It is way past time for such a study! It should of been done thirty years ago.
Full Article at: Secretary Shinseki Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health.
"One of my top priorities is to meet the needs of women Veterans," said Secretary Shinseki. "Our Veterans have earned the very best care. VA realizes that women Veterans require specialized programs, and this study will help VA provide high-quality care for women Veterans of the Vietnam era."
The study, which begins in November and lasts more than four years, will contact approximately 10,000 women in a mailed survey, telephone interview and a review of their medical records.
As women Vietnam Veterans approach their mid-sixties, it is important to understand the impact of wartime deployment on health and mental outcomes nearly 40 years later. The study will assess the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental and physical health conditions for women Vietnam Veterans, and explore the relationship between PTSD and other conditions.
VA will study women Vietnam Veterans who may have had direct exposure to traumatic events, and for the first time, study those who served in facilities near Vietnam. These women may have had similar, but less direct exposures. Both women Veterans who receive their health care from VA and those who receive health care from other providers will be contacted to determine the prevalence of a variety of health conditions.
About 250,000 women Veterans served in the military during the Vietnam War and about 7,000 were in or near Vietnam. Those who were in Vietnam, those who served elsewhere in Southeast Asia and those who served in the United States are potential study participants.
The study represents to date the most comprehensive examination of a group of women Vietnam Veterans, and will be used to shape future research on women Veterans in future wars. Such an understanding will lay the groundwork for planning and providing appropriate services for women Veterans, as well as for the aging Veteran population today.
Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran population. There are approximately 1.8 million women Veterans among the nation's total of 23 million living Veterans. Women comprise 7.8 percent of the total Veteran population and nearly 5.5 percent of all Veterans who use VA health care services. VA estimates women Veterans will constitute 10.5 percent of the Veteran population by 2020 and 9.5 percent of all VA patients.
In recent years, VA has undertaken a number of initiatives to create or enhance services for women Veterans, including the implementation of comprehensive primary care throughout the nation, staffing every VA medical center with a women Veterans program manager, supporting a multifaceted research program on women's health, improving communication and outreach to women Veterans, and continuing the operation of organizations like the Center for Women Veterans and the Women Veterans Health Strategic Healthcare Group.
The study, to be managed by VA's Cooperative Studies Program, is projected to cost $5.6 million."
Monday, November 23, 2009
Stanford Researchers Estimate 35% of Veterans Will Develop PTSD
researchers at Stanford University estimated up to 35 percent of all veterans from those two wars either have PTSD or will develop it.
Full Article at: Military suicides: Cases of post-traumatic stress mount at alarming rate
By Star-Ledger Staff
November 22, 2009, 6:59AM
"More than 1.7 million Americans have served in Iraq or Afghanistan over the past eight years. No one can say with precision how many of those service members came home with debilitating mental trauma, but studies suggest the figure is, at the least, many hundreds of thousands.
A report released last year by the RAND Corp., a nonpartisan research group, said at least one in five returning soldiers suffers from depression or PTSD, an anxiety disorder mental health experts and military officials alike say is a contributing factor in the rising suicide rate.
More recently, researchers at Stanford University estimated up to 35 percent of all veterans from those two wars either have PTSD or will develop it."
Full Article at: Military suicides: Cases of post-traumatic stress mount at alarming rate
By Star-Ledger Staff
November 22, 2009, 6:59AM
"More than 1.7 million Americans have served in Iraq or Afghanistan over the past eight years. No one can say with precision how many of those service members came home with debilitating mental trauma, but studies suggest the figure is, at the least, many hundreds of thousands.
A report released last year by the RAND Corp., a nonpartisan research group, said at least one in five returning soldiers suffers from depression or PTSD, an anxiety disorder mental health experts and military officials alike say is a contributing factor in the rising suicide rate.
More recently, researchers at Stanford University estimated up to 35 percent of all veterans from those two wars either have PTSD or will develop it."
Marines Participate in Pre-War Scans to Spot PTSD
I have some serious reservations about this program.
Full Article at: Marines Use Brain Scans to Spot PTSD Before the War
* By Katie Drummond
* November 20, 2009
"The military has launched a new program that’ll use genetic testing and brain scans to figure out whether troops are vulnerable to post-traumatic stress — before they head off to war and experience that stress.
The initiative is a cooperative venture between the Marine Corps, Department of Veterans Affairs and Navy Medicine. Testing on 1,000 Marines started last year, and another 673 were recently recruited: participants undergo a battery of exams to reveal underlying “triggers” that might predispose someone to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Examinations include more typical sessions, like psych analysis and stress tests, but also involve brain imaging and genetic evaluation - recent evidence suggests that specific genes might increase risk.
Upon return from war zones, participants will be re-tested for early warning signs of post-traumatic stress. By comparing pre-deployment results with post-deployment symptoms, researchers hope to develop a metric that’ll be used to signal vulnerability among military men and women of the future.
Cmdr. Bryan Schumacher, the top doctor with the 1st Marine Division, says the tests won’t bar members from service - instead, they’ll be used to boost stress-prevention training for at-risk troops.
Initial test conclusions aren’t anticipated for another six months, but they might also be useful for other Pentagon research. Darpa, the DoD’s out-there research agency, wants a better understanding of stress reactions to come up with a quick-fix, PTSD-prevention pharmaceutical."
Full Article at: Marines Use Brain Scans to Spot PTSD Before the War
* By Katie Drummond
* November 20, 2009
"The military has launched a new program that’ll use genetic testing and brain scans to figure out whether troops are vulnerable to post-traumatic stress — before they head off to war and experience that stress.
The initiative is a cooperative venture between the Marine Corps, Department of Veterans Affairs and Navy Medicine. Testing on 1,000 Marines started last year, and another 673 were recently recruited: participants undergo a battery of exams to reveal underlying “triggers” that might predispose someone to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Examinations include more typical sessions, like psych analysis and stress tests, but also involve brain imaging and genetic evaluation - recent evidence suggests that specific genes might increase risk.
Upon return from war zones, participants will be re-tested for early warning signs of post-traumatic stress. By comparing pre-deployment results with post-deployment symptoms, researchers hope to develop a metric that’ll be used to signal vulnerability among military men and women of the future.
Cmdr. Bryan Schumacher, the top doctor with the 1st Marine Division, says the tests won’t bar members from service - instead, they’ll be used to boost stress-prevention training for at-risk troops.
Initial test conclusions aren’t anticipated for another six months, but they might also be useful for other Pentagon research. Darpa, the DoD’s out-there research agency, wants a better understanding of stress reactions to come up with a quick-fix, PTSD-prevention pharmaceutical."
Federal Judge Rebukes Bay Pine-VA Administrators
Full Article at: Judge rebukes Bay Pines VA leaders
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Nov 23, 2009
TAMPA — "Four women who won a $3.7 million verdict in July against the Bay Pines VA Medical Center thought the big award would be a hard lesson learned for the facility's administrators.
But even after a jury decided that Bay Pines illegally retaliated against the women for filing workplace discrimination complaints, none of Bay Pines leaders were dismissed or reprimanded.
"The message Bay Pines gave employees is, 'No matter what you do, nothing is going to happen. We're not going to change,' " said Dr. Claudia Cote, one of the four who won the verdict.
All that changed on Monday when a federal judge offered a stunning rebuke of administrators at the nation's fourth-busiest veterans hospital, barring them from any further retaliation against their workforce of 3,000 employees over discrimination complaints.
And the judge ordered administrators back to school, requiring Bay Pines director, Wallace Hopkins, his chief of staff and chief of medicine, to undergo "remedial instruction" on preventing workplace discrimination and retaliation.
Magistrate Judge Tom McCoun said his order is necessary because "discriminatory conduct" would continue without court intervention.
"Indeed, it appears that no changes have been made at all at Bay Pines VA in response to the verdicts in this case," McCoun's order said."
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Nov 23, 2009
TAMPA — "Four women who won a $3.7 million verdict in July against the Bay Pines VA Medical Center thought the big award would be a hard lesson learned for the facility's administrators.
But even after a jury decided that Bay Pines illegally retaliated against the women for filing workplace discrimination complaints, none of Bay Pines leaders were dismissed or reprimanded.
"The message Bay Pines gave employees is, 'No matter what you do, nothing is going to happen. We're not going to change,' " said Dr. Claudia Cote, one of the four who won the verdict.
All that changed on Monday when a federal judge offered a stunning rebuke of administrators at the nation's fourth-busiest veterans hospital, barring them from any further retaliation against their workforce of 3,000 employees over discrimination complaints.
And the judge ordered administrators back to school, requiring Bay Pines director, Wallace Hopkins, his chief of staff and chief of medicine, to undergo "remedial instruction" on preventing workplace discrimination and retaliation.
Magistrate Judge Tom McCoun said his order is necessary because "discriminatory conduct" would continue without court intervention.
"Indeed, it appears that no changes have been made at all at Bay Pines VA in response to the verdicts in this case," McCoun's order said."
Baltimore-RO found Lacking in 14 out of 15 Areas
The VARO did not meet the requirements for 14 of the 15 operational areas reviewed and senior management acknowledged its workload was not under adequate control. The VARO Management team needs to provide additional oversight and training for responsible personnel processing claims identified as diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Haas cases. The team also needs to improve controls over: tracking veteran’s claims in Control of Veterans Records System (COVERS); establishing the correct dates on claims; correcting errors identified by VBA’s Systematic Technical Accuracy Reviews (STAR); completing Systematic Analysis of Operations (SAO) accurately and timely, safeguarding veteran’s personally identifiable information (PII) and VARO date stamps; handling claims-related mail; responding to congressional and other electronic inquiries; and, processing fiduciary activities.
Inspection of VA Regional Office Baltimore, MD
Report Number 09-01993-29, 11/19/2009 | Full Report (PDF)
The Benefits Inspection Program conducts onsite inspections at VA Regional Offices (VAROs) to review disability compensation claims processing and Veterans Service Center (VSC) operations.
The Baltimore VARO Management team faces multiple challenges in providing benefits and services to veterans, including numerous personnel issues and a loss of experienced staff needed to support the Disability Evaluation System joint project with the Department of Defense. The VARO did not meet the requirements for 14 of the 15 operational areas reviewed and senior management acknowledged its workload was not under adequate control. The VARO Management team needs to provide additional oversight and training for responsible personnel processing claims identified as diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Haas cases. The team also needs to improve controls over: tracking veteran’s claims in Control of Veterans Records System (COVERS); establishing the correct dates on claims; correcting errors identified by VBA’s Systematic Technical Accuracy Reviews (STAR); completing Systematic Analysis of Operations (SAO) accurately and timely, safeguarding veteran’s personally identifiable information (PII) and VARO date stamps; handling claims-related mail; responding to congressional and other electronic inquiries; and, processing fiduciary activities. We recommend the Under Secretary for Benefits assign a remedial action team to train and help support VSC operations. We recommended that the VARO improve oversight of the quality assurance process for the operational areas found lacking. We also recommended the VARO provide refresher training on the proper procedures to establish the correct date of claim and process fiduciary claims. The Under Secretary for Benefits concurred with our recommendation and assigned VBA’s Eastern Area Director to conduct bi-monthly performance briefings with VSC management. Also, the Compensation and Pension Service will conduct a follow-up site visit in June 2010. The Director of the Baltimore VA Regional Office concurred with all recommendations. The management team’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow-up as required on all actions.
Inspection of VA Regional Office Baltimore, MD
Report Number 09-01993-29, 11/19/2009 | Full Report (PDF)
The Benefits Inspection Program conducts onsite inspections at VA Regional Offices (VAROs) to review disability compensation claims processing and Veterans Service Center (VSC) operations.
The Baltimore VARO Management team faces multiple challenges in providing benefits and services to veterans, including numerous personnel issues and a loss of experienced staff needed to support the Disability Evaluation System joint project with the Department of Defense. The VARO did not meet the requirements for 14 of the 15 operational areas reviewed and senior management acknowledged its workload was not under adequate control. The VARO Management team needs to provide additional oversight and training for responsible personnel processing claims identified as diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and Haas cases. The team also needs to improve controls over: tracking veteran’s claims in Control of Veterans Records System (COVERS); establishing the correct dates on claims; correcting errors identified by VBA’s Systematic Technical Accuracy Reviews (STAR); completing Systematic Analysis of Operations (SAO) accurately and timely, safeguarding veteran’s personally identifiable information (PII) and VARO date stamps; handling claims-related mail; responding to congressional and other electronic inquiries; and, processing fiduciary activities. We recommend the Under Secretary for Benefits assign a remedial action team to train and help support VSC operations. We recommended that the VARO improve oversight of the quality assurance process for the operational areas found lacking. We also recommended the VARO provide refresher training on the proper procedures to establish the correct date of claim and process fiduciary claims. The Under Secretary for Benefits concurred with our recommendation and assigned VBA’s Eastern Area Director to conduct bi-monthly performance briefings with VSC management. Also, the Compensation and Pension Service will conduct a follow-up site visit in June 2010. The Director of the Baltimore VA Regional Office concurred with all recommendations. The management team’s planned actions are responsive and we will follow-up as required on all actions.
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