Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Medal of Honor Hero Dakota Meyer stands up for veterans

Honored veteran stands up for VA site
Environmental hearing about location draws Dakota Meyer

Apr. 19, 2012
Supporters of the proposed Veterans Administration hospital on Brownsboro Road couldn’t have asked for a better advocate than Dakota Meyer, the Kentuckian who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in a firefight in Afghanistan.

Dressed in a suit and tie, Marine Corps veteran Meyer was second in a long line of speakers at a public meeting Wednesday at Kammerer Middle School. And he had a message for the hundreds of area residents who don’t want the hospital built in their backyards:


“Us as veterans, it wasn’t an inconvenience for us and our families when we went out and we fought for you to be free in this country,” Meyer said.

Meyer received cheers and a standing ovation, but his endorsement didn’t seem to change the minds of about two dozen speakers. Most said traffic is already terrible in the area and that the hospital would be better off the Gene Snyder Freeway in eastern Jefferson County or downtown.
read more here

Developer uses $3 million of own money to house veterans

Anger motivates developer to house vets
April 24, 2012
EVA KILGORE


Real-estate developer Matt Heslin is an avid cyclist. As he rode the streets of Orange County and Los Angeles, something disturbed him greatly.

"As I rode, I continually saw very young homeless men and women," said Heslin. "I'd see them at the beaches, on freeway off-ramps, in river beds, and under bridges.

"In talking with these young people, I learned many of them are veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."

Heslin says they've come home and have been turned loose into society without any reintegration plan to make the transition from soldier to civilian.

"Many are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and can't function in society," said Heslin. "They've ended up jobless, homeless, and living on the streets."

The more Heslin heard, the angrier he got. He visited the Veterans Administration and asked for ways he could help. Then, he took action and founded Serene Haven, a Home for the Brave.

Heslin invested $3 million of his own money to start the nonprofit group. He purchased three apartment buildings in Hyde Park and the West Adams area to house homeless veterans and help give them a fresh start.
read more here

2 Joint Base Lewis-McChord to compete in Warrior Games

2 soldiers who overcame illness, injury will compete in Warrior Games

A year after he ended treatment for an acute form of cancer that should have killed him, Army Sgt. Fred Prince received more good news. He was one 50 soldiers selected to compete in a sporting event for ill and injured service members.
CHRISTIAN HILL; STAFF WRITER
Published: 04/24/12

A year after he ended treatment for an acute form of cancer that should have killed him, Army Sgt. Fred Prince received more good news. He was one 50 soldiers selected to compete in a sporting event for ill and injured service members.

Prince is one of two soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord invited to compete against athletes from other service branches at the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The event begins Monday and runs through May 5.

Prince, 35, and Staff Sgt. Max Hasson, 42, will represent the base. Prince qualified in air rifle and archery. Hasson qualified for air rifle, handcycling and three swimming events.

The two are assigned to the Warrior Transition Battalion at Lewis-McChord, where soldiers receive treatment for long-term injury or illness until they can rejoin their unit or be medically discharged.
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VFW prepares to rebuild cross

Veterans group prepares to rebuild cross
Suit wanted religious symbol off public land
April 24, 2012
BARSTOW
The state Veterans of Foreign Wars is preparing to take over a one-acre cross site in the Mojave National Preserve after the group reached a settlement in its long-running lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday.

The settlement calls for the site at Sunrise Rock to be turned over to a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Barstow in exchange for five acres of donated land. That particular VFW chapter has since disbanded, so the state organization will assume control of the site.

James Rowoldt, the secretary-treasurer for the state Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the group was working to determine how best to secure the cross to prevent future vandalism or theft.
read more here


Settlement clears way for cross in Mojave Desert
Published April 24, 2012
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

A veterans group can restore a memorial cross in the Mojave Desert under a court settlement that ends a decade-old legal battle, the National Park Service said Tuesday.

A federal judge approved the lawsuit settlement on Monday, permitting the park service to turn over a remote hilltop area known as Sunrise Rock to a Veteran of Foreign Wars post in Barstow and the Veterans Home of California-Barstow.

The park will give up the acre of land in exchange for five acres of donated property elsewhere in the 1.6 million acre preserve in Southern California.

The swap, which could be completed by the end of the year, will permit veterans to restore a cross to the site and end a controversy that became tangled in the thorny issues of patriotism and religion and made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.

The last cross was ordered removed by the park service in 2010 because of a court order.

The donated land is owned by Henry and Wanda Sandoz of Yucca Valley.
read more of this here

Veterans for Common Sense files suit, VA hires?

VA Struggles To Provide Vets With Mental Health Care
by LARRY ABRAMSON

Chris Hondros/Getty Images A veteran of the Iraq War with post-traumatic stress disorder talks to physical therapist Nicole Bormann before a session in the VA Medical Center in St. Louis.


April 25, 2012

"Veterans for Common Sense is suing the VA over delays in treatment, and over the time it takes some vets to get benefit payments. The VA announced plans to hire nearly 2,000 additional mental health staff last week, just days before this report came out."


Over the past five years, the Department of Veterans Affairs says, the number of former service members seeking mental health services has climbed by a third. In response, the agency has boosted funding and tightened standards.

Now, any vet asking for help is supposed to be evaluated within 24 hours and start treatment within two weeks. The VA has claimed that happens in the vast majority of cases, but a new investigation by the agency's inspector general says the VA statistics are skewed to make wait times appear shorter.

You don't see the real cost in human terms until 20 to 30 years after the conflict has ended. - Patrick Bellon, Veterans For Common Sense

Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America says that is not surprising.

"It illustrates, in incredible clarity, how dysfunctional the VA system is right now for thousands of veterans around the country," he says.

The inspector general's report says, rather than starting the clock from the moment a vet asks for mental health care, the VA has been counting from whenever the first appointment became available. That could add weeks or months to the wait time.
read more here

Marine Arrested In Connection With Death Of Military Wife

Marine Arrested In Connection With Death Of Military Wife

Louis Ray Perez Was Initially Considered Person Of Interest In Death Of 22-Year-Old Brittany Killgore

April 24, 2012
SAN DIEGO


A Camp Pendleton-based Marine already jailed on an unrelated charge was re-arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murdering a 22-year-old North County military wife whose body was found dumped alongside a rural road in Riverside County a week ago.

Louis Ray Perez, 45, was re-booked at Vista Jail Tuesday afternoon in connection with the death of Brittany Killgore of Fallbrook. He was scheduled to be arraigned on the homicide charge Thursday afternoon.
read more here

Suicides amongst veterans on the rise

Suicides amongst veterans on the rise
Updated: Tuesday, 24 Apr 2012

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - It's an alarming statistic, but according to the Army Times , each day 18 veterans commit suicide.

With veterans serving multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, those numbers only continue to rise.

Tuesday, one of those veterans was laid to rest at Albert G. Horton, Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery in Suffolk.

10 On Your Side introduced Hampton Roads to Iraq veteran Jonathan Bartlett in 2004. Bartlett, then 19-years-old, lost both legs after the Humvee he was driving hit an improvised explosive device (IED).

The courage and determination displayed by Bartlett inspired many to help him rebuild his life.

Last week, Bartlett, like so many other returning war veterans, took his own life. He was 27-years-old.

When 10 On Your Side first met Bartlett, he was undergoing physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. While his legs were gone, his fighting spirit was not.

"I screamed, 'Why me?', like twice, and I was, you know, I had tears in my eye,s and I got over it. It's just the way it is. It's just something you have to deal with," Bartlett said in a previous interview with 10 On Your Side.
read more here




Wounded Iraq vet commits suicide

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A suicidal veteran and a call for help, unanswered

A suicidal veteran and a call for help, unanswered
By LEO SHANE III
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 24, 2012
WASHINGTON

Jacob Manning waited until his wife and teenage son had left the house, then walked into his garage to kill himself.

The former soldier had been distraught for weeks, frustrated by family problems, unemployment and his lingering service injuries. He was long ago diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, caused by a military training accident, and post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the aftermath. He had battled depression before, but never an episode this bad.

He tossed one end of an extension cord over the rafters above and then fashioned a noose.

The cord snapped. It couldn’t handle his weight.

He called Christina Roof, a friend and national veterans policy adviser who helped him years before, and rambled about trying again with a bigger cord or a gun. She urged him to calm down. She sent a message to Manning’s wife, Charity, telling her to rush home. The two of them tried for more than a day to persuade him to get professional help.

He eventually agreed to call the veterans hospital in Columbia, Mo., near his home.

When a staffer at the mental health clinic answered the phone, Manning explained what he had done, and asked if he could be taken into care.

The staffer asked if Manning was still suicidal. He wavered, saying he wasn’t trying to kill himself right then. The hospital employee told him the office was closing in an hour, and asked if Manning could wait until the next day to deal with the problem.

After Stars and Stripes brought Manning’s case to the House Veteran Affairs Committee this month, Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., questioned VA officials about what went wrong in Manning’s case and how to prevent a repeat in the future.

“This is not an isolated case, and that is extremely unfortunate,” he said. “The VA has to get its act together. I don’t think they are prepared for the surge in the number of mental health issues that are coming soon.”

VA officials recently announced the hiring of 1,900 new staffers to help deal with gaps in mental health care and long wait times for appointments. At least 100 of those are expected to be added to suicide prevention efforts.

Miller said that won’t be enough to fight the problem.

“Every person in the department who picks up a phone needs to be retrained,” he said.

Lawmakers will press that issue in coming months with VA officials. Miller said the challenge is getting that message beyond the department’s leadership, down through the bureaucracy to lower-level employees who actually interact with veterans.

“There is no margin of error in this,” he said. “It seems they need to be reminded how critical it is to get this right the first time.”

read more here

New Haven firefighters giving each week to Wounded Warriors Project?

Last month after reading a lot of complaints about Wounded Warriors Project, I did a post about it. Ignoring this would have been easier but considering how many people think this group is doing a lot more, they deserved to know. Now it seems that a group of firefighters is giving money out of their own pocket but above that, out of love for the troops. Is Wounded Warrior Project a country crock?

In this report it says that Wounded Warrior Project "raises awareness and support for injured service members" but no one is asking why they need millions to do what I do for free everyday. It doesn't cost anything to raise awareness and frankly the only ads I've seen on TV have been for Wounded Warriors Project and not the wounded themselves. According to the complaints, the wounded say backpacks and trips are not what they need. They need money to pay their bills and help to heal. They need to get into treatment and be seen by doctors without having to wait months. They need to have their claims processed so they can feed their families when they can't work and they need jobs when they can work.

If you have a charity that is doing good work for their sake, get a good ad agency so that you get this kind of money coming into you. Just don't lose the heart you have to get up everyday to help them. Also don't get this group confused with Wounded Warrior Battalion or Wounded Warrior Program. They do really great work!

Firefighters give back to wounded warriors
Monday, 23 Apr 2012
Tina Detelj
NEW HAVEN, Conn.

(WTNH)
September 11th was a call to action for firefighters in New Haven. The day after the attacks, a bunch of them jumped on the train to go down to New York City to try to help. Now they're finding another way to help.

This time they are hoping to come to the aid of those who fought for our country: wounded warriors now in need of help themselves.

"These young men went to their recruiting office and they joined the war to stand by the 343 firefighters that died and the citizens that day," said Battalion Chief Paul Sandella, "then we should bring it for them, now that they're home and have injuries that are going to be lifelong."

Sandella is organizing the effort in which 75 percent of the Elm City's 300 firefighters have agreed to payroll deductions averaging $5 a week. The money goes straight to the Wounded Warriors Project , which raises awareness and support for injured service members.
read more here



Suicide Attempt Has Fort Carson Soldier In Trouble

Suicide Attempt Has Fort Carson Soldier In Trouble
Prosecutors Press Charges Because Wife Was Shot During Incident

SCOTT HARRISON
KRDO NewsChannel 13
April 23, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Joshua and Crystal Bradley thought the worst was over when she halted his suicide attempt at their home last summer. They were wrong.

Crystal Bradley was accidentally shot in the leg in August 2011 during the incident. She said she didn't blame her husband and didn't want to file charges, but the District Attorney's Office believed otherwise. Joshua Bradley spent a week in jail and faces charges of assault, reckless endangerment and prohibitive use of a weapon.

"If I get convicted of this, I'll be facing five years in prison," said Bradley, 25. "Then I'll get kicked out of the Army and won't have a job."
read more here

Black Hawk crew honored for 3 heroic days

Black Hawk crew honored for 3 heroic days
By John Ryan - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 23, 2012
An Army dust-off crew that flew 11 rescue hoists during 60 hours of combat deep in Afghanistan’s high mountains last June was honored for its heroics at the 2012 Army Aviation Association of America’s annual forum this month.

The Goodrich Corp., an AAAA sponsor, held the reception in Nashville, Tenn., to recognize the four-soldier Black Hawk crew of Dust Off 73 — pilot Chief Warrant Officer 4 Kenneth Brodhead, pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Erik Sabiston, flight medic Sgt. Julia Bringloe and crew chief Spc. David Capps — who spent nearly 12 hours in the air, extracting 14 wounded and one soldier killed in action and flying three critical resupply missions during a three-day operation.

Earlier this year, the crew received the AAAA/Goodrich Corp. 2011 Air and Sea Rescue of the Year award at Fort Rucker, Ala. Each soldier has been nominated for a Distinguished Flying Cross, the highest aviation award for valor.

“We didn’t expect to receive an award for our actions,” Sabiston said in an Army release. “It is a great honor, but anyone in this unit would have done the same.”

On June 25-27, 2011, DO-73 supported Operation Hammer Down, an effort to find Taliban training grounds and fighters in Watahpur district of Kunar province. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, ran missions at elevations as high as 10,000 feet and faced heavy enemy contact.
read more here

Who am I today?

UPDATE Here's an example of what I was talking about

“It was being idle and not doing anything,” Casey said, “I was going through a major loss in my life. I was losing an identification of self because for almost a decade I had identified with being a combat soldier.”


You can read more of what Casey had to say here.
Veteran's mission continues even after his return from combat
Who am I today?
by Chaplain Kathie

April 24, 2012
Two years ago I became a student at Valencia College. My finals were yesterday. I woke up today no longer a student. I asked myself "Who am I now?"

The Digital Media field is not something a woman in her 50's goes into normally. It was a lot easier than I thought fitting in with other students my daughter's age but trying to keep up with them was hard. After a while, I knew what the professors expected out of me and got close to several other students. Most days I was in the Digital Media lab when I wasn't in classes. Usually Tuesday mornings I'd check the emails, do some posts and head off to Valencia. Today I had nowhere to go.

For two years there was a normal routine, knowing who I'd see and what I would have to do but today it's all up for grabs and I'm sitting here feeling differently about my life. Sure, I will still do the rest of the things I did in my life, but a part of it is now over. I gave some hugs to some of the people I got close to, said goodbye to the professors after they did all they could to help me learn my trade and drove off campus for the last time.

When you think about life changing events in your own lives, it may be easier to have a better understanding of what it is like for the men and women coming out of the military.

They trained to learn what they had to, then did it. They knew who their commanders were and the members of their units became like family to them. One day they are wearing combat boots, dodging bullets and fearing an IED is hidden in the road they have to drive over. The next day they are waking up and wondering what comes next for them.

They have to rediscover who they are all over again, find where they belong, establish a new routine at the same time they have to adapt back to civilian life without the people they were with. Keep in mind each of them were ready to die for the others. All I had to do was be willing to help another student when I knew something they didn't and be ready to ask for help when I needed it. If this life change is that hard on me, how hard is it for them? We just expect them to do it. Could we? Could we do it easier with help and a community that really has stepped up? Every community across this country needs to step up with support groups for them.

I met a lot of veterans at Valencia. Most of them were in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were several National Guard students. It was very hard for them to adjust to that part of their lives. Few other students wanted to understand and even less wanted to get to know them since they were older than students entering college right out of high school. The friends I made at Valencia made all the difference in the world to me. We can make all the difference in the world for these veterans as well.

Oregon National Guard reaches out to faith-based organizations

Oregon National Guard reaches out to faith-based organizations
Capi Lynn

Faith-based organizations are invited by the Oregon National Guard to become a “Partner in Care” to support service members, veterans and their families in communities throughout the state.

A one-day summit, in partnership with the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, will be held Tuesday, May 8 at the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Camp Withycombe, 15300 SE Industrial Way, Clackamas.

Participants will learn about military/veteran culture, the Guard’s Partners in Care program, and suicide prevention. They will have opportunities to network with leaders and get involved on a personal, congregational and community level.

The hope, according to an email sent to me by Special Projects Officer Elan Lambert of the Oregon National Guard’s Joint Transition Assistance Program, is that a faith-based network will become a vital part of a larger effort to provide community based care to military families and veterans since this state does not have an active duty installation.
go here to get involved

Car accidents more common after deployments

Report: Car accidents more common after deployments
By LEO SHANE III
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 23, 2012
WASHINGTON — Just a few weeks after his 2005 deployment to the Middle East ended, Chief Petty Officer Ron Verdoza smashed his SUV into a neighbor’s car.

Three years later, after returning from Afghanistan, he backed his Mustang into the wall of his garage.

“Both times, I just wasn’t focused on driving like I needed to be,” he said.

A new study released by USAA this week echoes that sentiment. USAA, which provides auto insurance to the military community, found a 13 percent jump in at-fault accidents for troops in the first six months after returning from deployment, compared with the six months before they deployed. Drivers with three or more overseas tours saw a 36 percent increase in accidents.

The three-year study is being shared with military officials and traffic safety experts in an effort to find ways to help returning troops stay safe while driving.

Researchers said that most of the accidents were caused by objects in the roadway and “losing control of the vehicle,” both indications that troops aren’t fully prepared for the pressures of civilian driving after lengthy stints overseas.

Scanning streets for signs of roadside bombs, for example, can lead servicemembers to ignore road signs and stoplights on U.S. roads. Drivers used to asserting their right of way in a Humvee convoy can find it irritating and unnerving to get stuck in traffic.
read more here

University of Montana student's death opens dialogue about suicide

Friends, family remember Parmenter after death, open dialogue about suicide
By Linds Sanders
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2012

It was hard to walk past Jacob Parmenter without being acknowledged.

He was inquisitive, confident and smiled a “big, toothy grin” recalls his close friend Connor Hovsepian, 21. It was that distinct smile that appeared in every picture displayed at his service Saturday, March 24, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Family, friends and fraternity members crowded the pews and stood in the doorway sharing that smile as pictures of Parmenter were projected on a screen in the front. A few laughs escaped when silly pictures appeared: Parmenter making a funny face at the cameraman or sticking out his tongue. The next picture cycled through, and the church was quiet again with old memories and fresh questions.

All those who loved Parmenter have been at a loss since he killed himself Friday, March 16, in his Miller Hall dorm room. Parmenter was 19 years old, a pledge of Phi Delta Theta and a freshman studying paramedicine.

After the pictures of family vacations and childhood memories, Parmenter’s oldest brother, James, stood at the podium. With the help of his close friends, James Parmenter composed a suicide letter he wished his youngest brother had left. The letter spoke to the pain Jacob Parmenter was feeling and said he wished more for his friends and family.

At the beginning of the semester, Parmenter pledged to be a Phi Delta Theta. His good friend and fraternity educator Richard LeCoultre, 19, remembers Parmenter’s confidence from one of the initial house meetings where aspiring pledges learn what it means to be a Phi Delta Theta brother. LeCoultre asked the group to nominate a class president. Parmenter jumped up and nominated himself. Then he explained to the boys why they should entrust him with this duty.

Before attending the University of Montana, he excelled in recruit training for the Marine Corps and was made squad leader.
read more here

A special dormitory for vets opened up last week

Veterans dorm at Muscogee County Jail first in country
Updated: Apr 24, 2012
By Laura Ann Sills

Sheriff John Darr announced Monday that military veterans now have a new home at the Muscogee County Jail. A special dormitory for vets opened up last week.

Moses Haynes has been in the veterans' dormitory at the Muscogee County Jail for a week now. He says he can already tell a change in the way he feels and hopes the public will see that Vets have different needs.

"Hopefully people will understand that we do things not cause we just go and do it, because of mental ill problems."

Haynes served in the Army for 5 years. He was in a helicopter crash during his service and says he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Alcoholism and a probation violation landed him in the Muscogee County Jail.
read more here

Nicholas Horner sentenced to 2 life terms plus 29 to 59 years

UPDATE
July 17, 2013 Horner gives up appeals
The U.S. Army veteran whose murder trial last year focused on the issues of post traumatic stress and the treatment he received has decided - against the advice of his lawyer - to give up his appeals.


PTSD on trial. Was justice served? Will Horner get help in prison?

Iraq war vet sentenced to 2 life terms plus 29 to 59 years in 2009 Pa. slayings during robbery
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: April 23, 2012

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. — An Iraq war veteran has been formally sentenced to life in prison in the shooting deaths of two people during the robbery of a west-central Pennsylvania sandwich shop three years ago.

The Altoona Mirror says Blair County President Judge Jolene Kopriva gave 31-year-old Nicholas Horner of Altoona two consecutive life terms on Monday plus 29 to 59 years in prison.

Jurors who convicted Horner of first-degree murder last month deadlocked on whether he deserved execution or life in prison without possibility of parole in the April 2009 deaths of 19-year-old Scott Garlick and 64-year-old Raymond Williams during the robbery of the Altoona Subway shop.

Defense attorneys argued that Horner was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time, but Williams' daughter, Melanie Kollar, told Horner on Monday that she didn't believe that. She said "I pray nightly you will finally accept responsibility."
read more here

Nicholas Horner Pennsylvania Iraq war veteran convicted of first-degree murder

Monday, April 23, 2012

Black Hawk helicopter crew mourned at Kandahar Air Field

Black Hawk helicopter crew mourned at Kandahar Air Field
By HEATH DRUZIN
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 23, 2012

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — The mission goes on. Outside a hangar full of mourners here Monday, the buzz of choppers continued unabated. There’s little time to pause during a war.

For two hours, though, hundreds of soldiers got a chance to say goodbye.

They filled the seats inside and spilled out of the fabric clamshell structure in a crowd stretching close to the flight line, bowing their heads in prayer and tears to remember four soldiers killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in Helmand province.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nicholas Johnson, 27, San Diego
Spc. Dean Shaffer, 23, Pekin, Ill.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Don Viray, 25, Waipahu, Hawaii
Spc. Chris Workman, 33, Boise, Idaho.
read more here

Investigation blasts VA over wait times for mental health care

Investigation blasts VA over wait times for mental health care

By LEO SHANE III AND MEGAN MCCLOSKEY
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — Calling the Department of Veterans Affairs’ data “of no real value,” the Inspector General on Monday slammed department officials for drastically overstating how quickly veterans were able to be seen for mental health issues.

The investigation found that veterans on average have to wait nearly two months – far longer than the VA has claimed. It also confirmed observations by members of Congress that veterans’ access to mental health services has been much more problematic than department officials have acknowledged.

Veterans Health Administration policy requires that all first-time patients requesting mental health services receive an initial evaluation within 24 hours, and a comprehensive diagnostic appointment within two weeks. VHA officials had said that 95 percent of its new patients were seen in that time frame.

But the new inspector general report called those calculations confused and inaccurate. By their researchers’ count, fewer than half of those patients were seen within the 14-day requirement. The average wait for a full evaluation among the rest was 50 days.

The report also sharply criticized VHA staffers for not following proper scheduling procedures, further confusing the data collection.

For new patients, scheduling clerks frequently stated they used the next available appointment slot as the desired appointment date for new patients, thereby showing deceptively short wait times. For established patients, medical providers scheduled return appointments based on known availability, rather than the patient’s clinical need.

Investigators also blamed some of the long wait times on shortages in mental health staff throughout the department.
read more here

Veterans healthcare exempt from budget cuts

Vets health care exempt from sequestration cuts
By Rick Maze -
Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 23, 2012

Funding for veterans’ health care programs is not subject to sequestration, the White House budget office announced Monday, ending months of speculation about how across-the-board budget cuts could be applied early next year if Congress cannot find a way to avoid fiscal disaster.

Sequestration, looming because Congress and the White House failed to reach an agreement on a 10-year, $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan, also will not cut veterans’ benefits, leaving only administrative expenses of the Veterans Affairs Department potentially subject to reductions, according to legal opinion issued Monday by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The announcement came in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, which had asked the White House for clarification about the automatic cuts’ effect on VA.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, which set up mechanism for cutting federal programs if a deficit spending agreement wasn’t reached, specifically exempted veterans’ benefits but had no clear statement about what might happen to veterans’ medical care expenses. read more here