What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans

1. Shinseki Praises Craigslist Founder For Serving On VA Benefits Panel.
2. American Legion Backing Shinseki's "Ambitious" Homeless Vet Program.
3. Palo Alto VAMC Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center Profiled.
4. Minnesota Blue Star Mothers Organize Candy Drive In.
5. USAA Opens Financial Services To All Honorably Discharged Veterans.
6. Veterans Day Events Planned.
7. Soldiers Project Helps Veterans Cope With Mental Health Challenges.
8. New York National Cemetery Set To Grow By 33,000 Plots.
9. More Diseases Associated With Agent Orange.
10. Florida Woman Accuses VA Of Withholding Husband's Death Certificate.

1.      Shinseki Praises Craigslist Founder For Serving On VA Benefits Panel.  Federal Computer Week (11/4, Beizer, 90K) reports that Craig Newmark, founder of the website Craigslist.com, "will join a panel of judges who'll review ideas on how to improve processing times for veterans' disability claims, the Veterans Affairs Department has announced." Newmark "will help review the ideas gathered during an innovation competition that let VA employees submit ideas on how to improve delivery of benefits , VA officials said Nov. 4. ... 'Leveraging the talent, innovation and creativity of stakeholders, like Craig Newmark, is just one of the many ways VA can think outside of the box to help deliver tangible results to our nation's veterans,' said Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki."
      The San Francisco Business Times (11/6, Clabaugh) adds that Newmark "will serve on a panel of advisers that will review and evaluate ideas to improve disability claims processing times and improve transparency to veterans. The VA sought input from employees and members of Veterans service organizations, and says it has received suggestions from all of its 57 regional offices. Those ideas will be reviewed by the panel, which is chaired by VA Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick Dunne."
      In a posting on the San Francisco Chronicle (11/6, 318K) "City Brights" blog, Newmark writes that he joined the panel to "practice what I preach, in addition to strongly supporting the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America." He writes that supporting the military "means also doing something for veterans back home. Through most of human history, they rarely get the treatment they've earned. Now that we have an Administration that really supports the troops, we should be serious about that." 

2.      American Legion Backing Shinseki's "Ambitious" Homeless Vet Program.  The Navy Times (11/6, Maze, 54K) reports that Clarence Hill, the national commander of the American Legion, "vows to help the Veterans Affairs Department achieve an ambitious goal of eliminating homelessness among veterans within five years. "'To have even one veteran out there living in the streets is a disgrace,' Hill said. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced at a summit on homelessness that he and President Barack Obama 'are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans within the next five years.'"
      Shinseki's Homeless Vet Program Linked With Utah Standdown.  The Salt Lake Tribune (11/6, 120K) reports on an annual Homeless Veterans Standdown on Friday, noting that it "comes just days after Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki announced a plan to end homelessness among veterans in the next five years. The former Army general and Vietnam combat veteran pledged $3.2 billion over the next year to reduce homelessness among veterans. 'Those who have served this nation as veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope,' said Shinseki."
 

3.      Palo Alto VAMC Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center Profiled.  The cover story of the November/December issue of the alumni magazine of Stanford University (11/6, Hamilton) profiles USMC Cpl. Jason Poole, whose vehicle was attacked by an IED in Iraq in 2004, "killing two Marines and an interpreter, and ripping the top left part of Poole's head off. ... Five years after that horrific blast, he sits in a visitors' lounge at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System." The piece describes Poole's lingering physical ailments but notes that "many subsequent surgeries have given Jason back a friendly and good-looking face whose scars do not overshadow his easy, bright smile. That, in itself, is something of a miracle. Not to mention the fact that he has relearned how to speak, how to eat, how to read, how to walk. There is no official definition for polytrauma in most dictionaries, although it's easy enough to figure out. 'Trauma' is bodily shock or emotional injury. 'Poly' is from the ancient Greek for 'many.'" The article describes the Palo Alto VAMC's "Ward 7D, the Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center," where "a special group of mostly young patients here at once embodies the achingly tragic consequences of modern armed conflict and its unprecedented medical challenges. It falls on the shoulders of program director Sandy Lai [a Stanford alumna] to quarterback a large team of caregivers who are on the front lines of rebuilding the physical, emotional and functional lives of service members with some of the most complex injuries ever to emerge from war. In an accompanying piece, editor Kevin Cool explains that though Poole has no direct ties to the school, "the courage and humanity that showed through Jason's picture overcame" reluctance to make him the cover story.
      KGO-TV San Francisco, CA (11/6) also runs an article about Poole on its website, describing a trip to the Palo Alto VAMC for treatment. "Doctor Glenn Cockerham helped lead a study of bomb blast survivors like Jason. It is a group who, unlike in other wars, now helps make up the largest percentage of vision loss patients." 

4.      Minnesota Blue Star Mothers Organize Candy Drive In.  The Shakopee Valley (MN) News (11/6, Holtz) reports that children donated some 700 pounds of candy for US servicemembers serving overseas at a medical facility in Shakopee, Minnesota. "Barb Villano of Blue Star Mothers South Metro said she was overwhelmed by the kids' generosity. In addition to donating candy, the kids also made thank-you cards to send to the troops. Villano said the Blue Star Mothers, a national organization of mothers whose sons and daughters are serving overseas, took some of the candy to stuff in Christmas care packages." 

5.      USAA Opens Financial Services To All Honorably Discharged Veterans.  The AP (11/6, Weber) reports that USAA, in its largest expansion to date, has "opened coverage to all honorably discharged veterans Thursday, more than doubling the number of eligible military members eligible for its insurance policies and financial services." The AP notes that some 35 million more veterans will now be eligible. "San Antonio-based USAA currently
has about 7.3 million members. By expanding its eligibility guidelines to virtually all veterans regardless of rank or time of service, the firm expects to add an additional 100,000 customers annually. USAA has gradually become more inclusive since starting in 1922 as an officer-only association and opening to enlisted personnel in 1996. Last year, older military retirees were welcomed to its policies and financial products, including home loans and credit cards." 

6.      Veterans Day Events Planned.  A number of local media outlets reported on upcoming Veterans Day observances, including The Portland (ME) Press Herald (11/6, Goad), the Delta County (CO) Independent (11/6, Borchardt), North Andover (MA) Eagle Tribune (11/6, 42K), the Alexandria (MN) Echo Press (11/6, 9K), the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (11/6, Harmon, 30K), the Hampton Roads Daily Press (11/6), The Poughkeepsie Journal (11/6) the Jacksonville (NC) Daily News (11/6), and the Idaho Statesman (11/6, 61K).  

7.      Soldiers Project Helps Veterans Cope With Mental Health Challenges.  An article in the Chicago Tribune (11/6, Parker, 534K) describes the efforts of members of the Soldiers Project, "an organization that provides free mental health counseling to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans" that "was founded in Los Angeles in 2004 to help soldiers manage their many mental health problems. Nearly 20 percent of Iraq veterans display symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a 2008 study by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank. The Soldiers Project has chapters in several cities, including a Chicago chapter begun in 2007 by Kate Schechter, a faculty member at the Institute for Clinical Social Work and the Rush University Medical College Department of Psychology."  

8.      New York National Cemetery Set To Grow By 33,000 Plots.  The Suffolk Times (11/6, Parpan) reports that new construction is expected to expand Calverton National Cemetery on Long Island by some 33,000 grave sites, noting that it is already "the largest military graveyard in the country. ... The expansion plan, which will be paid for through a federal grant, features the development of approximately 89 acres in the northern section of the 1,050-acre cemetery property. ... The project, which is the largest undertaking at the cemetery since the mid-1990s, will also include administration- and maintenance-building improvements as well as work on utilities, irrigation systems, landscaping and paving and repair of existing roads within the cemetery." 

9.      More Diseases Associated With Agent Orange.  The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (11/6, 10K) reports that the VA is "alerting Vietnam War veterans that they've added three illnesses to those associated with the chemical weapon Agent Orange. Cell B leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease have been added to the list of presumed illnesses associated with those veterans exposed to sprayed Agent Orange, said Rock
Larson, Wood County Veterans Service officer. The presumption simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits." 

10.    Florida Woman Accuses VA Of Withholding Husband's Death Certificate.  The First Coast News (11/6, Amaro) reports that a Jacksonville, Florida, woman says that her husband's body "has been in limbo" at a local funeral home "waiting for the Department of Veterans Affairs to issue a death certificate. 'I feel like I am dishonoring my husband by not burying him,' said White. White said she provided his honorable discharge papers and still feels she is getting the run around." The piece concludes by reporting that the situation has been resolved.