Washington State VA "Blow it up from the inside and blame it on the staff."

Fears for local VA's future aired
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - Walla-Walla,WA,USA
Local veterans and VA employees met Thursday with a state official and members of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's staff.

By SHEILA HAGAR of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

A mixture of fear and distrust has replaced the pride and pleasure of serving veterans that employees of the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial Veterans Affairs Medical Center once had, according to at least one former VA employee.

"It's toxic. That's how I would say it. People who have been there for 20 years are getting notices of 30 days," said James Bernasconi.

Bernasconi was responding to a question from those who had come to Walla Walla to get some answers about the VA's future here.

Bernasconi was surrounded by more than two dozen others who assembled at the National Guard Armory on Thursday afternoon to talk to members of Sen. Patty Murray's staff and John Lee, director of state Department of Veteran Affairs.

The discussion was moderated by Don Schack, commander of Blue Mountain Veterans Coalition.

When asked about employee morale, Bernasconi replied, "It's the worst I've seen ... Max Lewis has no regard for individual employees. They have no idea what's coming."

Bernasconi has a measure of safety several others in the room could only wish for. The budget analyst retired at the beginning of the month after working 33 years for the Walla Walla VA. Also a veteran, he continues to serve as vice president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees union.

It was just over a year ago the mental-health unit at the local VA was considered by some in management to be one of the best in the nation, he explained. Now many believe it to be slated for closure.

Bernasconi believes it began with the arrival of former Director Sharon Helman. "They brought Sharon Helman in to quiet the community," he said. "She had no management skills, but she quieted things down."

Under Helman's reorganization in July 2007, department chiefs were taken out of their positions and departments were left to "intentionally fail," most especially the nursing home, Bernasconi said.

Others spoke of the rapid shut down of the Community Living Center in July, a feat accomplished in three days. A woman who identified herself as a volunteer at the VA told of one man rushed to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland three days after his discharge from the nursing home. "Now he has all these bills and he doesn't know who's going to pay them," she added.

"It seems like a brilliant plan," said veteran Russ Acord. "Blow it up from the inside and blame it on the staff."

Acord, a full-time engineering student, receives medical care at the VA and has friends who work there, he said.

He blames Dennis "Max" Lewis, the Veterans Affairs regional network director, and Helman for "pulling this VA apart as quickly as possible, but they are simply following orders and being paid well to do so.

"Sharon Helman and Max Lewis are brilliant," Acord said. "We shouldn't underestimate them."

Others, many unwilling to identify themselves to the newspaper, spoke of their fears about the VA hospital's future. "Who can I call? Where am I supposed to go?" asked one veteran, who said she has mental-health issues.

And mental health is where money and focus needs to be -- returning soldiers are not going to come home the same, said Roxanne Hinkle of Blue Mountain Veterans Coalition. "They'll have traumatic brain injuries and serious psychiatric issues. We've got to stop the shutting down of that particular area right now."

Civilian psychiatrists don't know how to deal with the problems we have," one veteran noted. "You close that (mental-health unit), you have a bunch of people with psychiatric problems that are pissed off."

Managers with long, commendable work histories have been fired recently as scapegoats, while others have fled the situation by quitting, noted a former employee. And staff members displaced from other areas are being slotted into spots they are not yet qualified for, she said. "This will hurt lives."
click post title for more

Lucas Senescall's suicide raises questions about PTSD care

When will they get the message that the suicide hot line is great but they need to have the rest of the VA up to speed or all it does is prolong the suffering?

Army Vet's Suicide Raises Questions About VA's Treatment of PTSD Cases
Written by Jason Leopold
Thursday, 14 August 2008
by Jason Leopold

The tragic death earlier this month of a 26-year-old Navy veteran who hung himself with an electrical cord while under the care of a Spokane, Washington Veterans Administration hospital depression underscores what veterans advocacy groups say is evidence of an epidemic of suicides due failures by the VA to identify and treat war veterans afflicted with severe mental health problems.

Lucas Senescall, who suffered from severe depression, was the sixth veteran who committed suicide this year after seeking treatment at the Spokane VA, according to a report published last weekend in the Spokesman Review.

Senescall’s father said his son was “begging for help and [the VA] kicked him to the curb,” according to the July 20 report in the Spokesman Review.

On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa, addressed the increasing number of war veterans who are committing suicide, specifically pointing out the death of Lucas Senescall, during a speech on the Senate floor.


“More than five years [after the start of the Iraq war], we should have the resources in place to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones. But we don’t,” Murray said. “When someone with a history of depression, PTSD, or other psychological wounds walks into the VA and says they are suicidal, it should set off alarm bells We can’t convince veterans or service members to get care if they think they will be met with lectures and closed doors. That is unacceptable. At the very least, we must ensure that staff at military and VA medical centers have the training to recognize and treat someone who is in real distress.

“Time and again, it has taken leaks and scandals to get the Administration to own up to major problems at the VA – from inadequate budgets to rising suicide rates. And its response to rising costs has been to underfund research and cut off services to some veterans. Service members and veterans need more than an 800 number to call,” Murray said.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, agreed.

“The facts show VA lacks consistent and complete policies and oversight on the subject of suicide, as VA leaders confirmed during the trial in the lawsuit veterans brought against VA.”
click post title for more

VA: $94 billion for 2009 and still $3.3 billion short

Vet care spending is at record level

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 12:38:35 EDT

The federal government is spending more money on veterans than at any time in modern history, surpassing the tidal wave of spending following World War II and the demilitarizing of millions of troops.

Expenditures hit $82 billion in 2007 because of the rising cost of health care, the expense of caring for an aging population of mostly Vietnam veterans and a new crop of severely wounded troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That exceeds the $80 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars spent in 1947 after most of the 16.1 million Americans serving in World War II left the service, according to a Congressional Research Service report submitted to Congress last month.

An 11 percent hike in spending is slated for this fiscal year to $91 billion and the Veterans Affairs Department has proposed $94 billion for 2009. And still more is needed, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who is seeking another $3.3 billion for the 2009 budget proposal.

“While we are spending more than in previous years, we are still not meeting many of the health care and benefits needs of our veterans,” Murray said.

Last month’s passage of a new GI Bill will add $100 billion in education benefits for veterans over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and his Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama clashed over the bill last month.
McCain opposed it, saying its increased education benefits might encourage troops to leave the military.

Obama backed the bill, saying it would boost the number of people interested in serving.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/gns_va_budget_072308/
One more case of McCain being wrong and then trying to take credit for what was done. He was wrong to not support it. He was also wrong on the reason he did not support it.

Obama was right to support it and right on the reason given to support it.

PTSD:3,000 hired in 2 years-43,000 needing help doesn't add up

You may be tired of hearing about this. Can't say I blame you. Frankly, I'm tired of posting it. I'm fed up! But there isn't a chance in hell I'm about to give up. Too many nights I lay my head down in bed and wonder how many more lives could have been saved today if they had been helped. There's a veteran I've been trying to help, among many, but he stands out the most in my mind and has captured my heart. I've "talked him down from the ledge" more times than I was even aware of until he told me. He's not part of the newer veterans getting all the attention but he's a Vietnam veteran being pushed aside and still having his claim denied. I wonder how I can offer him any hope when he is loosing the battle he should have never have had to fight. If the government were even close to where they claim they are, he would have been helped a very long time ago. The truth is, they are nowhere near where they need to be and these veterans, all generations of them, are dying for attention.

The VA said they hired 3,000 "mental health professionals" in two years but what they don't say is that many of those 3,000 are social workers without degrees as psychologist and psychiatrists. This is why they use the term they do. They tell you that 1,000 of our veterans calling the suicide hotline and were "rescued" but they also say that 43,000 of them called for help. They don't say what was done about them or if any of them ended up being treated, admitted, claim approved or if they took their own lives as part of the others who succeeded. As bad as all of this appears to be, we need to acknowledge right here and right now that we do not have all the numbers in yet. There are many still not seeking help and as a matter of fact, less than half of those needing help, seek it. Some studies put that figure at only a quarter of the veterans needing help, but I'm being kind here.

Another thing the VA needs to be aware of is that these veterans, these families, are not going to suffer in silence. They are not going to hide their stories and they are going to fight for their lives long after the risk should have ended. While the VA and Congress have talked about the need to do outreach work with the veterans and raise awareness, they have also raised the empowerment of the staggering numbers of families and veterans who have decided to take their fight all the way to Washington DC in order to live a life instead of existing in them until all hope has vanished. They know this government owes those who are sent to fight the battles this nation decides to fight and they are demanding to be damned no more! The time for excuses and trying to hide the facts has lead us to this perilous time. It's time for the VA and the DOD to open their books and let the people who can help get to work before this goes any further. Enough is enough. They need to stop sacrificing their lives long after they are out of reach from enemy forces but fight battles against the enemy within themselves.

Army Vet's Suicide Raises Questions About VA's Treatment PTSD Cases

By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Published in : Nation/World


The tragic death earlier this month of a 26-year-old Navy veteran who hung himself with an electrical cord while under the care of a Spokane, Washington Veterans Administration hospital depression underscores what veterans advocacy groups say is evidence of an epidemic of suicides due failures by the VA to identify and treat war veterans afflicted with severe mental health problems.

Lucas Senescall, who suffered from severe depression, was the sixth veteran who committed suicide this year after seeking treatment at the Spokane VA, according to a report published last weekend in the Spokesman Review.

Senescall’s father said his son was “begging for help and [the VA] kicked him to the curb,” according to the July 20 report in the Spokesman Review.

On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa, addressed the increasing number of war veterans who are committing suicide, specifically pointing out the death of Lucas Senescall, during a speech on the Senate floor.

“More than five years [after the start of the Iraq war], we should have the resources in place to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones. But we don’t,” Murray said. “When someone with a history of depression, PTSD, or other psychological wounds walks into the VA and says they are suicidal, it should set off alarm bells. We can’t convince veterans or service members to get care if they think they will be met with lectures and closed doors. That is unacceptable. At the very least, we must ensure that staff at military and VA medical centers have the training to recognize and treat someone who is in real distress.

“Time and again, it has taken leaks and scandals to get the Administration to own up to major problems at the VA – from inadequate budgets to rising suicide rates. And its response to rising costs has been to underfund research and cut off services to some veterans. Service members and veterans need more than an 800 number to call,” Murray said.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, agreed.

“The facts show VA lacks consistent and complete policies and oversight on the subject of suicide, as VA leaders confirmed during the trial in the lawsuit veterans brought against VA.”

Sullivan added that the actual number of veterans who have committed suicide is unknown “because VA failed to start collecting national suicide data until after we filed our lawsuit.”

“We called this willful negligence, or “Don’t Look, Don’t Find,” Sullivan said. “If VA looked determined if there was a suicide problem, and if VA found there was a suicide problem, then VA would be forced to address the suicide problem. VCS believes that Congress should order VA to collect robust suicide data so that VA doesn’t change their mind or somehow lose the data.”

Sullivan said the Democratic-controlled Congress began to address veterans’ mental health issues in 2007 with the passage of the Joshua Omvig suicide bill as well the Dignity for Wounded Warriors bill, a new law extending free VA healthcare for up to five years for returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Omvig was a 22-year-old Army veteran who suffered from PTSD and committed suicide in 2005.

And while Sullivan, an Army veteran and former project manager at the VA, applauds Murray for raising awareness about the issue, he said veterans’ suicides have already reached “epidemic” proportions.

“There is an epidemic of suicides among our veterans, especially our younger veterans,” Sullivan said. “The evidence of this was presented by the CBS Evening News and the University of Georgia in their November 2007 report indicating veterans are twice as likely to complete a suicide than non-veterans. Even worse, and an ominous indicator of the severity of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the minds of our veterans, younger veterans, aged 18 to 24, are between three and four times more likely to complete a suicide than non-veterans of the same age. Veterans are screened for pre-existing conditions before entering the military, and their suicide rate should be lower, not higher.”

Last year, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, filed a lawsuit against the VA alleging some war veterans were turned away from VA hospitals after they sought care for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and later committed suicide. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can develop in a person who witnesses, or is confronted with, a traumatic event. Mental health experts have described PTSD as an event of overwhelming magnitude in which a victim's nervous system is afflicted with intense fear, helplessness and horror. The victim shuts down only to re-experience the traumatic event over and over again. Studies have shown that PTSD is the most prevalent mental disorder arising from combat.

The veterans groups had asked a federal judge in San Francisco to issue a preliminary injunction force the VA to immediately treat war veterans who showed signs of or were already suffering from PTSD. In addition, they wanted a federal judge to force the VA to overhaul its internal systems that handle benefits claims and medical services.

But U.S District Court Judge Samuel Conti ruled last month that he lacked the legal authority to implement those measures. But in an 82-page ruling he said it was “clear to the court” that “the VA may not be meeting all of the needs of the nation’s veterans.”

Conti wrote that the veterans groups should get “Congress, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the adjudication system within the VA, and the Federal Circuit” to address the matter.

Sullivan said his group plans to appeal the ruling.

The VA said it has hired more than 3,000 mental healthcare professionals over the past two years to deal with the increasing number of PTSD cases, but the problems persist. In response to the federal lawsuit, the VA set up a suicide prevention hotline. The VA said it has received more than 43,000 calls, 1,000 of which were from veterans who were on the verge of suicide and were rescued.

But a VA spokesman said the agency would not provide additional data about the number of veterans being treated for mental health issues or the number of veterans who committed suicide while under VA care.
go here for more
http://www.pubrecord.org/nationworld/214.html?task=view

Senator Patty Murray to make speech on veterans mental health care

From Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense
FYI – This should be a very interesting press conference given the recent incident in Washington State where VA appears to have improperly denied emergency medical care to a suicidal veteran, leading the reporter’s discovery of six recent suicides of veterans receiving care at the same VA facility, including recent Iraq War veterans: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10703.

Or go here for the article and read my comment.


http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/07/va-refused-medical-care-to-suicidal.html

Senator Patty Murray

FOR PLANNING PURPOSES CONTACT: Alex Glass

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 (202) 224-2834



Senator Murray to Deliver Speech on Veterans Mental Health and Suicides



(Washington D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) will deliver a speech to raise awareness of the continuing problem of veterans struggling to get the mental health care they need and the epidemic of veterans suicides.



Senator Murray will use the examples of recent veterans suicides in Spokane, Washington and the highly publicized tragic death of Joseph Dwyer – an Army medic made famous in a photo taken during the first week of the U.S. invasion of Iraq – to illustrate the need to take action.



Although, Senator Murray will acknowledge that the VA is taking some helpful steps to address suicides including running advertisements highlighting their 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, Murray will call for more to be done. In her speech, Senator Murray will call for an increase in resources to boost outreach, breakdown barriers to care, and ensure that veterans are not turned away when they seek mental health care at VA facilities.



WHO: U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)



WHAT: Floor Speech on Veterans Suicide



WHEN: Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Not before 5:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT

*E-mail notification on timing will go out closer to speech time.



WHERE: Senate Floor

C-SPAN 2 in Washington State



AUDIO: Following speech a transcript and mp3 audio file will be released.

VA officials answer criticisms in Congress

VA officials answer criticisms in Congress
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, June 06, 2008



WASHINGTON — For the second time in a month, Department of Veterans Affairs leaders testified before Congress about an embarrassing e-mail which implied a cover-up of serious health problems among servicemembers.

This time, Democratic senators and veterans advocates called for an independent investigation of the department, saying they believe leaders have created a toxic culture for veterans seeking care.

"There is a sense, whether it’s perception or reality, that [VA officials] make decisions based on money and not on whether veterans are getting the best health care they need," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "It’s disconcerting when we see things like this."

Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org, said a VA bonus program to reward clinics that process the most cases has only exacerbated the problem, unintentionally encouraging managers to cut corners and opt for less-costly treatments.

But VA officials denied those charges. Dr. Michael Kussman, undersecretary for health at the department, said recent controversy surrounding the department is the result of poor publicity from a few missteps, but not a lack of effort by employees treating veterans.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55337

Murray seeks resignation of top VA mental health official

Murray seeks resignation of top VA mental health official
By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

(04-22) 15:19 PDT Washington, CA (AP) --

A Democratic senator on Tuesday called for the chief mental health official of the Department of Veterans Affairs to resign, saying he tried to cover up the rising number of veteran suicides.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, deliberately withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans.

"Doctor Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go," said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."

Murray and other Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco this week starts with "Shh!" and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment.

"Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" the e-mail asks.

A VA spokesman declined immediate comment Tuesday.
go here for more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/22/national/w151156D02.DTL

Lack of mental health workers worries senator

Lack of mental health workers worries senator

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 15, 2008 18:10:41 EDT

One of the chief architects of last year’s Wounded Warrior Act will press the service surgeons general about why the Defense Department doesn’t have enough psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health counselors to deal with the flood of combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will have the opportunity to question the surgeons general at a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Murray expressed concern that the Defense Department has not hired enough specialists to deal with mental health issues created by extended deployments, the stress of combat and other issues.

“The fact that we aren’t meeting the demand for our troops’ psychological health needs with qualified professionals is a great concern of mine,” she said in a telephone interview. “The Pentagon needs to tell us what they are doing to fill the gaps in the system, particularly when troops are being sent back into the field for their third and fourth tours.”

The answers are important, Murray said, because “all Americans need to know that the Pentagon is making this a top health priority and that innovative solutions are on the horizon.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/military_mentalhealth_surgeonsgeneral_041508w/

How long is this going to go on and when are they planing on getting any of this right? When will they do what they know works until they can hire enough people at the VA to treat them? What are all these veterans supposed to do while they "try to hire" more and make room for the wounded they keep adding to the system on a daily basis? This is disgusting, frustrating and reprehensible! There are long term fixes that have to be done because we are looking at probably 800,000 or more than likely more now that Vietnam Veterans and Korean Veterans as well as WWII veterans are finally understanding what has been wrong with them is a wound, but no one planned on any of them either. Do they plan for anything?

Senator Patty Murray Stands Up For Female Warriors

Received by email. Thanks to all the members of this Army of Love out there making sure I get everything on PTSD. You never know what I'm going to miss.

Senator Murray is a great advocate for Veterans & is always involved in trying to make things better...

Senator Seeks Help For Survivors Of Military Sexual Trauma
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=d38a90ee-2012-495c-9368-453825fac195

Washington — Scurrying back to her Army barracks in the dark after her shift at the hospital, Sally, a 21-year-old medic, was grabbed by a man who dragged her to the woods and raped her at knifepoint.
When she reported the attack, Sally, of Kirkland, Wash., who asks that her full name not be used, was brushed off by her superior officer at Fort Belvoir, Va., who dismissed the rape as a spat with a boyfriend.
Her story is alarmingly like that of hundreds of other veterans who have suffered sexual harassment, assault and rape in the military, according to Susan Avila-Smith, a Seattle-based advocate who has helped hundreds of women veterans get VA benefits and treatment for military sexual trauma (MST). (http://vetwow.com/)
Avila-Smith says she also was a victim when she served in the Army, having been sexually assaulted in a hospital recovery room after sinus surgery at Fort Hood, Texas.
The pressures on women service members, who now comprise about 7 percent of all veterans, are escalating:
• According to the Veterans Administration, 19 percent of women who have sought health care in the VA were diagnosed as victims of military sexual trauma.
• Cases of military sexual trauma increased from 1,700 in 2004 to 2,374 in 2005, according to the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention Response Program.
Joy Ilem, assistant national legislative director at Disabled American Veterans, says many military women worry that there is no systematic way for commanders to handle sexual assault cases.
“It can definitely ruin your life if not treated,” she says.
Thirty-four years after she was attacked, Sally still takes medication for panic attacks, won't leave her house at night and is terrified of loud voices or large crowds.
She has endured years of nightmares, flashbacks, a nervous breakdown, depression and homelessness.
Sally has found solace in a Seattle support group of mostly female veterans with similar stories.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., says women in the military return home traumatized because, in addition to the pressures of living in a war zone, they have been living in close quarters with men and, in many cases, report that they had been sexually harassed, assaulted or raped.
Murray is preparing legislation that would require the federal government to conduct research on military sexual trauma, provide an annual report to Congress on how the VA is handling these cases, and come up with treatments and policies to help women veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
For example, she says women should have separate waiting rooms and more privacy in veterans' hospitals because female victims of MST are further emotionally strained when they “face a room-full of men.”
The issue came to the forefront recently with the murder of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, a personnel clerk at Camp Lejeune, NC., who was eight months pregnant when her burned body was found in a fire pit in the backyard of Cpl. Cesar A. Laurean, whom she had accused of rape.
Avila-Smith says more than 99 percent of men who rape women in the military are fellow soldiers.
“They are not strangers and they're not foreigners on the other side of the war,” she says. “They're people with access to you and your paper work, people in your unit.”
Many of the victims are reluctant to report the abuse because they could be charged with filing a false report or adultery, or they fear going to jail where they could be raped again, she says.
Sally Fictim Griffiths, 33, a Houston fourth-grade teacher, mother of two young daughters and former Marine lance corporal who worked as an administrative assistant, says she was raped at age 19 in Okinawa, Japan, by a Marine she knew.
She says women planning to join the military “need to have an opportunity to sit down with other veterans who have lived the nightmare.”
Griffiths says she wouldn't have joined the Marines if she had known about the environment.
She recalls being sexually harassed by much older married men when she enlisted at 18.
But she suffered a terrible attack after she asked a fellow Marine to go jogging with her. The male Marine declined the invitation, opting instead to sneak up and rape her on the beach. Griffiths was interrogated and accused of lying at a military hearing before she found the rapist's confession in a file cabinet.
She was quickly transferred, then given an honorable discharge with the help of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and was later featured on the CBS-TV program “60 Minutes.” Her attacker was promoted and served six more years.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, also a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs panel, says any federal program to deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome must consider that women in the military can face “mental anguish” if they are sexually harassed.
She says mental health problems for women veterans “are very real and much more a focus in the Veterans' Administration then ever before.”

Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Patty Murray


Feb 14, 2008
February 13, 2008

One week before Murray brings Secretary Peake to Walla Walla, she asks for answers on lack of construction dollars and suicide prevention efforts.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, today questioned VA Secretary James Peake about the President's deficit of dollars when it comes to caring for our nation's veterans.

Peake appeared before Murray's committee today to defend the President's VA budget and will accompany her to the Walla Walla VA Facility in Washington state next week.

"We know all too well what happens when the VA gets shortchanged. The men and women who have served us end up paying the biggest price," Murray said. "Our veterans are our heroes, and they deserve the best we can give them. I believe we can do a lot better than this budget."

In asking Peake about what the VA is doing to reach out to struggling veterans who may not know about VA resources available to them, Murray referenced a VA study that found that Guard or Reserve members accounted for 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005. The study was made public yesterday in an Associated Press story.

go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9356

Re-up bonus offer bust, Pentagon renaged

LES BLUMENTHAL; The News Tribune
Published: October 16th, 2005 12:01 AM
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has reneged on its offer to pay a $15,000 bonus to members of the National Guard and Army Reserve who agree to extend their enlistments by six years, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Seattle).

The bonuses were offered in January to Active Guard and Reserve and military technician soldiers who were serving overseas. In April, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs ordered the bonuses stopped, Murray said.

“This is outrageous,” the senator said in a telephone interview. “It makes me angry that this administration has broken another promise to our troops.”

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, confirmed the bonuses had been canceled, saying they violated Pentagon policies because they duplicated other programs. She said Guard and Reserve members would be eligible for other bonuses.

Krenke said some soldiers had been paid the re-enlistment bonuses, but she was unsure how many or whether the money would have to be repaid. Murray’s office said that as far as it knew, no active Guard or Reserve members had received the bonuses.
go here for the rest
http://wearesc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29572

Patty Murray becomes voice of veterans care

Patty Murray becomes voice of veterans care
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is personally acquaintanted with veterans-care issues. Her father was a disabled World War II vet and, in college, she served an internship in physical rehabilitation at the Seattle veterans hospital. Now she's a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.


Patty Murray becomes voice of veterans care
By Alicia Mundy

Seattle Times Washington bureau

In the summer of 1972, a 22-year-old Washington State University student named Patty Murray reported to the Seattle veterans hospital for an internship in physical rehabilitation.

She was assigned to the psychiatric ward on the seventh floor of the orange brick monolith on Beacon Hill.

"Every morning when I arrived, they locked me in with the patients," Murray recalled recently. "I heard the big doors close behind me."

Her charges were young men who had returned from Vietnam. As Murray exercised their arms and legs, they described buddies blown apart and children, mistaken for guerrillas, shot and killed. Some stared vacantly; others shouted in anger.

Murray saw some of these same patients slip through cracks in the veterans-care network, left jobless, homeless and unable to find help.

"We didn't have a name for what they were suffering," Murray said of what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Thirty-six years later, Murray is still working in rehab, trying to fix what's broken in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, she's become the leading voice for veteran care in Congress.

Veterans Affairs officials declined to comment about Murray's work on veterans issues, as did Republican leaders.

But other politicians and veterans say she has made quantifiable changes in the quality of life for veterans, both in Washington state and nationally.
click post title for the rest

If you read this blog, or my other one, you know all about Patty Murray. It is no wonder why the Republicans don't want to talk about her. She has put all of them to shame.