VA working to improve call center responses
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 13:00:43 EST
The Veterans Affairs Department has implemented new call center procedures to make sure more veterans get through to someone who can help them.
Questioned during a Wednesday hearing on long-standing complaints about getting help with benefits by phone, Allison Hickey, VA undersecretary for benefits, said two initiatives are under way to make improvements.
Since December, VA has offered people placed on hold the opportunity to get a call back rather than remaining on hold, Hickey said. This can be a call returned immediately or a scheduled call if a veteran is unable to wait by a phone, she said. Ninety-two percent of people choose a call back, and the number of so-called “dropped calls,” when a caller hangs up before anyone answers, has been reduced by 30 percent, she said.
In a second initiative deployed just this week, Hickey said the people answering phones have been given access to more information. There are 13 different VA databases available on the computer desktops of call center staff, improving the odds that they can find an answer for a veteran, she said.
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Disposal of 9/11 remains based on ’02 DoD memo
Disposal of 9/11 remains based on ’02 DoD memo
By Jeff Schogol - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 14:46:06 EST
The Air Force sought to explain on Wednesday how remains of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon were lost by the Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del., and ended up in a landfill.
The revelation was part of a report from an independent panel led by retired Army Gen. John Abizaid that reviewed operations at Dover after whistle-blowers triggered investigations into mishandling of remains there.
A Defense Department memo from March 2002 said that unidentified remains from the Pentagon that was mixed with rubble should be incinerated and disposed of as medical waste, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters Wednesday.
At least some of the remains found at the Pentagon were handled by the Port Mortuary at Dover, he said.
read more here
By Jeff Schogol - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 14:46:06 EST
The Air Force sought to explain on Wednesday how remains of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon were lost by the Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del., and ended up in a landfill.
The revelation was part of a report from an independent panel led by retired Army Gen. John Abizaid that reviewed operations at Dover after whistle-blowers triggered investigations into mishandling of remains there.
A Defense Department memo from March 2002 said that unidentified remains from the Pentagon that was mixed with rubble should be incinerated and disposed of as medical waste, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters Wednesday.
At least some of the remains found at the Pentagon were handled by the Port Mortuary at Dover, he said.
read more here
Veterans in Albany talk about PTSD and being less than 1%
We always seem to hear a lot about the "1%" when it comes to rich people but never seem to notice there is another "1%" no one seems to talk about at all, including the rich guys running for the office of Commander-in-Chief.
Public hearing for Veterans
By: YNN Staff
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Senators Roy McDonald and Lee Zeldin hosted a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder hearing for Veterans to help create programs for those suffering from mental health disorders on Wednesday.
The public gathered at the Capitol to hear Veterans share their war experiences, and the experiences of those whose lives have been lost after returning home from war due to mental illness.
Veterans said while some of them are lucky enough to return home without any physical injuries, mental illnesses are often over looked.
One veteran said returning home to Saratoga County where less than one percent of the population serves was difficult with limited resources and people who can relate to his situation.
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Lifting the veil on military suicides starts with getting report right
A third of military suicides told of plans to dieOk, now that you see what was already known, now we get a piece that tells a different story.
By DAN ELLIOTT
Associated Press
"About 46 percent had been seen at a military treatment facility sometime in the 90 days before death. The treatment services include physical and behavioral health, substance abuse, family advocacy and chaplains."
Lifting the veil on military suicides
By Jeremy Schwartz
Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 11:43 AM
The The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, which holds a trove of interesting information and statistics about war injuries and deaths, today released the results of a comprehensive study that looked at visits to doctors or clinics in the weeks preceding a suicide or possible suicide attempt or self-injury. Researchers reached some results that should increase our understanding of the record suicide numbers plaguing the military in recent years:
A very small percentage of service members who sought medical help went to a mental health specialist before suicide or suicide attempt. And the majority of service members (55 percent) did not see a doctor in the 30 days prior to suicide.
Of the troops who committed suicide and sought medical treatment, few visited mental health professionals. Only 4.4 percent sought general mental health help, 2.9 percent sought psychiatric help and 2 percent sought psychological help. About 5 percent sought substance abuse help.
read more here
Wounded Fort Drum Soldier Partly Blames Battalion for His Crimes
Wounded Fort Drum Soldier Partly Blames Battalion for His Crimes
Story Published: Feb 28, 2012
Last June, Sergeant Albert Languet III pleaded guilty in connection with two robberies at Kinney Drugs in the Seaway Plaza just outside of Watertown.
He was sentenced to five years probation.
Languet says his Fort Drum's Warrior Transition Battalion is partly to blame for his crimes.
"It was mayhem. My life was mayhem," he said.
A traumatic brain injury suffered during deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan landed Languet in the Warrior Transition Battalion.
Languet says he was with the unit for just a few months before he became addicted to pain killers.
"I couldn't go to the unit and say, 'I have an addiction problem. I need to go to rehab,'" he said.
Languet says he was afraid he would be kicked out of the Army if word got out that he was hooked.
read more here
also
Fort Drum Official Says 'Wounded Warrior' Problems Have Been Solved
Story Published: Feb 29, 2012
The officer in charge of Fort Drum's medical services says that when local military officials saw a report critical of the post's "wounded warrior" programs, it was like a punch in the gut.
Fort Drum MEDDAC Commander Col. Mark Thompson was live on 7 News This Morning Wednesday. Click on the picture to see the whole interview.
The good news, Thompson said, is that the problems pointed out in the report from the Department of Defense's Inspector General's (IG) office have now been corrected.
The report was critical of the way soldier's were treated in Fort Drum's Warrior Transition Battalion, which is supposed to rehabilitate wounded soldiers so they can return to their regular units.
The official report was released in September, but Fort Drum officials saw a draft in July and "it was a bit of a punch in the gut in terms of what we want to see our unit doing and how we're treating our soldiers," Thompson said.
read more here
Veterans' Affairs claim backlog at 800,000
Veterans' Affairs claim backlog at 800,000
Published: Feb. 28, 2012 at 9:35 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Disabled American Veterans testified Tuesday in Washington that the Veterans' Affairs claims backlog has grown to 800,000 pending cases.
Donald L. Samuels, national commander of the DAV, told the joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs committees, said the growing VA claims backlog with 800,000 pending claims and he expressed concern for the burgeoning VA bureaucracy.
Published: Feb. 28, 2012 at 9:35 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Disabled American Veterans testified Tuesday in Washington that the Veterans' Affairs claims backlog has grown to 800,000 pending cases.
Donald L. Samuels, national commander of the DAV, told the joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs committees, said the growing VA claims backlog with 800,000 pending claims and he expressed concern for the burgeoning VA bureaucracy.
VA aims to get better data on vet suicide rates
This is one of the facts I keep pointing out when we talk about suicide numbers
VA aims to get better data on vet suicide rates
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 28, 2012 17:56:51 EST
Better data on suicide rates among veterans could be available by summer under an agreement forged between Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and 49 states.
The figure often noted in press reports and analyses — an average of 18 veteran suicides each day — is derived from information available from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Violent Death Reporting System, which receives input from 18 states, and other sources.
VA now has a commitment from 49 state governments to furnish statistics on veterans’ deaths in their states to the department, said Jan Kemp, VA’s National Mental Health Program Director for Suicide Prevention.
read more here
VA knows when a veteran in its care commits suicide, but only 6 million of the nation’s 22 million veterans are enrolled in VA health services.
VA aims to get better data on vet suicide rates
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 28, 2012 17:56:51 EST
Better data on suicide rates among veterans could be available by summer under an agreement forged between Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and 49 states.
The figure often noted in press reports and analyses — an average of 18 veteran suicides each day — is derived from information available from the Centers for Disease Control’s National Violent Death Reporting System, which receives input from 18 states, and other sources.
VA now has a commitment from 49 state governments to furnish statistics on veterans’ deaths in their states to the department, said Jan Kemp, VA’s National Mental Health Program Director for Suicide Prevention.
read more here
Heal the soul and you'll heal PTSD
Heal the soul and you'll heal PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie
There is no cure for PTSD for one simple reason. There is no "cure" to what happened in the past. There is no reset button to push to undo what you regret today. Or is there?
When it comes to combat and PTSD there are a lot of regrets flooding in the minds of the men and women we send to fight. If a friend dies, "it should have been me" or "I should have done this or that and he'd still be here" along with a list of what ifs. If they ended up killing civilians, which happens in war more often than not, regrets are fed by guilt.
Wars are unclean. It is not just "bad guys" that get killed. Good guys get killed. Civilians get killed and hospitals fill up with humans from every walk of life all fighting to stay alive.
The most powerful image they have in their minds is the last one. It is trapped in time. Everything that happened before that moment is a blur. Clearing the events leading up that moment is vital in resetting the damage done by PTSD.
That is a quote from the following article. It's pretty powerful considering that is the number one thing that troubles the veterans I talk to all the time. They believe they have become evil because that was all they saw in those horrifying moments. Buildings and homes being destroyed by bombs, bombs blowing up in the road, fires, dead bodies, body parts scattered, kids toys laying on the ground near a bloody pool and the screams join in with the images trapped in their minds.
A young National Guardsman returned home after recovering from wounds obtained in Iraq. Every time he looked at his wife and small sons, he was haunted by the family he killed in a car that wouldn't stop. That image wouldn't go away. It was so powerful it blocked out everything that happened before it and what came after it. To him, he did an evil thing almost as if he intended to kill that family. What he was not able to remember was that he did everything humanly possible to avoid it.
He was on a Humvee one night when a car was approaching too fast. Suicide car bombers had taken out a lot of US soldiers before this night. He wasn't sure who was in the car but positive he needed to get that car to stop. He threw rocks. Fired warning shots into the air. Screamed. Prayed. Tried to fire at the tires. The car wouldn't back off. He opened fire on the car. It stopped. When they went to check on the occupants, it was a family. For whatever reason, the Dad decided he was not going to stop.
He tried after that to rationalize what happened and ran the what ifs around in his brain until the same response came with each question he asked himself. It was his fault. He did an evil thing. That caused him to lose everything. He got divorced, lost his job and home. He slept on the couches of friends able to take him in. By the time I was contacted, he tried for the second time to end his pain by committing suicide. Once he was able to look at everything that happened that day, along with the fact that he joined the Guard to help people, he was able to see himself as he really was. A man willing to die for the sake of someone else. He made peace with that horrible night and then was able to find peace with himself. He is not "cured" of what happened while he was in Iraq but he has healed. He was able to forgive himself.
I've talked to several veterans able to believe they are forgiven by God because of Christ but still unable to forgive themselves for what they had to do, for what they saw and even for what they believe they caused.
A Marine was sick one night and recovering when he was supposed to go out on patrol. Another Marine took his place. That Marine was killed that night. When another Marine friend came to tell the first Marine what happened, he snapped and blamed the third Marine for coming back alive. The first Marine was so filled with guilt that blaming himself wasn't good enough. He had to find others to blame. The third Marine ended up feeling guilty because he began to believe it was his fault that he lived. Both suffered for what they thought they caused.
Combat PTSD is a wound to the soul and has to be healed from the inside to heal what is outside. It is reversing the trauma. Trauma comes into the soldier and healing has to begin at the source. The soul.
That is what Point Man International Ministries does. The veterans in Point Man take on the healing of the veterans from the inside and get them to not only understand they are forgiven by God but help them to be able to forgive themselves for whatever they feel they need to be forgiven for. They do it because it worked for them and since 1984, they have seen the power of healing the veteran. This is spiritual healing first and last. It is not about one denomination over another or hitting someone in the head with a Bible telling them they are going to hell unless they convert. It is about helping them to do the hardest thing of all. Forgiving themselves.
For thirty years, this has been my life because it is a part of my life. I didn't serve in the military. My Dad did. My uncles did. My husband did in Vietnam and he's the reason I do what I do. He is also the reason why I know that helping them to see themselves as "not evil" is vital to healing them. Point Man took me in a couple of years ago even though I did not serve mainly because of how long I've been doing this but there is no way I can measure up to these veterans who have been there and done that. I can only understand what they went through to a point but will never know what it is like to have been where they went.
Over the last few years scientist have been studying the damage done by guilt. There is mental illness people are born with and then there is PTSD which is only caused by an outside traumatic force out of their control. Addressing guilt is the first step to hitting the rest button.
by
Chaplain Kathie
There is no cure for PTSD for one simple reason. There is no "cure" to what happened in the past. There is no reset button to push to undo what you regret today. Or is there?
When it comes to combat and PTSD there are a lot of regrets flooding in the minds of the men and women we send to fight. If a friend dies, "it should have been me" or "I should have done this or that and he'd still be here" along with a list of what ifs. If they ended up killing civilians, which happens in war more often than not, regrets are fed by guilt.
Wars are unclean. It is not just "bad guys" that get killed. Good guys get killed. Civilians get killed and hospitals fill up with humans from every walk of life all fighting to stay alive.
The most powerful image they have in their minds is the last one. It is trapped in time. Everything that happened before that moment is a blur. Clearing the events leading up that moment is vital in resetting the damage done by PTSD.
The revisions provide examples of symptoms that result from moral hazards: "I am bad," "I've lost my soul forever," and "the world is completely dangerous."
That is a quote from the following article. It's pretty powerful considering that is the number one thing that troubles the veterans I talk to all the time. They believe they have become evil because that was all they saw in those horrifying moments. Buildings and homes being destroyed by bombs, bombs blowing up in the road, fires, dead bodies, body parts scattered, kids toys laying on the ground near a bloody pool and the screams join in with the images trapped in their minds.
A young National Guardsman returned home after recovering from wounds obtained in Iraq. Every time he looked at his wife and small sons, he was haunted by the family he killed in a car that wouldn't stop. That image wouldn't go away. It was so powerful it blocked out everything that happened before it and what came after it. To him, he did an evil thing almost as if he intended to kill that family. What he was not able to remember was that he did everything humanly possible to avoid it.
He was on a Humvee one night when a car was approaching too fast. Suicide car bombers had taken out a lot of US soldiers before this night. He wasn't sure who was in the car but positive he needed to get that car to stop. He threw rocks. Fired warning shots into the air. Screamed. Prayed. Tried to fire at the tires. The car wouldn't back off. He opened fire on the car. It stopped. When they went to check on the occupants, it was a family. For whatever reason, the Dad decided he was not going to stop.
He tried after that to rationalize what happened and ran the what ifs around in his brain until the same response came with each question he asked himself. It was his fault. He did an evil thing. That caused him to lose everything. He got divorced, lost his job and home. He slept on the couches of friends able to take him in. By the time I was contacted, he tried for the second time to end his pain by committing suicide. Once he was able to look at everything that happened that day, along with the fact that he joined the Guard to help people, he was able to see himself as he really was. A man willing to die for the sake of someone else. He made peace with that horrible night and then was able to find peace with himself. He is not "cured" of what happened while he was in Iraq but he has healed. He was able to forgive himself.
I've talked to several veterans able to believe they are forgiven by God because of Christ but still unable to forgive themselves for what they had to do, for what they saw and even for what they believe they caused.
A Marine was sick one night and recovering when he was supposed to go out on patrol. Another Marine took his place. That Marine was killed that night. When another Marine friend came to tell the first Marine what happened, he snapped and blamed the third Marine for coming back alive. The first Marine was so filled with guilt that blaming himself wasn't good enough. He had to find others to blame. The third Marine ended up feeling guilty because he began to believe it was his fault that he lived. Both suffered for what they thought they caused.
Combat PTSD is a wound to the soul and has to be healed from the inside to heal what is outside. It is reversing the trauma. Trauma comes into the soldier and healing has to begin at the source. The soul.
That is what Point Man International Ministries does. The veterans in Point Man take on the healing of the veterans from the inside and get them to not only understand they are forgiven by God but help them to be able to forgive themselves for whatever they feel they need to be forgiven for. They do it because it worked for them and since 1984, they have seen the power of healing the veteran. This is spiritual healing first and last. It is not about one denomination over another or hitting someone in the head with a Bible telling them they are going to hell unless they convert. It is about helping them to do the hardest thing of all. Forgiving themselves.
For thirty years, this has been my life because it is a part of my life. I didn't serve in the military. My Dad did. My uncles did. My husband did in Vietnam and he's the reason I do what I do. He is also the reason why I know that helping them to see themselves as "not evil" is vital to healing them. Point Man took me in a couple of years ago even though I did not serve mainly because of how long I've been doing this but there is no way I can measure up to these veterans who have been there and done that. I can only understand what they went through to a point but will never know what it is like to have been where they went.
Over the last few years scientist have been studying the damage done by guilt. There is mental illness people are born with and then there is PTSD which is only caused by an outside traumatic force out of their control. Addressing guilt is the first step to hitting the rest button.
Modern wars changing the way PTSD is diagnosed
By GREGG ZOROYA
USA Today
Published: February 28, 2012
Psychiatrists studying the feelings of guilt or shame associated with close combat say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are influencing changes in the "bible" of psychiatry in the USA.
The section of the American Psychiatric Association's manual for diagnosing mental illnesses that outlines the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder — an illness afflicting 15 percent to 20 percent of returning combat veterans — is being expanded to include symptoms of persistent and reoccurring guilt or shame.
"We've seen … thousands of young men and women coming ho me terribly impaired emotionally by the war, and it certainly has gotten us thinking about what the consequences are (of combat)," says David Spiegel, a member of the association's working group that is rewriting the PTSD section.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has treated more than 200,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan for PTSD.
read more here
Woman charged with burning 'The Senator' says she did it 'to use illegal drugs'
Woman charged with burning 'The Senator' says she did it 'to use illegal drugs'
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
11:16 p.m. EST, February 28, 2012
A woman on Tuesday was charged with setting a fire that burned The Senator, one of the world's oldest cypress trees -- and she told authorities she did it because she was wanted light to see the drugs she was doing, investigators said.
Two witnesses identified Sara Barnes, 26, as the person who set the fire, authorities said.
Barnes took photos of the flames with her cellphone and told one of the witnesses that she started it, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said.
"She did not call the Fire Department or 911 to report the fire," said Sterling Ivey, an agriculture-department spokesman.
The tree, which had twigs and branches piled at the base, burned quickly.
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The Senator, 3,500 year old tree falls due to fire
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
11:16 p.m. EST, February 28, 2012
A woman on Tuesday was charged with setting a fire that burned The Senator, one of the world's oldest cypress trees -- and she told authorities she did it because she was wanted light to see the drugs she was doing, investigators said.
Two witnesses identified Sara Barnes, 26, as the person who set the fire, authorities said.
Barnes took photos of the flames with her cellphone and told one of the witnesses that she started it, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said.
"She did not call the Fire Department or 911 to report the fire," said Sterling Ivey, an agriculture-department spokesman.
The tree, which had twigs and branches piled at the base, burned quickly.
read more here
The Senator, 3,500 year old tree falls due to fire
Missing Florida Fireman: Suspect Charged With Murder of Jerry Perdomo
Missing Florida Fireman: Suspect Charged With Murder
By LINSEY DAVIS and KEVIN DOLAK
Feb. 28, 2012
The man identified as a person interest in the disappearance of Florida firefighter Jerry Perdomo was arrested and charged with murder today, police in Maine said.
Daniel Porter, 24, and his girlfriend, Cheyanne Nowak, are believed to be the last people who saw Perdomo, a husband and father of two who went missing 12 days ago shortly after he traveled in a rental car up the East Coast to visit a friend.
Maine State Police, assisted by Bangor Police, arrested Porter Tuesday at a home in Jackson, Maine, that was rented by Porter's father, according to a news release by the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Police had been testing evidence removed Saturday from the house in Jackson, believed to be the last place Perdomo was seen, according to the Department of Public Safety.
"The work being done at the lab will hopefully give us some of the answers to our questions," Christopher Coleman of the Maine State Police said. "At this point, we remain hopeful, but as days go on, we have to be realistic. We do suspect foul play was involved."
A friend of Perdomo's told Orlando, Fla., ABC affiliate WFTV that Perdomo went to Bangor, Maine, to sell prescription pills, and that he'd mentioned someone named "Daniel" previously.
read more here
Body of missing firefighter Jerry Perdomo found in Maine woods
Feb. 29, 2012
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The body of Seminole County firefighter Jerry Perdomo, 31, has been found, according to WFTV reporter Jeff Deal who was at the scene. Maine officials positively identified the body as Perdomo's late Wednesday afternoon.
Perdomo's body was discovered in the woods in Monroe, Maine.
read more here
By LINSEY DAVIS and KEVIN DOLAK
Feb. 28, 2012
The man identified as a person interest in the disappearance of Florida firefighter Jerry Perdomo was arrested and charged with murder today, police in Maine said.
Daniel Porter, 24, and his girlfriend, Cheyanne Nowak, are believed to be the last people who saw Perdomo, a husband and father of two who went missing 12 days ago shortly after he traveled in a rental car up the East Coast to visit a friend.
Maine State Police, assisted by Bangor Police, arrested Porter Tuesday at a home in Jackson, Maine, that was rented by Porter's father, according to a news release by the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Police had been testing evidence removed Saturday from the house in Jackson, believed to be the last place Perdomo was seen, according to the Department of Public Safety.
"The work being done at the lab will hopefully give us some of the answers to our questions," Christopher Coleman of the Maine State Police said. "At this point, we remain hopeful, but as days go on, we have to be realistic. We do suspect foul play was involved."
A friend of Perdomo's told Orlando, Fla., ABC affiliate WFTV that Perdomo went to Bangor, Maine, to sell prescription pills, and that he'd mentioned someone named "Daniel" previously.
read more here
Body of missing firefighter Jerry Perdomo found in Maine woods
Feb. 29, 2012
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The body of Seminole County firefighter Jerry Perdomo, 31, has been found, according to WFTV reporter Jeff Deal who was at the scene. Maine officials positively identified the body as Perdomo's late Wednesday afternoon.
Perdomo's body was discovered in the woods in Monroe, Maine.
read more here
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