Veterans Affairs Media Summary and News Clips 7 August 2015 1. Access to Benefits/Care 1.1 - San Francisco Chronicle (AP): Assisted living center at Topeka's VA campus to open in fall (6 August, 9.5M online visitors/mo; San Francisco, CA) The Veterans Administration plans to open an assisted living center on its Topeka campus for veterans with mild dementia. The building on the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center campus is expected to open this fall, The Topeka Capital-Journal (http://bit.ly/1IlF8ZS ) reported. The building will offer 12 private rooms with their own bathrooms, plus amenities such as a social area, kitchen, dining area and outdoor courtyard. Hyperlink to Above 1.2 - San Francisco Chronicle (AP): Charleston VA center serving hundreds of new patients (6 August, 9.5M online visitors/mo; San Francisco, CA) The Charleston VA Medical Center is expecting a record 10 percent growth for the fiscal year that winds up at the end of next month. Director Scott Isaacks told local media outlets Wednesday that each week between 150 and 200 veterans are enrolling as new patients at the Ralph Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Isaacks said the center has recruited 270 additional staff to respond to the growth. The medical center system has about 2,300 workers. Hyperlink to Above 1.3 - Military.com: American Legion Conducting New Survey on Veterans' PTSD, TBI Care (6 August, Bryant Jordan, 5.8M online visitors/mo; San Francisco, CA) The American Legion is conducting a new national survey of veterans and their families to assess the care they are receiving from the Veterans Affairs Department for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Louis Celli, director of Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation for The American Legion, said the findings will provide the Legion's PTSD/TBI Committee with an understanding of veteran satisfaction with VA mental health care… Hyperlink to Above 1.4 - Stars and Stripes: McCain bill would let all veterans seek care outside VA (6 August, Heath Druzin, 1.2M online visitors/mo; Washington, DC) Just before Congress leaves town for a month, Sen. John McCain introduced a bill Thursday that could increase the controversy over how to fix the Department of Veterans Affairs, proposing that all veterans be eligible to have private care paid for by their VA insurance. Currently, veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility and those who face long wait times can apply to seek medical care in the private sector on their VA insurance. Hyperlink to Above 1.5 - KTAR-FM (FM-92.3): Phoenix VA office busy with home loans (6 August, Bob McClay, 1M online visitors/mo; Phoenix, AZ) The Veteran’s Administration office in Phoenix is apparently keeping busy with veterans wanting a home loan. The Phoenix Regional VA Office processes home loans for veterans, and a lot of the vets are taking advantage of them. “As of this point in the fiscal year, we’ve guaranteed almost 93,000 home loans for veterans in Arizona,” said Duane Honeycutt, the Interim Director of the Phoenix Regional VA Office. Veterans Affairs Media Summary and News Clips 7 August 2015 1 Hyperlink to Above 1.6 - The Sun Herald: Biloxi National Cemetery could need more room, The grounds will run out of room for caskets in six years. (6 August, Regina Zilbermints, 984k online visitors/mo; Gulfport, MS) If current trends continue, the Biloxi National Cemetery will run out of room for caskets in about six years. There is room for 25-30 years of cremated remains. And on the Biloxi Veterans Administration campus, there's not much room to grow, officials said. While the National Cemetery Administration is actively working to provide access to more veterans, there are no plans in place to either expand the existing cemetery in Biloxi or designate a plot of land elsewhere on the Coast for burial. Hyperlink to Above 1.7 - Military Times: VA may pay disability for some illnesses linked to Lejeune (6 August, Patricia Kime, 606k online visitors/mo; Springfield, VA) The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Aug. 2 it will begin a process that may allow some veterans to receive disability pay if they were sickened by drinking contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The VA has provided health care or reimbursement for medical costs for veterans or family members with 15 illnesses related to exposure to water contaminated by solvents and fuels… Hyperlink to Above 1.8 - WCYB-TV (NBC-5): VA talks about improvements to Mountain Home Medical Center (6 August, Kristi O’Connor, 492k online visitors/mo; Bristol, VA) U.S Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald, wanted officials of VA medical centers across the nation to meet with the media this week. The meetings would focus on the state of veteran's health facilities and how officials are working to improve them. Thursday, News 5 met with the VA Leadership Team of the Mountain Home VA Medical Center in Johnson City. The leaders talked about a number of topics, including the expansion of the Emergency Department. Hyperlink to Above 1.9 - NextGov: VA Secretary: We Need To Simplify Website For Veterans (6 August, Mohana Ravindranath, 483k online visitors/mo; Washington, DC) The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to make its online services easier for veterans to navigate, VA Secretary Robert McDonald said Thursday during an event hosted by Politico. "If I went to a veteran and said, 'What's Blue Button?' they would have no idea," he said, referring to the service that lets veterans download their electronic medical records. Hyperlink to Above 1.10 - KJZZ-FM (NPR-91.5, Audio): Vietnam Veterans Still Struggling With PTSD Decades After War (6 August, Jimmy Jenkins, 427k online visitors/mo; Phoenix, AZ) The Vietnam War ended decades years ago. Veterans from that conflict are now in their 50s and 60s, and are starting to retire. And with retirement, for some, there’s a troubling realization that they have deep wounds from the war that have never healed. New research shows that hundreds of thousands of Vietnam vets are still suffering from the traumatic after effects of war. Veterans Affairs Media Summary and News Clips 2 7 August 2015 Hyperlink to Above 1.11 - WTVM-TV (ABC-9): Vietnam Vet beats PTSD, helps others at Dublin VA (6 August, Dave Miller, 411k online visitors/mo; Columbus, GA) Florida native Gus Allbritton was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969, and Uncle Sam shipped him out to Southeast Asia, where the Vietnam war was raging. “I was scared to death!” Allbritton laughed during a recent interview. “I didn’t know where Vietnam was or what to expect, I just knew that the Army told me to go and I went.” Hyperlink to Above 1.12 - WNYP-TV (FOX-28, Video): New VA Clinic In Massena Mall Wows Veterans (6 August, 290k online visitors/mo; Watertown, NY) Some 2,000 veterans will go to see the doctor at the new VA clinic in the St. Lawrence Centre Mall in Massena. So far, their major concern is getting lost inside. "I was stunned, the number of rooms here and the help they're going to have," said Joe Cosentino, World War II vet from Ogdensburg. The clinic at the mall replaces the former one at Massena Memorial Hospital. Hyperlink to Above 1.13 - WKMG-TV (CBS-6, Video): Veteran's claim denied again by VA, Veteran still denied after death, despite presumptive service connection announcement (6 August, Tara Evans, 225k online visitors/mo; Orlando, FL) Three days after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced several Camp Lejeune- related illnesses a presumptive service connection, a local veteran who died from kidney cancer was denied by the VA again for the third time. Tonight, Donald Burpee's wife said she is devastated after getting another denial letter she didn't expect to get, after finding out the VA said kidney cancer was going to be made a presumptive service connection. Hyperlink to Above 1.14 - Kingsport Times-News: New improvements on tap for Mountain Home VA (6 August, Nick Shepherd, 126k online visitors/mo; Kingsport, TN) A number of improvements will be coming to the Veteran's Administration at Mountain Home over the next year, including a new parking garage, a tele-Intensive Care Unit and an expansion of the Emergency Department. The changes were announced to media members at a media roundtable on Thursday. The expansion of the Emergency Department should help improve access for veterans in emergency situations. Hyperlink to Above 1.15 - Healio: VA launches two programs to help veterans transition from service (6 August, 119k online visitors/mo; Thorofare, NJ) The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has launched two no-cost training programs designed to help service members and veterans learn skills, earn credentials and advance in civilian careers following separation from service. “My message to transitioning service members is simple: Plan early and stay engaged,” Robert McDonald, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)… Hyperlink to Above Veterans Affairs Media Summary and News Clips 3 7 August 2015 1.16 - The Register-Herald: Greenbrier veterans still waiting for new clinic (7 August, Tina Alvey, 92k online visitors/mo; Beckley, WV) Promises and explanations were plentiful at a 90-minute "town hall" meeting staged at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine's Roland P. Sharp Alumni Center by the Beckley Veterans Affairs Medical Center Thursday evening. Facing an occasionally surly audience of more than 60 veterans, family members and former clinic personnel, Beckley VAMC director Karin McGraw and associate director Allen Moye reviewed the history of the now-closed Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Maxwelton and outlined the steps being taken to find a new home for the facility.