American Liver Foundation’s Nurse Martha Shea Shines

This is the type of person working for the VA. Shea is a volunteer with the American Liver Foundation. When I have a complaint about the VA, it's with the people making the rules and running it, but over 26 years, I could count the number of times there has been anything to complain about when it comes to the people working with the veterans at the VA. The problem is, because people at the top forgot why they went to work for the VA, nothing will be fixed until they remember, it was to serve the veterans that gave so much to all of us.

Giving Back
‘You Feel Like You’re Talking to an Angel’
1
By JAN ELLEN SPIEGEL
Published: December 22, 2008

AS a nurse who deals with liver disease — a particularly trying medical field with a steady drumbeat of dispiriting news — Martha Shea does everything but get away from it after hours.

“I’m just passionate about what I do,” said Ms. Shea, 57, on a recent weekend in a moment of rare repose at her home in Wallingford.

Ms. Shea is described as tough but compassionate by patients she has seen over the years at the Veterans Affairs hospital in West Haven. She has worked there since 1979, first running a hepatology research lab and since 1987, as a nurse — now the nurse-manager of the hepatitis C resource center.

After 25 years in the Air Force Reserve, Ms. Shea retired in 2001 and has been a diligent volunteer with the American Liver Foundation’s Connecticut chapter in North Haven ever since.

“She’s sort of a whirling dervish,” said JoAnn Thompson, the chapter’s executive director. As chairwoman of the chapter’s annual Liver Life Walk the last two years, Ms. Shea raised record amounts of money: $110,000 in 2007, then $142,000 in 2008.

But there’s more. “Whatever we need her for, she finds time to come in and help us out,” Ms. Thompson said.

That can mean stuffing envelopes or decorating the office for the holidays, as Ms. Shea recently did. But more often, she uses the medical skills honed on the front lines of liver disease research and care, volunteering at a half-dozen health fairs a year — usually opting to work a whole day rather than a single shift. And she volunteers with the foundation’s treatment choices initiative — an educational program aimed at those at high risk for contracting hepatitis C.

“I just saw the need and how important it was and how it helped the patients,” Ms. Shea said, explaining why she volunteers on top of her regular job, which includes a hepatitis support group at the V.A. hospital that she runs on her own time. “My feeling for my patients — it’s not just sitting there at the V.A. I advocate for them. I’ll go to congresspeople. I’ll help them write letters. I’ll help them find a place at the shelter. It’s not just ‘come into the clinic, get your shot, here’s your pill.’ ”
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Natalie Cole says she has hepatitis C

Natalie Cole says she has hepatitis C

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 16, 2008
Filed at 10:24 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP)-- Grammy-winning singer Natalie Cole has been diagnosed with hepatitis C, her publicist said in a statement Wednesday.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood. The statement said the disease was revealed during a routine examination and was likely caused by her drug use years ago.

''I've been so fortunate to have learned so much from my past experiences,'' said Cole. ''I am embraced by the love and support of my family and friends; I am committed to my belief in myself and in my abiding faith to meet this challenge with a heartfelt optimism and determination. This is how I intend to deal with this current challenge in my life.''
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One of the problems Vietnam Vets have that does not get enough attention is Hepatitis C. A lot of them have it. There have been reports of this in the past. They all need to be tested to know if they have it or not. If they even suspect they have it, they need to stop drinking.

Dr. Karen Seal taking PTSD in new direction

Karen Seal and her colleagues worked to get a new clinic in San Francisco for Iraq war vets. (Chronicle photo by Michael Macor)

Waiting room fills with young vets

Meredith May
Chronicle Staff Writer



Four years after the start of the war in Iraq, Dr. Karen Seal took a job at the San Francisco VA Medical Center to work in the liver clinic, treating patients with hepatitis C.

She noticed the veterans in the waiting room. Most of them were from the Vietnam era, in their 60s and older.

But over the months, the faces began to get younger. The waiting room was starting to fill with young men in their late teens and 20s, the first trickle of Bay Area soldiers emotionally and physically injured by the war.


Seal, a primary care physician, began working with them, taking their medical histories and directing them to the right care.

"At the time, I had never heard of PTSD," Seal said.

Now she knows how post-traumatic stress disorder contributes to the alcohol addiction and depression she sees in many of her patients.

She made referral after referral to the mental health wing of the VA hospital, but heard from colleagues that those initial patients never made it. It was too much of a stigma - especially in military culture - to walk across the campus to the mental health ward.

So Seal and colleagues got an idea. What if there were a special clinic just for Iraq war veterans that combined primary care and mental health checkups in a nonjudgmental setting?
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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAR08/nf031708-3.htm

Fort Bliss nurse accused of giving patients Hepatitis C

Bliss nurse accused of giving patients hepatitis

By Alicia A. Caldwell - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 11, 2008 7:43:02 EDT

EL PASO, Texas — A former Army hospital employee is accused of infecting at least three patients with hepatitis C, federal authorities said Monday.

Jon Dale Jones, a 45-year-old former nurse anesthetist at William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss, was arrested Thursday in Miami. He was indicted last month on three counts each of assault, aggravated assault, and possession of a controlled substance by fraud.

Jones was released from jail after posting 5 percent of his $200,000 bond.

His Miami lawyer, Edward O’Donnell, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Monday.

Federal prosecutors say Jones infected at least three patients with Hepatitis C, a blood-borne disease that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer, while siphoning drugs from them during surgeries at the Army hospital in 2004.

Jones, a civilian, is also accused of stealing the drug fentanyl, a powerful painkiller often used for anesthesia, from the three patients.

It’s not clear how or why he infected them.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_hepatitis_031108/

Bush shafts Hepatitis C veterans

February 28, 2005
Plan Backfires- VBA Fast Letter Boost Claims

BUSH ADMINISTRATION FIGHTS AGAINST SERVICE CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR VETS WITH HEPATITIS C


Top Guns with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are going on the offensive to prevent veterans from getting service connected disability for HEPATITIS C transmitted by airgun shots before, during, and after the Vietnam War.



Three decades after the end of the war, hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who served their country are dying, and the Bush Administration is fighting their attempts to get pensions and adequate VA medical treatment. An estimated 95% of all claims are denied, despite reliable scientific evidence.



In April 2002, a delegation of members representing the HEPATITIS C Movement for Awareness (HMA) and HCVets.com, a HEPATITIS C military claims support organization for families, went to Washington DC on a mission to educate representative concerning HEPATITIS C related issues.



The delegation had appointments with Congressional and Veterans Affairs representatives. One of these meetings was with Lawrence Deyton MSPH, MD Chief Consultant, Public Health Strategic Health Care Group, for the VA.. Members met specifically with Dr. Deyton to expressed concern regarding transmission methods for the HEPATITIS C virus listed by the VA, and the need to reform qualifications for testing Veterans. Those attending the VA will not get tested because they did not use drugs or become an alcoholic, risk factors used to qualify patients for testing. Members requested Dr. Deyton include reused needles, vials, syringes and airguns in this determination to test Veterans.



Dr. Deyton acknowledged these risks, stating "his hands were tied". He stated, "Anyone receiving airgun injections, should get tested for HEPATITIS C." Deyton did not just say "Veterans", says Ed Wendt, Vietnam era Veteran, transplant survivor and HMA's Government Relations Director. Quoting members who attended the meeting, Deyton implied "everyone" receiving shots administered by the now defunct style airguns, should be tested.



HMA published Dr. Deyton's quote in an upcoming newsletter which resulted in a Veteran service connected for HEPATITIS C at the regional VA level. The decision was based on that quote, plus other evidence submitted that demonstrated the products used to sanitize & disinfect medical and dental equipment, did not kill the HEPATITIS C virus.
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http://www.hcvets.com/data/transmission_methods/plan_backfires.htm