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May/June 2012 May/June 2012 Restoring Function eBenefits: 24/7 Access and Information Support for Kicking the Habit Help for Veteran Job Seekers Features Securing Care for Veterans 6 CRISP is a call to action to adopt information security habits eBenefits: Access and Information, 24/7 8 Web portal provides a single access point for online benefits 8 A Unique Perspective on Art 10 Veteran artist taps Wheelchair Games athletes to offer a rare opportunity Support for Kicking the Habit 12 Helping Veterans join millions of Americans who quit smoking each year Forging a Path Into the Unknown 14 Providence initiative helps ALS patients navigate the VA health care system Keeping Faith With Louisiana’s Veterans 16 Dedication marks the 17th new cemetery opened in the past decade Finding a Calling He Never Thought Possible 18 18 Milwaukee psychiatrist answers the call to service and finds a passion A Relaxing Vacation? Not for This VA Doctor 20 Asheville’s Dr. Jim Johnson goes on Third World humanitarian missions Help for Veteran Business Owners, Job Seekers 22 Detroit event expected to draw thousands of participants Therapy Dogs: Helping Veterans Heal 25 Four-legged treatment team members work with injured Veterans Departments 33 3 News You Can Use 33 Have You Heard 4 Outlook 36 Honors VAnguard 5 Management Matters 39 Heroes VA’s Employee Magazine 26 Around Headquarters 40 Flags In May/June 2012 30 Medical Advances Vol. LVIII, No. 3 Editor: Lisa Gaegler On the cover Assistant Editor/Senior Writer: Gary Hicks Veteran and retired VA employee Frederick Photo Editor: Robert Turtil Downs Jr., returned to headquarters April Staff Writer: Amanda Neumann 26 to demonstrate his advanced prosthetic arm during a forum held as part of VA Published by the Office of Public Affairs (80D) Research Week activities. Downs and his DEKA arm also wowed kids participating in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. 810 Vermont Ave., N.W. Downs lost his left arm when he stepped on Washington, D.C. 20420 a land mine in Vietnam in 1968 and had been (202) 461-7427 using a prosthetic hook ever since. E-mail: [email protected] photo by Robert Turtil www.va.gov/opa/publications/vanguard.asp 2 VAnguard • May/June 2012 NewsFEEDBACK YouOUTLOOK Can Use VA Focuses on New HR Training Programs to Better Serve Veterans The HR Academy, VA’s and career development tools to specific and obtainable ca- dent Obama signed on May training and career develop- to the needs of HR profes- reer goals at VA. 11, 2010. This memorandum ment resource for Human sionals at VA locations across Investing in employee requires that HR professionals Resources professionals, has the country. The program is training and career develop- involved in hiring employees announced its latest catalog delivered to participants in ment has paid off handsomely improve the efficiency of their of course offerings for 2012. their local VA area. The HR for the Department. Accord- recruitment and hiring prac- The extensive curriculum is Academy will host multiple ing to the Office of Human tices. In other words: get the designed to enhance technical HR2U workshops at VA loca- Resources and Administration, right people, in the right jobs, and consultative skills so HR tions throughout 2012. training as a retention tool more quickly. This includes professionals can better serve HR2U’s biggest draw is helped the Department avoid job placement for Veterans. their customers—VA hiring an innovative Career Map- $200 million in turnover costs Information on avail- managers—and build a strong, ping course. In this hands-on last year. Ultimately, the HR able HR Academy resources engaged workforce to serve career development session, Academy’s programs support and programs can be found Veterans and their families. HR staff members collaborate VA’s major initiative of ensur- at www.vahracademy.com, Since its inception, the one-on-one with their manag- ing an engaged, collaborative including how to register for HR Academy has experienced ers to create a personal career and high-performing work- classes through the VA Talent a large growth spurt—from a map that identifies the training force to meet the changing Management System, or TMS. small pilot curriculum last year and certification they need to needs of Veterans and their Instructor-led classes are now to today’s more comprehen- advance in their careers. Em- families. being held in locations nation- sive training offerings. This ployees can then schedule time They also help the De- wide, such as Atlanta, Phoenix, growth was driven in part by to meet with their managers partment meet the require- St. Louis and Hanover, Md. the Department-wide initiative and build an Individual Devel- ments of the Presidential To learn more, go to the VA to transform human capital opment Plan, or IDP, which Memorandum on Improving HR Academy website or send management and by the train- helps connect their desired the Federal Recruitment and an email to vacohracademy@ ing needs of VA’s 4,000-strong training and certification plans Hiring Process, which Presi- va.gov. HR community. As part of this effort, the HR Academy is engaging Transform VA and Your Career With New Tool HR professionals by thinking beyond traditional forms of Did you know that in 2010, a education and creating innova- service member was 10 times tive programs for career devel- more likely to return from war opment, such as Web-based with multiple injuries than training classes, which will be during World War II? Have available later this summer, you ever wondered about the and a new workshop series history of the Department of called HR2U. Veterans Affairs and how it Launched in February in became what it is today? Washington, D.C., HR2U is a The VA Learning Univer- four-day outreach and learning sity recently launched a new workshop that tailors training product called the Community Learning Model, an interac- tive tool that builds awareness Correction of VA’s past innovations and In the March/April 2012 is- present initiatives. The tool sue, we ran a photo from the uses audio, video and text to The Community Learning Model is an interactive tool that builds Aaron Tippin “Valentines for share the story of VA’s journey awareness of VA’s past innovations and present initiatives. Veterans” concert in Reno, of transformation. Take a few Nev., on the back cover. We moments to travel through history with VA, beginning in 1636 with the first government support should have noted that the for disabled Veterans and ending with the Veteran-centric organization we know today. concert, and all of the other The CLM is available on demand, offering employees the convenience of training when they “Valentines for Veterans” con- need it, and enabling them to take charge of their careers. Whether you’ve worked at VA for two certs held in 2012, were made months or 20 years, VA’s Community Learning Model can help you learn about change at VA possible through the generosity and how to better serve Veterans. To get started, log on to the VA Talent Management System, or of Help Hospitalized Veterans. TMS, and visit the interactive CLM. VAnguard • May/June 2012 3 Outlook An Enduring Commitment to Improving Veterans’ Health Joel Kupersmith, M.D. Chief Research and Development Officer Each year, Research Week Force; Terry Rauch, Ph.D., di- receiving health information each of these firsts can be provides a unique opportunity rector of Medical Research and and support from their peers found at the Office of Re- to recognize the outstand- Development for the Depart- (in this case, leaders of local search and Development ing work of VA investigators ment of Defense’s Office of Veterans Service Organiza- website at www.research.va.gov. and the generous time given Health Affairs; and Col. Geof- tions) were better able to man- There you’ll find a new series by Veteran volunteers who frey Ling, M.D., Ph.D, of the age their weight, more willing of movies that capture the participate in their studies. Defense Advanced Research to check their own blood pres- personal perspectives of Vet- Through Central Office activi- Projects Agency, or DARPA. sure, and reported improved erans whose lives have been ties and field events nation- Together, their presence overall health compared to improved by VA Research. wide, Research Week provides underscored the importance Veterans who received advice As these movies show, the attendees with an “up close of the longstanding research from trained health care pro- role played by Veteran vol- and personal” look at how VA partnership between VA and fessionals. unteers in helping to further research is translated into bet- DoD. Still another first was the research advancements cannot ter care for Veterans. Research Week 2012 at national demonstration of the be overstated. That is why we That was again the case VACO also saw several “firsts,” third generation of the DEKA were again fortunate this year April 23-27 when Research such as the national debut of arm, the Gen3. The DEKA to hear in person from several Week 2012—“Caring for Vet- TRACTS, the Translational arm is an advanced prosthetic such volunteers, who joined erans through Discovery and Research Center for Traumatic developed by DARPA and a Forum discussion led by Collaboration”—brought VA Brain Injury and Stress Disor- DEKA Integrated Solutions Veteran and country singer leaders, investigators and Vet- ders, based at the VA Boston that has a fully functioning Stephen Cochran. erans together in Washington, Healthcare System. Focusing hand, and control so precise Beyond the Beltway, D.C., and VA medical centers on what have become the that users can pluck grapes off more than 30 VA medical to mark the Department’s “signature injuries” of modern a vine, pick up a power tool, centers sponsored field events enduring commitment to im- combat—TBI and PTSD— and shake hands.
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