About Local 3197
AFGE is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 federal and D.C. government workers across the nation and overseas.
The headquarters of AFGE is located in Washington, D.C. AFGE is divided into 12 districts, Local 3197 is in District 11 and the National President is John Gage.
Local 3197's office is located at the Seattle Division of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System.
VA Regional Office (VARO) is located at 915 2nd Avenue Room 1050, Seattle, WA 98174 220-6718 x2781 (fax 220-6240)
Highlights from your union for 2012
VA Study Finds Nasal Spray Improves Memory In Some Alzheimer's Patients. Veterans Affairs (VA Puget Sound Health Care System) is receiving widespread positive coverage in several major news outlets for new research it has conducted on improving memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
NBC Nightly News (9/12, story 2, 2:25, Williams, 8.37M) broadcast that a "new study
funded by the National Institutes of Health has found that an insulin
nasal spray...has shown memory improvement in some" Alzheimer's
patients. Research like this, conducted by Dr. Suzanne Craft and other
researchers, is part "of the Administration's effort to develop the
first so-called national Alzheimer's plan." NBC added, "A longer study
should begin in months and reveal whether this hopeful beginning marks
genuine progress against a heart-breaking disease that so far has been
unstoppable."
In a follow-up report,
NBC Nightly News (9/12, story 3, 2:10, Williams, 8.37M) interviews Dr. Craft, a US
Department of Veterans Affairs researcher, who said, "We have to be
cautious" about the findings because they came in a "pilot study. I
would say it's a first very important step and we do need the larger,
longer trial to really see whether or not this is going to be a viable
therapy for Alzheimer's disease."
PBS' Newshour (9/12, 7:37 p.m. ET) also interviewed Dr. Craft, who "led the study"
and said the next phase of research will involve testing on a "larger
scale and for a longer period of time." She continued, "Our hope is if
we're able to start this next phase of study by next summer-that's our
plan, if we are able to and receive funding--then within three to four
years we should have a very good idea of whether this will work as a
therapy in the current form that we're testing." Dr. Craft
added,
"I'm sure that the study will also generate a large number of studies
looking at other ways of improving insulin function in the brains" of
Alzheimer's patients.
The
New York Times (9/13, Kolata, D5, Subscription Publication, 950K)
points out that Dr. Craft is "director of the memory disorders clinic
at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System." According to
the
Los Angeles Times (9/13, Healy, 657K), the study was conducted by
researchers "from the Veterans Administration's Puget Sound Health
Care System in Washington state." The study results were published
online Monday by the journal
Archives of Neurology.
Positive coverage of VA's study also appears in a
Reuters (9/13, Steenhuysen) story run by at least 13 publications,
the
International Business Times (9/13),
HealthDay (9/13, Steele),
MedPage Today (9/13, Walsh), "The Chart," a blog for
CNN (9/12), "The Rundown," a blog for
PBS' Newshour (9/13, Jacobson), and in a story posted to the
MSNBC (9/12, Bazell) website. The study is also noted by many
local TV stations in various parts of the country, including
WTNH-TV Hartford, CT (9/12, 11:33 p.m. ET),
WEAR-TV Mobile, AL (9/12, 10:39 p.m. CT),
XETV-TV San Diego, CA (9/12, 10:23 p.m. PT), and
KULR-TV Billings, MT (9/12, 10:18 p.m. MT).
Impact: VA Puget Sound Alzheimer′s research, GRECC