Health: PBS Frontline and Veterans - VA Updates

Below is a small collection of very recent reports of America's Health Care and Veterans Issues and Care, coming out yesterday or within the last few days.

Once again the Frontline report is a must see!

FRONTLINE: Sick Around America: Watch the Full Program | PBS

As the worsening economy leads to massive job losses—potentially forcing millions more Americans to go without health insurance—FRONTLINE travels the country examining the nation's broken health care system and explores the need for a fundamental overhaul. ...

Watch The Program

*****

Q&A on document shredding incident

U.S. Veterans Administration's

1. What happened?

• An audit of mail processing procedures at four Veterans Adminstration regional offices by VA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found 36 claims documents had been inappropriately placed in shred bins for disposal. VA immediately ceased all shredding activities while a nationwide review was conducted of all documents in shred bins. Approximately 500 documents that could potentially affect a claimant's entitlement to benefits were found improperly placed in shred bins at various regional offices. These regional offices are taking appropriate action on all of the documents found.

2. What is VA doing to keep this from happening again?m >>>>Rest Here

*****

More Incompetence at VA Under.....
cheney/bush/rushlicans! Possible Corruption?

VA program to schedule patient appointments on verge of collapse

The Replacement Scheduling Application Development Program, which VA began building in 2001, "still has not developed a single scheduling capability it can provide to the field, nor is there any expectation of delivery in the near future," wrote Dr. Michael Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration, in a March 20 memo to Stephen Warren, acting assistant secretary for information and technology.

SNIP

The botched effort comes on the heels of another scheduling program -- a five-year, $75 million failed project started in 2001.

SNIP

"VA has a decade-long history of initiating IT programs, only to experience extensive delays and major cost overruns," said Gerald Manar, deputy director of the National Veterans Service at the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "The fact that VA has frittered away eight years and millions of dollars in developing the RSA, with no viable results and no end in sight, is extremely disappointing but, based on its track record, not surprising."

*****

Waiting on VA -- No Longer, CIO Named

Update: Within minutes of posting this item, the White House announced Roger Baker's appointment as CIO at the Veterans Affairs Departrment. It still doesn't change, however, what a tough job he has in fornt oif him. read below.

After today's news, which Nextgov editor at large Bob Brewin broke, Baker may have second thoughts about the job that might await him if he is nominated and confirmed.

From the White House announcement: >>>>>Rest Here

*****

VA Nomination Hearings Today:

Hearing: Nomination of W. Scott Gould to be Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the nomination of L. Tammy Duckworth to be an Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.
April,1,2009

United States Senate

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

April 1, 2009 9:30 a.m.

Russell 418

(note: hearing stream will begin approx. 15 minutes prior to start of hearing)

Click link above to get link to the live coverage.

*****

Senator Murray intro's the: Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009

Senator Patty Murray, (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has introduced bi-partisan legislation to prepare the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the influx of women veterans who will access care there in the coming years.

According to her office’s press release the bill, named the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009, will, “address unique needs of women veterans, provide improved care for Military Sexual Trauma, and explore the effects service in Iraq and Afghanistan has had on female veterans.” >>>>>Rest Here

*****

Bloomberg 3? NYC Veterans 0

by Veterans Joe Bello & Luis Carlos Montalván

Every Memorial and Veterans' Day, elected officials praise veterans and the sacrifices they have made while in uniform. However, that sacrifice does not end when they return home to their families and communities.

For many veterans, the hardest and most enduring sacrifice begins the moment they return home. The combat load they shouldered for their country endures long after war is over.

For most, it lasts a lifetime.

This is especially true in New York.

New York has sent over 70,000 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and has the fourth largest veteran population in the country. Overall, there are almost 12,000 service members from the state currently deployed in both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of combat, many of whom are from the New York City area.

However, six years into the war in Iraq, and eight into the war in Afghanistan, many Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard veterans have come home to a city administration that does a lot of talking and thanking but nothing, other than a breakfast at Gracie Mansion on Veterans' Day, in terms of actual, tangible services. >>>>>Rest Here

Iraq Veterans for Iraq Refugees

I caught this report over at Huffington:


US Vets Return to Middle East to Help Iraqi Refugees

I'm on the first day of a rapid-fire visit to Jordan, the kingdom in the Middle East which has provided a safe haven for an estimated 750,000 refugees from Iraq who have traveled the shorter but more dangerous route to get here.


I'm traveling with a small delegation from the newly founded Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA) -- co-founders of the organization, Luis Montalvan, a former US Army captain, and former US Marine captain Tyler Boudreau, plus photographer Paul Park -- on a mission to try to assess the situation faced by Iraqi refugees, and the burden that hosting those refugees has placed on the Hashemite kingdom.


We also hope to work out what, if anything, we can do to help provide relief to either or both.

And when I did a quick google search I found this link Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA), which is placed in the quote above also.


Visiting the link you will find it's their fundraising site and more information:

A Personal Message from Physicians for Social Responsibility


The Iraq Veterans' Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA) is a newly established non-profit organization set up by two veterans of the Iraq war, former Marine Capt. Tyler Boudreau and former Army Capt. Luis Carlos Montalván.


IVRAA is sponsored by the Nobel Peace Prize award-winning organization, Physicians for Social Responsibility. Your tax-deductible donations will be routed through them to IVRAA.

Snip


The two founders of IVRAA recently co-authored opinion articles about the Iraqi humanitarian crisis that were published in:



"The International Herald Tribune"



"The Seattle Times" , scroll down just abit to read the LTE.



"The Daily Hampshire Gazette" recently wrote a piece about IVRAA



In These Times wrote a piece about IVRAA




They will author articles and hold media briefings during the trip and afterwards, aimed at boosting awareness of a side of the Iraq war that has long been overlooked, if not ignored: the mass displacement of the Iraqi people which has resulted in their loss of humanity and dignity.



Snip

Your tax-deductible donation will help IVRAA launch this first humanitarian mission, during which Boudreau and Montalván will:


** Assess the situation faced by Iraqi refugees;


**Educate the public as to the urgency of the humanitarian crisis;


**Establish workshops for Iraqis seeking asylum in the United States;


**Render assistance to Ali, an Iraqi refugee who has languished in Jordan for two years after aiding the US military as an interpreter;


**Report the findings of the mission to heighten awareness to develop new relief strategies.


Unlike missions by veterans of wars past, the IVRAA visit will take place as the Iraq war continues.

At their donation site you can Grab a fundraising widget, or grab it right here with this link, to place on your sites to help them out.



This is Tyler Boudreau's - Deeper Than War Blogspot.


Tyler Boudreau's book: Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine (Feral House) will be released in September 2008 and is now available for pre-order.

And this is apparently Their Face Book Page


Meanwhile inside of Iraq:


Squatters in Iraqi buildings fear they'll soon be on the street

Tens of thousands of Iraqis found shelter in government and abandoned public properties after the U.S.-led invasion upended their lives. Now the government has ordered many out of their temporary homes, from Kirkuk in the north to Basra in the south, worsening Iraq's already enormous problem of displaced people.

Please Give


And Visit Scotty's, an Iraq War Vets blogspot: Returning Home From Iraq

As well as one of his posts at another site: Palestinian helps Iraqi refugees

Jordan/U.S.A. - Writing this article from the third person is going to be impossible because of my experience with the subject matter at hand. I am an ex-Marine who was involved in the initial invasion of Iraq. My friend, who chooses not to have her name published, is a U.N. worker helping refugees in Jordan, many of whom are from Iraq. This article is about her experience and mine.

Veterans, doing once again what we've done before, sadly after we participated in the destruction, helping the people who's lives were destroyed, or trying to. But It Is A Great Step Forward, same step that helped alot of 'Nam Vets and the Vietnamesse people, either those going directly back to Vietnam or the brothers supporting them!!