "It wasn't just myself," he said. "I had help one way or another."

    "He is a true example to the rest of the country and the community what American heroism is all about," Moulton said.

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  • A 79-Year-Old Alleged Mobster Has Been Indicted for Defrauding Tricare, CHAMPVA

    Defrauding Tricare

     

    Two Florida residents have been charged with allegedly defrauding the federal government's largest health care programs, including a man linked to the American Mafia.

    The Department of Justice announced Nov. 19 that Thomas Farese, 79, of Delray Beach, and Domenic Gatto, 47, of Palm Beach Gardens, have been charged with health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and other crimes totaling $25 million in losses by Medicare, Tricare and CHAMPVA, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health program for eligible Veterans' spouses and children.

    The charges mark the second time in seven months the men have faced charges for allegedly engaging in health care fraud: in April, they and others were charged with conspiracy and committing fraud, allegedly bilking government health programs of $65 million.

    According to court documents, Farese and Gatto hid their ownership of several medical equipment companies and arranged orders for medical devices, namely orthotic braces.

    They then supposedly arranged and paid for orders, soliciting, bribing and receiving kickbacks from physicians for braces that weren't needed by patients -- orders that in turn were billed to the federal government, according to the Justice Department.

    The pair also were involved in a related kickback scheme involving prescriptions for compounded medications -- prescriptions that are prepared for individual patients by specialty pharmacies that have been a frequent target of scammers for nearly the past decade.

    Farese is no stranger to the U.S. legal system: he was charged and convicted in 1980 of running a multimillion-dollar marijuana smuggling and distribution operation through a Fort Lauderdale shipping company, sentenced to 30 years in prison and released in 1994.

    Two years later, Farese was charged for laundering more than $1 million in drug money through several Florida coast strip clubs.

    During his sentencing hearing in that case, federal prosecutor Jeffrey Slomar called Farese "a capo regime [captain] in the Colombo organized crime family" with "contacts throughout the world to facilitate money-laundering transactions," according to court documents.

    He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and released in 2005, only to return seven years later, convicted again of money laundering.

    He remained in prison until 2012, according to court documents.

    Gatto is the developer of a West Palm Beach hotel complex, Banyan Cay Resort and Golf. He doesn’t appear to have a record of arrest prior to April.

    Since at least 2013, the Justice Department has doggedly pursued companies and individuals that have profited from fraudulent orders for medical devices and compounded medications, which are personalized prescriptions crafted for patients who can't tolerate certain ingredients.

    In the case of Tricare, the Justice Department has filed charges and convicted hundreds of persons involved in the schemes, including pharmacists, doctors, marketers and salesmen, including military troops.

    Farese and Gatto face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud and 10 years per count of conspiracy and health care fraud. The charge of violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute carries a punishment of up to 5 years of prison, according to the Justice Department.

    The men also face fines up to $250,000 for each count or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greater.

    Both men have posted bonds of $700,000 and were released. According to the court, Farese's bail was paid by his wife Suzanne, daughter of Alphonse Persico, an alleged underboss in the Joseph Colombo crime family who died in prison in 1989.

    Neither returned phone messages left by Military.com requesting comment on their cases.

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  • A full night’s sleep could be the best defense against COVID-19

    Full Nights Sleep

     

    Amidst growing concern about COVID-19 infection, health officials have provided several recommendations to help individuals protect themselves and their families from infection, including washing hands regularly and maintaining a distance of at least six feet from anyone who is coughing or sneezing. Fortunately, a growing body of evidence suggests that an additional lifestyle modification could also dramatically improve your odds of avoiding infection – getting more sleep.

    It has long been known that sleep is important for military performance. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has conducted sleep studies since the 1950s, showing that sleep loss negatively affects emotional regulation, judgment, cognitive performance, learning and memory, psychological resilience and reaction time – each of which could be critical for success in multi-domain operational environments—and almost all other environments as well, from the athletic field to the classroom to the boardroom. This is why elite athletes make sure they obtain 8-10 hours of sleep per night: to acquire that extra “edge” that can make the difference between success and failure.

    In addition, and of particular relevance given current concerns about the spread of COVID-19, recent evidence suggests that sleep is also important for healthy immune function and the ability to fight off infection. "From a Soldier lethality perspective, we often state 'sleep is ammunition for the brain', as sleep is critical for decision making, vigilance and reaction time. When it comes to fighting the common cold and flu, sleep is your internal body armor that helps you fight some viruses and disease," said Army Col. Deydre Teyhen, Commander of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

    The relationship between sleep and infectious disease is now being explored by researchers across the world, and several interesting and important findings have been reported. For example, in one study, volunteers without previous exposure to the common cold were exposed to a live sample of the virus. Researchers found that no variable predicted whether a participant would fall sick better than sleep duration – not even age or stress level. In other words, those who habitually slept less were more likely to fall ill with the cold virus.

    In another study conducted by the same group, a “sleep threshold” was discovered: individuals who averaged less than seven hours of sleep per night were found to have a three-fold greater risk of infection relative to those who averaged eight or more; that rate climbed to a 4 ½-fold greater risk for those with less than five hours of sleep.

    Perhaps most surprisingly, it has also been found that six months after receiving a hepatitis B vaccination, individuals who slept fewer than six hours on the night prior to vaccination were at significant risk of being unprotected compared to those who had obtained more than seven hours of sleep.

    In addition, there is now limited but exciting evidence from animal studies suggesting that sleep not only helps protect against initial infection, it also plays a direct role in aiding recovery from infectious illness.

    Although there have not yet been any studies in which the relationship between sleep duration and COVID-19 infection have been studied directly, lessons learned from studying the relationship between sleep duration and other infectious diseases can readily be generalized to COVID-19.

    "Sleep is critical for maintaining physical, cognitive and immunological dominance on and off the battlefield. Leaders must prioritize sleep as a valuable asset in maintaining readiness and resilience, especially in the context of multi-domain operations and increased health risks worldwide—including those risks associated with exposure to infectious diseases," says Army Lt. Col. Vincent Capaldi, director of the Behavioral Biology branch at WRAIR, responsible for studying the relationship between sleep, performance and military effectiveness.

    Unfortunately, approximately one in three American adults do not obtain the American Academy of Sleep Medicine-recommended 7+ hours of sleep per night, a situation that is estimated to cost the US economy approximately $411 billion a year due to increased errors and accidents, lower productivity and increased absenteeism. And the problem is particularly pronounced in the military, where approximately two in three Soldiers average six or fewer hours of sleep a night.

    Research laboratories under the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command including WRAIR, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease and U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, are working diligently on a range of solutions to detect, treat and prevent COVID-19, including a vaccine.

    WRAIR sleep and infectious disease researchers are also jointly exploring the relationship between sleep and immune function – a natural collaboration since the WRAIR infectious disease research programs are among the best in the world, having contributed to the development of many FDA-approved vaccines and every existing FDA-approved malaria prevention drug. Furthermore, WRAIR’s world-renowned sleep and performance research program has generated several technological and knowledge products, including wrist actigraphy (a precursor to current smart watch technology) to reliably measure and quantify sleep in the field; human functional brain imaging studies that have furthered scientific understanding of sleep and sleep loss and the discovery of “sleep banking”: the finding that extra sleep prior to a mission with sleep loss blunts the performance decrement and reduces the amount of sleep needed to fully recover afterwards.

    As medical countermeasure development efforts progress, obtaining at least seven hours of sleep per night in a comfortable, cool, quiet, dark and safe area, in addition to regular handwashing with soap and water and maintaining a healthy social distance (6 feet), will continue to constitute the first line of defense against infection.

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  • A letter home: Edgar Andrews

    Edgar Andrews

     

    Modern communication affords a service member instant access to family from long distance deployments. But 100 years ago, during World War I, written correspondence was the only way for American soldiers on the Western Front to communicate home.

    Even by today’s standards, a written letter holds a touch of intimacy that the buttons of a keyboard cannot match. With limited supplies and only a guess as to when the letter will reach home, the writer carefully chooses each word. Much like a journal or a diary, the writer sends a piece of himself.

    For Edgar Dudley Andrews of Company A of the 102nd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division, Massachusetts Army National Guard, writing letters home was personal. Andrews was a Boston local who joined the Army months before the United States declared war on Germany. He would be among some of the earliest American forces to fight in Europe, arriving in October 1917.

    The Veteran’s History Project was fortunate to have received 72 pieces of correspondence between Andrews and his family, spanning Jan. 1917 to June 1919. Writing most often to his mother and sister, Andrews’ letters covered a wide range of topics.

    One recurring theme was money. He took out war risk insurance to make sure his family would be taken care of in the event that something happened to him while in France. He often wrote about his day-to-day life overseas, though he was mindful of censorship restrictions. It was the farthest he had traveled, and he wrote about how it gave him a fuller appreciation for his home in New England. In other letters, he described the destruction of war on the landscape as “hell itself.” And because of his letters, his parents wrote that they were thinking of buying property in the countryside so that Andrews could enjoy peace and quiet after the war.

    In later letters, as the war drew to an end, Andrews confessed to his sister, Sue, that it was easy to become disheartened. Yet he also laughed about his predicament, not because it was funny but because he was still alive. As a machine-gunner, he had been on the front lines. He was happy to be going home alive, glad that he had “done his bit.”

    Finding peace

    The consistent theme that anchored Andrews’ letters was love for his family. There was an absence of detailed battlefield descriptions because Andrews focused on what was going on at home. Even when things seemed bleak. He often wondered aloud in his writing how much longer the war would go on. His letters show how family got one soldier through the roughest parts of war on the Western Front. From his long days in training and the darkest days of fighting, to a trip to Paris and a stay in the hospital, family is what motivated Andrews to keep going.

    Andrews completed his service requirement in 1919, and by 1940 had found the countryside peace his parents sought for him. He later joined the Free Masons and became the Worshipful Master of the John T. Heard Lodge in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1947.

    Edgar Andrews died in 1974. We honor his service.

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  • A Lung Doctor Explains What to Know About Pfizer's Upcoming COVID Vaccine Booster Shots

    COVID 19 Vaccine 003

     

    Dr. Mike Hansen breaks down how Pfizer's recently announced vaccine booster dose may help protect people against the Delta variant.

    Pfizer recently announced that it is developing a booster dose of its Covid vaccine, with the specific intention of targeting the highly transmissible Delta variant. In a new video on his YouTube channel, pulmonary medicine and critical care specialist Mike Hansen, MD shares his thoughts on this news and breaks down the key facts of how the booster shot will work.

    "The initial hope was that with these vaccines we'd reach herd immunity, and the pandemic would go away," he says. "Currently, only 48 percent of the population in the United States is vaccinated. That's nowhere near the threshold we need for herd immunity, which is around 80 percent. The hope was that with herd immunity, we could minimize the possibility of more dangerous variants developing, like the Delta variant. But now we are reaching the point where there's more and more variants popping up in people who aren't vaccinated. And because too many people are not vaccinated, we’re now facing the likelihood that these vaccines will not remain effective against these new variants."

    This is where the booster shots come in. Researchers at Pfizer believe that a third dose, administered 6 to 12 months after the second dose, will have benefits in protecting individuals against older strains of the virus, as well as new ones like the Delta, Epsilon and Lambda variants. They report that this booster dose produces between 5 and 10 times as many neutralizing antibodies compared to the first 2 shots of the vaccine.

    "With a third booster shot, it's going to make your immune system generate antibodies that specifically target these areas of mutation," Hansen explains. "Not only that, but with the current vaccines that we have, they're generating antibodies that only attack part of the spike protein, and not the entire spike protein, but with a third booster shot, it's going to help attack the entire spike protein."

    He adds, however, that the medical community is currently waiting to see the results of these tests verified and published in a peer-reviewed journal, and that the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization is only a first step in approving this third booster shot.

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  • A Rolling Tribute to Vietnam Veterans: ‘Thank You for Your Service’

    Rolling Tribute

     

    In recognition of National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service is rolling out three tractor-trailer trucks with a message to those that served in the war: “Thank you for your service to our nation.”

    The 53-foot rolling billboards include the paint scheme of vehicles from the Vietnam War, the word “Vietnam” superimposed over an American flag and a call-out to National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

    “The American public didn’t understand the sacrifices of Vietnam War Veterans, and these heroes often didn’t receive the homecoming they deserved,” said Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull, a Vietnam-era Veteran. “These trucks allow the Exchange to help properly acknowledge our Vietnam Veterans’ distinguished service.”

    Exchange Corporate Communication Specialist Mario Baltierra designed the wraps to resemble vehicles used during the Vietnam War era.

    “We wanted to make a connection to the Warfighters that served during that era and recognize their patriotism with the paint scheme from that time and the symbol of the draped American flag,” Baltierra said. “Most important, we wanted to thank them for their service.”

    The Exchange is a 50th Anniversary Vietnam War Commemorative Partner, planning and conducting events and activities that recognize the service, valor and sacrifice of Vietnam Veterans and their families in conjunction with the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration. The truck wraps support the Exchange’s longstanding commitment to the Commemoration.

    Air Force Veteran Jim Williamson, who flew B-52s in Vietnam and is aworkforce business analyst at the Exchange’s headquarters in Dallas, appreciates the recognition.

    “The trucks are an amazing tribute to Vietnam War Veterans and their families,” Williamson said. “I hope it reminds Americans to remember all their Veterans and MIAs.”

    The three trucks will transport goods from the Exchange’s continental U.S. distribution centers to service members throughout the country. The West Coast Distribution Center in Manteca, Calif.; Dan Daniel Distribution Center in Newport News, Va.; and the Waco Distribution Center will each have a truck in service on their standard delivery routes.

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  • A Texas man is making canes for veterans using hundreds of donated Christmas trees

    Texas Man

     

    A man in Texas is designing canes for veterans, and he's asking you to donate your Christmas tree to help him do it.

    US Army veteran Jamie Willis started Canes for Veterans Central Texas in 2016 when he realized he wasn't the only veteran who needed a cane that was safe, sturdy "and not just ugly."

    After serving in the Army for eight years, Willis was left a 100 percent disabled veteran completely unable to work.

    "I do this so I don't sit home all day feeling sorry for myself," Willis told CNN. "This is all out of kindness. I do everything out of pocket and from donations."

    When the cane he was given by the Veterans Affairs had no style, kept collapsing and wasn't what he deemed trustworthy, Willis turned to a Florida organization called Free Canes for Veterans which was giving out 500 canes.

    After he was told that they had no more canes, Oscar Morris, the man behind the organization, instead taught Willis how to make his own.

    "When I successfully sat down and made my very first cane, I asked him if I could branch it off and start Cane for Veterans in Central Texas and he said he would love for me to do that," Willis said.

    Since then, the 50-year-old has made and delivered more than 200 canes to veterans who live all over the world.

    The man behind the canes

    Morris, the 54-year-old US Army veteran behind the original idea, said Willis was the fifth veteran he knows to start their own branch of Free Canes for Veterans.

    "It would be a blessing to get the word out for more veterans to do this," Morris said "Each of these veterans were on my original list of 500 in 2015. It was the act of kindness and a piece of wood that was their inspiration."

    The organizations take stripped a Christmas tree and transforms it into a cane for a veteran.

    This is the second year Willis has asked for tree donations, but he says he has been overwhelmed with the support this year.

    "It's been an outpouring of donations this year, more than I ever thought I would get," Willis told CNN. "Home Depot flooded me with trees, they're sending me 400, and the rest of the community will be giving me about another 100 trees."

    Each tree is the equivalent of about one cane, which takes Willis an entire day to make, package, and ship to the veteran who will use it. While he sometimes asks them to cover shipping, Willis covers all costs from out of his own pockets as well as donations, and pays for shipping if the veteran can't afford it.

    "One day, grab a cane and walk with it," Morris said. "You will feel broken because others will see you as broken. We make our canes for veterans to look 'cool' while giving honor for their service."

    For those who cannot donate trees without limbs, Willis always welcomes other donations, especially sandpaper and tools.

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  • A WWII Veteran's Purple Heart was returned to his sons 35 years after his death

    Purple Heart Returned

     

    Jerry and Mal Deener had always wondered what their dad Harry did in the Army during World War II.

    The New Jersey brothers, now in their 70s, knew he drove a Jeep in Europe and was badly wounded in combat, but that's about it.

    "We knew very little because he wouldn't talk about it," Jerry Deener told CNN. "He has a very big scar on his right side where he was hit."

    Cpl. Harry Deener was awarded a Purple Heart but his sons didn't know what happened to it after he died in 1986.

    On Wednesday, the Purple Heart was returned to the brothers, along with his dog tags and Combat Infantryman Badge, in a ceremony at their grandparents' former home in Maplewood, New Jersey.

    Deener remarried after his wife died, so his medals and other effects were with his second wife until she passed.

    Her daughter-in-law found the Purple Heart in an attic at a New Jersey residence and contacted Purple Hearts Reunited.

    "She sent them to us and said, 'Please find the family. These items belong with them,'" said Erin Faith Allen, the group's operations director.

    The group did some research to verify his service and then tracked down Jerry, who was surprised to get the call.

    In addition to the medals, the brothers also got a lot of information about their father's service.

    Allen was also able to connect them with a 97-year-old Veteran, who served in the 242 Infantry Regiment with their father and saw the attack. The man said the German pilot was flying low enough that he could see him pull the trigger.

    "He witnessed him getting hit. He saw the German plane come over the trees," Mal Deener said.

    They said the Veteran saw American planes shoot the plane down and that the enemy pilot was killed.

    About 200 troops were there when the plane opened fire and their father was the only one hurt, Jerry said.

    He was injured in April 1945, just days before the end of the war.

    The Deeners said they had the medal ceremony at their grandparents' former home because that's where their dad went when he came home from the Army.

    Mal wasn't born yet and Jerry was only about 3.

    "My words to him was 'Where you was Daddy?'" Jerry said. "That's what they tell me I said, and he never gave us much of a response all our lives."

    Their dad worked in the family retail store for most of his life.

    "He was a hard-working guy. He loved his work. He loved carpentry," Jerry said, adding that he was an avid sports fan and never missed his son's baseball games. "So that's the kind of dad he was."

    About 55 people came to the ceremony and Mal said the current residents of the house couldn't have been more gracious.

    "We had a tour of the house -- hadn't been their in well over 60 years, I think," he said. "It was an important house to us because we used to go there all the time to see my grandparents."

    Both brothers agreed that their dad wouldn't have been comfortable with the ceremony because he didn't like to be the center of attention, but it brought back a lot of fond memories.

    Jerry said that the medal itself is not something they'd thought much about over the years, but this experience has led to a "reclamation of our dad."

    "Having learned all this, it brought back not only wartime stories about him, but it brought back him as a human being," he said.

    Purple Hearts Reunited has returned lost or stolen medals and other items to 850 families and has returned 438 items to 109 families in 2021, Allen said.

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  • AARP offers free caregiving resources for Veterans, families

    AARP Offers

     

    It was hard enough being a caregiver before the pandemic upped the level of difficulty. But the caregiving challenges presented by the coronavirus outbreak also provide an opportunity for civilians to learn from the military caregiver mindset, according to AARP caregiving expert Lee Woodruff.

    “Being a military caregiver or living with a loved one’s deployment means living with the knowledge that we can’t control the situation,” Jennifer Mackinday, program coordinator at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and a caregiver for her brother, told Woodruff. “Military families have learned how to embrace ambiguity and hold on to what we do know. We also understand that the one thing we can control is how we react and respond.”

    AARP is not only a champion of civilian caregivers but an advocate for military caregivers as well, providing free resources to all Veterans, military personnel and their families regardless if they are AARP members. Whether you need caregiving help or you want to give help, here’s what you can do right now.

    Join the AARP Family Caregivers discussion group on Facebook: Connect with nearly 4,000 other caregivers in this private group to exchange practical tips, offer support and share your family caregiving experiences. On Nov. 19, a Facebook Live event, “Support for Military and Veteran Caregivers,” will focus on VA benefits, services and support for military caregivers. The discussion will be moderated by AARP family and caregiving expert Amy Goyer and include special guest Dr. Lynda Davis, chief Veterans Experience officer for VA. Go to facebook.com/groups/aarpfamilycaregivers to join the group.

    Ask these six questions of your VA facility during COVID-19: Do you have a loved one in a VA facility? The pandemic makes care more complicated than ever. Download and print these critical questions that you’ll want to get answered by facility staff.

    Follow these five tips for military caregivers amid the pandemic: AARP teamed up with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to offer strategies to help caregivers of military personnel and Veterans tackle some of the most critical issues they face every day. Here are five practical steps that caregivers can take amid the coronavirus outbreak to better protect themselves and their loved ones.

    Download the AARP “Veterans’ Health Care Benefit Guide”: Navigating VA benefit programs can be overwhelming. This guide can help you understand your eligibility and determine the best options available to you.

    Get help (or give help) through AARP Community Connections: Find or start a mutual aid group in your community that offers resources during the pandemic. If you are feeling isolated, you can even request a call from a trained AARP volunteer.

    Bookmark the Veterans, Military and Their Families page on AARP.org: Stay up to date with the latest news and information impacting older Veterans at aarp.org/veterans. AARP resources for Veterans are free and available to nonmembers.

    The sharing of any non-VA information does not constitute an endorsement of products and services on part of the VA.

    Source

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  • Acting VA deputy secretary thanks Vietnam Veterans during ceremony

    VA Deputy

     

    Acting VA Deputy Secretary Pam Powers thanked Vietnam Veterans “to whom we all owe the greatest debt of gratitude” at the Martin County Veterans Memorial Bell Helicopter dedication ceremony Aug. 1 in Fairmont, Minnesota.

    The ceremony, hosted by Martin County and the memorial committee, dedicated AH-1-66-F-15327, or Cobra 327, which served in Vietnam and Laos from 1968-1971.

    Powers spoke of the helicopter’s missions in Southeast Asia, flying armed escort, reconnaissance and battle support. She also talked about the sounds that resonate with Vietnam Veterans, from miniguns to whirring of blades.

    “I have little doubt the Vietnam Veterans among us and those who see it here in years to come still hear and feel it,” she said. “Thousands of men and women fighting in Vietnam and in other conflicts since have seen that Cobra silhouette overhead. In that, they found some measure of comfort, of relief, perhaps some measure of inspiration and salvation.”

    Army records show Cobra 327 received enemy fire at least 12 times. The acting deputy secretary also told the story of Army 1st Lt. David Stinson and Warrant Officer Stephen Wilton. They landed Cobra 327 safely the last time in Laos, in spite of massive damage from enemy fire.

    “They put their lives on the line for all of us”

    She said the pair, along with many others who flew in Southeast Asia, deserve the nation’s gratitude.

    “They put their lives on the line for all of us, and for generations to come,” she said.

    Powers said the thanks also go to the crews who kept the helicopters in the air.

    “We honor and celebrate the courage, determination, ingenuity, and plain grit of the tireless crews who kept them flying in and out of combat,” she said. “They are the crew chiefs, the engine mechanics, sheet metal mechanics, avionics repairmen, armament techs, test pilots, and others.

    Powers said these Veterans “worked tirelessly to patch them back up, make them airworthy again so they could get back to the fight,” protecting Veterans who served on the ground

    “By honoring all of them, we honor every Veteran who came before and after, and those servicemembers fighting and standing watch today around the globe.”

    Getting Cobra 327 on display

    Following military service, Cobra 327 went to the Kern County Fire Department in California to fight night fires. The helicopter can see through the smoke with its military infrared scanners and locate people. Once the fire department retired Cobra 327, five different states tried to acquire it.

    Martin County’s Veteran Memorial Committee started restoring Cobra 327 in 2019, returning it to the likeness of 1971. The helicopter is one of several monuments that compose the larger Veterans Memorial.

    Powers also visited multiple VA medical centers on the trip, recognizing front line workers for COVID-19 work.

    Source

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  • Adaptive Sports keep Veterans active during the pandemic

    Adaptive Sports Seniors

     

    PGA partnership improves swings… and attitudes

    The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to all countries of the world. Social and physical distancing measures, such as lockdowns to businesses and schools, have disrupted regular, everyday life activities. That’s also true for professional and leisure sports and physical activities, which are slowly coming back.

    Sports education is a powerful means to foster physical fitness and mental well-being. Northport VA Medical Center’s Adaptive Sports has partnered with PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere), the flagship for Veteran and military programs of PGA’s REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America.

    VA’s research and clinical experience verify that physical activity is important to maintaining good health, speeding recovery, and improving overall quality of life. For many injured Veterans, adaptive sports provide their first exposure to physical activity after injury.

    PGA HOPE introduces golf to Veterans with disabilities to enhance their physical, mental, social and emotional well-being. PGA HOPE’s partnership with VA enables recreational therapists to refer Veterans to the program as a form of therapy.

    With a little help from golf pros

    For the past five years, the PGA Tour Superstore has partnered with the Northport VA hospital offering free golf sessions on their indoor golf simulator. This partnership gives Veterans the opportunity to practice their golfing pre-season as well as receive instruction and tips from professional golfers.

    Pictured above, left to right, WWII Veteran Eugene Leavy; Jinny Mullen, Northport VA recreation therapist; and Veteran Joe Cauciella, giving a thumbs up for the program.

    The program became especially valuable during the winter months when many found they were home isolating and experiencing negative emotions. Participating in this program enhanced the mental, social and physical well-being of our Veterans.

    A mission to change a life

    PGA professionals receive specialized training on how to teach Veterans in the HOPE program.

    “The pros I’ve heard from all want to do more,” said PGA golf instructor Michael Giossi. “We chose a mission to impact lives through this game. You’re not dealing with not just how to hit a 7 iron, but how to live your life and how to change a life. It’s just a whole other layer of giving back. And the fulfillment of being with Veterans is a rewarding experience.”

    The opportunity to get out and socialize with other Veterans has been an amazing experience, both physically and mentally, especially during the pandemic. “Opportunities like these for young Veterans such as myself are limited. For me to get out here, socialize and be active is rewarding,” said WWII Veteran, Eugene Leavy, 95.

    Program participants always require a face covering and must have a consult prior to participating in any Adaptive Sporting event.

    Source

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  • Adaptive surfing helps Vets put the Rubik’s Cube back together

    Adaptive Surfing

     

    AmpSurf helps those in need find solace in catching the perfect wave

    Missing: One leg

    Description: Orange, red and black with tire tread and pictures of palm trees, surfers and marching soldiers. If found, please return to Dana Cummings, no questions asked.

    Cummings, a Marine Corps Veteran, is bummed about the missing leg, but said it’s par for the course for adaptive surfing with one leg in San Diego.

    “No, it’s still MIA,” he said. “Still out there floating somewhere. I built another one out of some parts I have and still have to glue the tread on. I lost one in Morro Bay 10 years ago. Three weeks later it washed up two miles down the beach. Maybe someone in Tijuana will find this leg.”

    That won’t stop him from bringing his organization, AmpSurf, to the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, Sept. 15 to 20, in San Diego. More than 150 Veterans with various disabilities from across the U.S. will travel to California for a week of adaptive adventure sports and lessons in sailing, surfing, kayaking, pickle ball and cycling.

    Cummings and AmpSurf will take many of those Veterans out for the first time in their lives on the water and teach them how to catch a wave.

    “This is the thing. Not trying to make world-class surfers out of these guys and women. Not trying to make them adaptive surf champs. We just want to focus on their abilities. We don’t focus on what you can’t do. To get that rush of riding the wave, the sensation of feeling that wave, it helps these Veterans get more active.

    “Everybody else out there may focus on the disability. When I walk down the street, people can’t help but stare at the leg. But through surfing, we are focusing on their abilities. I don’t care if you don’t surf again after that, but hopefully people go home and realize they surfed for this one week, they can do anything.”

    Cummings never surfed when he had two legs. He served in the Marine Corps from 1989 to 1995, including a tour in Desert Storm. While driving his family in a Volkswagen bus in 2002, a vehicle in front of him slammed on the brakes to make a U-turn. Cummings whipped his vehicle to the side and took the brunt of the impact, crushing his legs.

    “I remember the first prosthetist asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I told him I wanted to surf. And he said, ‘That’s probably not going to happen. You have to be realistic.’

    “And I was like, ‘F you!’

    “I was extremely suicidal. But being out in the water, I didn’t have that fear. It helped me focus. The first time I was catching that wave … I was on top of the world.”

    — Navy Veteran Jamil-Ann Linton

    “I got on my laptop, found another guy who told me he’d help me make it happen. I was surfing a week after I got out of the hospital. Those first two waves I caught l was laying down, but just happy to be there. The next time, I was able to stand up for two seconds.

    “Now I can ride a long board forever. If I can do this, a fat, little farm guy from Maine, anybody can do this.”

    Cummings discovered something else in the surf, too. It was like magic pill for his post-traumatic stress and other issues from the war.

    “Surfing is my therapy,” he said. “I used to be on all these medications for depression, anxiety and PTSD. I don’t take any of them anymore. I surf. I surf almost every day. And I can tell, when things are going haywire, I have to go get in that water. And thank God VA realizes surfing is therapy. It’s natural.

    “Mentally, physically, spiritually, it does all that.”

    Since that day he took his first surfboard out, Cummings went on to start his organization that now has chapters in California, New York and New England, with another one starting in Oregon.

    “We’ll take anyone out — Veterans, blind, kids, anyone with disabilities. It’s funny, I kind of chuckle at how far we’ve grown. I just got back from Oregon and was washing out these wet suits and I never imagined this.”

    Changing minds, saving lives

    After one event, he sent a survey to participants. A Navy Veteran wrote back and said she was thinking of killing herself only days earlier, but AmpSurf changed her mind.

    Jamil-Anne Linton said she was in such a deep depression with PTSD that she saw no way out.

    “I was extremely suicidal,” she said. “But being out in the water, I didn’t have that fear. It helped me focus. The first time I was catching that wave, I got this feeling of humility, but also a feeling like I was on top of the world. And I love that feeling.”

    Now she’s paying it forward. She went back to school to become a registered nurse and is working with mental health patients. She also continues to surf every week with Cummings and spread the word about his program.

    “On a day I’m extremely stressed,” she said, “I go out on the water.”

    “I can do it again”

    AmpSurf made the difference, too, for Army Veteran Jason Wheeler. He was injured while parachuting out of a Blackhawk helicopter during a training exercise, eventually losing both legs above the knee. The collision with the ground caused sight damage and he’s also legally blind.

    “I had never even surfed before then,” Wheeler said. “But you get this energy from the water. You get that one solid wave. You know, you have good days and bad days, and you don’t know what it’s going to be. Surfing is just a like a day. When you wipe out, you say, ‘I can do it again.’

    “It gives us a way of focusing on the abilities we can do. When you think about the negativity, it’s going to drown you, and that’s why we have so many suicides. Or you can surf and become whole. We’re all whole, we’re just like Rubik’s Cubes, just broken apart. Some of us just need to be put back together to become beautiful art.”

    Source

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  • Additional Benefits for 100 Percent Disabled Veterans

    Additional Benefits

     

    Once you have been awarded a 100 percent disability rating, whether that be a 100 percent schedular rating or TDIU, you may be wondering if there are any additional benefits that you may be entitled to through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

    The answer to that questions is “yes!”

    There are several different benefits that you may be eligible for as a disabled Veteran rated at the 100 percent rate. Today we will discuss the different Veterans benefits you may be entitled to.

    What Is a 100 Percent Disability Rating?

    First, you need to understand what a 100 percent disability rating is. To be 100 percent disabled by the VA means that you are totally disabled and receive the maximum amount of disability compensation each month. The VA uses disability ratings to measure the severity of your service-connected disabilities.

    These ratings are on a scale from 0 percent, which is a non-compensable rating, to a 100 percent schedular rating. This is when all your service-connected conditions combined make a 100 percent rating or a single service-connected condition is assigned a 100 percent disability rating. You can also get paid at the 100 percent rate with Individual Unemployability benefits.

    What Other Benefits Are You Entitled to with a 100 Percent Rating?

    As mentioned above, there are several benefits that Veterans rated at 100 percent may be eligible for. Family members, including spouses and dependent children, of Veterans may also be eligible for these benefits. These benefits are in addition to your monthly payments for VA disability benefits.

    Priority Group 1 for Health Care

    When you sign up for VA health care, you will be assigned a priority group. These priority groups are numbered 1 through 8 and each group is used to help make sure that Veterans who need to be seen right away, will be able to be signed up quickly. Each priority group can affect each Veteran differently. The priority group you are assigned to may affect how soon you are signed up for health care and how much you will need to pay for the cost of your care.

    Veterans who are already service connected, are assigned the highest priority. You may be assigned to Priority Group 1 if you have been rated at 50 percent combined rating or more; or have a service-connected disability that they have concluded makes you unemployable; or have received the Medal of Honor (MOH).

    As a Veteran who is rated at the 100 percent rate, it is likely, you will be assigned to Priority Group 1 for VA health care purposes. To learn more about the different priority groups and who you can contact if you have any questions, please click this link.

    Emergency Care Outside of the VA

    If you must be seen at a medical facility outside of the VA for a service-connected disability, the VA may be able to pay for the care you receive. For the VA to pay for care outside of the VA on an emergency basis there is a certain criterion that must be met:

    1. Care or services must be provided in a medical emergency and,
    2. VA or another federal facility were not feasibly available, and
    3. You must notify the VA within 72 hours of the admission for emergency services.

    In order to have the VA pay for the emergency service, you must file a claim for reimbursement as soon as possible because there are time limits that may apply.

    Dental Care Benefits

    VA dental care benefits are available to former armed service members who have a service-connected disability rated at 100 percent disabling, or receive Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU) due to their service- connected disabilities. The eligibility for dental benefits is categorized by class. The class for totally disabled Veterans is Class IV and you would be eligible for any needed dental care.

    Vision Care and Hearing Aids for Veterans

    The VA may be able to cover the cost for your eyeglasses, your routine eye examinations and preventative care. For the VA to cover the cost of your eyeglasses, you must have a compensable service-connected disability, or are a former prisoner of war, or were awarded a purple heart, or receive benefits under Title 38 United States Code (U.S.C.) 1151, or receive an increased pension based on your permanent housebound status and are in needs of regular aid and attendance.

    The VA can pay for basic optometry services if you already have established health care benefits with the VA. You can also receive visual rehabilitation or advanced eye care services low vision and blindness.

    In order to receive hearing aids other assisted hearing devices, you must first qualify for VA health benefits. You can schedule an appointment to be evaluated for your hearing and an audiologist will make a clinical determination on the need for hearing aids and/or hearing assistive devices. If hearing aids are recommended by the audiologist, if you are enrolled and eligible for VA health care, the hearing aids, repairs and future batters will be no cost to you.

    CHAMPVA Benefits

    The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) is a medical benefits program in which the VA shares the cost of certain health care services and supplies with eligible beneficiaries. CHAMPVA provides coverage to the spouse or widow/widower and to the children of a Veteran who is rated permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected disability or was rated permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected disability at the time of death, or died of a service-connected disability, or died on active duty and the dependents are not otherwise eligible for Department of Defense TRICARE benefits.

    Specially Adapted Housing Program

    The VA offers housing grants for Veterans with service-connected disabilities so that they can buy or change a home to meet their needs and their disabilities. Because this is a grant program, you do not have to pay back the grant you are awarded. If you need a ramp for easy wheelchair accessibility or to simply make it easier for you to get in, out and around your home, you can apply for the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Grant. With this grant, you can use the money to buy, build, or change your permanent home. You need to meet the following criteria:

    • Own or will own the home, and
    • Have a qualifying service-connected disability

    A qualifying service-connected disability can include the loss of use of more than one limb, the loss of use of a lower leg along with the residuals of an organic disease or injury, blindness in both eyes, certain severe burns, the loss or loss of use of one lower extremity (foot or leg) after September 11, 2001, which makes it so you cannot balance or walk without the help pf braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair.

    You may also be able to get a Special Home Adaptation (SHA) Grant with the same criteria as above and have qualifying service-connected disabilities such as the loss or loss of uses of both hands, certain severe burns, or certain respiratory or breathing injuries.

    Dependents Education Assistance Program

    The VA’s Dependent’s Educational Assistance program can provide education benefits for spouses and children of permanently disabled Veterans for up to three years and nine months. These benefits can be used by spouses and children to pursue working training programs, apprenticeship, degree or certificate. Spouses may be entitled to be reimbursed for the cost of correspondence courses.

    Veteran Readiness and Employment

    Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E), formerly Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, provides job training and other services to eligible Veterans with service-connected disabilities to help prepare them for and maintain employment or achieve independent daily living. An eligible Veteran is one with a service-connected disability rating of at least 20 percent with an employment handicap, or rated at 10 percent with a serious employment handicap, and he discharged from military service under other than dishonorable conditions. You can learn more about this program at VA.gov.

    Space-A Flights

    100 percent disabled Veterans can fly Space Available flights or Space-A flights for free. The Space-A Program sills extra seating capacity on DoD aircrafts. Air Mobility Command (AMC) has an extensive network of flights throughout the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. You will need to obtain a DD Form 2765, Department of Defense/Uniformed Services Identification and Privilege Card (TAN) before taking a flight.

    If you are looking for a flight, you should review schedules at AMC passenger terminals.

    Commissary and Exchange Benefits

    Veterans who have a 100 percent disability rating, their dependents and unmarried surviving spouses are entitled to unlimited commissary and exchange store privileges. The VA can aid in completing a DD Form 1172, Application for Uniformed Services Identification and Privilege Card, which you will need to access these benefits.

    If you have questions about your benefits, your Veterans service officer (VSO) at your VA regional office is available to help with your application.

    Are There State Benefits Available?

    There are multiple state benefits available to 100 percent disabled Veterans. Each state has its own set of benefits and can range from health care benefits, hunting and fishing license exemptions, free passes to state parks and property tax exemption. You can also be eligible for specialized license plates.

    For more specific information on the benefits available in your state and enrollment details, please click here.

    Have Questions About Your VA Benefits?

    If you’re a Veteran rated at 100 percent and have questions about your eligibility for Veterans benefits, the team at Hill & Ponton is available to help. Our social security and Veterans disability attorneys are committed to helping former service members and their families obtain benefits. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.

    Source

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  • Additional Information on Blue Water Navy Exposure to Herbicide (2022)

    DVA 510

     

    CARRIER REPORTS INTRO

    During a recent presentation I made to the VVA Agent Orange committee regarding Wayne Dwernychuk’s latest report, I encountered some serious Misrepresentation of Fact regarding which ships did or did not enter the Territorial Waters of Vietnam. The ships in question are all aircraft carriers and they were all within the Vietnam Theater of Combat. However, they did not move from the Theater of Combat into what has been designated as “12 miles from baseline” which defines the Territorial Seas of Vietnam used in the 2019 Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veteran Act.

    It is possible to find, through various lists, which ships did enter the Territorial Seas. However, what not everyone knows about, it seems, is a list of ships which were in the Theater of Combat but never entered the Territorial Seas; those who were “left out” of the Blue Water Navy Act of 2019. That list is available in a Report that I published along with considerable help I received from certain other BWN Vets. That report is called the Carrier Reports. It visually graphs out which carriers were in the Theater of Combat during each of the years of the Vietnam War. It also shows quite clearly which of those aircraft carriers entered into the Territorial Seas of Vietnam and when they did that. More importantly, what the Carrier Reports emphasize is what ships did not enter into the Territorial Seas and therefore are not considered eligible for presumption of exposure to herbicide in Vietnam under the current legislation.

    It is important to remembered that when the VA assigns presumption of exposure to Blue Water ships, they do so only for the specific days that a ship can show presence within Territorial Seas…. Not the day before and not the day after. The Carrier Reports identify which month a carrier entered the Territorial Seas for one or more days. It is visually graphed out on a month-by-month basis. But within the Carrier Reports documentation it shows the exact dates when the carrier crossed that 12-mile demarcation line based directly on that ship’s deck logs. There are some deck logs that have not yet been read and therefore there are certain months that the carrier might be shown as “Deck Logs Not Available”, meaning the deck logs are not yet posted to the National Archives public portal website <https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online>. As those deck logs become available, myself and my associates intend to keep the Carrier Reports up-to-date, so we’re still working on this.

    See the entire Carrier Reports HERE http://oldbluewater.com/BWNCarrierReports.htm

    Source: Paul Sutton/John Rossie

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  • Addressing Diet Quality and Food Needs of Veterans

    Diet Quality

     

    INTRODUCTION

    The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) serves a Veteran population that is increasingly diverse. Equitable access to high-quality care for all Veterans is a major tenet of the VA healthcare mission. The Office of Health Equity (OHE) champions the elimination of health disparities and the achievement of health equity for all Veterans.

    The Dietary Guidelines for Americans are recommendations for how individuals and their families can consume a healthful and nutritionally adequate diet. The Dietary Guidelines serve as the science-based foundation for vital nutrition policies and programs across the United States.

    HEALTH DISPARITIES

    Researchers at the Economic Research Service (ERS) at USDA studied how well Veterans’ diets align with the Dietary Guidelines, compared to nonVeterans.

    Compared with their nonVeteran counterparts, Veterans have a higher income and a higher Body Mass Index (BMI), are older, are more likely to be male, and are more likely to be non-Hispanic.   Also, Veterans are less likely to closely follow the Dietary Guideline than non-Veterans.

    Veterans’ lower diet quality is driven primarily by their consumption of empty calories from added sugars and solid fats. Added sugars include cane and beet sugar, syrups, and other caloric sweeteners, but not naturally occurring sugars such as those in fruits and milk. Solid fats are the fats found in meats, poultry, dairy products, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and some tropical oils.

    REDUCING DISPARITIESAND IMPROVING ACCESS

    The Office of Health Equity supports research interventions at local VA Medical Centers to reduce health disparities in Veteran groups that are at higher risk for poor health outcomes. This includes ensuring that Veterans are food secure, in that they have access to enough healthy food. VA health-care providers now ask Veterans during their clinic appointments whether they have run out of food or struggled to pay for it within the past three months.   If a Veteran says yes, they are then referred to a registered dietitian or social worker so they can receive education to help them manage food resources, be connected to a local food pantry or other community-based program or enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance. So far VA has screened over 6 million Veterans for food insecurity.

    In addition to screening Veterans for food security, VA has established food pantries on VA campuses through a formal partnership between VA and Feeding America. There are food pantries at the following VA Medical Centers:

    • Beckley, WV (Mountaineer Food Bank, Beckley VA Medical Center)
    • Charleston, SC (Lowcountry Food Bank,
    • Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center)
    • Cincinnati, OH (Freestore Food Bank, Cincinnati VA Medical Center)
    • Columbia, SC (Harvest Hope Food Bank, William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Medical Center)
    • Dublin, GA (Middle Georgia Community Food Bank, Carl Vinson VA Medical Center)
    • Leavenworth, KS (Second Harvest Community Food Bank, Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center)
    • Martinsburg, WV (Mountaineer Food Bank, Martinsburg VA Medical Center)
    • Orlando, FL (Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Orlando VA Medical Center)
    • Spokane, WA (Second Harvest Inland Northwest, Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center)
    • Temple, TX (Central Texas Food Bank, Central Texas VA Health Care System)

    Veterans continue to be screened and more food pantries are being established at VA campuses to ensure that Veterans will have access to healthy food sources.

    The full report on Veterans' diet quality can be reached at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=95608

    For more information about the Office of Health Equity visit: https://www.va.gov/healthequity/

    For additional OHE fact sheets visit: https://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/Publications_and_Research.asp

    OHE would like to extend a special thanks to the Economic Research Service (ERS) at USDA for their input and guidance.

    PDF Download

    Source

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  • Advisory Committee assesses VA homeless Veteran programs

    VA Homeless Vet Prgms

     

    The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans recently formed a panel of Veterans who have both utilized VA services and experienced homelessness. The panel met with the committee to inform its recommendations to the VA Secretary.

    There is no better source of knowledge on homelessness than those who have experienced it. The committee’s recommendations to the Secretary will assist him in helping other Veterans exit homelessness.

    One of the committee’s top goals was to influence VA messaging. It wanted to ensure that all Veterans who’re experiencing homelessness, or who’re at risk of homelessness, know they can come to VA for help. This includes Veterans with families, women Veterans, disabled Veterans, and minority Veterans.

    The committee meets twice a year and travels to various cities to observe the city’s systems in place. Last year, the committee met in San Francisco to observe how a high-cost market has increased homelessness there, and how markets like this are testing innovative ways to create affordable housing for Veterans.

    This year, the committee met in Washington, D.C., and will meet in Minnesota later this year. There, the committee will talk to leaders who have successfully adapted measures to end Veteran homelessness. The committee will then apply the lessons learned from those interactions to states and communities across the country.

    Formation and goals

    The VA Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans operates under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It was founded on March 1, 2002, following the passage of the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001. This committee’s primary objective is to advise the Secretary on the provision of benefits and services to Veterans experiencing homelessness. This is one of VA’s top priorities.

    The current committee is a diverse group of 15 experts who are knowledgeable about homelessness, housing, and health care. Five Veterans are on the committee, two of whom have experienced homelessness themselves. Committee members can be nominated by a third party, or they can self-nominate by submitting a resume and a brief cover letter to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The committee reviews nominations every two years. The next recruitment cycle is in 2020, but the committee accepts nominations any time, in case an existing member resigns or leaves the board due to other circumstances. Nominees can opt to remain in consideration for the following cycle if they are not selected. Committee members can serve a maximum of two consecutive two-year terms.

    The committee will continue to advise the Secretary on how best to meet homeless Veterans’ needs. With VA’s vision, leadership, and support for evidence-based practices, it’s possible to ensure that every Veteran has a place to call home.

    Source

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  • Advocates begin 'final push' to get benefits for Vietnam War Veterans

    VNV Benefits 002

     

    WASHINGTON — National Veterans organizations launched a “final push” Thursday for Congress to grant Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to tens of thousands of Vietnam War Veterans believed to be suffering the effects of Agent Orange.

    The effort, led by Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif., is designed to put pressure on lawmakers to publicly support the Fair Care for Vietnam Veterans Act. The measure was added to the Senate’s annual defense bill last month but didn’t make it into the House’s version because of cost concerns, Harder said. It must survive negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers before becoming law.

    “People on the other side of this issue, their position is so indefensible that they don’t want to be seen fighting against this,” Harder said Thursday on a call with Veterans groups. “Our job is to draw them out and shine sunlight on this issue.”

    The bill would approve benefits for Vietnam War Veterans suffering from bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinson’s-like symptoms — conditions thought to be caused by exposure to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange. The bill would add the diseases to the VA presumptive list, which lowers the amount of proof Veterans must provide in order to receive VA benefits.

    Navy Veteran Lyle Ducheneaux, who spoke on the call Thursday, served as a machinist mate aboard the USS Blue Ridge during the Vietnam War. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2015, making him one of five Veterans from his division that have the disease, he said. Ducheneaux has undergone two operations and multiple treatments. He’s relapsed twice.

    Ducheneaux applied for VA benefits but was rejected. He’s appealed that decision multiple times and is now waiting for his case to be heard by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

    “I’m now on my third or fourth denial,” he said. “I lost track of how many times at this point. Last time I checked, I’m number 125,800 on the docket to be reevaluated again. If I’m not dead by that time, well… something might come of it.”

    Harder said he wants Ducheneaux’s story – and others like it – to get the attention of lawmakers who are against the measure.

    “I want to make sure everybody understands what’s at stake here,” Harder said. “Everybody talks a big game about helping Veterans, but congressmen and senators of both parties have failed to provide the support our Veterans deserve.”

    Harder plans to send a letter this week to the House lawmakers who were selected to negotiate on the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The letter asks them to include the measure in the final version of the defense bill.

    Further, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and Military Officers Association of America tasked their members with calling their representatives and urging their support.

    “With this NDAA, we have an incredible opportunity to make things right,” said retired Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, CEO of Military Officers Association of America. “Veterans suffering now can’t wait for further studies like the VA has proposed, nor should they have to.”

    While the VA secretary has the power to add the conditions to the presumptive list, Robert Wilkie said earlier this year that he wouldn’t make a decision about the conditions until at least the end of 2020, , when results of two more scientific studies on the issue are expected to be published.

    Advocates, however, think there is already enough evidence.

    In 2018, researchers with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine determined there was “suggestive” evidence linking Agent Orange exposure to hypothyroidism.

    A 2016 report from the academies determined that there was “limited” or “suggestive” evidence linking Agent Orange to bladder cancer. That year, the academies also clarified that Parkinson-like symptoms should be considered as part of Parkinson’s disease, which is on the list of presumptive diseases.

    Previous efforts were made by former VA secretaries to add the conditions. Under former VA Secretary David Shulkin, the agency recommended in 2016 the addition of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and Parkinson’s-like tremors to the presumptive list. Shulkin’s recommendation never made it past OMB. Lawmakers were told at the time that OMB was waiting on the results of more scientific studies.

    OMB and Mick Mulvaney, its director at the time, objected to the recommendation. In addition to a lack of scientific evidence, OMB had concerns about the budget implications of expanding access to VA benefits to the thousands of Veterans diagnosed with the conditions, Military Times reported, citing emails between Shulkin and OMB.

    Seven national Veterans groups wrote to President Donald Trump in February and asked him to intervene. They criticized the VA for dragging its feet.

    It’s uncertain when negotiations on the annual defense measure will be finalized, but it’s likely to happen around the end of the year, Harder said. Trump has threatened to Veto the bill if it includes language that would remove Confederate names from military installations.

    Source

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  • Advocates for homeless Vets face next big challenge: inflation

    Army Vet Homeless

     

    With coronavirus pandemic restrictions lifting across most of America, federal officials and housing advocates are hoping their efforts in coming months can lead to a significant decline in the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness.

    But they’re also already wary of the next looming challenge facing vulnerable Veterans: inflation.

    “A lot of people right now are thinking about how higher prices are going to impact their clients and what services or resources they’ll have to bring to the table to close that gap,” said Kathryn Monet, chief executive officer of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

    “There are people out there already making hard choices. Do I pay for medicine or gas? Do I buy school supplies or pay the utilities? We’re in a difficult moment.”

    Several hundred advocates are gathering in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss those problems — and potential solutions — as part of NCHV’s annual conference. This year’s event, which runs through Friday, is the first in-person gathering for the group in three years, since the pandemic upended normal operations in communities across the country.

    Attendees noted that unlike other jobs that could shift operations to remote locations over the last two years, most of the outreach work done to help Veterans experiencing homelessness still had to be done in person.

    That has meant long hours and extra stress for the community of helpers.

    “We had to learn how to multitask even more than we did before,” said Wendy McClinton, president of Black Veterans for Social Justice, a non-profit providing a variety of housing assistance programs. “And we had to protect our staff, protect our clients, protect their families, and that meant sometimes using resources we didn’t even know we had before.”

    Now, advocates are taking those lessons learned and working them into ongoing operations.

    In some cases, it means continuing to deliver services over the phone or internet to clients instead of in-person because it provides faster results. In others, it means providing more single-occupancy options to Veterans looking for housing, giving them more independence and investment in their situation.

    Federal agencies have also made changes in their support services.

    On Wednesday, James Rodriguez, assistant secretary for Veterans’ employment and training service at the Department of Labor, announced $57 million in grants to community groups to help homeless Veterans find “meaningful employment.”

    A short while later, Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman announced a goal of 200,000 new housing vouchers this year to help put Veterans in stable housing (there are about 106,000 in use currently).

    Because of the new resources, combined with the “return” of advocates to pre-pandemic operations, officials said they see an opportunity to build on past efforts to reduce the number of Veterans without steady housing in the coming year.

    From 2010 to 2016, the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness dropped by nearly half — from about 74,000 to 39,500 — thanks in large part to a dramatic increase in federal and state funding of programs to deal with the problem.

    Since then, however, the number has remained largely stagnant. In 2020 — the last year a full point-in-time count was conducted by federal officials, the estimated number of Veterans experiencing homelessness was about 37,200, a decrease of about 6%.

    Officials saw a 10% drop in the number of Veterans using emergency shelter services from 2020 to 2021, but it is unclear how much of that is because of improvements in their housing situations or concerns about using the public facilities in the midst of coronavirus outbreaks.

    It is also not clear how much rising inflation could wipe out any of those past gains.

    Monet said rising rents are the most immediate threat for advocates trying to get or keep Veterans in reliable housing. But increased costs for groceries, gas and other services all play a major role in Veterans’ finances too.

    She said those concerns limit her optimism for how much progress can be made quickly on the homelessness issue.

    “We know that the housing market is crazy now,” she said. “So we may just be treading water. And that’s unfortunate, because we do have these big bold goals from the federal government and we’re all working hard to try and encourage all our partners.”

    By getting advocates back in the room together this week, NCHV officials are hopeful that they can plan ways around those obstacles and create new momentum.

    They also expect that the return of the conference can help spur new connections among all the groups involved, especially since now they can greet those partners not with a computer-screen wave but instead with a real-life handshake.

    Source

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  • AFMES forensic anthropologist also serves as ANG training manager

    Forensic Anthropologist

     

    Splitting work between a federal entity and the Air National Guard can pose a challenge, let alone having the two work environments more than 600 miles away from each other.

    For Maryland native Rachel Johnson, she is both an evidence custodian for the Department of Defense DNA Operations at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System located at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware; and a master sergeant in the Air National Guard serving as a unit training manager with the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Maine.

    “As an evidence custodian, we need to take accountability of samples so they can be processed and maintain continuity,” said Johnson. “Without accessioning, the samples would sit stagnant or they would be processed but have a higher probability of being misplaced due to not having a chain of custody.”

    The samples that Johnson receives are to identify missing service members through the use of DNA analysis.

    “It is important to accession these packages as soon as possible so we can get the DNA process started,” said Johnson. “That way, they can be utilized to help identify service members and this allows the families to have peace of mind knowing that their loved one has been found and can be laid to rest.”

    Johnson was recently selected to become a security forces officer with her unit and is headed to Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, for the next two months for Officer Training School.

    “I am looking forward to becoming an officer, to be able to be that voice for both our enlisted and officers in the Guard,” she said. “Officers have a great responsibility to take care of the enlisted force and my prior enlisted experience will help make me a better leader.”

    Prior to her selection as an Air Force officer, Johnson started her time in the military on active duty in health administration for five years before transitioning to the Reserves as an ophthalmology technician for eight years and finally with the 101st ARW for the last three years.

    “When I was active duty, it was hard with my husband constantly traveling and moving and I wanted to be able to go where he goes,” said Johnson. “A big benefit of being Guard, is that it has allowed me to follow my husband and have the flexibility to get my Master’s Degree.”

    Johnson was able to complete her Master’s Degree in Forensic Anthropology from the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom; and also has earned her Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a focus in healthcare from Husson University, Maine.

    Splitting time between AFMES and the 101st ARW, that are many miles apart, can be tricky.

    “The hardest challenge is being called to duty, such as for deployment, AGR orders or mandated training,” said Johnson. “Luckily, I have had civilian jobs that understand that this can happen and are very supportive.”

    However, due to the recent COVID-19 restrictions, Johnson has not been back to Maine and has focused on her job at AFMES.

    “Rachel has been here since January and doing case work since March,” said Ursula Zipperer, AFMES DoD DNA casework administration and evidence manager. “She does a fantastic job of getting her work done for AFMES and balancing both jobs.”

    Zipperer added how Johnson has been a great addition to the team, despite the short time she’s been with AFMES.

    “I think it’s great that she’s serving her country in multiple ways, working at AFMES bringing home lost service members, as well as being an active participant in our military,” said Zipperer. “She’s a wonderful person and employee and we’ll miss her while she’s away at training.”

    Following OTS, Johnson is expected to return to AFMES.

    “I am going to miss the environment and the people I worked with,” said Johnson. “I have enjoyed building relationships with those in my section and I am looking forward to coming back to get more training. This will allow me to be resourceful to my coworkers.”

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  • After a years-long fight, Veterans will see new medical malpractice protections

    Malpractice Protections

     

    Veterans Affairs officials will have to provide basic legal advice to Veterans who file medical malpractice claims and provide information on local staffing issues as part of new legislation signed into law this week.

    The provisions, dubbed the Brian Tally VA Employment Transparency Act, were included in a massive Veterans policy omnibus which passed without objection in both the House and Senate last month. President Donald Trump gave his final approval of the measure on Tuesday.

    Tally, a Veteran injured in a medical malpractice case five years ago, has pushed for the reforms in response to his own legal battles with VA officials. On Tuesday, he said he was exhausted by the years-long lobbying effort but satisfied that the work may help other Veterans.

    “What happened to my family and I and the countless others before us is downright frightening, unconstitutional and criminal,” he said. “I knew something needed to be done.”

    Tally, 43, previously served as a sergeant in the Marine Corps and visited the Loma Linda Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California in 2015 after a bout of extreme back pain. Doctors diagnosed him with a back sprain and sent him home with painkillers, without any blood tests or further examinations.

    After weeks without any relief — or additional help from VA doctors — Tally visited a private-sector doctor (at his own expense), where new tests showed a bone-eating staph infection causing severe spinal damage.

    At the time, Tally was an active father of four and owner of his own landscaping business. Today, he is unable to walk without significant pain. His bladder is mostly non-functional. He said he spent “most of my time living in a chair” and has struggled with depression.

    “My life changed in ways I could have never seen coming or ever imagined,” he said.

    Tally’s family filed a claim against VA for malpractice, saying that doctors should have ordered more tests after his continued pain. But after more than a year of working with department officials on the claim, they were notified that the primary doctor involved in the case was an independent contractor, not a VA staffer.

    That meant he had missed state deadlines for filing proper legal claims for his injuries. Officials did not give any reason why providing that critical information took so long.

    The new legislation mandates that the department provide “notice of the importance of securing legal counsel” and clearly identify the employment status of any individuals involved in the case within a month of a Veteran submitting a malpractice claim. VA officials had opposed the idea, saying it creates unnecessary burden on staff.

    The new rules are not retroactive, so Tally will not directly benefit. But he said he still feels the end result is satisfying.

    “This is what my family and I have longed for to effectively close out this egregious five-year chapter, turn the page and move on with our lives,” he said. “This will never happen again and ruin the lives of other Veterans and their families.”

    The full bill — named for former Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson and former House committee Chairman Phil Roe — also includes numerous new protections for women Veterans, student Veterans and Veterans left with financial challenges related to the ongoing pandemic.

    Source

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  • After Action Network: One-stop shop for Veterans

    One stop shop

     

    Like many worthy causes, the After Action Network (AAN) was borne from adversity.

    AAN is one of many Veteran-led organizations serving the Veteran community. Founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2017 by Marine Veteran Joe (Joey) Williams, AAN is a comprehensive, data-driven, resource, referral network that also serves as the local Community Veterans Engagement Board (CVEB).    

    Williams served honorably for seven years in the Marine Corps, including multiple overseas tours, but his career was cut short after numerous leg injuries. No longer serving alongside his fellow Marines was a devastating blow, not just physically and emotionally, but also his sense of morality. Williams openly recalls struggling “to cope, and became addicted to painkillers, leading to clinical depression, aggressive suicidal tendencies, and a disconnect from myself: who I was and where I was going in life.”

    After several attempts with traditional mental health treatment, he was able to find a new purpose and a new path to continue serving his brothers and sisters.

    “I just fell in love with art, and that saved me,” he said.

    Williams poured himself into his artwork, becoming his own most effective method of therapy. He earned a degree from the Kansas City Art Institute, and launched his initial nonprofit Operation Art, which helps Veterans connect with – and enroll in – high quality art institutions.

    Always a Marine seeking the next mission, Williams grew AAN out of the roots of Operation Art in 2017 to expand easy and effective service referral to the community.

    Williams remembered his own out processing in 2011, and how he was overwhelmed by the TAP briefings.

    “It was 10 hours of drinking from the firehose and I just wanted to get out,” he said.

    Overwhelmed is a common feeling when transitioning from service member to Veteran. Many factors can contribute to this feeling, with the overwhelming and dispersed amount of resources, services, and benefits available throughout their journey.

    Veterans and Military Families have a deluge of available resources at the federal, state and local levels, as well as an abundance of nonprofit and for-profit programs aimed at supporting them. Undoubtedly, Veterans and their families benefit from this support system. However, the lack of integration throughout the public and private sector can lead to feeling like “drinking from the firehose.”

    This is where AAN stepped up and stepped in.

    “That’s why we started After Action Network,” Williams said. “To coordinate the overwhelming amount of community resources. Our platform customizes a portfolio with catered resources for each Veteran.” AAN’s platform serves as “a one-stop shop network of networks, focusing on social services” for not only their community, but communities across the country.

    AAN has developed multiple programs in addition to Operation Art, including career development and entrepreneurial advancement. Supported by Aunt Bertha, a social care network through AAN’s After Action Database, Veterans and their families can find “everything from job placement services to utility assistance, food pantries, child care, and much more!”

    Working directly with “VA social workers, instead of a Veteran traveling ten miles and taking two buses to get to the VA, they can refer to AAN and possibly find the services needed right down the block,” Williams said.

    Sharing its successes

    “We have a lot of goals,” Williams said. “[Such as] help[ing] implement the AAN database systems to other VSOs… build[ing] common-bonding activities between Veterans and civilians, and getting Veterans to engage with their community more and not self-isolate.”

    AAN’s data-driven approach to community resource integration is one of many examples of community leadership among our nation’s Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors.

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  • After surgeon with past issues hired at Biloxi VA hospital, leaders investigated by OIG

    Joseph Dedeaux Sr

     

    Management at the Biloxi VA hospital knew about issues with a surgeon’s medical license and hired him anyway, staff realized years later, which triggered an investigation into oversight and practices at the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, a new report says.

    The Office of the Inspector General issued a report last week on its findings after trying to determine if the incident was isolated or more systemic. It’s called “Facility Leaders’ Oversight and Quality Management Processes at the Gulf Coast VA Health Care System.”

    The OIG in 2017 received reports of three allegations against the hospital: that patients had died because there was not full-time coverage of the ICU by a doctor with critical care training, also called an intensivist; that an inspection by regional leaders had not remedied the situation; and that a thoracic surgeon provided poor care to five patients.

    The first two allegations were addressed in a March 2018 report, which said that on the intensivist’s off weeks, other doctors only authorized to perform standard surgeries were performing intermediate surgeries, and one hospice-care patient with complications had to be transferred to a private hospital and died. The death wasn’t directly attributed to the lack of staffing.

    The 2018 report also found communication and documentation issues, and recommended the regional Veterans Integrated Service Network 16 (which covers Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, parts of Texas and coastal Alabama and Florida) oversee the ICU and surgeries.

    A new report issued Aug. 28 addresses the third allegation. The OIG initially investigated an unnamed thoracic surgeon “under its jurisdiction for potential criminal actions” but closed that in November 2017, and expanded the scope of the investigation to include management practices at the hospital.

    “Due to concerns for patient safety and potential effects of oversight failures, the OIG team expanded the scope of the review from the surgeon-related oversight processes to include a facility-wide oversight process review,” the report said.

    When the surgeon was hired in 2013, the report said “facility leaders were aware of licensure and malpractice issues, including the relinquishing of a state medical license in October 2006 to prevent continued prosecution in a disciplinary case.”

    But by the time that was discovered in 2017, none of the current staff knew how those hiring decisions had been made, and they were not documented.

    However, “when interviewed, facility leaders did not have a clear understanding of the requirements for reviewing the surgeon’s care provided.”

    They “granted and continued the surgeon’s privileges without the required evidence of all competencies.”

    Concerns about the surgeon first arose in 2014, when the chief of staff requested the Professional Standards Board review one of the surgeon’s cases, during which privileges were suspended. All allegations were found to be “without merit” and the surgeon resumed duties in April.

    In October 2017, leaders placed the surgeon on a “surgical pause,” which is not an official designation, and tried to get a doctor from outside the VA to independently evaluate the surgeon as he worked, called an external proctor. However, the surgeon instead resigned, effective December 2017.

    “Facility leaders also removed the surgeon in October 2017 from the clinical care setting without following required processes, including notifications to external reporting agencies,” the report said. Because of that, the surgeon could not be reported to the federal malpractice database, the National Practitioner Data Bank, and there was a delay in reporting to a state licensing board.

    The OIG team visited in April 2018, and also found the surgeon still had an active VetPro file. “The delay of action indicated an unclear understanding of the significance of the quality of care issues and required subsequent actions,” the report said.

    The OIG then reviewed documentation related to the hiring of 50 doctors and found more deficiencies.

    Surgeons who are first granted privileges, or who are granted new privileges, are required to be evaluated (called an FPPE) within a certain time period. An FPPE can also be requested “for cause,” or if there is a concerning incident.

    Of the 50 doctor files inspected, 14 files did not contain documentation of a defined or completed FPPE, three of four providers who requested modified or new privileges did not have an FPPE, and three of seven “for cause” FPPEs were not presented to the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff for approval.

    The OIG also found “multiple instances of quality management failures,” such as documenting CPR certifications for staff and properly reviewing patient deaths and “adverse events and close calls.”

    The report made 19 recommendations for the local VA director to follow, and put the regional VISN director in charge of overseeing implementation.

    “Due to changes in leadership and facility leaders’ multiple instances of quality management failures that appeared to be due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of VHA policies, the OIG recommended that the VISN Director oversee implementation of facility recommendations.”

    The Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System has issued a statement in response to the report:

    “We appreciate the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) oversight, which focuses on an individual who no longer works for VA and events that occurred more than two years ago. Since then, the Gulf Coast VA Health Care System has taken action on all of the OIG’s recommendations, and made the following improvements:

    • Conducted top-to-bottom reviews in 2018 and again this year to ensure all providers are in good standing.
    • Implemented a process — which the OIG named a best practice — to ensure providers have disclosed all licenses, active and inactive, into their credentialing profiles.
    • Established an internal tracking tool to keep close tabs on all licensure/certification/registration/malpractice actions for providers.”

    Source

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  • After years of vigilant service, Veterans must remain vigilant online

    Vigilant Online Scams

     

    Veterans are twice as likely as non-Veterans to be targets of online scams

    The internet is a powerful tool for Veterans. It allows them to keep up with friends, access their hard-earned benefits and shop for the things they need. Unfortunately, former service members are more likely than civilians to be targeted by online scammers while doing these things. Veterans are twice as likely to lose money to fraud because of identity theft, phishing, impostor scams, and investment, loan, or donation deceptions.

    Many of these scammers target Veterans to alter or access their government-provided aid, swindling them out of the money or benefits they have earned. This is a widespread issue. Nearly 80% of Veterans say they have been targeted by scams due to their service, according to an AARP survey. These scams are diverse and range from phishing attempts to solicitations for fraudulent Veteran-focused charities.

    “Help the Vets” is one example of a fraudulent charity targeting Veterans. It claimed to fund medical care and mental health services for Veterans. An investigation found that “Help the Vets” spent 95% of donations on administrative costs and compensation for its founder. Just 5% of proceeds were actually used to benefit Veterans.

    Scammers and identity thieves also target financially stressed Veterans with promising investment opportunities. Recently, a man defrauded about 2,600 people—many of whom are pension-holding Veterans—in a Ponzi scheme. The investor told these pension holders to make monthly payments and disguised them as cash flows.

    Identity thieves have developed both low-tech and high-tech ways to steal Veterans’ data, like shoulder surfing and skimming. Shoulder surfing requires that someone physically look over your shoulder to steal your password, PIN, or credit card number. Skimming utilizes a device that fits onto regular credit card machines, allowing scammers to steal your credit card information.

    How to protect your information

    Veterans can take simple actions to better protect their information:

    • Use unique passwords for your online accounts. Re-using passwords increases the risk of cyber theft.
    • Use multi-factor authentication (MFA). This combines more than one authenticator type based on information users know and information users receive. It also adds another level of security when Veterans log in to access and manage VA services and benefits.

    VA works hard to prevent Veteran identity theft. VA delivers cybersecurity awareness training for all VA employees. It ended the use of Social Security numbers in its business processes. Lastly, VA gives free credit monitoring to Veterans and beneficiaries whose data was compromised by a VA breach. Veterans or beneficiaries of identity theft not caused by a VA breach can contact the toll-free Identity Theft Help Line at 1-855-578-5492 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

    Veterans can also find additional information on protecting their identity and what VA is doing to help by visiting the More Than a Number website.

    Source

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  • Agawam Man Charged with Defrauding VA Hospitals by Failing to Inspect Medical Gas Systems

    Justice 013

     

    BOSTON – A vendor for several Veterans Affairs medical facilities was charged yesterday in connection with a scheme to profit by billing for, but failing to perform, critical medical gas inspections at VA facilities.

    Chester Wojcik, 49, of Agawam, Mass., was charged with one count of wire fraud.

    It is alleged that from May 29, 2014, through March 5, 2015, Wojcik, as the owner of Alliance Medical Gas Corporation, engaged in a scheme to defraud the VA by creating false invoices and reports for medical gas inspections that never took place. Medical gas supply systems deliver piped gases, including compressed air, oxygen, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, to operating rooms, recovery rooms and patient rooms. Medical gas supply systems must be inspected and maintained regularly to ensure the safety of patients and medical professionals. Wojcik allegedly failed to perform, and then lied about, scheduled inspections of medical gas systems at VA facilities in Sioux Falls, SD, Tuskegee AL, and Montgomery, AL. Wojcik was allegedly paid $8,981 by the VA for services that his company did not perform.

    The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Jeffrey Stachowiak, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office; and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elysa Q. Wan of Lelling’s Health Care Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.

    The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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  • Agent Orange and cancer: Veteran dies 1 month after VA reverses denial of benefits

    Keith Brown

     

    WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Cindy Brown is pressing the U.S. Congress and the Veterans Health Administration to ramp up cancer screening for Veterans exposed to Agent Orange. She said her husband Keith’s experience illustrates the need for reform.

    As a sergeant in Vietnam, Keith Brown loaded Agent Orange herbicide onto aircraft. The Army told him it was safe, and he was exposed to it for years.

    "We were playing just like we would be playing with water hoses," he said.

    After he came home, Keith learned Agent Orange was toxic -- known to cause numerous health problems, including cancer. He first endured heart problems and tissue damage as his knees, shoulder, and hip degenerated.

    For years, the Browns complained of excessive drive times from their home in Winter Haven to Tampa, and wait times for medical appointments once they arrived.

    Congress eventually passed the Choice Act, which is supposed to allow Veterans to seek timely care outside the VA if they live more than 40 miles from a VA center. But in Brown’s case, that required him to check into an office in Lakeland that referred back to Tampa because it could not serve his specific needs. As a result, Keith and Cindy said they had to drive 170 miles to appointments and those appointments did not include screening, scanning, or testing for cancer, despite Keith’s known exposure to Agent Orange.

    "They are always asking about AIDS. They’ll screen for that. They know he's a cancer risk. He's not an AIDS risk,” said Cindy.

    In November 2018, after Keith started coughing up blood, he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. One month later, the VA denied compensation for "aid & attendance" (support for terminal cancer). Then in March 2019, the VA denied his lung cancer was even connected to his service as Keith’s final weeks ticked away.

    “There’s got to be something better because if they wait long enough and that Vet dies, they are under no obligation to make a determination at all or to pay back pay,” Cindy said. “The families have been through enough, it’s time to stop”

    On June 25, the VA determined it had incorrectly denied service Keith's cancer and granted the support Keith and Cindy requested. But his benefits were terminated the next month because Keith died in July.

    “I wasn't ready for him to go. I’m still not, and I thought this is the ultimate slap in the face,” Cindy said.

    The VA says cancer screening is a key preventive care measure, but it does not automatically provide it each year for Vets exposed to Agent Orange.

    That’s why Cindy Brown is now urging Congress to ramp up cancer screening for Veterans at known risk for cancer. She's looking for any member of Congress who may take up her proposal.

    Source

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  • Agent Orange Diseases and Symptoms Breakdown!

    AO Symptoms 01

     

    Agent Orange Symptoms

    Agent Orange exposure is strongly associated with a variety of health problems. These symptoms of Agent Orange exposure can range from the inconvenient to debilitating and even life-threatening.

    If you are a Vietnam war Veteran or you otherwise experienced Agent Orange Exposure, and you are experiencing any of these Agent Orange exposure symptoms, you may be eligible for VA health care, VA disability benefits, and possibly other Agent Orange benefits.

    Agent Orange Presumptive Benefits and Conditions

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has classified these Agent Orange-related diseases as presumptive. If you served in the military in Vietnam or on the Korean DMZ between specific dates of Vietnam Era, or you are otherwise known to have been exposed to the defoliant during your military service, and you are diagnosed with certain health problems, the VA will presume that your condition has service connection.

    This makes it much easier to qualify for both VA health care and disability compensation. If you are an eligible Veteran (see below for eligibility criteria), you don’t have to prove that Agent Orange caused your condition or made it worse.

    Eligibility for Agent Orange benefits.

    To qualify for presumptive VA benefits for Agent Orange exposure, you must be able to show:

    • A medical record of having been diagnosed with an Agent Orange-related illness or condition, AND any of the following:
      • Service in Vietnam for any length of time between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975, OR;
      • Service in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) for any length of time between September 1, 1967 and August 31, 1971, OR;
      • Service aboard a U.S. military vessel that entered the inland waterways of Vietnam, OR;
      • Service aboard a vessel operating not more than 12 nautical miles seaward of the demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia (c.f. Public Law 116-23, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019),
        OR;
      • You were exposed to herbicides in a location other than Vietnam or the DMZ, such as by loading, transporting, or storing them while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Certain Veterans who operated from Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) bases near U-Tapao, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, Udorn, Takhli, Korat, and Don Muang, near the airbase perimeter anytime between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975 may qualify.

    Army Veterans who served on these installations may qualify if you were a military policeman or can otherwise provide evidence you were stationed around the security perimeter of these bases.

    C-123 crewmen and maintenance airmen may also qualify if they worked on C-123 planes between 1969 and 1986.

    History of Agent Orange

    During the Vietnam War, U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange and other powerful defoliants over large swathes of the Vietnamese landscape. The U.S. military used over 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam in order to strip the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army of cover and concealment and to kill off crops they depended on to feed their fighters.

    It was common for U.S. forces to operate in the immediate vicinity of areas that were sprayed with defoliant. Thousands of U.S. service members were directly exposed to high concentrations of Agent Orange.

    Agent Orange and Dioxin Exposure

    Because of a manufacturing error, Agent Orange contained large amounts of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD. This compound is a particularly toxic form of dioxin. Dioxins are common chemicals that often result from burning trash and leaves and in certain manufacturing processes. TCDD is the most dangerous of these compounds.

    The compound is extremely persistent: It does not wash away readily with rain, but stays in the environment for years, building up in soil and sediment and accumulating in the food chain. Dioxins are fat-soluble.

    Exposure to the TCDD dioxin is known to have potential immediate and long-term health effects.

    What are the health effects of Agent Orange exposure?

    There is no single set of symptoms diagnosed as Agent Orange exposure. Rather, physicians look for specific medical conditions that are correlated with exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides and dioxins.

    If your service dates and duty stations qualify, these are the medical conditions that qualify for presumptive status. Read below for the list of diseases associated with Agent Orange!

    Here are the 14 health conditions associated with Agent Orange exposure as of 2020:

    • Chronic B-Cell Leukemia
    • Hodgkin’s disease
    • Multiple Myeloma
    • Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
    • Prostate cancer
    • Respiratory Cancers
    • Soft tissue sarcomas
    • Ischemic heart disease
    • Chloracne
    • Porphyria cutanea tarda
    • Parkinson’s disease
    • Peripheral neuropathy
    • Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
    • AL Amyloidosis

    Read on below for a detailed explanation and breakdown of each medical condition that is associated with Agent Orange exposure. There is a growing body of medical evidence linking other conditions not listed here to Agent Orange exposure – we will also discuss those below!

    Cancers associated with Agent Orange

    • Chronic B-cell leukemia
      • Weakness and fatigue
      • Fever
      • Pain in upper left abdomen (enlarged spleen)
      • Frequent infections
      • Unexplained weight loss
      • Small red spotting in skin
      • Swollen lymph nodes
      • Night sweats

    Hodgkin’s lymphoma

    • Weakness and fatigue
    • Fever
    • Pain in upper left abdomen (enlarged spleen)
    • Frequent infections
    • Unexplained weight loss
    • Small red spotting in skin
    • Swollen lymph nodes
    • Night sweats
    • Severe itching
    • Increased sensitivity to alcohol
    • Pain in lymph nodes after drinking alcohol

    Multiple myeloma

    • Bone pain, especially in chest or spine
    • Fatigue
    • Confusion/mental fogginess
    • Weight loss
    • Weakness
    • Numbness in legs
    • Nausea
    • Loss of appetite
    • Excessive thirst
    • Constipation

    Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

    • Loss of appetite
    • Nausea/vomiting
    • Headaches
    • Night sweats
    • Skin rash/itching
    • Coughing/shortness of breath
    • Chest pain
    • Abdominal pain
    • Bone pain
    • Headaches
    • Abdominal swelling/fullness
    • Chronic fatigue or weakness

    Prostate cancer

    • Difficulty urinating/weak stream
    • Blood in semen
    • Bone pain
    • Erectile dysfunction
    • Pelvic discomfort/pain

    Respiratory cancers

    • Cough that does not go away, or gets worse
    • Chest pain, aggravated by laughing, coughing or deep breathing
    • Loss of appetite
    • Loss of voice/hoarseness
    • Weakness/fatigue
    • Shortness of breath
    • Wheezing
    • Bronchitis and pneumonia infections that keep recurring

    If lung cancer spreads to other areas of the body, you may experience:

    • Jaundice
    • Swelling of lymph nodes in neck or collarbone
    • Bone pain

    Soft tissue sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, mesothelioma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or chondrosarcoma).

    • A growing lump under the skin
    • Bowel or stomach blockage
    • Blood in vomit or stool
    • Black, tarry stool

    These symptoms are usually caused by conditions other than a sarcoma. But they still warrant prompt medical attention.

    Heart conditions

    Ischemic heart disease

    • Chest pain (angina)
    • Chest pressure
    • Shortness of breath
    • Commonly asymptomatic
    • Heart attack/myocardial infarction

    Skin conditions and skin disorders associated with Agent Orange

    Chloracne (or similar acneiform diseases)

    • Excessively oily skin
    • Blackheads/pimples, especially around the eyes and temples. Severe cases see blackheads and lesions spread to the rest of the face, neck, arms, and behind the ears.
    • Fluid-filled cysts
    • Dark hair growth

    Porphyria cutanea tarda

    • Blistering or increased hair growth on areas of skin exposed to sunlight
    • Scarring
    • ‘Crusting’ of skin
    • Hyperpigmentation
    • Liver damage

    Chloracne and porphyria cutanea tarda must be diagnosed within 1 year of exposure and be at least 10% disabling to qualify for presumptive VA disability and benefits.

    Neurological disorders associated with Agent Orange

    Parkinson’s disease

    • Tremors
    • Slowed movement
    • Rigid muscles
    • Loss of ability to perform unconscious movements, such as blinking, swinging arms while walking, etc.
    • Difficulty writing, or small handwriting
    • Slurring or hesitation when speaking

    Peripheral neuropathy

    • Prickling, numbness or tingling in feet and hands
    • Extreme touch sensitivity
    • Muscle weakness
    • Sharp, throbbing, burning or jabbing pains
    • A feeling in hands like wearing gloves
    • Paralysis
    • Sensitivity to heat
    • Extreme sweating
    • Inability to sweat
    • Blood pressure changes resulting in lightheadedness or dizziness
    • Digestive, bowel or bladder problems

    Other presumptive diseases associated with Agent Orange

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus

    • Patches of dark skin
    • Excessive thirst
    • Slow healing of cuts and scratches
    • Fatigue
    • Frequent urination
    • Blurred vision
    • Constant hunger
    • Neuropathy
    • Itching and yeast infections
    • Sexual dysfunction
    • Foot numbness or pain
    • Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic syndrome

    AL amyloidosis

    • Enlarged tongue, sometimes “scalloped” around the edge
    • Swelling of ankles and legs
    • Difficulty swallowing
    • Shortness of breath
    • Fatigue/weakness
    • Nausea
    • Diarrhea
    • Numbness or tingling in hands and feet
    • Irregular heartbeat
    • Unexplained weight loss of 10 pounds or more
    • Skin changes, including easy bruising, thickening and dark or purple patches around eyes.

    If you have a condition not listed here, but you believe it is related to Agent Orange exposure, you may still qualify for benefits. To apply, you will need to show scientific evidence that your condition is related to Agent Orange exposure. A study published in a peer-reviewed medical or scientific journal may be acceptable.

    You may also show medical evidence that your problem was caused by, or aggravated by your military service.

    There are several other medical conditions that appear to be strongly linked to Agent Orange exposure, but which have not yet been added to the presumptive list:

    Bladder cancer

    • Blood or blood clotting in urine (hematuria)
    • Burning sensation when urinating
    • Frequent urination
    • Difficulty urinating
    • Lower back pain on one side
    • Pelvic pain

    Hypothyroidism.

    • Constipation
    • Dry skin
    • Puffy face
    • Weight gain
    • Muscle weakness
    • Hoarseness

    Hypertension (high blood pressure)

    • Severe headaches
    • Blurred vision
    • Chest pain
    • Breathing difficulties
    • Blood in urine
    • ‘Pounding’ feeling in chest, neck, or ears
    • Fatigue
    • Confusion

    Parkinson’s-like Tremors

    • Symptoms were similar to Parkinson’s disease above.
    • Voice problems
    • Increased symptoms when in motion (Parkinson’s is more evident when at rest).

    Again, if you have any symptoms that are severe or that worry you, you should seek medical attention, either through the VA health care system or your own providers.

    Agent Orange and birth defects

    Agent Orange exposure doesn’t just affect the Veteran. Tragically, exposure to Agent Orange and TCDD dioxins is associated with birth defects in exposed Veterans’ children. Developing fetuses are sensitive to dioxin exposure, and Agent Orange exposure is linked to increased miscarriage rates, spina bifida, and other brain and nervous system disorders.

    Is there health care available for Veterans exposed to Agent Orange?

    If you are a Veteran diagnosed with a qualifying condition, and you meet the service criteria outlined above, you may be eligible for VA treatment of your Agent Orange-related condition.

    Health benefits may also be available for children of Veterans who have been exposed to Agent Orange, if they have certain birth defects, including spina bifida, cleft palate or cleft lip, Poland syndrome, congenital heart disease, and others.

    Agent Orange Registry Health Exam

    Eligible Veterans can receive an Agent Orange Registry Health Exam, free of charge. There is no obligation to do so. However, Veterans who qualify and participate in this program receive a free medical exam, lab tests, and free referrals to medical specialists if appropriate. Participation is voluntary.

    Your Agent Orange Registry Health Exam will include:

    • A physical exam
    • Any necessary blood test, x-rays, imaging, or other tests and procedures
    • History of known or suspected exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides
    • Your health history

    You do not have to enroll in the VA health care system to receive a registry health exam.

    You do not have to submit to an Agent Orange Registry Health Exam to receive other VA benefits.

    If you do have an Agent Orange-related disability or health condition, you may receive free health care for those conditions through the Veterans Administration. To receive care, you must enroll in the VA health care system.

    Apply for VA health care

    In some cases, you may be referred to one of the VA’s three War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) facilities – Washington, D.C., East Orange, NJ, and Palo Alto, CA. These three centers assist Veterans with deployment health concerns and difficult diagnoses.

    Agent Orange Disability Compensation

    If your service-connected condition is disabling, you may be entitled to VA disability compensation. Compensation is based on the condition, its severity (defined according to standard VA tables and physicians’ guides), and your familial status.

    VA disability ratings range from zero to 100%, in ten-percent increments. The higher your assigned disability percentage, the greater the monthly compensation.

    If your disability rating is 30% or higher, you may also qualify for additional monthly compensation if you are married or have dependents.

    The Department of Veterans Affairs publishes the current monthly disability compensation tables here.

    Source

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  • Agent Orange exposure

    Agent Orange Kills

     

    TheU.S. military used Agent Orange to clear plants and trees during the Vietnam War. If you served inVietnam or in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) during the Vietnam Era—or in certain related jobs—you may have had contact with this herbicide. We refer to this as having a presumption of contact. Find out if you can get disability compensation and other benefits for illnesses we believe are caused by Agent Orange.

    Can I get disability benefits from VA?

    You may be able to get disability benefits if the below descriptions are true for you.

    This must be true:

    • You have an illness we believe is caused by Agent Orange (called a presumptive disease)

    And at least one of these must also be true. You:

    • Came into contact with Agent Orange while serving in the military, or
    • Served in or near the DMZ for any length of time between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971, or
    • Served in the Republic of Vietnam for any length of time between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. This may include serving aboard a vessel on the inland waterways, or on a vessel operating not more than 12 nautical miles seaward from the demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia (as detailed in Public Law 116-23, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019).

    Review our list of diseases related to Agent Orange
    Learn what kinds of service may have put you in contact with Agent Orange

    Who’s covered?

    What kind of benefits can I get?

    How do I get these benefits?

    You’ll need to file a claim for disability compensation and submit your evidence (supporting documents).

    If you have an illness we believe is caused by Agent Orange

    You won’t need to show that the problem started during—or got worse because of—your military service. This is because we believe that certain illnesses are the result of exposure to herbicides. We refer to these as presumptive diseases.

    Review our list of diseases related to Agent Orange

    If you have an illness that’s not on the list of Agent Orangerelated diseases, but you believe was caused by Agent Orange

    You’ll need to:

    • Provide scientific and medical evidence that the condition is related to exposure to Agent Orange, or
    • Show that the problem started during—or got worse because of—your military service

    Scientific proof may include an article from a medical journal or a published research study.

    Get more information

    Review the Veterans compensation benefits rate tables

    Contact us if you have questions:

    Note: Please be ready to give us your name, email address, telephone number, and VA file number or Social Security number.

    If you think you may have had contact with Agent Orange or other herbicides while serving in the military, you can request a health exam.


    Get an Agent Orange Registry health exam

    You may have had contact with Agent Orange if you served in any of these ways

    Source

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  • Agent Orange Exposure Doubles Risk of Developing Dementia, Study Finds

    AO Developing Dementia

     

    A new study of more than 300,000 Vietnam-era U.S. Veterans has found that those who were exposed to Agent Orange are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia as those who were not.

    The new finding, published Monday in JAMA Neurology, is among the most substantial to date linking cognitive decline with chemicals used for defoliation during the Vietnam War.

    For the study, researchers at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System examined the medical records of thousands of Veterans and found a two-fold risk of dementia for those whose medical records indicated evidence of exposure.

    According to Deborah Barnes, a researcher with the University of California San Francisco and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the study authors found that, over the course of time, 5% of Veterans with a documented exposure to Agent Orange were diagnosed with dementia compared with 2.5% of Vets with no known exposure.

    "Even though the absolute rates... are low, these Veterans were still relatively young, so if the risk holds, we would expect that to increase as they age," Barnes said in an interview with JAMA Neurology.

    The research also discovered that the exposed Vets were diagnosed an average of 15 months earlier than non-exposed Veterans -- a finding that can have a huge impact on former personnel, their families and society as a whole, Barnes said.

    "Studies have found if we could delay the onset of dementia by a year or 15 months, it would have a huge impact on the population prevalence over time," she explained.

    For the study, the researchers reviewed the medical records of Vietnam Veterans who received care through the Veterans Health Administration from Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2015. They excluded anyone already diagnosed with dementia and those whose Agent Orange exposure was unclear.

    They found that even after adjusting for other factors and conditions that can play a role in the development of dementia -- psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, medical conditions like diabetes and Parkinson's, or demographic variables -- the two-fold risk remained.

    "We did observe that Veterans who had a history of Agent Orange exposure were more likely to have PTSD in their medical records or traumatic brain injury, so they did have other conditions that could increase their risk of dementia, so we adjusted statistically and... yes, there [still] is an association," Barnes said.

    Throughout the Vietnam War, U.S. forces sprayed more than 19 million gallons of defoliant, including 11 million of Agent Orange, to clear the jungle and destroy crops. From 1962 to 1971, at least 2.6 million U.S. service members were stationed in Vietnam and other places where the herbicides were sprayed or stored.

    Thousands of Veterans have been diagnosed with varying types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and peripheral neuropathy as a result of exposure to the herbicides, according to the VA.

    The research didn't explain why exposure may be linked with the development of dementia, but one of the main ingredients of the defoliants -- dioxin -- is known to be stored in fat tissue where it "sticks around for a long time," Barnes said.

    "It's possible that Agent Orange stayed in the fat tissue and is slowly being released and causing toxic effects on the brain. But we also know that Agent Orange increases the risk of other disorders that themselves are risk factors for dementia, so it's unclear if it's a direct effect of the dioxin, an indirect effect or possibly a combination," she added.

    The researchers said that their study has some limitations, including concerns over the accuracy of Agent Orange exposure documentation in medical records or misclassification of a dementia diagnosis.

    Also, the study did not include Veterans who receive care outside VA or contain any baseline cognitive scores, which could have revealed whether any of the Veterans had undiagnosed dementia at the start.

    The researchers suggested that additional studies be conducted to determine the relationship between Agent Orange exposure and dementia and added that they hoped it would encourage physicians to screen their patients for the condition as they age.

    Dementia is on the rise in the aging Veterans community, with a 20% increase expected among VA patients over the next decade, according to the department.

    Barnes said she also would like to see more research on the positive steps patients can take to offset increased risk -- physical activity, healthy lifestyle choices, treating their mental health diagnoses and more.

    ''We can't change our past.... What you can control is what you are doing now and what you do in the future. My hope is that, even if these Veterans have this risk factor, engaging in a healthier lifestyle may help them offset that risk," she said.

    Source

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  • AHA News: What Heart Patients Should Know About Coronavirus

    About Coronavirus

     

    The coronavirus should have everyone's attention by now, health experts say. And people with heart disease have extra reasons to be alert.

    COVID-19, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has sickened tens of thousands of people and killed hundreds around the globe. On Tuesday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said its spread in the United States seemed certain.

    "It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," she told reporters during a news conference.

    For people with underlying heart issues, the concerns are serious enough that the American College of Cardiology issued a bulletin this month to warn patients about the potential increased risk and to encourage "additional, reasonable precautions."

    Based on early reports, 40% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease (which refers to blood flow in the brain, such as stroke), according to the bulletin.

    "That statistic doesn't mean people with heart disease are more likely to contract the coronavirus," said Orly Vardeny, associate professor of medicine at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and University of Minnesota. "It just means that those folks are more likely to have complications once they do get it."

    Vardeny, an adviser on the ACC bulletin, said the virus could affect heart disease patients in several ways.

    The virus's main target is the lungs. But that could affect the heart, especially a diseased heart, which has to work harder to get oxygenated blood throughout the body, she said. "In general, you can think of it as something that is taxing the system as a whole."

    That could exacerbate problems for someone with heart failure, where the heart is already having problems pumping efficiently.

    Someone with an underlying heart issue also might have a less robust immune system. People's immune systems weaken as they age, Vardeny said. And "in those with chronic medical conditions, the body's immune response is not as strong a response when exposed to viruses."

    If such a person catches a virus, she said it's likely to stick around and cause complications.

    A virus also may pose a special risk for people who have the fatty buildup known as plaque in their arteries, Vardeny said. Evidence indicates similar viral illnesses can destabilize these plaques, potentially resulting in the blockage of an artery feeding blood to the heart, putting patients at risk of heart attack.

    Vardeny emphasized that information about COVID-19 is changing almost hourly. But previous coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, offer insight. They were linked to problems such as inflammation of the heart muscle, heart attack and rapid-onset heart failure, the ACC bulletin said.

    COVID-19 also has similarities to influenza, Vardeny said. At the moment, she said, "We don't think the actual risk is any higher per se. It's just that the spread is quicker." And unlike the flu, there's no vaccine.

    COVID-19 numbers change rapidly. The World Health Organization reported the fatality rate from the illness was between 2% and 4% in Wuhan, and 0.7% outside Wuhan.

    By comparison, as of mid-February, the CDC estimated there had been at least 29 million flu illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths from it in the United States this season.

    Many of the same precautions that work against the flu should be helpful against COVID-19, Vardeny said, because it appears to spread the same way – through droplets in the air when someone coughs or sneezes.

    For now, she suggests people defend themselves by hand-washing, keeping surfaces clean and avoiding travel to areas with outbreaks.

    The ACC bulletin recommends people with cardiovascular disease stay up to date with vaccinations, including for pneumonia. The ACC also supports getting a flu shot to prevent another source of fever, which could potentially be confused with the coronavirus infection.

    In the news conference, Messonnier summed up her advice as, "Stay home if you're sick; cover your cough; wash your hands."

    She also warned that people need to prepare for the possibility of closures of work, school and more.

    "I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe," she said. "But these are things that people need to start thinking about now."

    Source

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  • Ailing Vet’s visit to DC previews long-awaited return of Honor Flights

    Honor Flights 001

     

    Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down Honor Flights 16 months ago, at least 757 Veterans have passed away waiting for a chance to visit the nation’s war memorials in Washington, D.C.

    Ronald Dean’s family wanted to make sure he wasn’t the next one on that list.

    On Thursday, Dean — a 74-year-old Marine Corps Veteran who served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968 — made his first visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, accompanied by an emotional cohort of family members.

    In pre-coronavirus times, scenes like this were common on the National Mall, as the Honor Flight program brought thousands of Veterans a year from all over the country to tour the memorials and meet with local officials.

    Lawmakers and Veterans groups often greet buses full of Veterans to the sites with cheering, photographs and copious thanks for military service rendered long ago. Those flights are set to resume next month, and the program expects to transport its 250,000th Veteran to the nation’s capital sometime this fall.

    But Dean was recently diagnosed with dementia, and his family worried that he may not have any time left to wait.

    “When we talked about what else he wanted to do, he said he had always wished he had made it here to see the wall,” said his daughter Joy. “So we booked plane tickets right away.”

    After flying in from California early in the morning with his wife, four children and four of his 12 grandchildren, Dean arrived at the memorial to loud applause from a small crowd of Veterans advocates waving American flags, anxious to greet a man who they had never met before.

    “At the end of the day, we’re just trying to honor him and his service to the country,” said Matthew Shuman, board member for the Honor Flight Network who helped organize the welcome.

    The crowd followed Dean as he walked down to examine the names of fellow service members lost during the war more than five decades ago. Sporting a shirt which read “I’m a dad, a grandpa and a Vietnam Vet,” Dean picked up an entourage of a few extra tourists as he traveled slowly between each polished granite panel.

    As he searched the site, he spoke softly about his high school classmates Terrance Nelson and Ronald Vilardo — “Ronald was a serious artist, I was just in that class to horse around” — and got emotional as he saw other names of Marines he served alongside who never returned home.

    A nearby park attendant helped him get rubbings of each fallen friend.

    “It’s all just overwhelming,” he said, as his wife, Paula, teared up nearby. “The number of men and women here [on the wall], these were lives that were cut short. I remember having thoughts about why not me, why them.

    “This was just something I wanted to do,” he said, hugging his grandson as he answered questions. “This was an experience I’m glad I had, this was worthy of coming here.”

    Honor Flight officials hope that’s a sentiment that repeats itself again and again in the months to come. The first post-pandemic flight is scheduled for Aug. 16, with dozens of Veterans like Dean already planning their visits.

    Source

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  • Air Force raises a last glass to the final Doolittle Raider

    Doolittle Raiders

     

    Eighty years ago, on April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers heavy with fuel, munitions, and little else launched off the flight deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to Tokyo.

    The U.S. Army Air Forces’ Doolittle Raiders became instant heroes, energizing a country still reeling from Pearl Harbor. Eighty men flew the secret mission; 61 survived the war. In 1946, they held their first reunion, sharing a bottle of 1896 Hennessy VS cognac in honor of the birth year of mission leader Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle.

    Every Doolittle Raider had a silver goblet engraved with his name. At the annual reunions that followed, survivors would raise a toast of Hennessy to Raiders who’d passed the year before, and then turn those Raiders’ goblets upside-down in their velVet-lined case.

    Today, the final goblet was turned.

    “To those who have gone,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, drink raised, as the children of Lt. Col. Dick Cole, the last Doolittle Raider, took out their father’s goblet, turned it over, and placed it for the last time in its plush blue casing. It was the centerpiece of a ceremony in which Air Force leaders and generations of Raider family members said a final goodbye to all 80 of the crew.

    The Doolittle Raid succeeded because planners and crews alike refused to believe the difficult was impossible. B-25 Mitchells, designed to fly from conventional airstrips, took off that day in less than 500 feet—from a wet and heaving flight deck while bearing a ton of bombs and extra fuel bladders. The Navy gave the Army aviators what help they could by timing each launch to give the plane an extra push into the sky.

    The bombers themselves were engineering feats. Doolittle and his crews stripped everything of excess weight—even the classified Norden bombsight—off the aircraft. They’d be flying too low in the surprise attack anyway and the bombsight worked best at higher altitudes. Off it went; a makeshift bombsight of light wire was hand-designed in its place. They stripped 230 pounds of radio gear, replaced the rear guns with wooden dummies, and designed a novel bladder that would collapse as fuel was consumed, giving each crew of five a little more elbow room.

    The morning of April 18, 1942, Cole was assigned to fly as Doolittle’s co-pilot. He was on his way to breakfast in the ship’s mess when the Raiders were ordered to their aircraft. They were still several hours and 200 miles away from their launch point when the Navy detected a Japanese ship and feared they’d lost the element of surprise.

    “The PA announced, ‘Army pilots, man your planes!'” Cole told HistoryNet.com in a 2014 interview. The seas were rough and “water was coming up over the bow and causing problems, with the airplanes beginning to slip around on deck,” Cole said.

    At the Florida ceremony, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown, Jr. said it was notable that Cole was on the lead aircraft, not only because he and Doolittle were leading the mission to Japan, but because as the first plane off the Hornet, they had the least amount of runway.

    But those rough conditions and wind also helped all 16 bombers get off deck and reach their target. Flight deck crews timed the release of each bomber just as the carrier was cresting, so as the bomber gathered speed, “the carrier just dropped out from underneath the airplane,” Cole told HistoryNet.

    Not all of the 80 men who took off from the Hornet made it home. Three died as the low-on-fuel bombers raced to reach China’s coastline before crashing. Eight were captured by the Japanese in China; of these, three were executed and one died of starvation and mistreatment as a POW.

    Cole gave the last Raider toast for the group in 2017, when he became the group’s final surviving member. He’d also built the wood and velVet-lined carrying case that held each of the goblets, and is now cared for by the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

    And when former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced that the nation’s future B-21 stealth bomber would carry the Raider name at a 2016 Air Force Association conference, Cole was in attendance.

    Source

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  • Air Force Veteran pleads guilty in scams to fleece other Veterans

    Justice 059

     

    An Air Force Veteran in Portsmouth, Va., has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with various schemes to scam Veterans, according to Department of Justice officials.

    Rita Copeland, 59, operated an organization called “Veteran Services of the Commonwealth,” claiming to provide caregiving, contracting, and rental assistance services to Veterans from 2016 through 2020, according to a court document filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She also at times operated a contracting business.

    Copeland is an Air Force Veteran, according to court documents and the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, which was involved in the investigation. According to the National Guard Bureau, her last period of service was from August, 1990 to October, 1996, when she was a teletype operator in the Air National Guard. She served briefly in the Air Force Reserve from February to August, 1990. Before that, she was on active duty from 1984 to 1990, serving in a communications squadron.

    She’s accused of convincing a number of Veterans to apply for grants through the Department of Veterans Affairs that are supposed to be used for designated improvements to the Veterans’ residences, then failing to complete some of the work and failing to return the funds. The court document states she used expired or falsified contractor’s licenses in order to entice victims to hire her for home improvements.

    Copeland, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 27, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for wire fraud; and a mandatory consecutive term of two years for aggravated identity theft, according to Justice officials.

    “This defendant has been brought to justice for orchestrating numerous fraudulent schemes against Veterans who honorably served their country,” said Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a statement announcing the guilty plea. “For those who steal, misappropriate, and divert funds that belong to our country’s Veterans, this case sends a strong message that you will be prosecuted and held accountable for your inexcusable conduct.”

    Parekh, the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office and the VA Inspector General made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson accepted the plea.

    In one case, according to the court document: Copeland began a “purported caregiver relationship” with a Veteran and moved in to a residence with the Veteran. She convinced the Veteran, described only as “B.E.” to apply for a Home Improvements and Structural Alterations grant from the VA, and it was approved. Copeland used some of the grant money for her own benefit, contrary to the designated purpose. She also diverted some of B.E.’s income and retirement payments to her checking account, and applied for and received a $10,000 loan in B.E.’s name, without permission.

    In another case, according to the court document: A married couple paid Copeland about $95,938 in checks, and she fraudulently got other money from the couple, including payments for travel, credit card purchases and bank account transfers. The Veteran applied for grant money from the VA and received $3,400, and signed a contract with Copeland to do the work. She received the money but failed to complete all the work, and didn’t return any money.

    Copeland, according to court documents, offered to help Veterans find housing; and Veterans paid rent and deposits to Copeland, who agreed to act as intermediary with owners. However, Copeland used the money for herself, and this resulted in eviction of various tenants. In some cases, she gave landlords checks for rent or other payments, and then stopped payment on the checks.

    Copeland “used or purported to use actual, perceived or fabricated programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to entice victims to provide the defendant with funds,” the court document stated.

    A search of Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau website found no references to Veteran Services of the Commonwealth.

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  • Air Force's Last POW Retires After More Than 30 Years of Service

    Lt Col Rob Sweet

     

    Air Force Lt. Col. Rob Sweet says he knew what to expect after he was shot down in his A-10 Warthog near Basra, Iraq, in the minutes before he was captured by enemy forces.

    It didn't stop him from thinking, "I'm a dead man," he said in a news release recalling the mission.

    It was Feb. 15, 1991, during his 30th mission as part of Operation Desert Storm. The 24-year-old first lieutenant and his flight lead and wingman, Capt. Stephen Phillis, went out in their A-10s to strike noteworthy targets and Iraqi Republican Guard tanks near an oil field, dodging surface-to-air missiles and gunfire. They were assigned to the 353rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, operating out of King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia.

    Sweet, the service's last serving prisoner of war, retired this week as the deputy commander of the 476th Fighter Group at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, the Air Force said Tuesday. He reflected on his 19 days as a POW and how the experience shaped his life as a pilot and leader.

    With heavy fire all around, Sweet -- call sign "Sweetness" -- and Phillis were told to leave the area. But the two held on to check out one last crucial site.

    "We left and found a pristine array of tanks that had not been hit, which shocked us because by that point everything had been bombed for the past 30 days," Sweet said in the release.

    Then, he felt a hit to the back of his aircraft and part of his right wing, prompting him to eject over enemy territory.

    Phillis radioed to search-and-rescue forces after his teammate bailed out and flew around the area to draw gunfire away from Sweet as he floated downward. His aircraft was hit by an Iraqi SA-13, causing Phillis to crash. He was killed in action, according to Air Force Magazine.

    More than a dozen Iraqi soldiers arrived to detain Sweet. Once jailed, he was beaten, starved, "fought off diseases, and dealt with emotional and mental torment," the release states.

    Sweet was unaware of what happened to Phillis until a prisoner exchange brought him out of confinement.

    "I was not without psychological problems," Sweet said. "I had survivor's guilt, and it took me a long time to get over that."

    Sweet said he knew Phillis had aimed for a 20-plus service career in the Air Force, so he aspired to do the same. An Air Force Academy graduate, Sweet put in 20 years on active duty before transitioning to the Reserve, according to a separate release. Together, his career spanned 33 years.

    He said his most fulfilling assignment was becoming a squadron commander to mold the next generation of pilots.

    "You have to find it [motivation] for yourself," Sweet said. "Find a leader you want to emulate and do that. There's fundamentals people need to have in order to be a good leader, of course. One thing is to lead by example and from the front. Secondly, a leader should take all the blame and none of the credit."

    Sweet took his final A-10 flight last weekend, what's commonly known as "the fini flight." His friends and family attended the ceremony, where they doused Sweet in water and champagne as he climbed down from the aircraft.

    "You've had an outstanding career that I know you, your family, friends and fellow Airmen are proud of," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown said in the release to honor Sweet.

    "With your retirement, it will be the first time in the history of our Air Force that we will not have a former POW serving. Thank you for all you've done."

    Phillis was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions in combat that day. Brig. Gen. Jim Demarest, head of the Florida Air National Guard and a Desert Storm Veteran, is lobbying to get Phillis' award upgraded to the Medal of Honor, Air Force Magazine said.

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  • Airborne hazards exams probably saved their lives

    Airborne Hazards 001

     

    Doctors find cancers during unique health examinations

    When Army Veteran Tim Peterson joined the VA Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, he thought he was a healthy guy. At 60 years old, he ran a 5K and did 80 push-ups and sit-ups three days a week.

    “I give myself a standard Army PT test once a year (pictured above) and I could pass at any age category,” he said. “I felt great, I never got sick, I was sharp as a tack.”

    So, when the environmental health team from the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System called him in 2019 to see if he would like to take advantage of the free, optional health evaluation that’s a part of the registry, he initially thought “why should I go?”

    But in the end, he did get the exam – and it probably saved his life.

    Navy Veteran Yanderyn Shoup has a similar story. When her local Veteran Service Officer sent her information about the VA Gulf War Registry in 2019, “I clicked to see if I would qualify, and I did, because it was open to anyone who was on a ship in the Persian Gulf. I didn’t have any symptoms, but I figured it couldn’t hurt,” Shoup said.

    Not your average doctor’s appointment

    Both registry evaluations were performed by Dr. Anisa Moore, an environmental health clinician at the VA clinic in Golden, CO. As a part of VA’s post-deployment health programs, Moore regularly examines Veterans who join both the airborne hazards and Gulf War registries.

    “For Veterans who may have been exposed to a variety of environmental hazards during their deployments, VA registry exams can be the mechanism that gets them connected to treatment for any diagnosis,” Moore said. “We diagnose anything we find, regardless of whether it could have been caused by their military exposures.”

    Like her colleagues across the VA health care system, Moore’s registry evaluations are more in-depth than a regular doctor’s appointment. She considers these visits her “one bite at the apple” to do a comprehensive physical examination. She asks in-depth questions that aren’t always covered during regular primary care visits and orders a variety of diagnostic tests.

    All free of charge to registry participants

    “I was very impressed with Dr. Moore, just the questions she asked,” Peterson said of his exam. “And then she said, ‘Let’s run you over for an x-ray just to make sure your lungs are fine.’ And they were, but there was something at the top of my abdomen. I was so lucky they caught it.”

    What his scans showed was a large tumor on his pancreas. “What you don’t realize is that most people don’t know until it’s too late,” Peterson added. “By the time I would have felt anything, it would have been too late.” Almost a year and a half later, after additional tests determined his type of pancreatic cancer could be controlled by monthly chemo injections, his tumors have shrunk, and he is doing well.

    “Something else will probably get me before pancreatic cancer does because I’m doing so well,” he said. Now, he’s back to working out as much as he did before the diagnosis.

    Found early, thyroid cancer is treatable

    The same is true for Shoup, whose thyroid cancer was first detected by Moore during her exam.

    “It wasn’t easily noticeable, but we do focus a lot on the head and neck,” Moore said. “When she told me she was 37, but she felt 87, that raised my antennae. Her thyroid function was normal but it felt a little funky.”

    Moore sent her for a diagnostic ultrasound, just to be sure.

    “I was able to get surgery within two months of diagnosis,” Shoup said of her thyroidectomy, performed by VA, which showed she had stage three cancer. “And because it was early, it was really treatable.

    “Now I just see my doctor every three months and, if after this year I’m clear, I don’t have to come back for two years.”

    Both Veterans pleased to be helping other Veterans

    “I’m fairly savvy, I’m older. I can fight these battles for myself,” said Peterson, of why he joined the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. “But there were 18 other people there who helped me run an airfield. Documenting these things can help those younger Veterans get the help they need.”

    Moore said the exams don’t just benefit the Veterans they currently are seeing.

    “The exams also help other Veterans in the future, through research,” Moore shared. “You can’t collect the research and understand the potential longer-term health impacts of military environmental exposures until you do a good job diagnosing those conditions in the first place.

    “For Veterans, it’s an opportunity to help themselves. Even if they are completely healthy and feeling fine, it can be a baseline in case they have other issues later in life. But they aren’t just helping themselves They are helping their fellow Veterans too.”

    Asked what joining the registry means to her, Shoup said, “I’m a mom and a wife and a friend and a sister. It’s just my whole life. I’m going to join the airborne hazards registry, too. Anything I can do that will help other people like me.”

    To learn more about joining the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, visit www.publichealth.VA.gov/airbornehazards. If you have already completed the online questionnaire, you can contact your local environmental health coordinator to schedule your registry evaluation at your convenience.

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  • Alabama students raise awareness for Veteran suicide in march from Tuscaloosa to Auburn

    Vet Suicide Awareness 001

    The more than 150-mile ruck march will take 72 hours to complete

    Student Veterans in Alabama began a more than 150-mile ruck march on Wednesday from Tuscaloosa to Auburn to raise awareness for the estimated 17 Veterans lost to each day to suicide.

    The fourth annual Operation Iron Ruck — which features students from the University of Alabama and Auburn University — kickstarted outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium Wednesday in Tuscaloosa and will conclude Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn just before the rival schools' football teams face off in the Iron Bowl.

    The 72-hour march consists of marchers from both schools, most carrying a 17-pound rucksack containing donated items that will be given to charities which benefit Alabama Veterans.

    University of Alabama Veterans Association President Slade Salmon and Auburn University Student Affairs Association President Clay Buchanan are spearheading the effort.

    "The event spans the course of three days, and our objective is to raise public awareness of Veteran suicide, with the secondary objective of raising donations for national, state and local Veteran charity organizations," Salmon told Fox News about the march.

    Salmon said the event is "a way for us to memorialize the 17 Veterans who die everyday due to suicide" and noted that he uses the event to reconnect with those he served with.

    "I’m not great at staying in touch with a lot of people I served with, but I make an effort to reach out during this time," Salmon said. "Isolation is a major factor in Veteran suicide. Reaching out to those we served with could be the catalyst in saving a life."

    Operation Iron Ruck recently partnered with Alabama’s Challenge for Preventing Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families.

    "Many Veterans, myself included, personally know another Veteran or service member who have succumbed to suicide," Buchanan told Fox News. "Through Operation Iron Ruck and the collaboration of the student Veterans of Auburn and Alabama, it truly shows that the Veteran community is strong and committed to take care of our brothers and sisters until 17 becomes zero."

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has voiced support for the march organizers' efforts, saying in a statement, "It is imperative that, as a nation, we never forget to offer our support to the brave men and women who have served our country in the military."

    "We must put a greater focus on preventing Veteran suicide and on supporting these brave men and women after they return home, which is why I am so proud of the efforts of our student Veterans embarking on Operation Iron Ruck," Ivey said. "Our military men and women put it all on the line to ensure our freedoms, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Alabama will always stand behind our Veterans."

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  • Alabama Veterans access VA benefits, services at Veterans Experience Action Center

    Alabama Vets Benefits

     

    VEACs brings direct access to VA and non-VA resources to your community

    Nearly a thousand Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors attended a Veterans Experience Action Center (VEAC) in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 5, 2020. Those in attendance received direct access to VA’s benefits and services. The one-stop shop for Veterans brought together VA and community resources with one goal: to serve Veterans on the spot.

    This was the second year the community held the action center. Seventy local organizations provided a host of services at the VEAC, including on the spot job interviews, flu inoculations, free haircuts, access to healthcare organizations, mental health services, and dozens of other local assistance programs. The vast outpouring and variety of support ensured that VEAC participants knew the community was there to support them.

    Veterans Experience Action Centers are different than other outreach events because Veterans are able to file claims, ask questions, and apply to VA benefits and healthcare within minutes of showing up. In addition to the amazing community organizations and Veteran Service Organizations in attendance, more than 50 VA employees were also on site to process actions immediately. Even members of the the Air Force showed up, directing Veterans to booths and cooking hot dogs!

    A Veteran in attendance said, “I came here for some information, and all I really wanted was this form just so I can know what to do… and I ended up filing my claim today!”

    TVA again held the event at the Multiplex’ Cramton Bowl, this year with more than 70 booths. Some of the organizations included Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Walgreens, Humana Health, and many more.

    Some Veteran find that VA processes can be overwhelming, or that the eligibility or rules and regulations are hard to understand. Instead of waiting for Veterans to come to VA, VA is getting into the community where Veterans reside. VA will also be setting up these events across the country. In fact, several VA leaders from Kentucky were in attendance to better prepare for their upcoming Veterans Experience Action Center in Lexington, Ky.

    In action

    One Veteran showed up just before the event wrapped up. She was in tears, sharing her struggles with transition to civilian life, PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma as a military retiree. She had recently submitted a compensation claim but did not understand her award letter. Veterans Benefits Administration employees explained to her what the claim’s decision meant, and then also shared that she was eligible for concurrent military and VA benefits.

    For a list of future VA outreach events, including Veterans Experience Action Centers, visit: https://www.va.gov/outreach-and-events/events/

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  • Albany Woman Charged with Burglarizing Albany VA Building

    Justice 020

     

    ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jamie Varieur, age 42, of Albany, was arrested today and charged with burglarizing a dwelling at the Albany Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC).

    The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Field Office for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General; and Chief Eric Hawkins, Albany Police Department.

    According to the complaint, on August 22, 2021, Varieur broke into and entered the Fisher House, a home on VA property where military and Veteran families can stay while a loved one is in the hospital, where she stole various items from the kitchen. The charge in the complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    The charge filed against Varieur carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, and a term of supervised release up to 3 years. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

    Varieur appeared today in Albany before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, and was detained pending further proceedings.

    This case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, the Albany Police Department, and the Veterans Affairs Police Service at the Albany VAMC, with assistance from the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander P. Wentworth-Ping.

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  • Albuquerque couple sentenced to federal prison in Ayudando Guardians case

    Justice 003

     

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Susan K. Harris, 74, and William S. Harris, 60, both of Albuquerque, were sentenced today in federal court for conspiracy to defraud the United States and other financial crimes committed in connection with the operation of Ayudando Guardians, Inc., a non-profit corporation that previously provided guardianship, conservatorship and financial management to hundreds of people with special needs.

    Susan Harris was sentenced to 47 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. William Harris was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Both will be required to pay the entire amount of stolen funds as restitution to the victims.

    A superseding indictment filed on Dec. 5, 2017, charged Susan Harris, William Harris, Sharon A. Moore, 64, and Susan Harris’ son, Craig M. Young, 53, with various financial crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

    Susan Harris pleaded guilty on July 11, 2019, to conspiracy, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. William Harris pleaded guilty on June 25, 2019, to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit money laundering. Both Susan Harris and William Harris were originally scheduled to be sentenced on March 2, 2020, but failed to appear for their sentencing hearing. A bench warrant was issued for their arrest and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested them in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on April 15, 2020, after they fled New Mexico.

    According to their plea agreements and other court records, Susan Harris acted as president and was the 95-percent owner of Ayudando, while Moore acted as chief financial officer and was a five-percent owner. They engaged in a pattern of criminal conduct from November 2006 to July 2017 that included unlawfully transferring money from client accounts to a comingled account without any client-based justification. They wrote and endorsed numerous checks, often of more than $10,000, from these comingled accounts to themselves, family members, cash and other parties where payment would benefit their families.

    Susan Harris took steps to maintain Ayudando’s appearance of legitimacy, including submitting a proposal to the New Mexico Office of Guardianship that contained numerous false representations, including a false claim that Young was a nationally certified guardian at the time of the submission.

    William Harris, who worked as a guardian, admitted that he knew that Moore was siphoning payments to clients from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Social Security Administration and using the money to benefit herself, Harris, and their co-conspirators. Harris specifically admitted receiving, endorsing, and depositing dozens of checks drawn on Ayudando accounts for his own personal benefit. Harris admitted to his involvement in a money laundering scheme, using an Ayudando corporate credit card for personal expenses, knowing that it would be paid for with client money. He also admitted his role in a loan application for the stated purpose of expanding the Ayudando business with the actual intent of using the money to “pay back” clients whose money had been taken without authorization.

    The stolen funds were used to fund an extravagant lifestyle, including the purchases of homes, vehicles, luxury RVs and cruises, as well as a private box at “the Pit” at the University of New Mexico. The stolen funds were also used to pay for more than $4.4 million in American Express charges incurred by the defendants and their families.

    “The sentences that the defendants have received today are just, and the defendants are fully deserving of them,” said Fred J. Federici, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. “The defendants’ conduct in preying upon individuals with special needs, who they were entrusted to protect, was both loathsome and contemptible. We hope that these sentences serve as a warning to others that we will seek to hold accountable anyone who chooses to violate federal law by abusing any similar position of trust for personal enrichment.”

    “Taking advantage of disabled Veterans and other vulnerable Americans deserves a harsh penalty, especially when those entrusted with their finances instead use the money for vacations and other expensive perks,” said Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office. “The FBI will never stop trying to hold such criminals accountable and making sure their victims get justice.”

    “This final phase of the investigation will hopefully give some closure to the many victims who have suffered as a result of the selfish acts of the defendants,” said Sonya K. Chavez, United States Marshal for the District of New Mexico. “We at the United States Marshals Service will continue to work diligently with our partners to protect the citizens of New Mexico, particularly those who are most vulnerable.”

    “The criminal actions by these defendants were truly brazen and egregious,” stated IRS - Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Albert Childress. “Instead of helping people who placed their trust in them, the defendants were greedy and helped themselves to their clients’ money. They must now pay the consequences for their bad deeds.”

    “Today's sentencing reflects the egregious crimes committed by the defendants, who not only violated the public’s trust but also the trust of a vulnerable population who relied upon them to manage their benefits. We will continue to join our law enforcement partners in investigating organizations and individuals who misuse Social Security benefits that they agreed to manage on behalf of beneficiaries,” said Adam Schneider, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Dallas Field Division. “I thank our law enforcement partners for their outstanding investigative work and the District of New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts in bringing these individuals to justice.”

    “Criminal acts by would-be fiduciaries are most heinous because they violate Veterans’ trust and put in jeopardy the benefits on which they are dependent,” said Special Agent in Charge Rebeccalynn Staples, Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. “This sentence should send a clear message that the VA OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ferret out those who would defraud VA and steal the benefits of deserving Veterans.”

    Young pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2019, and was sentenced on June 11, 2020, to five years and 11 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Young was ordered to pay approximately $6.8 million in restitution to the victims of the fraud scheme.

    Moore pleaded guilty on July 11, 2019, and was sentenced on March 2, 2020, to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Moore was ordered to pay the entire amount of stolen funds as restitution to the victims.

    The Albuquerque Field Office of the FBI and the Phoenix Field Office of IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Complex Assets Unit and the U.S. Marshals Service, the Criminal Investigations Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and the Dallas Field Division of the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy Peña and Brandon L. Fyffe prosecuted the case.

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  • Allstate to return $600 million in auto premiums as pandemic cuts driving

    Allstate Ins

     

    The insurer Allstate said Monday it will return more than $600 million in auto insurance premiums to customers as many Americans stay home and drive less during shelter-in-place orders to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

    Most customers will receive a payback of 15% of their monthly premium in April and May, the company said.

    The payback, which will apply to 18 million policies issued by Allstate and its Esurance and Encompass units, follows a data analysis by the insurer that showed mileage is down between 35% and 50% in most states, Allstate Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson said during a call with reporters Monday.

    The analysis, based on data that Allstate collects from tracking products that some customers agree to use in exchange for discounts, and other sources, showed no difference between states that had shelter orders in effect and those that did not, Wilson said.

    Still, some people may be driving faster on what are now less densely traveled roads, which could lead to more serious accidents, Wilson said.

    Source

     

  • Am I Still Able To Work While on IU | Unemployability?

    Unemployability

     

    If I Apply for Unemployability, Am I Still Able To Work?

    One of the most common questions asked is, “If I apply for Individual Unemployability, am I still able to work?” Although there isn’t a concrete answer to that question, let’s focus on the VA’s choice of words: “substantially gainful employment”. Individual Unemployability can be filed as a supplementary claim for your service-connected disabilities if those disabilities prevent you from securing and maintaining substantially gainful employment. By definition, the VA will award Individual Unemployability, or payment at the 100% rate, to a working Veteran who can prove that their service-connected disability(s) prevents them from maintaining substantial employment; in other words, one must be earning under the poverty level to qualify for these benefits if they are currently employed.

    Another gray area involving Individual Unemployability that you may have heard before is the term sheltered employment. Sheltered employment refers to accommodations that an employer makes to a Veteran to assist them in maintaining their occupation while making special arrangements that are not typically offered to other employees.

    Is My Employment Sheltered?

    As previously stated, sheltered employment is another variable to look at when deciding whether you may qualify for Individual Unemployability. When looking at your employment, first think about how your service-connected disabilities affect you, and then look at how you cope with them while you’re at work.

    Do you set your own hours? If you are able to lie in bed until noon because you woke up with a migraine and then go into work later, that is considered sheltered employment. Do you work in the warehouse away from customers because your PTSD causes angry outbursts? That is also sheltered employment. Some other examples include self-employment, allowing multiple breaks throughout the day for pain management, the ability to go home early when feeling overwhelmed with anxiety, replacing physical labor with a sedentary position such as inspections or office work, or even having an employer create a unique position just for you. Ask yourself, “If I was no longer working here, would my current position be filled?” Many jobs create unique circumstances that one may not even recognize as an accommodation because they are so used to working under those relaxed conditions. That is why it is important to closely examine how you find relief from your service-connected disabilities while you’re at work, and then look to see if anyone else is receiving the same privilege. Do you feel you’d be able to maintain employment in the competitive job market? If you’re receiving special accommodations for your disabilities, chances are other employers would not be so generous.

    What Do I Need to Do?

    Sheltered employment can be defined as having fewer restrictions in the workplace. You are typically not working under as high of expectations as other employees. If you are planning on claiming Individual Unemployability while you are currently employed, it will be important to provide evidence concerning the accommodations that are being made for you; the VA will not pay you the 100% rate if they feel you could work in any kind of job setting. Statements from coworkers and employers describing the sheltered conditions would be very beneficial. It is not easy to obtain entitlement to Individual Unemployability while continuing to work, so be prepared to substantiate your claim with proof that you would be unable to maintain your job if not for the lower set of standards your employers provided for your service-connected disabilities. Remember, you will still need to file the VA Form 21-8940; Veteran’s Application for Increased Compensation Based on Unemployability to start your claim.

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  • Amarillo explores new solution for homeless in pallet shelter community

    Pallet Shelter Homes

     

    At Tuesday’s Amarillo City Council meeting, councilmembers were given an outline of a project with a proposal to create a pallet shelter community, which could serve to get the city’s 368 unsheltered homeless off the streets and get them into a shelter.

    Jason Riddlespurger, Amarillo’s director of community development, presented his extensive plan to the city council to create this community, with access to city resources and counseling on-site and the use of these small shelters to serve as temporary housing as its tenants get help in finding long-term housing. He sees this project as a bridge to a long-term solution for the homeless.

    In January, the city of Amarillo conducted a point-in-time survey count of area homeless and found that there were 539 total homeless people in the city, 368 of those were without shelter. This survey showed a great need for more areas to shelter those experiencing homelessness.

    “We’ve got places for them to go, but we don’t have enough beds and the current situation at some of those shelters is not conducive for them to be there,” Riddlespurger said. “That is why you are seeing a lot of unsheltered folks throughout the city. It is not just in downtown Amarillo; it is all over the city. The big concerning issue is that we do not have enough beds.”

    Currently, the city has one daytime shelter, the Guyon Saunders Resource Center, and two nighttime shelters with the Faith City Mission and Salvation Army. Capacity is limited at these locations, and none of these shelters accept pets, which is a deterrent to some homeless people coming to those shelters.

    He said the solution the city is looking for is the use of prefabricated units called pallet shelters. Each shelter is equipped with electricity, heating, air conditioning and security. The shelters range in size from 64 square feet to 100 square feet and, depending on size, can accommodate from two to four occupants. These structures will have no plumbing, but community showers and bathroom facilities will be set up to service the residents. The area around the community would be fenced with cameras to provide security for the community it serves.

    Drawing on examples of pallet shelter communities that are in use in some cities in California such as Los Angeles, Riddlespurger came away impressed with this type of community as a solution for area homelessness.

    “This is a very dignified transitional shelter; it is not meant to be a permanent solution,” Riddlespurger added. "It will be like a gated community where they will live. It will be a good quality place where we, as Amarillo, can be proud to provide a place for people who need it."

    Riddlespurger said that these shelters could be quickly put together in less than an hour. He said that each shelter has a 10-year life span and can withstand winds up to 100 mph and 25 lbs of snow load. These shelters can withstand temperatures as low as -40 degrees. Panels of the building are easily replaceable if they become damaged. Each panel can be replaced individually on a unit, and each unit is easy to clean and maintain.

    He said that this community will be set up with an ability for people to bring their pets with them if necessary, and it will be close to the new Guyon Saunders Resource Center location.

    “With this, we will be able to provide a place where these people are going to be able to stay and get the things done that they need to do so that they can move on to the next level,” Riddlespurger said. "We are going to get them connected to resources like medical and mental health, as well as addiction recovery services.”

    A key component for the community Riddlespurger emphasized was the ability to have resource services be able to come to a centralized location to help give needed support. He also stated that although the city will build the facility, it is not looking to run the facility and wants to partner with local nonprofits for staffing and funding. At the council meeting, Riddlespurger stated that maintaining the facility would cost about $1 million a year, and he had multiple nonprofits lined up to work with the community.

    “It is much easier to find 160 people if they are all in one place rather than having to look for them all over the city," Riddlespurger added. “This is something that we as the city would like to help in the creation of getting this built. Then we want to find the right agency that is going to partner with us. The city is not going to run this. It is going to be that agency that comes out of the works."

    Currently earmarked for the creation of the shelter community is $1.1 million of American Rescue Plan funding for the purchase of pallet shelters. According to Riddlespurger, the cost of the project will likely be between $2 and $3 million. He said his department is looking for about three acres of land and purchasing about 100 shelter units. There will also be an overhead sheltered transitional area that will be used for overflow and a waiting area for units.

    Riddlespurger said that his experience in training as a police officer gave him new insight into the plight of the homeless and motivated him to want to seek solutions for the homeless in the city.

    “This is the time to do something monumental for your city,” Riddlespurger said. “I shared this with our leaders and others in our community that have the ability to do things. Our leadership is saying, this is the time and they cannot wait to make a change happen.”

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  • Amarillo VA Telephone Town Hall goes big

    VA Telephone

     

    The Amarillo VA Health Care System recently hosted its first-ever Telephone-Town Hall event with Texas Panhandle Veterans using a new communication technology platform.

    The Town Hall educated Veterans about ongoing construction and modernization efforts, Mission Act improvements with Urgent Care expansion, and also highlighted the Amarillo VA’s recent accomplishment as one of the top performing VA health care systems in the country–as identified through the VA’s Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning (SAIL) comparison tool.

    In addition to providing a new avenue to provide information to a large rural population, the Tele-Town Hall provided a way for the Amarillo VA leadership to receive feedback in a way they normally wouldn’t in the traditional Town Hall set up.

    “While our Tele-Town Hall was able to take limited live questions, each Veteran was given the opportunity to leave a voicemail at the end of the Town Hall, so his or her voice could be heard,” said Froy Garza, Interim Medical Center Director. “We had 151 Veterans leave a message, where our Patient Advocate Team was able to identify each individual concern or question and provide a response for each Veteran after the Town Hall was over.”

    Positive response

    Over 11,000 Veterans joined the call from the surrounding area. More than 4,000 Veterans connected with the Amarillo VA via the Tele-Town Hall phone invitation and more than 1,000 were still on the line at the end of the one-hour town hall.

    The response from the telephone-based event was also very positive from the Veterans surveyed.

    “During the event, we polled our Veterans using this new technology about their experiences with accessing VA services and also asked the participants if they like this new format. A resounding 97% found this format especially helpful,” Garza said. “I believe this format serves our mission of finding innovative ways to deliver information to our Veterans about the services and benefits they have earned. This is especially important considering we cover a 50-county radius, where it can be very difficult for our Veterans to drive sometimes up to 2 hours or more to participate in a town hall. It is my desire to continue to utilize technology in ways that will help us improve the delivery of care while also improving the Veteran experience.”

    The Amarillo VA is targeting their next Tele-Town Hall to for Veterans who access care at its Lubbock and Clovis Community-Based Outpatient Clinics on March 5.

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  • America faces a tidal wave of aging military Veterans

    Aging Veterans

     

    For decades, dawn brought the clarion bugle call of reveille across the lush campus of the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, 60 miles north of San Francisco. The residents, the earliest among them Veterans of the Mexican-American war, rose early and dressed in strict accordance with a uniform-like code.

    In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Veterans home was a working farm, with chickens, pigs, and a whole herd of cattle, along with apple, peach, and plum orchards. The men spent long days tending to the animals and working the land. The labor was believed to be restorative, giving order and purpose to generations of Veterans suffering from what would soon become known as “shell shock.”

    Nearly 150 years later, the facility is still in operation. After years of funding and other challenges — one inspection in 2016 found 14 separate fire safety deficiencies — investments in the home have ensured its future continuing to care for California’s Veterans. No longer a working farm, the campus is home to more than 1,000 Veterans, most of them elderly, with levels of support ranging from independent living to skilled nursing. Today, the campus hums with activity, as construction equipment reshapes the nation’s largest Veteran home into one that can effectively and compassionately meet the changing needs of the state’s aging Veteran population.

    As Vietnam and eventually Gulf War-era Veterans grow older, they bring with them new needs, different expectations for care, and greater diversity than the Korean War and World War II Veterans who came before them. The Department of Veterans Affairs and Veterans organizations across the country are working to care for a new generation of older Veterans who tend to have greater expectations for longevity and independence than earlier generations, yet also may struggle with more complex medical conditions.

    “We’re kind of compounding multiple variables, in the sense that not only are people living longer, but … many of them survived something that wasn’t survivable,” says Scotte Hartronft, the director of geriatrics and extended care at VA. “A lot of Veterans have survived significant injuries over the last couple of conflicts that [they] wouldn’t have survived in previous wars.”

    In California, the most populous state in the nation and home to the highest number of Veterans, the California Department of Veterans Affairs, known as CalVet, the state’s Veterans department, is working to create a modern facility that centers the needs and dignity of older Veterans. While the Yountville Veterans Home is unique — as the largest and one of the oldest Veterans homes in the nation — across the country, people charged with caring for Veterans grapple with the same question that drives the redesign of the facility: How do we best care for those who have served on our behalf as they grow old?

    ‘The bulge of the snake is Veterans over 55′

    Yountville Veterans Home is one of eight facilities across California that provide long-term care for older and disabled Veterans, and sometimes their spouses — part of a legacy that dates back to the decades after the Civil War, when states opened soldiers’ homes to care for the sudden influx of struggling Veterans.

    With a Veteran population of more than 1.6 million in 2020, California is home to a sizable percentage of the nation’s Veterans — a population that is steadily growing older.

    “A lot of the focus … is on OEF/OIF Veterans for obvious reasons, but really, the bulge in the snake, so to speak, of the Veteran population in California is certainly over 55,” says Keith Boylan, the deputy secretary for Veterans services at CalVet.

    Other states see this trend mirrored: Between 2021 and 2041, the number of Veterans older than 85 is expected to increase by 31%, according to VA data. In part, that’s because the overall number of Veterans nationwide is actually decreasing. During World War II, military service was common; in subsequent wars, the proportion of the population who served has steadily fallen. Between 2000 and 2018, the number of Veterans in the country declined by a third — the bulk of Americans who have served in the military served decades ago.

    But Vietnam and Gulf War-era Veterans represent a different slice of the population than Veterans who fought in World War II and Korea. The number of women Veterans over the age of 65 is expected to increase by a staggering 237% between 2021 and 2041, according to data from VA. Racial diversity is also increasing, and the geographic distribution of Veterans is shifting.

    This means Veterans’ care must change as well. Women, for example, have a greater life expectancy than men do.

    “They tend to live longer, and by living longer, they tend to [need] more assistance with daily living activity needs,” Hartronft says.

    Women Veterans, as a cohort, will require more support to continue to live independently as they age for longer — a fact compounded by the fact that women, who tend to be informal caregivers to friends and family, often have more difficulty than men in finding their own caregivers when needed.

    Other populations — such as Veterans who live in rural areas, far from health services, or without housing, or who deal with more complex physical and mental ailments — also require unique approaches to care. And behavioral health support more broadly, especially for Veterans who have lived through traumas they might not have survived in earlier conflicts, will be critical in the coming decades.

    “We’re trying to always think of what programs can help with the specific individual needs and situation — both the socioeconomic and other situations — because not one thing fits or works for everybody,” Hartronft says.

    In addition to higher rates of post-traumatic stress and other conditions affecting mental health, Veterans are more likely to be exposed to risk factors, such as traumatic brain injuries or toxic exposure, for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Veterans also have a higher chance of being diagnosed with certain types of cancer, like lung and skin cancer. About 50,000 new cancer cases among Veterans are reported annually; that number is expected to rise as Veterans age.

    “You’re shrinking the population, but the need is still very high,” says Thomas Martin, the head of future operations and planning for CalVet’s Veterans homes. “We want to try to do our best job to make sure that we’re helping patch any holes in the safety net.”

    ‘You don’t want to go from home to hospital bed’

    Veterans homes like Yountville actually aren’t very common. There’s a reason for that: long-term in-patient care can cost thousands of dollars per month, according to AARP, and seniors often prefer to live at home, whether for financial, emotional, or other reasons. As baby boomers age, the focus of elder care has increasingly shifted from live-in facilities to aging-in-place services, allowing people to stay in their homes for as long as possible, while increasing support and services as needed. Keeping people at home longer reduces hospital visits, and recovering from some medical procedures at home leads to fewer inpatient complications and brings down the cost of care.

    “When it comes to aging in place specifically, we’ve had one of the largest expansions of home care in the VA,” Hartronft says.

    Within the next two years, every VA medical center will offer Veteran-directed care, a popular program that provides qualified Veterans with a stipend to hire local caregivers to assist them with daily living or even companionship. VA is expanding home-based primary care — which provides health care to Veterans at home, many of whom are housebound — to 75 new sites, as well as expanding its Medical Foster Care program, which allows some Veterans to live in a private home with a caregiver, rather than in a nursing home. They’re also piloting a program using predictive analytics to help determine which Veterans are at the highest risk of nursing home care in the coming years, to connect them with preventive services.

    “Our biggest goal is really advertising the aging-in-place services so that people think of them proactively and don’t only think of them during a crisis,” Hartronft says.

    But for some Veterans, continuing to live at home as they grow older isn’t an option — or they prefer to live with people who understand their history of service.

    “They wanted to be in an environment of Veterans, and surrounded by Veterans,” says Martin of residents of California’s Veterans homes.

    The Yountville renovation — designed by the architecture firm CannonDesign, and slated to be completed early next year — aims to set a standard for caring for a diverse population of Veterans who want to or need to live in a care facility. The project replaces a 90-year-old hospital building with a state-of-the-art skilled nursing facility and memory care center. The same principles that support the idea of aging in place — dignity and independence — guide its design.

    “Most of these people have just come from home,” says David Hunt, who leads CannonDesign’s health practice in Southern California. “You don’t want to go from home to hospital bed.”

    Instead, the project works to make Veterans feel as much at home as possible. Visually distinct “neighborhoods,” each with their own small shared dining and living areas, make up the facility. Designers avoided the glaring fluorescence of a hospital ward, instead using light fixtures that build on research into how the eye changes as it ages, as well as what makes a space feel comforting. The same goes for furniture and decor.

    The more a long-term care facility feels like home, the happier residents are — and the better their health outcomes are, research shows.

    “They have symptoms of less pain, they eat better,” Hunt says. “So it’s not just to make it homey. It’s also proven to be medically more efficient.”

    The design considerations promote independence, even among Veterans dealing with cognitive impairment or dementia. Visual cues, such as photo murals of “amber waves of grain,” help orient residents who can no longer read, and outdoor walking paths enclosed in a garden allow dementia patients to wander without getting lost.

    “You want to maximize their ability to be independent, to be able to walk around without having to keep a close eye on them,” Martin says. “You want to make sure that its environment is going to be safe and welcoming.”

    Ultimately, many experts say, what matters is thinking through care in a “Veteran-centric” way — buying into the idea that honoring Veterans as they age means taking the time to understand who they are and what they want, and then incorporating that into real-world care considerations.

    Take scooters, for example. When designers from CannonDesign visited the Yountville campus, they realized how many residents got around on motorized scooters.

    “They’ve got this gorgeous 600-acre-plus community, and those scooters allow them to get around a bit,” says Margi Kaminski, a co-director of health interiors at CannonDesign. “I’m not sure I would call them a status symbol, but they definitely are a big thing.”

    That human experience — the ease of mobility around the sunshine-soaked campus, the social capital that comes with being one of the scootering set — translated into real-world design considerations. Architects ensured that rooms were big enough for Veterans to about-face their scooters with a three-point turn. There’s even a repair shop on the first floor.

    “It’s not just about having the bed,” Martin says. “It’s about having the right environment.”

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  • America's veterans hold a reserve of national security strength we should tap

    Security Strength

     

    War, pestilence and natural disaster — the past two decades have brought into terrifying focus the massive resources needed to adequately respond to crises, especially when any of them occur in parallel. Relying as we have on uniformed military resources likely will prove inadequate in the future. A solution can be found among America’s 18 million veterans.

    The U.S. has emerged from a two-decade conflict in Afghanistan that, in simpler times, might be called a “guerilla war.” It was not a “big” war, yet at its height a decade ago, it badly strained the nation’s land forces. Units deployed, returned home for the minimal interval, and then redeployed. Families were strained and some broke. Patriotic employers of employees in the Reserve and National Guard in some cases chafed and jobs were endangered.

    Generals nervously considered the implications should something else, perhaps something bigger, arise. The Pentagon spent hundreds of millions of dollars (and still is doing so) to attract and retain young men and women. Meeting recruiting goals frequently has proved impossible in a country where less than a third of military-age youths are qualified for military service — and among that fraction, just 15 percent are interested in doing so.

    Will parents, clergy, educators and peers encourage young Americans to serve under leaders whose ability to win a war they could arguably question?

    History tells us in stark terms that disasters occur usually when preparation is not optimal. History tells us that big wars happen. We are not immune from history. While becoming too tolerant of lesser war, we have fooled ourselves into thinking a “big one” is impossible. But war is a product of human nature, and human nature does not change.

    On Aug. 1, 1990, the theme was the superfluity of big armies: the Soviets were gone and tank battles a thing of the past. On Aug. 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Less than seven months later, as a captain in a U.S. armored division, I coursed into Iraq amid a sea of tanks that stretched to the horizon in every direction. Tank battles were fought; fortunately, our enemy used their Soviet-built machines — many of which survived weeks of aerial bombardment — with neither skill nor determination. It could have been very different.

    So, here is the creep to war in the Pacific. No, it may not happen, or it may be muted by a sharp clash and then a drawing back of parties. There is a resurgent Russia intent on reclaiming its former glory and territory. And in between, the “smoking” trouble spots that could ignite — or be ignited by — the big ones.

    Add the effects of climate change, natural disaster and population dislocations among millions, the specter of other pandemics, civil disorder among a populace increasingly polarized. In the U.S., of necessity, the go-to has been the military, from troops deployed overseas in small but exhaustive wars, to military nurses staffing civilian hospitals, to the National Guard saving lives in the states and on guard in Washington. These massive resource demands, with near simultaneity, have left us in some cases exhausted.

    This is not a call, however, for more military spending. The U.S. military is already too expensive for what we’re getting. Absent a global war, the spending necessary to appreciably expand the force is unaffordable. Yes, we can grow key capabilities selectively — and should, while reforming acquisition.

    Recently at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, a friend — an Army Ranger with too many combat tours and a faithful service black Labrador — suggested what we, over lunch, dubbed a “Veterans Ready Reserve.”

    A Veterans Ready Reserve would constitute a reservoir of veterans who volunteer to be called on in time of national need. These volunteers could be used depending on the need and their abilities. For those less fit than in youth, one could envision non-physically demanding “admin” jobs.

    Already, a praiseworthy bipartisan bill in Congress, H.R. 4343, sponsored by Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), both veterans, would enable the Department of Defense (DOD) to place some military retirees with special skills that address a critical shortage into the Ready Reserve.

    Our idea of a Veterans Ready Reserve goes further. Such a “reserve” constitutes capability. Even if a million veterans “registered” and only 10,000 were used, that is 10,000 fewer personnel demands. The reserve could be activated by the president and managed by the Pentagon. Beyond that, until activation, little taxpayer expense would be necessary.

    Such a “reserve” also offers intangible benefits. These volunteers, who have declared their willingness to again serve their nation, would derive pride and a sense of re-engagement. One can even envision a lapel pin, etc. One can also envision fitness and health improving on the part of some volunteers, who decide they must be ready if called.

    Volunteering would not entail benefits, although actual service might. Volunteers would agree that they may never be called upon, or that if the reserve were called upon, they may not be selected for service, based on need and capability. Further, volunteering for this service would not affect any existing veterans or retiree benefits. (Only actual service might affect those benefits.)

    We can be certain that America will face crises that create historic demands. Engaging willing veterans in readiness for the call to service is one way to increase capacity and tap into a patriotic spirit that runs deep — for the benefit of us all.

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  • America’s Adopt A Soldier donates laptops, mobile phones to keep Veterans connected

    Adopt A Soldier

     

    Veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness can now stay connected with their health care providers, case managers, and loved ones thanks to a nonprofit organization’s collaboration with VA.

    America’s Adopt A Solider has worked with VA since 2010 on a multitude of services and support for Homeless and at-risk Veterans. The non-profit’s newest program keeps Veterans connected with VA care providers via a laptop and mobile phone donation program.

    Some Veterans often lack the resources needed to remain connected with VA services and family members. And the need for telecommunication donations to promote connectivity with care providers became evident as many states across the country enacted stay-at-home orders due to the pandemic.

    Mobile phone and laptop donations so far

    America’s Adopt A Soldier has already provided VA with hundreds of smartphones and laptops, procured through public and corporate donations from Verizon and AT&T. These donations have been shipped to Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 21, which includes the Northern California Bay Area (San Francisco VAHCS, Palo Alto VAHCS, and Northern California VAHCS) and the Southern Nevada VAHCS.

    The laptops and smartphones will go to Veterans currently in the Housing and Urban Development – VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), Grant and Per Diem transitional housing, and Health Care for the Homeless Contract Residential Services programs. As additional donations arrive from corporations and other organizations, America’s Adopt A Soldier will work with VA to identify additional VISNs in need.

    “Having this Veteran population shelter in place without the technology to keep them connected, might result in catastrophic impacts and immeasurable setbacks to their treatment,” said Mary Keeser, founder and chair of America’s Adopt A Soldier and a former U.S. Army officer. “Many of these Veterans have worked so hard to get on a path forward. With VA by their side creating the correct treatment plan, we reached out to assist the staff – who also recognized this challenge – in providing the required technology. We are humbled to be able to help provide this technology.”

    Assists with social distancing

    Keeser’s organization used active duty military and Veterans to update and reconfigure donated laptops to make sure they were ready for use once distributed. The laptops allow Veterans to stay in contact with their VA caseworkers, family, and friends while also maintaining CDC guidelines for social distancing. All devices are equipped with Windows 10 and can be used at Wi-Fi hot spots. The organization receives donations and support from several large organizations, including Microsoft, AT&T, and Envistacom.

    “Veterans can use the technology to access treatment plans and medical support, conduct job searches, continue their education, and of course, stay in touch with their social networks,” said Keeser. “A lot of our Veterans depend on those social connections with other Veterans and military organizations.”

    VA remains committed to securing safe and stable housing for Veterans and helping them stay connected during these uncertain times. Donations from America’s Adopt A Soldier organization facilitate Veterans’ continued progress in their treatment plans and increase their ability to comply with safe distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    More Information

    • Veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness should contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-4AID-VET (877-424-3838).
    • Anyone wishing to make a donation should visit https://www.americasadoptasoldier.org/makeadonation.html.
    • Businesses and corporations interested in partnerships and resource donations can contact Mary Keeser at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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  • American Heart Association praises VA genetic research

    American Heart Assoc

     

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) earned national recognition for its impact on heart disease and stroke science in VA studies published in 2019.

    The American Heart Association (AHA) lauded the research as top examples of how gene studies expand knowledge.

    The studies were based on VA’s Million Veteran Program (MVP) landmark research effort. MVP is a national research program to learn how genes, lifestyle and military exposures affect health and illness.

    “This acknowledgment is a testament to the scientific and medical impact of VA research,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “More than 30 studies are underway that use MVP data, and the work is expected to lead to many advances in health care for Veterans and all Americans.”

    One of the studies focused on peripheral artery disease, a common circulatory problem in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to limbs. The other study looked at venous thromboembolism, in which a blood clot forms in the deep veins of the leg, groin or arm and travels in circulation, lodging in the lungs.

    Both studies pinpointed gene targets that could lead to new drugs to treat the conditions, which affect millions of Veterans and other Americans.

    MVP-based studies focus on topics including PTSD, suicide prevention, heart disease and diabetes. Findings from several studies have appeared in high-impact medical and scientific journals. More than 800,000 Veterans are already enrolled in MVP, and the recent launch of online enrollment has made it easier for more Veterans to take part.

    AHA has recognized other major advances in which VA played a role. They included a major finding on blood pressure control and a study using smartwatches to warn of irregular heartbeats.

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