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Archive for December, 2009
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
The VA Inspector General released a report with a very disturbing finding: failures in communication between two medical departments may have adversely affected patient care in the Salt Lake City VA health care system. The report did not, however, link those failures to any patient deaths.
The failures in communication occurred between the Interventional Radiology department and vascular surgery residents. The failures caused a delay in care which ultimately led to at least 1 patient’s death, according to the complainant. At the VA medical center, a 2-week suspension on vascular surgeries and interventional radiology procedures followed these deaths.
In a separate but seemingly related incident, a failure between these same 2 departments may have resulted in the death of a 70-year-old patient. The VA saw these instances as places where they can improve their service and launched a full internal investigation. Despite these occurrences, the VA Inspector General was awed with the internal investigations that were conducted as well as the system checks the VA utilized during the investigation.
One thing the VA Inspector General did not do in his report was validate the link between the failure in communication and patient deaths in 2 other patients. Beyond the failures in communication, The VA medical center is also charged with performing unnecessary amputations. While the VA medical center performed 3 times the number of amputations in 2009 than in 2008, the VA Inspector General ascribed this increase to a simple rise not only in patients, but more surgeons, inside the VA medical system.
Posted in General, VA News | No Comments »
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
The Clyde E. Lassen State Veteran Nursing Home is tracking its planned schedule and could quite possibly open its doors prior to the planned date. The facility will be beautiful once completed and driving past it as it is now, off State Road 16 at World Commerce Center, one thing will surely stand out: a large American flag tied to a street light right outside the facility.
The 95,000 square foot veteran nursing home will be spread over 15.3 acres, will come with a $26 million price tag, and will employ 140 people. It is expected the majority of the patients coming to the facility for help will be elderly veterans. Of its 120 beds, 60 will be set off in a separate wing of the facility and will be reserved strictly for veterans suffering from dementia and related illnesses.
The facility is 70% completed and the ribbon cutting ceremony is already scheduled for June 2010; the first patients will hopefully walk through the doors in September 2010.
The facility has a unique design in that every patient room has an outside window with a center courtyard. Bad weather has also been taken into account as the facility boasts a covered walkway.
The Florida VA employs an in-house agency to assure any subcontractors used in the construction of the facility are owned by disabled or minority veterans. This is important because roughly 10% of the cost of construction in this facility has been awarded to minority owned businesses. Also, in keeping with the evolution of construction, the facility will be the first one built in Florida using eco-friendly techniques.
This facility will provide a great service to the increasing population of elderly veterans in need of extended care. This facility will aid in their medical care for the long haul.
Tags: Elderly Veterans, VA Benefits, VA Nursing Homes
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
The VA policy on who can be buried with a fallen veteran in a national veterans cemetery is very simple and strict: the chance is offered only to the spouse or children of dead veterans.
In the past, the VA has granted waivers to allow a fallen soldier’s parent to be buried in the same plot with their soldier son or daughter. The caveat: the parent has to die before their veteran-child.
Two lawmakers, Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. are supporting the Corey Shea Act. If it is passed, this Act would allow biological or adoptive parents burial rights in the same plot as their veteran-child in any national veterans cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery, however, is not included in this list as it is operated exclusively by the Army.
The Act would award burial rights to parents of fallen veterans if their veteran sons and/or daughters had:
- No living spouses;
- No minor children; and
- Been killed in either battle or preparation for battle.
The VA’s initial concerns were that the VA run cemeteries would run out of spaces for veterans and veterans should be given priority burials. Therefore, the Act was amended to include only biological or adoptive parents being allowed to be buried in a national veterans cemetery. Now it is just a waiting game to see if the Act will become law. Should it become law. It would allow parents to maintain the bond with their veteran-child they did in life.
Tags: veteran burial, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in General, Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Veterans returning from service are finding it difficult to find employment in the civil sector. Veterans are seemingly being denied employment for one of two reasons:
- Veterans have too much experience; or
- Veterans don’t have the college required for the position.
In McHenry County, Illinois, there are more than 500 unemployed veterans. Last year, there were 2,230 unemployed veterans statewide between January and October and it is probably safe to say there are many unemployed veterans not collecting unemployment.
Veterans over 50 years of age face additional challenges. Most employers are not looking to take on an older person for a new position, veteran or not. Most of the skill sets older, unemployed veterans possess do not match current employers’ needs. Specifically, older unemployed veterans fall short in the area of technology.
On the flip side of this, older, more experienced veterans are losing positions to younger, less experienced veterans willing to work for lower pay.
One recent phenomenon unemployed veterans face is discrimination. Veterans have been portrayed in movies as ultra-violent, mal-adjusted, and suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in numbers nowhere near accurate. None of this helps soldiers actually suffering from PTSD returning to the civilian world. The pre-conceived notions people have about veterans, PTSD, and other “shell shocked” clichés are unfortunately working against veterans.
While all these factors working against veterans are certainly imposing, unemployed veterans do have hope. There are a number of things veterans can do to increase their chances of finding a job:
- Contact local VA offices to utilize their job placement services;
- Volunteering to increase networking opportunities;
- Some companies specifically recruit veterans; and
- GIJobs.com makes available a list of the top 100 companies most likely to hire veterans.
Veterans have advantages civilians do not: they are, for the most part, highly motivated individuals who understand how to work within a group. More than that, businesses keeping veterans employed may be eligible for certain tax breaks as well.
Tags: Unemployed veterans
Posted in General | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
The VA is in arrears on their payments to veteran-students going to college on their new GI Bill. In an effort to rectify the havoc in the lives of the veteran-students this delinquency has caused, the VA hired additional personnel and is working overtime in an attempt to process the thousands of backlogged claims that still exist.
According to the VA, the amount of unprocessed claims numbered in the tens of thousands at their peak; approximately 5,000 still remain outstanding. The VA fully admits their outdated system could not handle the 260,000 claims they received.
The VA believes the colleges will wait for the money they are owed from the new GI bill and veteran-students will not be denied admission because their last semester bill has not yet been paid. The VA’s top priority is allowing the veteran-students to focus on school rather than their tuition being paid. As of August 1, veteran-students were given very good benefits through the new GI Bill and more veterans than anticipated sought to take advantage of them.
The new GI Bill was intended to be the most inclusive set of benefits for veteran students since World War II. A veteran qualifying for the maximum benefits would receive enough aid to cover the cost of tuition at the highest ranking public college or university in the state for 4 years. Additionally, veteran-students receive $1,000 annually for books and housing allowance.
The issue the VA has encountered with processing these claims, and what has been slowing them down, is the intricacy of the formula that must be used to decide what each veteran will receive. Couple each claim taking approximately 1 1/2 hours to process with the antiquated system the VA uses and you create one huge backlog of claims.
Tags: new GI Bill, veteran-students
Posted in Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
In 2003, US troops were operating near the Qarmat Ali water-treatment plant. As Iraqi troops fled, the Iraqis covered the land with hexavalent chromium, an industrial chemical. Recently, those troops that served near Qarmat Ali have been notified they may have been exposed to the chemical.
The VA wants to follow and chart all cases of the Qarmat Ali veterans separately so they may study them over time.
Troops that have been notified have also been given recommended steps to take:
- Undergo examinations by a VA environmental physician; and
- Enroll in the Gulf War Registry (the list includes 112,515 veterans whose symptoms are directly related to tours in the Gulf in 1990-1991 & Iraq since 2003).
These soldiers aren’t alone, nor are they suffering in silence. The weight of the exposure falls not only on the veteran, but on the veteran’s family as well. Soldiers returning with disease and infection are not the same soldiers that left.
While operating at Qarmat Ali, soldiers stayed outside the plant while private contractors worked inside. Once the troops rotated back to different bases and away from Qarmat Ali, their symptoms persisted. Twenty-one soldiers from 1 National Guard unit have already sued one of the companies working inside for intentionally exposing them to hexavalent chromium or at the very least, withholding the information, to restore the flow of oil and earn bonuses.
These 21 soldiers join soldiers from around the country, who also spent time at Qarmat Ali, and suffer similar symptoms:
- Breathing problems;
- High blood pressure;
- Racing heart;
- Severe acid reflux;
- Short-term memory loss;
- Severe sleep apnea;
- Stomach problems; and
- Being at a higher risk for cancer.
Like all veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other ailments, veterans suffering from exposure to hexavalent chromium are having trouble getting access to proper treatment. For those suffering from the exposure to hexavalent chromium, it is now just a matter of remaining functional and returning to society as much as possible.
Tags: Chemical exposure, Qarmat Ali, US troops, Veterans Health
Posted in General, Iraq-Afghanistan War | No Comments »
Monday, December 28th, 2009
Ending homelessness for veterans is most certainly a lofty goal. Regardless of the seemingly impossibility of this task, it is one that has been recently undertaken by the federal government, according to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.
The Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove in Dover implemented a rate hike last year which means some assisted living veterans would see an increase of 1/3 in their payments. State veterans officials stated they would pay the increase in order to keep the veterans where they need to be by placing veterans in an aid program and then absorbing the difference in cost to prevent veterans from becoming homeless.
While this may seem like a very altruistic act, the fact is, the state is required by law to cover the costs for the homeless veterans. Following a study of the VA home in Dover, it was discovered that the increase in cost would be unnecessary if the home ran more efficiently. As an example, a report issued earlier his year found the Dover VA home spent 4 times the amount a typical assisted living home would spend.
Veteran’s homes must provide services not typically offered in private assisted living homes because of the veteran clientele. If a veteran cannot afford to stay at a VA medical facility or assisted living home, there is no point in offering the additional services.
The Dover VA hospital’s costs were 8 times higher than the industry average in just the administrative role. If the study’s findings are taken seriously, the Dover VA medical center could cut costs dramatically.
Tags: homeless veterans
Posted in General, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Monday, December 28th, 2009
In an effort to help the high amount of homeless veterans, the VA expanded their voucher program. The voucher program is a joint venture between the VA and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At any time, almost one third of the homeless are veterans. This equals approximately 130,000 homeless veterans.
While the VA vehemently denies any correlation between homelessness and being a veteran, that may not be entirely true. Many veterans return from deployments and combat with mental illness and health issues that were not present prior to being deployed.
Further, it is very possible many people discharged from the military have less than jovial feelings toward the government making it less likely they will turn to the VA for help.
While the majority of homeless veterans are from the Vietnam War era, veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are beginning to show up in large numbers. Until now, the voucher program operated only in cities where the VA operated medical centers or clinics. Now, however, their efforts have been expanded to include cities that operate other facilities, like outpatient clinics.
One issue inherent in the voucher program is that it does not cover advance rents and deposits. Many homeless veterans have trouble saving up this type of money which means they will not be eligible to take advantage of the voucher program.
Currently, the voucher program runs for 18 months per contract and the HUD is currently deciding whether to issue vouchers beyond the end of each individual contract.
Tags: homeless veterans, VA voucher program
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
The VA’s integrated health care system is a model of efficiency. It makes it much easier to stop mistakes from happening and much harder to miss required treatments. An integrated health care system aids medical care because:
- Electronic medical records aid in patient safety;
- Electronic medical records save money; and
- Electronic medical records aid medical professionals work more quickly.
The VA has been storing medical records online for more than 10 years and the benefits are apparent. Physicians are able to view anything about a patient’s medical history at any time including:
- Medications;
- X-Ray imaging;
- EKG’s;
- Blood work;
- Advanced Directives;
- Screenings;
- Upcoming Tests and appointments; and
- Specialists’’ notes and lab results.
The VA’s record keeping system almost mirrors the one the Department of Defense utilizes for their active duty personnel and both organizations are working toward the day where the systems are able to compile one overall record for a soldier’s entire lifetime. Right now through, the VA has the better system.
Patients enjoy this system as well as they are able to just look at the screen and, for example, watch how their cholesterol or weight loss/gain has been tracking. The one downfall to the system, though, is over-attention to the computer screen as opposed to looking at the patient. The balance is a difficult one to achieve as all the information for the patient is on the screen.
The system also acts as a safety net by reminding doctors when critical tests, i.e., mammograms, come due and thereby fulfills its most central function: protecting patient safety.
Tags: Veteran Health Care
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
The Combat Paper Project is a unique venture aimed at helping veterans share their experiences in a cathartic manner. The project takes military uniforms and destroys them. The uniforms are pounded into a pulp, which is turned into paper, which is then used as a canvas for a piece of art representative of those individual veterans’ military memories.
Drew Cameron is one of the co-founders of the project. His reason for starting this project was to heal himself from the problems he faced in his post-combat life. According to Cameron, his life was full of destructive behavior and creating these pieces of art, it aided him to heal from the feelings of disillusionment he was feeling.
Cameron spent four years in the military to include eight months in Iraq and two years in the National Guard. When he left the military, he said he felt betrayed. Creating art out of his uniform helped him to heal from what he was going through at the time and he figured others could heal in the same manner.
While each individual piece tells an individual story of an individual conflict, Cameron sees the individual parts of art that make up his entire project tell the collective story of all those people that contributed.
In an effort to spread the word of what Cameron believes to be a cathartic experience, the project leaders were in Key West hosting a “how-to” workshop. They invited veterans to bring in their uniforms to being healing their wounds through art. Some of the collective work of the project is on display and traveling the country in a show call Fibers of Reason through January 10, 2010.
Tags: Art, Uniform
Posted in General | No Comments »
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