As the leading voice for the post-9/11 community, IAVA continues to create awareness on issues and topics impacting our community. Below are articles and news sources from the past week:

Friday, October 23

VETERAN NEWS COVERAGE

ConnectingVets.com: Veterans Affairs surpasses 70,000 total COVID-19 cases, 3,800 deaths as active cases surge

By Abbie Bennett

The Department of Veterans Affairs surpassed 70,000 total COVID-19 cases and 3,800 deaths as active cases surge past 5,000 for the first time since early August.

Washington Post: Virus shutdowns took a grim toll on amputee veterans who died by suicide, families say

By Alex Horton

The reasons for suicide are complex and not always known to those left behind, often involving mental health issues, alcohol and substance abuse, financial issues or relationship troubles. But family and friends of the veterans said they believe isolation, triggered by the pandemic, played a role in the three deaths. The men had found second acts by doing things like helping fellow veterans, public speaking and returning to school. Those pursuits, which helped them rediscover purpose and mission, ended abruptly for each of them — and accelerated those veterans into tragedy, friends and family said in interviews with The Washington Post.

ConnectingVets.com: Former VA nurse pleads guilty to stealing dying veterans’ morphine

By Abbie Bennett

Kathleen Noftle, 55, of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was a nurse in the hospice unit at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bedford. She pleaded guilty to “one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge.

GovExec: Veterans Affairs Secretary Headlines GOP Fundraiser as COVID-19 Cases Surge

By Isaac Arnsdorf

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie headlined a fundraiser for the North Carolina Republican Party last week, taking time away from his job leading the government’s second-largest agency at a moment when COVID-19 cases are surging in VA hospitals.

Military.com: 660 Crosses at American Legion Post to Bring Awareness to Veteran Suicide Problem

By Jennifer Timar (AP)

Each day 22 new crosses are installed. The number is based on a 2013 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study that estimates about 22 veterans committed suicide each day between 1999 and 2010.

MyChesCo: VA Creates National Women Veterans Oncology System of Excellence in Fight Against Breast Cancer

By Staff

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it is developing a National Women Veterans Oncology System of Excellence through research, partnerships precision oncology and teleoncology that will provide women Veteran oncology patients with cutting edge care and access to potentially lifesaving clinical trials.

Thursday, October 22

VETERAN NEWS COVERAGE

ProPublica: Veterans Affairs Secretary Headlines GOP Fundraiser as COVID-19 Cases Surge

By Isaac Arnsdorf

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie headlined a fundraiser for the North Carolina Republican Party last week, taking time away from his job leading the government’s second-largest agency at a moment when COVID-19 cases are surging in VA hospitals.

Washington Post: Virus shutdowns took a grim toll on amputee veterans who died by suicide, families say

By Alex Horton

As coronavirus restrictions unfurled a dangerous mix of depression and anxiety, the scourge of suicide cut through a tiny community of amputee veterans in recent months, claiming at least three in a group where isolation is already a potent risk factor.

Stars & Stripes: VA plans to outsource all compensation and pension exams

By Nikki Wentling

The Department of Veterans Affairs is eliminating its in-house compensation and pension exam program and will outsource all of the exams, which are crucial to determining whether veterans are eligible for VA benefits. In a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie on Tuesday, Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., said the plan was developed with no notice to Congress.

Stars & Stripes: VA officials refuse to participate in Senate hearing on landmark veterans health care law

By Steve Beynon

Officials for the Department of Veterans Affairs declined to participate Wednesday in a Senate hearing about the progress in implementing the Mission Act, a law passed two years ago to help improve health care for veterans. “I scheduled this hearing because of my dissatisfaction with the pace of Mission implementation,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said at the hearing. “While VA officials were invited to participate in today’s hearing…the department chose to decline.”

Marine Times: Active coronavirus cases among VA patients up more than 70 percent in 30 days

By Leo Shane III

Active coronavirus cases among Veterans Affairs patients are up more than 70 percent in the last month and now sit at their highest level since early August, according to data released by the department this week.

Healio: VA strategy may effectively identify veterans at risk for suicide

By Joe Gramigna

A suicide risk identification strategy appeared effective at identifying veterans who were not receiving mental health treatment, according to results of a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open.

Mother Jones: Trump’s VA Is Trying to Scare Off Whistleblowers During the Pandemic

By Matt Cohen

The VA’s latest attempt to intimidate whistleblowers isn’t so secretive: The agency is now sending emails to employees warning them about whistleblowers and encouraging them to report suspected whistleblowers.

Wednesday, October 21

VETERAN NEWS COVERAGE

ConnectingVets.com: 2020 veteran suicide data report delayed, VA says it’s coming later this year

By Abbie Bennett

As of Oct. 20, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ annual report on veteran suicides is a month late compared to last year, and department officials so far aren’t saying when it will be released. 

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-California, sent a letter to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie last week, saying he was “dismayed” that the report was delayed since the department usually releases it during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. 

*Also reported in Military Times

The Hill: House Republicans push VA for details on recent data breach

By Maggie Miller

Republican members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday pushed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for answers about a recent data breach that exposed personal details of at least 46,000 veterans. 

Stars and Stripes: Promotion rates and issue as VA, union spar over treatment of black employees

By Nikki Wentling

White employees who applied for management positions at the Department of Veterans Affairs were promoted at twice the rate of Black workers, according to VA data released last week.

Bloomberg Law: Landmark Ruling Allowing VA Class Actions Affirmed by Fed. Cir.

By Holly Barker

Class actions remain a viable option for veterans who wish to challenge systemic delays in VA claims processing, although hundreds of thousands of veterans awaiting resolution of pending disability claims don’t have enough in common to pursue a class action against Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Tuesday.

Military Times: Here are the 181 veterans running for Congress this year

By Leo Shane III

This year, 181 veterans are running for Congress in 162 House and Senate races spread around the country. That number is a slight increase from the 173 veteran candidates who won major political party primaries in 2018.

NPR: Will Veterans Vote For Trump This Year?

By Quil Lawrence

Exit polls showed that President Trump won the votes of military veterans by a big margin in 2016. So will veterans this time around return the president to office? Here to discuss that and the administration’s record on veterans issues is NPR’s Quil Lawrence.

McClatchy: Hundreds of Iraq, Afghanistan veterans volunteer as poll workers to protect the vote

By Tara Copp

Hundreds of military veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are volunteering as poll workers to help voters this election and to take the place of older poll workers who are at greater risk from COVID-19.

Tuesday, October 20

IAVA NEWS COVERAGE

ConnectingVets.com: IAVA seeking to re-invent Veterans Day with virtual parade

By Julia Ledoux

IAVA will host a Facebook live event Tuesday to discuss its upcoming and first of its kind Support America’s Veterans (SAV) March, a virtual nationwide parade set for Nov. 11. The organization seeks to empower, unite and connect Post-9/11 veterans through its programs and services. IAVA Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Butler and Chief Operating Officer Sean Ullman will hold a Facebook Live event to provide details about the virtual march Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST. 

VETERAN NEWS COVERAGE

Stars and Stripes: Trump signs veteran suicide prevention measures into law

By Nikki Wentling

President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that contains dozens of methods to prevent suicide among veterans, including measures to boost mental health research and staffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs and establish a multimillion-dollar grant program for state and local groups.

NJ.com: Feds are sending doctors, nurses to aid N.J. veterans homes where almost 200 have died

By Susan Livio

Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that doctors and nurses from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will spend the next month at two of New Jersey’s veterans nursing homes, where 190 residents died from the coronavirus.

Associated Press: Murphy installs new leader at military, veterans department

By Staff

Gov. Phil Murphy dismissed New Jersey’s top military commander after a coronavirus outbreak hit the state’s three veterans homes resulting in 146 deaths.Col. Lisa Hou takes over immediately from Major Gen. Jemal Beale, Murphy said in a statement.

*Also reported in Military Times

TechTarget: VA CIO: COVID-19 has accelerated digital projects

By Makenzie Holland

James Gfrerer, assistant secretary for information and technology and VA CIO, said COVID-19 forced him to rely on his team to focus on long-term digital projects, such as the VA’s ongoing migration to a new Cerner EHR, while he turned his attention to more immediate IT needs, such as enabling physicians and support staff remote access to systems.

Federal News Network: VA cooking up new guide of CX strategies, training institute for its own employees

By Nicole Ogrysko

Customer experience is a tried and true business practice at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the agency is preparing to soon share some of its recipes for success with other agencies. To summarize and capture some of the lessons it and other agencies have learned in recent years, VA will soon publish a customer experience “cookbook,” department officials said last week.

The Hill: Veterans launch pro-law enforcement super PAC with battlegrounds ad buys

By Jonathan Easley

The nonprofit arm of Fight For Our Heroes will engage in advocacy on behalf of issues important to first responders, while the super PAC will back pro-law enforcement candidates across the country. The group has a seven-figure budget this year and has its first digital ads running in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Monday, October 19

IAVA NEWS COVERAGE

Hays Post: President signs Moran’s veterans mental health, suicide prevention bill

By Staff

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Jon Tester of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee—today applauded President Donald Trump’s historic signing of their landmark Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act into law. “Battling veteran and military suicide has been, and remains, a very personal priority for our organization, and we greatly appreciate the incredibly bipartisan response to this national crisis.” said Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America CEO Jeremy Butler. 

Military Times: Plans for vets suicide prevention training, new three-digit emergency mental health crisis line signed into law

By Leo Shane III

President Donald Trump on Saturday signed into law a pair of bills designed to help prevent veterans suicide, including a measure to establish a new three-digit national crisis line similar to 911 for mental health emergencies. “The innovative approaches they take in the Hannon Act are what is needed at this point in the veteran suicide crisis,” Jeremy Butler, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to ensure that this groundbreaking legislation is fully implemented.”

JD Supra: Cannabis Client Alert

By Kathryn Ashton and Eric Berlin

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a major military veterans group and advocate for expanding cannabis research, is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to hear its case challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) classification of cannabis under federal drug schedules. In its amicus brief filed with the court, IAVA asserts that the existing scheduling status of cannabis inhibits research and studies that may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

VETERAN NEWS COVERAGE

Military.com: VA Hires White Employees to Management at Nearly Twice the Rate of Blacks, Union Says

By Patricia Kime

Minority hiring for management positions within the Department of Veterans Affairs has increased over the past three years, but white applicants continue to get jobs at nearly twice the rate of Black or Asian applicants, according to data released Thursday by the American Federation of Government Employees. They also get promoted to management nearly twice as often.

Florida Daily: Florida Congressmen Urge Donald Trump to Have VA Respect Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights

By Kevin Derby 

Greg Steube, R-Fla., a veteran and member of the. House Veterans Affairs Committee, lead a letter signed by more than 20 Republicans to President Trump calling on him to make sure the Department of Veterans Affairs does not infringe on Second Amendment rights. “Currently, veterans who have been assigned a fiduciary are determined by the VA to be financially incompetent and are treated as persons prohibited from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm. This rule wrongfully assumes that those who need assistance managing their VA benefits are unfit to own a firearm,” Steube’s office noted.

Healio: Payment reforms reduce dialysis costs for veterans and improve access to care

By Melissa Webb

A series of payment reforms implemented by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans with end-stage kidney disease were found to reduce costs for dialysis sessions. These reforms also led to improved access to treatments without any notable changes in care quality, according to the researchers.

Colorado Gazette: Gardner intends to seek VA hospital for Colorado Springs

By Michael Karlik

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner announced that he will support a new veterans’ hospital in Colorado Springs to help serve the estimated 83,000 veterans living in El Paso County. “Based on conversations with the VA and staff here and through the region, it is critically important that we build a new VA hospital in Colorado Springs,” said Gardner.