Army begins correcting medical records for some former Madigan patients
Review board’s decision allows misdiagnosed to begin receiving benefits
The Olympian
BY ADAM ASHTON
Staff writer
November 29, 2013
The Army has begun correcting medical records for former Madigan Army Medical Center patients who left the military with conflicting diagnoses for behavioral health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Jeanie Chang, 30, of Tenino learned last week that the Army Review Board for Correction of Medical Records will change her file to reflect the PTSD diagnosis she received at Madigan last year.
Previously, the review board rejected her PTSD diagnosis and refused to correct her records, a decision that cost her disability benefits and left her with a sense that military doctors were misusing her conversations with them.
Chang was among some 400 former Madigan patients who were called back to the hospital last year amid concerns the hospital’s forensic psychiatry team was under-diagnosing PTSD to save the Army money in long-term disability benefits. Of those, 158 patients left the review with PTSD diagnoses.
About 20 of them have had trouble persuading the review board to honor their newer diagnoses. Instead, the board favored the forensic psychiatry reports that were at the center of the hospital’s PTSD controversy.
read more here
Friday, November 29, 2013
PTSD in Civil War times
PTSD in Civil War times: A Md. museum exhibit
By Associated Press
November 29, 2013
FREDERICK, Md. — A new exhibit at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick offers a historical perspective on post-traumatic stress disorder.
The exhibit is titled, “The Emotional Toll of War.” It opened last weekend and will be up through March.
The exhibit includes period newspaper articles, soldiers’ letters and accounts by Civil War surgeons.
The documents offer perspectives on homesickness, melancholy, insanity and suicide.
read more here
By Associated Press
November 29, 2013
The exhibit is titled, “The Emotional Toll of War.” It opened last weekend and will be up through March.
The exhibit includes period newspaper articles, soldiers’ letters and accounts by Civil War surgeons.
The documents offer perspectives on homesickness, melancholy, insanity and suicide.
read more here
VA officials probe how its hospital treated blind Las Vegas veteran
UPDATE
VA investigators sent text messages in North Las Vegas probe
VA investigators sent text messages in North Las Vegas probe
VA officials probe how its hospital treated blind Las Vegas veteran
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By KEITH ROGERS
November 27, 2013
Sandi Niccum is shown slumped in a hospital waiting room on one of her last days. She was blind and in severe pain. (Courtesy Dee Redwine)
The House Veterans Affairs Committee and local VA officials are probing allegations that staff at the VA Medical Center in North Las Vegas mistreated a blind veteran who was writhing in pain while she waited six hours for emergency care at the center on Oct. 22.
The long wait compounded by frustration with incomplete radiology orders and alleged rude treatment increased 78-year-old Sandi Niccum’s frustration to the point that she would pound her walking cane on the hospital floor.
“Several times she would just beat it on the floor and say, ‘Please somebody help me.’ But they didn’t. Nobody cared,” said Niccum’s friend, Dee Redwine, who was with her through the ordeal.
The Navy veteran, described by her aide, Shirley Newsham, as a “brittle diabetic,” had been a volunteer for the VA’s Visually Impairment Services Team for at least eight years. She died Nov. 15 at a local hospice.
Before she died, Niccum asked Redwine to write a chronology of the VA experience and submit it to the Review-Journal.
Her blindness stemmed from diabetes developed during her fifth year of active duty with the Navy Medical Corps as a medic for the Marine Corps at Parris Island, S.C. She was honorably discharged in 1958. She lost vision in one eye in 1983 and the other eye three years later.
Suffering from septic shock from the ruptured abscess in her colon, she died in her sleep about 2 a.m. on Nov. 15. The exact cause of death was unknown, Redwine said.
Niccum’s ashes will be buried at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City at 10 a.m. on Dec. 12 with full military honors.
Donations can be made in her name to the Blinded Veterans Association, P.O. Box 46272, Las Vegas, NV 89114.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
read more here
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are the peacemakers
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 28, 2013
"Blessed are the peacemakers" as well they should be. They possess every attribute in the list Christ said would be blessed.
This you were willing to do.
So why do so many veterans feel cursed instead of blessed? Why is it so hard for you to understand the very fact you mourn is a reflection of that same ability to care that allowed them to be able to risk your lives for someone else?
Everything you need to heal is inside of you already. All you need to do is seek help to reconnect to it and see.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 28, 2013
"Blessed are the peacemakers" as well they should be. They possess every attribute in the list Christ said would be blessed.
Matthew 5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
After you come home it is very hard for you to remember the reason you went. It was to save the lives of the others you were with.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
If you mourn or grieve for the loss and over the horrors you endured, then you shall be comforted for the love you were able to keep alive inside of you. If you did not love, if you did not care, you would not mourn and grieve.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Being meek does not make you weak. You did what you had to do when you had to do it and then, then you fought no more.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
You hunger and thirst for a day when all mankind lives together and wars will be fought no more. You know the price paid all too well.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
You showed mercy to those you were with and even to the people you did not trust.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
No man is pure but some are pure in heart when they do not seek riches and glory for themselves but do what they are compelled to do for the sake of others.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
You are peacemakers and keepers because you were prepared to stop when your job was done and prayed for peace in the land you stood in.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Your actions were for a righteous sake because it was for the sake of the others you were with.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
There are some that want to accuse you. Some want to walk away from you. Some want to ignore you but when you look around you'll see what was inside you the day you decided to serve and that came from a place of love, honor, courage and compassion.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
John 15 13
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
This you were willing to do.
So why do so many veterans feel cursed instead of blessed? Why is it so hard for you to understand the very fact you mourn is a reflection of that same ability to care that allowed them to be able to risk your lives for someone else?
Everything you need to heal is inside of you already. All you need to do is seek help to reconnect to it and see.
Recalling The Takeover: A Marine Captive In Tehran
Recalling The Takeover: A Marine Captive In Tehran
StoryCorps' National Day of Listening encourages people to take advantage of the days following Thanksgiving to talk to a family member or friend and have a conversation. This year, host Scott Simon speaks with Marine Corps veteran Kevin Hermening about his time as a captive in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, during the Iran hostage crisis of 1980-81.
Fort Campbell Giving thanks loudly for safe return of 345 soldiers
Giving thanks loudly for safe return of 345 soldiers
'Currahees' bring hundreds home to Fort Campbell for holiday
Leaf-Chronicle
Written by
Philip Grey
November 28, 2013
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The biggest return flight of soldiers from Afghanistan in recent memory could not have come at a better time than the evening before Thanksgiving.
And the hundreds of family members, friends and comrades waiting for 345 soldiers could not have been more unanimously in agreement on that point.
Certainly, for the soldiers who came home to Fort Campbell on Wednesday – nearly all from the 4th Brigade Combat Team “Currahee, 101st Airborne Division – the pumpkin pie will taste a little sweeter on this side of the world for this particular holiday.
What was even sweeter for all involved was a deployment cut short, from nine months to six months, for the best possible reason – mission accomplishment.
More Currahees are on the way home soon. Most will be in time for Christmas, as the transition of more areas of Afghanistan to Afghan self-sufficiency proceeds apace.
read more here
'Currahees' bring hundreds home to Fort Campbell for holiday
Leaf-Chronicle
Written by
Philip Grey
November 28, 2013
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — The biggest return flight of soldiers from Afghanistan in recent memory could not have come at a better time than the evening before Thanksgiving.
And the hundreds of family members, friends and comrades waiting for 345 soldiers could not have been more unanimously in agreement on that point.
Certainly, for the soldiers who came home to Fort Campbell on Wednesday – nearly all from the 4th Brigade Combat Team “Currahee, 101st Airborne Division – the pumpkin pie will taste a little sweeter on this side of the world for this particular holiday.
What was even sweeter for all involved was a deployment cut short, from nine months to six months, for the best possible reason – mission accomplishment.
More Currahees are on the way home soon. Most will be in time for Christmas, as the transition of more areas of Afghanistan to Afghan self-sufficiency proceeds apace.
read more here
Veterans charity fundraising: Buddy can you spare a dime?
Veterans charity fundraising
Where does money donated over the phone go?
FOX 11
By Robert Hornacek
November 27, 2013
They can be annoying and intrusive, but often, telemarketing calls are a pretty successful way to raise money.
The money you pledge doesn't always help the cause as much as you might like. Case in point: the Veterans Assistance Foundation, based in Tomah. The charity hires a company called Xentel to raise money over the phone and by mail to help homeless veterans. But documents we uncovered show that for every dollar raised by Xentel under that contract, approximately 10 cents goes to the charity.
We're not talking chump change here. FOX 11 Investigates reviewed the charity's tax returns from 2009 through 2012. In just four years, the professional fundraising company raised $4.7 million dollars in the name of homeless veterans. But just $463,373 went to the charity. The company raising the money raked nearly $4.3 million.
"Is this the best way? No. I wouldn't say it is. I know it isn't. But it's the best I can do right now,” Veterans Assistance Foundation founder and CEO Bob Piaro said.
The Veterans Assistance Foundation offers programs for homeless veterans at the VA Clinic in Tomah and the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King. It also operates homes in Madison and Tomah. You might not think you're donating any money to the Veterans Assistance Foundation, but you are. Most of the group's funding comes from taxpayers in the form of federal grants. In fact, the Veterans Assistance Foundation receives about $1 million a year from the government. Thanks to taxpayers, the organization was able to expand last month. It now offers services in 34 counties, including Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago.
But Piaro says the grants don't cover everything. So the foundation still needs to raise money.
read more here
Where does money donated over the phone go?
FOX 11
By Robert Hornacek
November 27, 2013
They can be annoying and intrusive, but often, telemarketing calls are a pretty successful way to raise money.
The money you pledge doesn't always help the cause as much as you might like. Case in point: the Veterans Assistance Foundation, based in Tomah. The charity hires a company called Xentel to raise money over the phone and by mail to help homeless veterans. But documents we uncovered show that for every dollar raised by Xentel under that contract, approximately 10 cents goes to the charity.
We're not talking chump change here. FOX 11 Investigates reviewed the charity's tax returns from 2009 through 2012. In just four years, the professional fundraising company raised $4.7 million dollars in the name of homeless veterans. But just $463,373 went to the charity. The company raising the money raked nearly $4.3 million.
"Is this the best way? No. I wouldn't say it is. I know it isn't. But it's the best I can do right now,” Veterans Assistance Foundation founder and CEO Bob Piaro said.
The Veterans Assistance Foundation offers programs for homeless veterans at the VA Clinic in Tomah and the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King. It also operates homes in Madison and Tomah. You might not think you're donating any money to the Veterans Assistance Foundation, but you are. Most of the group's funding comes from taxpayers in the form of federal grants. In fact, the Veterans Assistance Foundation receives about $1 million a year from the government. Thanks to taxpayers, the organization was able to expand last month. It now offers services in 34 counties, including Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago.
But Piaro says the grants don't cover everything. So the foundation still needs to raise money.
read more here
Happy Thanksgiving, Team Rubicon Nation
Happy Thanksgiving, TR Nation!
November has been a busy month for us; our volunteers have been mucking out flooded homes in Austin, TX, providing medical relief to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, and helping homeowners rebuild after the tornado in Washington, IL.
Whether we're sharing a Thanksgiving turkey with friends and family from the comfort of our home or splitting a pack of Turkey jerky and a cornbread MRE with our fellow volunteers in Illinois or the Philippines, we're incredibly thankful for your support.
Because of you, we've deployed volunteers on over fifty operations around the world and here at home. Over 13,000 veterans, first responders, and medical professionals have joined TR to answer the call of continued service.
Thank you, and from our family to yours,
Happy Thanksgiving!
- The Team
November has been a busy month for us; our volunteers have been mucking out flooded homes in Austin, TX, providing medical relief to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, and helping homeowners rebuild after the tornado in Washington, IL.
Whether we're sharing a Thanksgiving turkey with friends and family from the comfort of our home or splitting a pack of Turkey jerky and a cornbread MRE with our fellow volunteers in Illinois or the Philippines, we're incredibly thankful for your support.
Because of you, we've deployed volunteers on over fifty operations around the world and here at home. Over 13,000 veterans, first responders, and medical professionals have joined TR to answer the call of continued service.
Thank you, and from our family to yours,
Happy Thanksgiving!
- The Team
Empty Chairs At Thanksgiving Tables
Empty Chairs At Thanksgiving Tables
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 28, 2013
They survived combat but could not survive because of it. That is what makes their suicides even more tragic than civilians losing hope they needed to believe the next day would be any better than their last day was.
The Department of Defense releases the suicide numbers for Army, Army National Guards and Army Reserves month by month.
The last release put the number of soldiers no longer here with this.
October, 10 Army, 11 Army National Guards and 1 Army Reservist. From January thru October there have been 126 soldiers taking their own lives, 82 Army National Guardsmen and 43 Army Reservists.
They also updated the numbers they previously released for 2012 with these totals.
Army, 186, Army National Guards 93 and 47 Army Reservists. This number was changed since the report that came out in February 2013
In December of 2012 there were 7 Soldiers, 10 Army National Guardsmen and 5 Army Reservists. There has been no explanation as to why the DOD does not release the same data for the Marines, Air Force and Navy or the other Guards and Reservists. There has been no explanation as to why the DOD has not release the Suicide Event Report for 2012 after the end of this 11th month of 2013.
That means there were 273 members of the Army here last Thanksgiving but left an empty chair this Thanksgiving.
The Department of Veterans Affairs released a report there are at least 22 veterans a day committing suicide. That means 8,030 a year. If you count the current numbers of military forces committing suicide the numbers are close to 9,000 gone since last Thanksgiving.
Every year we honor veterans on Veterans Day, November 11th and in the same month we give thanks for all we have. Everyday veterans carry the full weight of the duty they were willing to fulfill. Everyday we forget to help them carry that load. Forget to offer a hand, an arm to lean on and ear to hear them. Everyday we fail them we are assuredly contributing to the increase in those we remember of Memorial Day.
Whey you give thanks for all you have today, remember all lost as well. Their families are looking at empty chairs.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 28, 2013
They survived combat but could not survive because of it. That is what makes their suicides even more tragic than civilians losing hope they needed to believe the next day would be any better than their last day was.
The Department of Defense releases the suicide numbers for Army, Army National Guards and Army Reserves month by month.
The last release put the number of soldiers no longer here with this.
October, 10 Army, 11 Army National Guards and 1 Army Reservist. From January thru October there have been 126 soldiers taking their own lives, 82 Army National Guardsmen and 43 Army Reservists.
They also updated the numbers they previously released for 2012 with these totals.
Army, 186, Army National Guards 93 and 47 Army Reservists. This number was changed since the report that came out in February 2013
In December of 2012 there were 7 Soldiers, 10 Army National Guardsmen and 5 Army Reservists. There has been no explanation as to why the DOD does not release the same data for the Marines, Air Force and Navy or the other Guards and Reservists. There has been no explanation as to why the DOD has not release the Suicide Event Report for 2012 after the end of this 11th month of 2013.
That means there were 273 members of the Army here last Thanksgiving but left an empty chair this Thanksgiving.
The Department of Veterans Affairs released a report there are at least 22 veterans a day committing suicide. That means 8,030 a year. If you count the current numbers of military forces committing suicide the numbers are close to 9,000 gone since last Thanksgiving.
Every year we honor veterans on Veterans Day, November 11th and in the same month we give thanks for all we have. Everyday veterans carry the full weight of the duty they were willing to fulfill. Everyday we forget to help them carry that load. Forget to offer a hand, an arm to lean on and ear to hear them. Everyday we fail them we are assuredly contributing to the increase in those we remember of Memorial Day.
Whey you give thanks for all you have today, remember all lost as well. Their families are looking at empty chairs.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Loss of VA grant imperils skiers’ paralympic hopes
Loss of VA grant imperils skiers’ paralympic hopes
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: November 27, 2013
Aspen’s snow-covered mountains are Joshua Elliott’s sanctuary, a place where the double amputee can be free and feel closer to God.
But Veterans Affairs’ decision to withhold an annual grant for adaptive sports that keeps veterans like him on the slopes threatens to derail Elliott’s dreams for Olympic gold and to leave the retired Marine sergeant without a mission.
The Aspen Valley Ski/Snowboard Club’s adaptive program — one of the country’s pre-eminent programs for wounded veterans and a feeder for almost half of the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team — faces a $300,000 shortfall and might have to shut its doors Friday if funding isn’t secured for this year’s competitive season.
A number of Olympic dreams are on hold as Elliott, 32, and his teammates scramble to find money to keep the program going, even if just for one more month.
“[After my injury] I was afraid this was lost,” Elliott said last week from Aspen, where he is training. “I was questioning a lot of things. I was a little scared with this crazy life change … Now, here I am, competitive, looking at the Paralympics.”
The AVSC adaptive program was founded with wounded veterans like Elliott in mind but since has expanded to include a number of nonveterans as well, according to the AVSC website. Each year, the VA provides the U.S. Olympic Committee with grant funding for adaptive sports programs, Elliott said. About $500,000 goes to AVSC’s adaptive program.
read more here
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: November 27, 2013
Aspen’s snow-covered mountains are Joshua Elliott’s sanctuary, a place where the double amputee can be free and feel closer to God.
But Veterans Affairs’ decision to withhold an annual grant for adaptive sports that keeps veterans like him on the slopes threatens to derail Elliott’s dreams for Olympic gold and to leave the retired Marine sergeant without a mission.
The Aspen Valley Ski/Snowboard Club’s adaptive program — one of the country’s pre-eminent programs for wounded veterans and a feeder for almost half of the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team — faces a $300,000 shortfall and might have to shut its doors Friday if funding isn’t secured for this year’s competitive season.
A number of Olympic dreams are on hold as Elliott, 32, and his teammates scramble to find money to keep the program going, even if just for one more month.
“[After my injury] I was afraid this was lost,” Elliott said last week from Aspen, where he is training. “I was questioning a lot of things. I was a little scared with this crazy life change … Now, here I am, competitive, looking at the Paralympics.”
The AVSC adaptive program was founded with wounded veterans like Elliott in mind but since has expanded to include a number of nonveterans as well, according to the AVSC website. Each year, the VA provides the U.S. Olympic Committee with grant funding for adaptive sports programs, Elliott said. About $500,000 goes to AVSC’s adaptive program.
read more here
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