Top VA hospital lacked full-time gynecologist, facilities serving women veterans for years, report says
Military Times
Leo Shane III
January 24, 2020
In the report, investigators criticized officials at the Dallas-area veterans hospital for “ a long-standing deficiency related to resources for women veterans healthcare, such as equipment, supplies and space that were required to ensure gender-specific care.”
One of the largest veterans medical centers in the country went almost two years without a full-time gynecologist and lacked private, secure spaces for women patients for even longer, according to a new report released by the Veterans Affairs Inspector General this week.
Investigators this week found widespread problems with staffing and facility space for women veterans at the VA North Texas Health Care System. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Veterans Affairs)
Department officials insist most of those issues at the North Texas VA Health Care System have been resolved now, but lawmakers are saying the shortfalls are indicative of larger cultural and leadership problems within the federal agency in their response to the rising number of women veterans.
“The lack of space, privacy, and provider shortages are widespread, and these problems result in inconsistent, inadequate, and insufficient care for our women veterans,” said Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Cal.f. and chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s task force on women veterans.
“We owe all of our veterans the highest quality care. As this report points out, when it comes to equity for women veterans, we're clearly falling short.”
read it here
‘It’s OK to cry’: Emotional Newport News police chief calls officer killed in line of duty a hero
WAVY
by: Sarah Fearing
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
“There is a lot of healing that needs to take place. There is no timetable for that,” said Chief Drew.
Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew holds a news conference to provide details about a deadly traffic stop Thursday night. Officer Katie Thyne died in the line of duty.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – Speaking through tears, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew identified the officer who died in the line of duty Thursday night as Officer Katie Thyne.
Chief Drew provided new information about the investigation and Officer Thyne during a Friday morning news conference.
Officer Thyne was originally from New Hampshire. She was a Navy veteran and a reservist. She joined the Newport News Police Department in 2018 and was assigned to the South Precinct. She leaves behind her mother and stepfather, a brother, her two-year-old daughter, and a loving partner. She was 24-years-old.
While the driver’s side door was open, Chief Drew said the driver accelerated. Officer Thyne was unable to get out of the way and was dragged for about a block. The driver crashed into a tree at Walnut Avenue, pinning Officer Thyne. She died from her injuries at Sentara Norfolk General.
read it here
UPDATE
‘Raegan will know her mother’: Friend, day care provider remembers Officer Katie Thyne
WTKR
BY CHELSEA DONOVAN
JANUARY 27, 2020
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - "When I leaned her over the casket, I said, 'Kiss your mommy,' and she did and it broke my heart," said Jenifer Locey.
Locey has been providing day care for 2-year-old Raegan Thyne since she was born and had also become great friends with Officer Katie Thyne.
"It's so hard to look at Raegan and know she is not going to see her anymore," said Locey.
Locey described the toddler as innocent, bubbly and always smiling.
Thailand veterans contend they are scientific evidence VA claims it needs to grant benefits
WFLA 8 News
by: Steve Andrews
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
Because their job descriptions didn’t place them on base perimeters, the VA denied their claims for disability.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A top VA official in the Tampa Bay area told 8 On Your Side this week the Department of Veterans Affairs has come a long way.
Margarita Devlin, principal deputy undersecretary for veterans benefits contends there is no longer a huge back-log of veterans waiting for their claims to be processed and completed.
However, claims languish for veterans who served in Thailand during the Vietnam War and were exposed to a dangerous herbicide known as Agent Orange.
Most U.S. bombing missions over North Vietnam originated in Thailand.
Tampa Veterans like Dan Tolly and Paul Devane supported the war effort from Thai bases.
At Korat, Paul remembers the toxic herbicide Agent Orange landed on him as he worked near the flight line.
Dan Tolly served in the Air Force in Thailand. read it here
Veterans Affairs considers expanding vaping options for medical marijuana
CBC News
Kevin Yarr
Posted: Jan 23, 2020
With new products for consuming cannabis coming on the market last month, Veterans Affairs is looking into whether it should expand the options it covers.
Vaping cannabis oils became legal in December. (CBC)
Oils for vaping, along with edibles, became legal in Canada last month. The cost of vaporizers for dried marijuana has been covered by DVA since 2014. Sandie Williamson, senior director of healthcare programs with Veterans Affairs, said that change has prompted a review.
"We regularly review different products and different therapies, different benefits that are coming onto the market," said Williamson.
"These products have just hit the market as of last month. There's still an evolution as to what will be available."
Veterans Affairs will be consulting with Health Canada on whether to include the new products in its rebate program. Williamson said if the product is approved, Veterans Affairs would not be involved in the choice of treatment of any individual. read it here
The only way I could understand what PTSD was doing to my Vietnam veteran husband, was because I knew what surviving trauma had done to me.
I am a ten time survivor of traumatic events that could have taken my life just living as a civilian. Most of the time, someone like you responded to rescue me. Knowing what surviving did to me, it is also easy to understand what responding to people like me...did to you.
I had nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings, paranoia and questioned everything I believed. I understood the need to hide what I was going through, so that no one would feel sorry for me, or judge me as being damaged.
On the flip side, my family understood that they needed to show me that no matter what, they loved me and they were there for me, no matter what I had to say, and they wanted to help me through it.
They did not give up on me. One of the reasons why I was not about to give up on my husband, or anyone else. It is also the reason why I am writing this now. You need to stop giving up on yourself!
If you are dealing with PTSD, then you need to stop looking at yourself as a victim. You are a survivor of all of it. Within the first 30 days after "it" happened, your mind was fighting it off.
In all of the times I faced the "afterwards" there was only one time, it followed me, but did not control me. That is because I fought back, helping my mind by arming it with talking about it. When I needed a professional to talk to, I went.
I also trusted God and stopped questioning why I survived. It became a matter of what I could do afterwards...for the rest of my days on earth.
In The Shelter of Your Arms is a song that has been healing for me during hard emotional times...like right now. No matter what I am up against, I know this is the work I was sent to do and the glory goes to Jesus because He loved me enough to show me the way to help those who have my heart.
This is for anyone who is going through painful times. It is OK to feel pain, no matter who you are, but take the shelter of His arms until your pain in gone and you smile again.
So now I sing a song for You beyond the tears that came because I know, if I share this with those I am supposed to reach, they may know that others go through the same dark times, even if they believe, as I do, that nothing is beyond Your love. RISE AND START AGAIN
It is OK to hurt to feel pain, to cry and to lose yourself for a time. Survivors never walk away the same way they walked into it. Everyone changes to a certain extent, but you control the way you change and how much you change from one point to the next.
You would think that I would not need help from anyone considering how long I have been doing this work, but everyone I know, also needs help from time to time or they would not be able to be there to help anyone else. Besides, if I needed help but refused to ask for it, how could I ever tell someone else to ask when they needed it? I couldn't.
If you think that it is hopeless for you, then it will be, but if you imagine what is possible, you will find it and rise again!
Back in 2002 I finished writing my first book and last year I did an interview with a friend for his radio show. No matter what we went through, keep in mind that we have been married since 1984 because while we did not understand what the other survived, we understood how to lean on each other to heal!
This is part of the interview of us talking about my book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK and what it was like living with PTSD when no one was talking about it.
Want to know if you have what it takes to fight this battle? Listen to what I was willing to do and know that you can do the same and defeat it! #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
If you are afraid of being judged by those around you, notice that you are judging them without giving them a chance to help you #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife
Connecticut State Police Create Program to Help First Responders Manage PTSD
NBC Connecticut
By Siobhan McGirl
January 22, 2020
Dillon said he will never forget responding to the scene of the school shooting in Sandy Hook in December of 2012. Twenty students and six adults were killed. Dillon spent one week processing evidence on the scene, but he struggled to process the event on a personal level.
The state is taking new measures to help first responders who may be struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"When you see it on television, that is difficult. It is a lot tougher when you are there," said Sgt. Troy Anderson.
Anderson retired from the Connecticut State Police after more than 20 years of service, but he is coming out of retirement. Anderson is filling a newly created position, heading up a wellness and resiliency program. The veteran law enforcement officer will be tasked with creating programs and finding resources to meet the wellness needs of all six divisions of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. read it here
