Department of Veterans Affairs - LVMAC

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Adalberto Morales Introduces Us to Suicide Prevention Services

Adalberto Morales, one of two Suicide Prevention Coordinators at Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center (VAMC), gave an outstanding talk to the Council at its 15 May business meeting. His sole purpose is to help those contemplating suicide to get to needed help, no matter where – within the VA system or within the community. Together with Denise Carey, they operate 24/7 and are busy.

Morales affirmed suicide has become a serious problem for veterans and it is a problem for more than those who have more recently served, the focus of most media articles. He has witnessed an increase among Vietnam era veterans as they retire also. As a result, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates since 2010, a suicide occurs every 11 to 15 minutes (or about 105 suicides daily). Consequently, suicide has risen from the fifteenth to the tenth leading cause of death in the United States.

Making matters worse, the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania are already known for their high suicide rates in their populations. The Wilkes-Barre VAMC has 35 active cases currently being closely monitored, but over the last year, there have been six ‘completions’ and more than 60 “serious attempts” at suicide have occurred – “ideations” being in the hundreds. Therefore, the Wilkes-Barre VAMC Coordinators alternate to provide a 24/7 service, the only ones in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system to do so other than those in the national Crisis Call Center. (more…)

By LVMAC, 13 years ago

LVMAC NEWS

LVMAC News — Veterans, Reservists and the National Guard Should Worry About a Pennsylvania Payday Lending Bill

In this Issue

Pending Payday Lending Legislation: A Debt Trap for Military Veterans
General Announcements
Homelessness
Scholarship Program
Community Educational Outreach
PTSD Booklet for Families
Healthcare in Our Community
Veterans Supportive Colleges Initiative
DoD/VA News

Pending Payday Lending Legislation: A Debt Trap for Military Veterans

Go to the Forward Observer article on payday lending to read what Kerry Smith told the Council at its 20 March business meeting. (more…)

By LVMAC, 13 years ago

LVMAC NEWS

LVMAC News — Dr. Bhatia Speaks About the VA’s Mental Health Efforts

WILKES-BARRE VA MEDICAL CENTER SAYS IT IS PAYING MORE ATTENTION TO MENTAL HEALTH AND RECOVERY

Dr. Aruna Bhatia, Chief of Mental/Behavioral Health Services spoke to the Council at its business meeting on 19 December on the advances in care by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In an honest and straightforward talk, she stated there has been a focus on mental health over the last decade and a lot of work done in recovery, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and suicide prevention, albeit with some stumbling along the way. (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Cutting the Red Tape from Veterans’ and Survivors’ Pensions — Somewhat

VBA CHANGES EVR REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Besides seeming to signal lately the transition in nomenclature from the poorly named Disability Pension and the Death Pension to the terms Veterans’ Pension and Survivors’ Pension respectively, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has gone on to do something truly significant in this benefit area which is worthwhile to our veterans and their survivors: preventing the unnecessary interruption of monthly payments over the failure to file a report on time. The new procedure also applies to Parents Dependency Indemnity Compensation (Parents DIC) because it too is income-based and is, therefore, essentially a pension in the VA’s lingo. (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Heads Up … VA Seeks to Expand TBI Benefits

VA SEEKING TO PROMULGATE A REGULATORY CHANGE IN HOW IT HANDLES SECONDARY ILLNESSES

On 7 December 2012 (Pearl Harbor Day), the Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing to change its disability compensation rating rules to add five diagnosable illnesses which are secondary to service-connected Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It would improve the timeliness of decisions. To accomplish this, the VA proposes to add a new subsection to its adjudication regulation by revising 38 CFR 3.310 to state that if a Veteran who has a service-connected TBI also has one of the five illnesses, then the illness will be considered service connected as secondary to the TBI. (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

LVMAC NEWS

LVMAC News — McKenrick Talks About a New VA Regional Office

In This Issue:

The New Director of the Philadelphia VA Regional Office Introduces Himself to the Council
Community Educational Outreach’s Journey of Discovery Reaches Its End
Changing Our Stripes in Employment
Health Care in Our Community is at a Critical Stage in Its Development
Adam Keys Smart Home Build May or May Not Continue
A New Program Director Has Been Found for the Visitation Program
LVMAC is on a Mission to Recruit All the Area’s Universities and Colleges
Finally, Something Significant Out of State Government

The New Director of the Philadelphia VA Regional Office Introduces Himself to the Council

Robert McKenrick, the relatively new Director of the newly reorganized Philadelphia VA Regional Office of the Veterans Benefits Administration, spoke to the Council at its business meeting on 21 November. He brought along Eileen Kostic, Manager of the Veterans Service Center, and Leroy Saunders, a Military Services Coordinator. Mr. McKenrick is a current war veteran from the Army Reserve.

Recently what was known as the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center (VARIOC) split (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — The Lejeune Matter, Some Good News Finally?

U.S. Senate Finally Steps In

For months there has been a hold-up in the passage of an omnibus veterans benefits bill in Congress, H.R. 1627, but this time to the good. The bill had started life providing only “…for certain requirements for the placement of monuments in Arlington National Cemetery …”, evolved into The Honoring Americans Act of 2011 from the House and finally emerged, mutated, from the Senate as the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012. What idiot said bill ‘riders’ are bad? (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

Tidbits

LVMAC Tidbits — DAV Van Driver Wanted

Wilkes-Barre VA Volunteer Transportation System Seeks Bangor Clinic Driver

The Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council needs the help of the community in finding volunteer drivers for the Northampton County (Bangor) Department of Veterans (VA) Affairs Outpatient Clinic. The use of this free transportation service, manned by volunteers, for medical appointments at the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center is important to the care of veterans in the upper Northampton County area.

Leonard Croop, the Hospital Service Coordinator for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center, is seeking at least one driver to continue the van service begun in 2007. Otherwise, the service must cease. (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Why We Need a State Dept. of Veterans Affairs, an Example

Veterans Are Getting Short Rations in the Governor’s Budget

District 8 of the VFW has once again resolved we need a Department of Veterans Affairs not stuck under the National Guard. Our Chapter 415 of the Vietnam Veterans of America has just passed their own resolution. We have heard District 30 of the American Legion also recently passed a similar resolution and other districts like Districts 14 and 19 are also interested in the subject. Perhaps these grassroots districts, will change the American Legion thinking at state level later in the year. The state VFW and Military Order of the Purple Heart organizations have been an advocates for a separate department for a while. The time has certainly come to change the Commonwealth’s manner of dealing with veterans affairs.

As an example, while the proposed executive budget for 2012-2013 just submitted by Governor Corbett increased general funding support to the Ft. Indiantown Gap itself, the veterans community has lost appropriated funding once again. This was after the Department of Veterans and Military Affairs (the National Guard) decided to offer up about $6 million in savings through staffing reductions and other efficiencies in the State Veterans Home Bureau after a management review — and after about another projected $7 million in state veterans homes savings this fiscal year. (more…)

By LVMAC, 14 years ago