Did Department of Veterans Affairs Head Lie to Veterans?
It appears that the Secretary of the VA does not know the history of the VA or he would not have tried to blame Obama for religious groups being shut out of the VA.
I went to Walter Reed as a Chaplain and was not allowed to give certain items to the wounded. I handed them over to Chaplain Services and they gave the gifts away for me.
The practice started before President Obama got into office.
But this issue had nothing to do with the Obama administration, Snopes.com found.
The VA chapel in Iron Mountain had been found to be in noncompliance with Spiritual and Pastoral Procedures that were established by the Department of Veterans Affairs and most recently revised in July 2008, six months before Obama became president.
Those procedures require chapels at VA facilities be maintained as “religiously neutral” whenever they are not being used by chaplains for services associated with a particular faith: The rules state that no permanent religious symbols are to be incorporated in the construction or renovation of chapels.
But this is the headline from The Washington Times and shows what happens when a news source does not care if something is true or not.
VA secretary rejects Obama religious expression rules: 'They did not know the makeup of the force'
Robert Wilkie, the soft-spoken and managerial-minded secretary of Veterans Affairs, went public in a big way this summer when he said he refused to be “bullied” by a federal lawsuit claiming a Bible on display at a New Hampshire VA hospital violated the separation of church and state.
In an interview with The Washington Times in his office at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Wilkie said displaying a Bible in a VA hospital is a matter of liberty and that the Obama administration erred in trying to eliminate religious symbols from the veterans health care system.
Not so much on reliable reporting on that one!
For English-speaking police in Quebec, access to PTSD services is not a guarantee
CBC News
Jamie Pashagumskum
Aug 26, 2019
La Vigile is a retreat where police, firefighters and first responders can go for extended periods of time for counselling. Bergeron said he's aware of La Vigile, but that it's not accessible to his predominantly English-speaking police force.
Cree officer suffers from PTSD, but the only intensive program for police in province is French-only
Harold Bosum in 2012. Bosum says he quit the Eeyou Eenou Police force in 2013 because PTSD symptoms were putting a strain on his family. (Submitted by Harold Bosum)
It was constable Harold Bosum's second day on the job working in his home town as an officer with the Eeyou Eenou Police (EEPF), the police force that serves the nine Cree communities in Quebec; the end of an uneventful night shift in the small northern town of Ouje-Bougoumou when he was called to a house at 5 a.m.
Bosum requested an ambulance on his way over and, when he arrived, he found a woman dead at home with her young children, who were upset and scared. Bosum gave the woman CPR until first responders arrived.
"It actually only took the ambulance five minutes to get there from the time I called them, but performing CPR on her felt like forever because I knew she was already gone," Bosum recalls.
At the same time, I had to calm the kids."
In 2012, three months after that incident, Bosum sought help and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Bosum would experience a numb feeling down one side of his body and he became irritable and bad tempered at home.
"I would get angry with my family. I couldn't be happy anymore, I couldn't enjoy life," Bosum said.
The EEPF referred Bosum to their 1-800 help line, but he found accessing the line more frustrating than helpful.
read more here
Homeland Security raids Coast Guard coffers to pay for border programs
The Associated Press
By: Colleen Long
August 27, 2019
"Taking money away from TSA and from FEMA in the middle of hurricane season could have deadly consequences." House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson
Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Puerto Rico personnel attach hurricane shutters on Monday in preparation for Tropical Storm Dorian. (Ricardo Castrodad/Coast Guard)
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is moving $271 million from other agencies such as FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard to increase the number of beds for detained immigrants and support its policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases play out.
The news comes as hurricane season is ramping up and Tropical Storm Dorian is heading toward Puerto Rico.
The sprawling 240,000-person Homeland Security Department includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in addition to immigration agencies.
It is not uncommon for unassigned funds to be transferred between agencies under the same department as the fiscal year ends. Last year around the same time, about $200 million was transferred, including $10 million from FEMA that prompted major criticism from Democrats.
Homeland Security officials said in a statement Tuesday they would transfer $155 million to create temporary facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border for holding hearings with the aim of moving asylum cases through the system faster.
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Majority of veterans in Florida are pre-9 11 but not helped by new charities!
There are 1.5 million veterans in Florida. The majority of those veterans are over the age of 50. Yet no one seems bothered by the fact that all the groups popping up in Florida will not even acknowledge how they need just as much help, but have waited much longer for it. They also happen to be the majority of the known veterans committing suicide.
Cohen Veterans Network opening first Florida clinic for post 9/11 veterans in Tampa
WFTS News
Aug 25, 2019
TAMPA, Fla. — The Cohen Veterans Network is opening their first clinic in Florida to serve post 9/11 veterans on Monday.
More than 230,000 veterans in the state will be able to get customized life-saving mental health care at no, or low cost through the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Aspire Health Partners.
The Cohen Veterans Network is a 501(c)(3) national not for profit philanthropic network of mental health clinics for post 9/11 veterans and their families.
The expected wait between first contact and a first appointment at the new Cohen Clinic is less than one week. For anyone in crisis, the Cohen Clinic will schedule same day appointments.
“After closely examining the post-9/11 veteran population throughout Florida it was very clear that Tampa was the ideal location to set up our first location in a state with a demonstrated need for mental health care,” said Dr. Anthony Hassan, President and CEO of the Cohen Veterans Network. “Soon we will be able to serve veterans and their families across the state via our confidential, online video platform. Our clients will be able to receive tailored, high-quality care from the new clinic or from home in most circumstances.”
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Unable to sue the Army for medical malpractice, this retired soldier is now fighting the VA for benefits
Military Times
By: Meghann Myers
August 26, 2019
For now, the hope is that a bill in Congress will allow Ospina, a mother of a young son, and veterans like her to seek compensation for alleged medical mistakes that they claim have altered their lives forever.
Retired Sgt. 1st Class Barbara Ospina Fitzsimmons said she was partially paralyzed after a spinal surgery in 2014. (Courtesy Barbara Ospina Fitzsimmons)
Retired Sgt. 1st Class Barbara Ospina is partially paralyzed, in debilitating pain and confined to a wheelchair for almost all of her day. Her condition is the result of malpractice at the hands of hands of military medicine, according to claims she made to the Department of Veterans Affairs, but she is paying out of pocket for a caregiver to help her bathe, dress and prepare meals, because the VA has denied her request for caregiver assistance.
What began as a treatable birth defect turned into a dislocated neck and a stroke that went undetected for days, according to records provided to Military Times. Had that initial surgery taken place at a civilian hospital, Ospina, 29, would be able to seek damages. But the Feres Doctrine, a 1950 Supreme Court decision, prevents her from suing the Defense Department for service-connected illness or injury.
“Her story represents the egregious conduct, consistent lack of care and malpractice at the hands of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” her attorney, Natalie Khawam of the Tampa, Florida- and D.C.-based Whistleblower Law Firm, told Military Times on Tuesday.
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#EndFeresNow
