OCTOBER 21, 2009

Obama Signs Advance VA Funding Bill.

 The AP (10/23) reports, "President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a measure designed to keep funding for veterans' medical care steady amid future budget negotiations. Noting the Veterans Affairs Department is providing care for veterans without a Congress-approved budget right now," the President "said the new law would guarantee timely and predictable funding by laying out the VA budget ahead of schedule." The AP adds that Obama "said the funding stability will help veterans receive the care they deserve." A similar story appears as the lead item in the Chicago Tribune's (10/23) "Nation" column.
Impact: Advance funding bill now law

VA Doctors, Nurses Meet With Staff From Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

 Stars And Stripes (10/23, Robbins) reports, "As chief of rehabilitation medicine at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Tampa, Fla., Dr. Steven Scott spends anywhere from a few months to a few years with patients recovering from battlefield trauma," but he "had never seen what his patients experience when they are evacuated from the battlefield until a frigid morning in Landstuhl last week." Scott "was among several doctors and nurses" from four VA hospitals in Landstuhl, Germany. While there, Scott and the other VA personnel "met with staff" from the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center "to find ways to improve communication." According to Stars And Stripes, the Landstuhl facility is the US Army's "way station for troops injured in war."
Impact: OEF/OIF care

George E. Wahlen VAMC Delivers Baby.

 On its website, KUTV-TV Salt Lake City, UT (10/22) said the fact that doctors at the George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City "delivered a healthy baby girl just before 1:00 a.m." on Wednesday "might not seem strange for most hospitals, but it was a first for this one, which specializes in care for veterans. A woman in very active labor was mistakenly brought to the hospital by a neighbor, and was so far into her labor that officials say it was too late to transfer her." The "baby and her mother were transferred to University hospital," where "they are both doing very well." The KSL-TV Salt Lake City, UT (10/22, Butterfield) website published a similar story.
Impact: rare birth at VAMC

Check Your Paycheck.

 NextGov's (10/22, Holmes) "Wired Workplace" blog noted that on Wednesday, the "Office of Personnel Management announced...that they had successfully consolidated 26 payroll systems into four." During the press conference "about the consolidation, Linda Pena, associate deputy assistant secretary at Veterans Affairs Department, where employees had to replace a 1960s era payroll system, said most VA employees didn't realize the system had changed until they saw a different name on their paychecks."
Impact: payroll, OPM