New unit at Portsmouth medical center

This is a good idea, but only 13 BEDS??? WTF?? What are they thinking,  we are only sending 13 injured folks to the Portsmouth area??

–D/C

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A new unit being created at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center will allow injured sailors and Marines to live near their doctors and therapists while recovering.

The 13-bed unit called The Patriots’ Inn will include office space for Navy liaisons, disability counselors and representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those offices were previously scattered throughout the medical campus.

Officials say the 18,500-square-foot facility will $3.3 million and is expected to open next June. The living quarters will be more like hotel accommodations than hospital rooms.

The unit will serve those who suffer wounds in Iraq or Afghanistan and sailors recovering from noncombat injuries. It will also serve military members who need temporary housing before they are processed out of service for their injuries.

President Bush helps with New Walter Reed Hospital Groundbreaking.

Bush seeks new start for troubled hospital

BETHESDA, Md. — President Bush helped break ground Thursday for a new military medical center to replace Walter Reed hospital, whose reputation was soiled by allegations of shoddy care for war veterans.

Bush didn’t talk about the institution’s problems, instead lauding the work of the military medical staff. The new Walter Reed National Medical Center will merge the duties of the existing Army facility in Washington, which came under harsh criticism last year, with the operations of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

“You soothe the pain and fear of patients, you console families who keep constant vigil over their loved ones, you share the joy of a neurology patient’s first recovered words and an amputee’s first steps,” Bush said at the groundbreaking ceremony in Bethesda.

“When required, you can show tough love, but you also like to remind patients that laughter is the best medicine,” Bush said. “And we look forward to the day when the joy of recovery echoes through the halls of a new medical facility that will be built here.”

When construction is completed in 2011, the 6.7 million-square-foot facility will have 345 beds. It will merge the resources of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and make it easier for medical professionals from the three services to collaborate and treat patients.

The image of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which had already been listed for closure in 2005, was tainted by news of squalid conditions and inadequate outpatient care. The disclosures stunned the public, outraged Capitol Hill and forced three high-level Pentagon officials to step down.

Bush met with soldiers once housed in Building 18, who endured moldy walls, rodents and other problems that went unchecked until reported by the media. Bush later apologized to troops, saying that the problems at Walter Reed were caused by bureaucratic and administrative failures.

At the groundbreaking, Bush didn’t criticize Walter Reed, saying only that the new complex will benefit from the work done by the Dole-Shalala wounded warriors commission, which issued recommendations for modernizing and improving the nation’s military health care system. Bush created the commission, led by former Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, President Clinton’s secretary of health and human services, to make recommendations following the Walter Reed disclosures.

The facility in Washington first opened in 1909 as Walter Reed General Hospital, named after Maj. Walter Reed, an Army physician and research scientist credited with discovering that mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. The hospital became famous over the years for its care of war veterans, as well as presidents, senators and foreign leaders.

In Bethesda, Bush was joined by military officials and U.S. troops for the outdoor event at the naval hospital, which was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in the early years of World War II. Roosevelt, Bush said, called the military surgeons, nurses, scientists and technicians the “anonymous heroes” of the war.

“More than six decades later, our nation is engaged in a very different battle for our freedom, yet our success still relies on these anonymous heroes — the heroes who care for the troops, those troops who keep the American people safe,” Bush said.

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

The AP has reported that Congress has passed the War Spending bill which includes the new GI BILL funding as well.  The Bill will also hwlp with funding the Folks who have been hit by the floods in the mid-west.
Read Below.

Bipartisan accord reached on war funding bill

WASHINGTON — President Bush would win $162 billion in long-overdue funding to carry out military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year under a bipartisan agreement sealed on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

The agreement reached between House Democrats and Republicans and the White House — if passed into law as expected — would finally put to rest Bush’s long-standing battles with congressional Democrats over war funding.

House passage of the bill, expected Thursday, would also pave the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest, a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for the longtime jobless and a big boost in GI Bill college for veterans.

The latest installment of war funding would bring to well over $600 billion the amount of money provided by Congress to conduct the unpopular war in Iraq. It would also give Bush’s successor several months to set Iraq policy after taking office in January — and spares lawmakers the need to cast another war-related vote closer to Election Day.

House Democratic and Republican leaders announced the agreement Wednesday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., withheld an outright endorsement but through a spokesman praised several key elements of the deal.

“This is an agreement that has been worked out in a bipartisan way that I think is acceptable to both most Democrats and most Republicans,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

White House Budget Director Jim Nussle signaled Bush would sign the measure.

“It meets the needs of the troops; it doesn’t tie the hands of commanders in the field,” Nussle said. He also said the spending levels in the bill stayed within Bush’s demands. The latter claim was a stretch since the measure will carry new GI Bill benefits, as well as additional unemployment payments that Bush had threatened to veto.

But the agreement drops restrictions on Bush’s ability to conduct the war and gives him almost all of the funding he sought well over a year ago for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House — and Capitol Hill Republicans — had signaled greater flexibility in recent weeks after Democrats orchestrated impressive votes to more than double GI Bill college benefits and give a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for people whose benefits have run out.

In late-stage talks, Democrats dropped a provision to pay for the GI college benefits by imposing a half-percentage point income tax surcharge on incomes exceeding $500,000 for singles and incomes over $1 million earned by married couples. They also dropped a plan to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with particularly high unemployment rates.

Democrats and governors across the country emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled.

The war funding bill had bedeviled Democratic leaders for months. Its passage has become more urgent with looming furloughs next month of civilian employees and contract workers.

Conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats are upset that the new GI Bill benefits, with costs tentatively estimated at $62 billion over the next decade, will be added to the deficit instead of being “paid for” as called for under House rules.

“We know the day of reckoning is coming,” said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., who called the measure “totally irresponsible.”

The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of World War II and more than doubles the value of the benefit — from $40,000 today to $90,000.

Full details of the nuts and bolts of the measure won’t be released until Thursday.

But Nussle said the measure would provide $2.6 billion in additional disaster aid to replenish accounts already being tapped to deal with the terrible flooding across the Midwest.

It also contains $5.8 billion sought by Bush for next year to build levees and other flood control projects around New Orleans.

The bill is slated to be considered under an unusual procedure in which funding for the war would be voted on separately from the GI Bill, unemployment insurance extension and other domestic measures, such as additional funding for the glitch-plagued 2010 census.

The procedural setup allows anti-war Democrats to avoid votes to fund the war while still ensuring the money advances to Bush on his terms. In a vote last month, House Democrats tried to force Bush to begin troops withdrawals within 30 days with a goal of full withdrawal of combat troops within 18 months. The Senate easily killed the idea.

VA Care for Women found lacking…

Study sees discrepancies in VA care for men, women

By KIMBERLY HEFLING – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care for female military veterans lags behind the care offered to male vets at many VA facilities, an internal agency report says, even as women are serving on front lines at historic levels.

There are clear needs for more physicians trained in women’s care and more equipment to meet women’s health needs, said Friday’s review by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

It did add that strides are being made, such as creating onsite mammography services and establishing women’s clinics at most VA medical centers. The department also is attempting to recruit more clinicians with training in women’s care.

For now, female veterans aren’t getting the same quality of outpatient care as men in about one-third of the VA’s 139 facilities that offer it, the report said. That appeared to validate the complaints of advocates and some members of Congress who have said more emphasis needs to be placed on women’s health.

Women make up about 5 percent of the VA’s population, but that is expected to nearly double in the next two years.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said women veterans have complained about the lack of women’s restrooms and private changing areas in some VA centers. Others have complained about the scarcity of women-only group counseling options.

“There’s a definite feeling of isolation,” Rieckhoff said. “There’s a definite feeling that they’re a minority and that big Army and big VA are still trying to understand their issues.”

Any discrepancies in care are unacceptable and the agency is aggressively addressing the issue, said Dr. William E. Duncan, associate deputy undersecretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We’re striving to understand the reason for these health disparities and to eliminate differences in veterans health care based on personal characteristics,” Duncan said.

Delphine Metcalf-Foster, 65, an Army veteran from the Persian Gulf War, still laughs when she recalls the first day she stepped into a VA waiting room in 1991 and the physician called out for “Mr. Metcalf.”

“I knew he was talking about me, but I wouldn’t move,” said Metcalf-Foster, a member of the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans in Vallejo, Calif. “Of course, they weren’t used to women there.”

Despite that, Metcalf-Foster said, she thinks the VA has listened to the concerns of women like her, and has adapted as more women have sought care.

Silva Royer, 64, a Vietnam-era veteran who volunteers at the VA center in Biloxi, Miss., said she would like to see the VA reach out to more women veterans and encourage them to take advantage of the health care — particularly mental health help — to which they are entitled.

“I still think they still look at the VA as, that’s where my grandpa went,” Royer said.

Overall, women make up about 14 percent of the U.S. Armed Forces. Of the 1.7 million troops who have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 190,000 — or about 11 percent — are women.

The VA’s review noted that other studies have found better surgical outcomes and decreased mortality for women at VA hospitals compared to women who receive care under the Medicare Advantage Program or under private care. And, performance of breast and cervical cancer screening exceeds that of commercial and some government plans.

Data were not available to compare the inpatient quality of care between men and women.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who is on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement that the findings confirm what she has been hearing from women veterans for years.

She encouraged passage of legislation that would, among other things, force the agency to do comprehensive studies of women veterans’ care and conduct a pilot program providing child care for veterans seeking mental health care.

Among the other findings of new report:

_Older and younger veterans appear to be receiving the same quality of care;

_About 86 percent of homeless veterans seen by VA received primary care, mental health care and/or substance abuse services;

_About 98 percent of appointments were completed within 30 days in primary care clinics and about 97 percent were completed during that period at specialty clinics;

_Overall quality of care appears to be good when reviewed using commonly accepted health care benchmarks;

_Minority veterans surveyed were generally less satisfied with inpatient and outpatient care than white veterans, but it wasn’t clear if the quality of care offered was different. A more comprehensive study of care for minority veterans is expected to be complete this summer.

• Disabled American Veterans: http://www.dav.org/
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: http://www.iava.org/

Army Wants “STOP-LOSS” until 2009

AP report from the San Francisco Chronicle.

(04-21) 13:35 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) –

It will be more than a year before the Army can end the unpopular practice of forcing soldiers to stay in the service beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates, a top official said Monday.

Lt. Gen. James D. Thurman, deputy chief of staff for operations, said he hoped that wartime demand for troops will decline enough by around the fall of next year to end “stop-loss.” He said there are more than 12,000 currently serving under the practice — an action that critics have called a “backdoor draft.”

Thurman also said that as officials continue to increase the size of the Army, it could be possible by the fall of 2011 for troops to be home two years for every year they are deployed.

The two issues of stop loss and long tours of duty have been among the Pentagon’s most disliked practices among troops. Thousands have been forced to stay in the service beyond their contracts since the start of the global war on terrorism. And tours of duty were increased to 15 months from 12 months a year ago so the Army could come up with the extra forces President Bush ordered for the troop buildup in Iraq.

Now that most of the extra troops are being drawn down by the end of July, Bush early this month ordered the tours cut back to 12 months, a move Thurman said would help the Army begin to restore its balance.

“We want to reduce the strain and stress on our soldiers and our families,” he told a Pentagon news conference.

There are currently 17 Army combat brigade teams deployed — 15 in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Two are scheduled to come out of Iraq in the drawdown.

Though that allows officials to shorten tour lengths, it will be a while before they also can end stop-loss, he said.

“As the demand (for troops) comes down, we should be able to get us weaned off of stop-loss … it’s our intent to do that,” Thurman said.

“But the demand exceeds supply right now,” he told a Pentagon news conference.

He said he hoped, but couldn’t promise, that if demand stabilized at around 15 brigades, the use of stop-loss could be ended by the end of budget year 2009, or beginning of budget year 2010.

Those currently being held even though their service is supposed to be finished include more than 6,800 active-duty Army, about 3,800 in the Army National Guard and close to 1,500 in the Reserves, he said.

The high tempo of operations in recent years has not only strained troops and increased separations and stress on their families, but prevented troops from training for the full range of possible operations. They have focused training on counterinsurgency operations and neglected other skills because counterinsurgency is what’s needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Though the Pentagon is expected to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan sometime next year, Thurman said he had not been asked for such troops.

“Could that happen? Yes,” he said.

The United States now has about 31,000 troops there — the most since the war began in October 2001 — and also has been pressing the allies to contribute more.

Air Force not doing enough for the War Effort –SECDEF

Breaking news on MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24238978/

Air Force must do more for war, Gates says

Pentagon chief: Getting aircraft to Iraq, Afghanistan ‘like pulling teeth’

AP–WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Air Force is not doing enough to help in the Iraq and Afghanistan war effort, complaining that some military leaders are “stuck in old ways of doing business.”

Gates complained in a speech at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., that getting the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to Iraq and Afghanistan has been “like pulling teeth.”

The Pentagon chief praised the Air Force for its overall contributions but made a point of urging it to do more and to undertake more creative ways of thinking about helping the war effort.

He said he has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, like the pilotless Predator drone that provides real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield.

“Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it’s been like pulling teeth,” Gates said. “While we’ve doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough.”

To push the issue harder, Gates said he established last week a Pentagon-wide task force “to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line.”