What's New
| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
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| March 9 VCS Weekly Update |
This week’s VCS update keeps you in the loop with news on issues you care about. One good change – our weekly news updates won’t ask you for money. Instead, our news updates point you to news articles at our web site. We hope you will read them and share the important facts with your friends. This week's update includes news about VA and suicides, VCS on CNN, our VCS FOIA campaign, VA automating Agent Orange claims, a waterboarding torture video, and Gulf War veterans' benefits. |
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| Federal Court Keeps Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld Alive |
What's Waterboarding? Watch Video of Torture March 5, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Associated Press) - A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. [Rumsfeld served at the Pentagon under former President George W. Bush.] |
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| Reducing Suicides: VA Adopts Policy on Emergency Care for Mental Health Patients |
This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive provides policy to ensure the provision of safe and secure mental health services during all hours of operation for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in VHA |
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| Senator Hutchison Supports Gulf War Research at University of Texas Southwestern |
Texas Senator Calls VA Decision ‘Vindication’ for Gulf War Veterans February 28, 2010 - (Press Release) U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison released the following statement concerning the Department of Veterans Affairs decision to reconsider the rejected claims of Gulf War veterans: |
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VA Kicks Off Innovation Competition, Seeks Ideas to Resolve Claim Backlog Nighmare
Written by Bob Brewin
Friday, 11 September 2009 10:03
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September 10, 2009 - Last month, President Obama suggested the Veterans Affairs Department tap its employees for ideas on how to cut the claims backlog at the Veterans Benefit Administration. Today, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki kicked off the "Innovation Competition," open to VA employees on an internal Web site. Shinseki said "The men and women of VA know that many Veterans are often asked to wait too long for the critical services they have earned while defending our Nation." He added that VA "employees who grapple with the claims process every day have the first hand knowledge and experience necessary to help us understand inefficiencies and improve the system. We are confident that our team will come forward with many creative and original ways to accelerate processes and better deliver services for our nation's Veterans." Meanwhile, for anyone who likes to count, the number of education claims pending as of this Monday - two weeks into the fall semester - has hit 276,704. Last week's total was 254,657 and a year ago, when the VA did not have to deal with claims under the new GI Bill, the total was only 66,261.
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