Only time will tell.
Ohterwise
Here is a news release from the VA hotline dated December 15, 2003
Jonathan B. Perlin, and Kilmer S. McCully were honored at this year's Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS) awards conference. Established in 1891 by an act of Congress, AMSUS is the premier medical society of federal agencies and leads the way in ontributing to the improvement of all phases of federal health care. Jonathon B. Perlin, VA's Deputy Undersecretary for Health, won the Richard A. Kern award for his lecture entitled "Prevention: Using Advanced Technologies to Improve the Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Humanity of Health Care." Similarly, Dr.McCully, Boston VA Medical Center's Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medical
Services, received the Edward Rhodes Stitt award for his lecture on hemocysteine, vitamins, and the prevention of vascular disease.
Congratulations to these two accomplished VA health leaders.

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

From the VA hotline...this is in it's 3rd year.
This report addresses the first task of developing an analytical framework for assessing risks, which would encompass the risks of adverse health effects from battle injuries, including those from chemical- and biological-warfare agents, and non-battle-related health problems such as infections, pathogen-and vector-borne diseases, exposure to intoxicants, and psychological and physical stress. The presumed spectrum of deployment ranged from peacekeeping to full-scale conflict. The recommended framework for risk assessment of threats to deployed U.S. forces is composed of three phases, which are characterized by the timeline of deployment: ongoing, deployment, and post-deployment.
Framework for Phases of Risk Assessment: Ongoing Strategic Baseline Preparation
· Reintegration of troops
· Data archiving
· Continuing health surveillance
· Population analyses of exposure effects
· Evaluation of lessons learned
Recommendations
§ Develop an explicit list of objectives, such as those described in this re-port, for efforts to protect the health and safety of deployed forces and to periodically assess progress in meeting the objectives.
§ Strive to examine and reexamine as warranted all the effects of a given hazardous agent or threat, not only the effects that were first known, including risks posed by low exposures that could eventually lead to chronic illness.
§ Continue to conduct research on methods to address different magnitudes, durations, patterns, and co-exposures that might be encountered during deployment.
§ Develop risk-assessment methods to characterize and predict effects of psychological and physical stress in potentiating or exacerbating the physical, chemical, and biological effects of hazardous agents or threats and as hazards in their own right.
§ Examine patterns of c-oexposure to various threats; because deployment is characterized by many simultaneous exposures, develop methods to assess possible effects of combinations of threats and their interactions with stress; and develop methods to identify the combinations that should receive further scrutiny based upon biological considerations, because they are peculiar to specific kinds of deployment, or because of particular DoD responsibilities.
§ Make special efforts to identify previously unrecognized hazards by examining deployment activities and settings for potential threats and by identifying scenarios that might lead to hazardous exposures.
§ As an aid to decision-making in emergencies related to particular hazardous substances, compile and make readily accessible the exposure levels and durations at which people are expected to begin to suffer progressively severe effects.
§ Conduct expert analyses before deployment to update general scenarios with case-specific details for quick application by field commanders.
§ Conduct research on developing appropriate biological markers of exposure and effect for surveillance of exposures that are of particular relevance to the deployment setting.
§ As part of the tracking of troops’ exposures and activities, DoD should consider the effectiveness of collecting and archiving biological samples, in addition to sera, from troops and environmental samples before, during (if war-ranted and feasible), and after deployment.
§ Conduct annual health evaluations of reserve and active-duty personnel to obtain baseline health information, as recommended in the companion IOM report addressing medical surveillance.
Develop an explicit framework for risk-management decision-making that would use information obtained from the application of the risk-assessment framework.

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

KEEP IT UP.

FOR MORE HOT NEWS.

VA to Survey Gulf War Veterans' Health. The survey, called the Longitudinal Health Study of Gulf War Era Veterans, is a follow-up to one conducted in 1995-1996 on the health of 30,000 veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War. http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/PressArtInternet.cfm?id=709

English-Only Work Rules on the Rise. A lawsuit against cosmetics-giant Sephora is just one of many cases popping up across the country alleging that employers are prohibiting workers from speaking their native language on the job. http://www.hirediversity.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=14020

National Holiday Sought to Honor Native American Contributions. A call for Congress and the President to designate the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day. http://www.indiancountry.com/?1071588168

Accommodating Epilepsy. An employee who has epileptic seizures was hired three months ago. The employee takes medication for the condition. The employee had not disclosed this information at the time of hire. What are the company's legal obligations to this employee? http://www.workindex.com/legal

Thurmond's Legacy. She is a proud woman. She is Black. And she is Strom Thurmond's daughter. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8274-2003Dec17.html

MSU Scientist Promoting Arab-American Cooperation. A Montana State University scientist is proposing new cooperation between American and Arab researchers, and development of an Arab science program modeled on a U.S. approach that has helped rural states like Montana vault ahead scientifically. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3602413/

Institute of Medicine Creates Web Site for Veterans. The IOM has created a new Internet Web site with information about a variety of military-related health issues. http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/PressArtInternet.cfm?id=710

Maryland and EEOC Partner to Promote Hiring and Advancement of People With Disabilities. Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Cari Dominguez signed a resolution this week aimed at enhancing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities nationwide in state government. http://www.eeoc.gov/press/12-16-03.html

Sitting Bull College Educates and Promotes Culture. Shortly after earning a law degree, Ron His Horse is Thunder, great-great-great grandson of Sitting Bull, quit his job at a Rapid City law firm and returned home to the Standing Rock Reservation. Today he is president of Sitting Bull College. http://www.indiancountry.com/?1071692148

EEOC and the Palm Resolve Inquiry Into Recruiting and Hiring Practices. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Palm Management Corporation, which manages The Palm Restaurants, have announced the resolution of an EEOC Commissioner's Charge, ending a nationwide investigation focusing on past recruitment and hiring practices. http://www.eeoc.gov/press/12-17-03.html

Foreign-Born a Majority in Six U.S. Cities. Foreign-born people constituted the majority in six cities of 100,000 or more population in 2000 - two of them in Florida and four in California, according to an analysis of census results by the U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/census_2000/001623.html

Panel Delays Suggestions On Closing Down Seven VA Hospitals. A federal commission weighing whether to shut down seven Veterans Affairs hospitals is delaying its recommendations, most likely until early next year. http://www.fendonline.com/federaldaily/index.htm#18c

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

KEEP UP THE IMPORTANT WORK.

Well I am starting my vacation today December 23rd at 4:00 and will be off until January 2nd. Since I had to take the internet out of my house, due to my 12 year old child getting addicted to it, I will not be able to monitor this site. So I hope someone will heep it on the 1st page! There is a lot of good information available.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

We'll do our best.

FOR DAVE

FOR DAVE...

FOR DAVE...

Free software to aid poor doctors
By Alfred Hermida

Free software developed to care for US Vietnam War vets could help provide better healthcare in poor countries.
A group of open source evangelists are looking to take the program called Vista beyond the borders of the US.
They say hospitals could save money by using the free software, as well as potentially saving patients' lives.
Open source is a way of creating software that allows others to see the core of a program so that they can freely modify and adapt it.
"You could have a complete hospital information system available for free," said Joseph Dal Molin, a director of WorldVista, a non-profit corporation that aims to make affordable healthcare information technology available worldwide.
The group is working on adapting the Vista software for use in developing countries.
War legacy
The Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, (Vista), was created by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
The program is used in 170 hospitals and 600 clinics to keep track of thousands of Vietnam vets. The Indian health service and several other medical centres outside the US also use it.
The expense comes from replicating something across hospitals. If you are using a commercial application, it would cost a lot of money
Joseph Dal Molin, WorldVista
"People looking after the vets can easily call up all the medical records using one program," Mr Molin told BBC News Online.
"It has been used for medication management," he explained, "reducing errors in giving people the wrong drugs by 90%."
The appeal of having a unified computer system that can provide quick and easy access to patient records is obvious.
But for developing countries, the cost of such a system can place a huge drain on already stretched healthcare resources.
Mr Molin said this was one of the main attractions of using an open source program like Vista, as there are no upfront costs for the software or license fees to pay.
"It doesn't cost you $10m for something as complex as this. It wouldn't cost a lot of money to do an entire country," he said.
"The expense comes from replicating something across hospitals. If you are using a commercial application, it would cost a lot of money."
Software hurdles
Open source is widely seen as a way of helping the poorer nations bridge the digital divide by providing software at a fraction of the cost of commercial programs.
But countries which have tried out open source in areas such as education have found it tricky to implement and maintain as they often lack the technical expertise in this area.
Mr Molin admitted that turning Vista into a reliable computer system that could be easily used in different cultures and languages was a challenge.
"We are now working to make it easier to implement," he said. "Our goal is to make it much easier to adapt and we are already talking to Malaysia about running a pilot programme there.
His group is hoping to foster an international community of doctors and programmers who will work on the software and adapt it to their local needs.

BBC News Online, 12/19/03

Dave Barker

YOU GOT IT...HAVE A HAPPY!!

FOR DAVE...

There are several factors that are involved to become a veteran. It is not just serving on active duty for a limited period and being discharged. There are multiple hundreds of thousands who joined the military/naval services who do not meet the requirement to become a veteran.
Many who joined the reserves, did their six months active duty for training, followed by two weeks a year for six years do not meet the criteria to be known as a veteran. They are known as former reservists.
The VA has found several former reservists who worked their way into free healthcare by enrolling with credentials designed to fool the eligibility clerk. Slowly but surly they are being caught and charged the maximum rates for the prior care received.
We have had one pretender caught twice in the system. He has only Social Security as income. Due to changes in the law, the VA will recoup that money from his Social Security check. He had been warned twice he was receiving VA Healthcare as an ineligible. Twice he re-enrolled. There will not be third time.
Is this fair? I think so. He joined the reserves which was his choice. He avoided being called up during the Vietnam war. He made his choices, now he must pay for his choices of using VA Healthcare after being caught twice as ineligible.
Things have changed.
My job is to represent those who have served this nation. In 2004 I pledge my 100% effort to represent those who have earned the title “Veteran.”

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

KEEP UP THE IMPORTANT WORK, DAVE.

Dave's infamous cut & paste
WASHINGTON (Dec. 22, 2003) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is including a 2.1 percent increase in the disability benefit payments that millions of veterans and dependents will receive at the end of December.
President Bush authorized an increase matching the increase in Social Security rates by signing into law the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2003.
"These benefits are a reflection of countless sacrifices ranging from peacetime injuries to wartime service," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi said. "Cost-of-living increases for veterans and their survivors ensure strong programs that keep pace with their needs."
The new rates apply to benefits earned in cember. VA benefit payments routinely are made at the beginning of the month following the one in which they are earned, but with the New Year's Day holiday, checks or direct deposits will generally be received on Dec. 31.
Those receiving the increase include 2.5 million veterans awarded compensation for disabilities sustained or made worse during their military service, as well as 347,000 wartime veterans who are totally disabled from civilian-life causes and who receive a pension under an income-based program.
The increase also will go to 337,000 spouses, children and parents of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected condition, and
another 231,000 who are served by an income-based program for survivors of wartime veterans.
Most veterans and survivors will receive their increased VA compensation or pension through direct deposit, which VA encourages because of its speed and security.

I will cast no stones!

Dave Barker

THANKS FOR SOME MORE GOOD NEWS...

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