[poochee]

Veterans in Pioneer Homes caught in dispute over meds
They say it's a safety issue.
By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
Published: November 3rd, 2009 10:26 PM
Last Modified: November 4th, 2009 08:04 AM

Military veterans living in the state-run Alaska Pioneer Homes are losing out on free or low-cost prescription benefits they are entitled to for serving their country because two medical bureaucracies can't seem to figure out how to get VA drugs to them.

The problem -- mostly about the packaging the medicines come in -- affects those veterans who need help from staff to take their meds.

Instead of pill bottles, the Pioneer Homes want the medicine to come in blister packs -- foil on one side, plastic on the other, name of pill and patient on the package, with each pill ready to be individually popped out.

http://www.adn.com/life/health/story/998763.html

[poochee]

Shinseki cites plight, plan to help homeless veterans
By Ed O'Keefe and Garance Franke-Ruta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Department of Veterans Affairs laid out Tuesday an ambitious five-year goal of curbing the number of homeless veterans, pledging $3.2 billion to an issue that is more rapidly affecting those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars than by any from past conflicts.

"No one who has served this nation as veterans should ever be living on the streets," VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said.

Roughly 131,000 of the nation's 24 million veterans may be homeless on any given night, and about twice as many are homeless each year, according to VA estimates. About 3 percent of homeless vets served in Iraq or Afghanistan, but a 2007 study by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found that they become homeless faster than do other veterans. While homeless Vietnam veterans first spent, on average, five to 10 years trying to readjust to society, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans can end up homeless within 18 months, the study said.

Excerpts from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...src=newsletter

[poochee]

Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009
WWII female pilots to be honored
By Blair Anthony Robertson | The Sacramento Bee

Dorothy Goot and the thousand or so other women who served as pioneering pilots during World War II have been largely lost in history.

Goot and three other surviving members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots will be recognized during a Veterans Day celebration today at Veterans Memorial Plaza at Mather, site of the now-closed Air Force base. The theme will be "Women in the Military," and the event will include a speech by Brig. Gen. Mary J. Kight, assistant adjutant general for the California National Guard.

Excerpts from: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/78678.html

[eggplant43]

VA Undersecretary Stepping Down:

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3462

[poochee]

Originally Posted by eggplant43

VA Undersecretary Stepping Down:

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3462