March 9, 2009
Highlights from VA News Briefing for
March 9, 2009
Disabled Vets To Be Featured On Cereal Boxes.
In continuing coverage, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (3/7)
reported, "A local hero who works to make life better for people
with disabilities will have his picture appear on a special
edition Cheerios box as part of a national campaign organized by
Veterans Affairs, VA Canteen Services and General Mills. The
campaign honors 12 select gold medal winners of the 28th National
Veterans Wheelchair Games," including Rory Cooper, a "decorated
Army veteran and one of the world's foremost authorities on
wheelchair design. He is director of the Human Engineering
Research Laboratories, a partnership between the University of
Pittsburgh, UPMC and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System," and a
"VA senior career scientist. The special-edition Cheerios box will
be sold exclusively in military markets and VA Canteen Services
retail stores."
WIAT-TV Birmingham, AL (3/8, 5:38 p.m. CT) broadcast,
"Cheerios is honoring a Fairhope athlete as a national hero."
Disabled veteran Patrick Peterson, "who won three gold medals at
the National Veterans Wheelchair Games" last summer, "will be
featured on three million boxes of the popular breakfast cereal."
KTNV-TV
Las Vegas, NV (3/8, 5:51 a.m. PT) aired a similar report.
Impact:
VA Reputation
VA Interest In Studying Time Perception Noted.
The
Los Angeles Times (3/8,
Healy) reports, "Neuroscientists have come to recognize that
patients with devastating brain disorders such as Parkinson's and
Huntington's diseases greatly underestimate the passage of time.
Poor timing is a hallmark in several psychiatric conditions,
including schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit disorder.
Many of about 5,500 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
with traumatic brain injury will find that faulty timing is one of
the invisible wounds that follow them into civilian life. ... As
the link between time perception and health has grown more
visible, the study of time is no longer the sole province of
philosophers, physicists and poets. 'There is no National Time
Institute,' says Richard Ivry, a noted time-perception researcher
at UC Berkeley. But as philanthropies and funders such as the
National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans
Affairs gain interest, time perception may cease to be what Ivry
calls 'the stepchild of the sensory system' that it has
traditionally been in brain-science circles."
Impact:
Mental Health, VA Research
Shinseki Said To Confront "Herculean" Task In Reforming VA.
William Fisher, in The
HuffingtonPost (3/7), writes,
"I'm talking about employees in our Department of Veterans affairs
putting ten of thousands of unopened letters containing benefit
claims in desk drawers or in bins awaiting shredding. I'm talking
about the vets or their survivors who call to check on the status
of a claim, only to be told that the VA has no record of their
claim and that they should resubmit their paperwork. I'm talking
about the woman who claimed she had to submit paperwork to the VA
three times to prove she was married and had three children. I'm
talking about vets' survivors who have to wait six to nine months
for simple claims to be approved. I'm talking about workers at a
Detroit VA regional office who turned in 16,000 pieces of
unprocessed mail during an 'amnesty' period. I'm talking about VA
managers who told their staffs to post-date claims to make it
appear the claims were being processed faster." Rep. Bob Filner of
California, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee,
"has said he 'has made it his priority to ensure that our veterans
receive the honor and dedicated care that their courage and
bravery demand.' He has said he has directed his Committee to
improve the health care and benefits for our veterans. He claims
that he continues to fight to ensure that Congress keeps the
promises that have been made to our veterans, not only the new
generation of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan but
also the generations from past conflicts. Similar sentiments have
been expressed by Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii - a World War Two
vet -- who is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the
Senate." Fisher asks, "So where was the Congressional oversight
that's supposed to prevent this kind of outrage? A.W.O.L." Fisher
goes on to say, "When he appointed retired general Eric Shinseki
to head the VA, President Obama said, 'We owe it to all our
veterans to honor them as we honored our greatest generation, not
just with words, but with deeds.' Obama said Shinseki was the
right person to cut red tape, boost funding, and bring benefits to
veterans. ... Eric Shinseki is a smart guy. A guy who really cares
about veterans and their families. But the task he confronts, just
in this small corner of the VA, is Herculean."
Impact:
VA Secretary, Professional Reputation