Posts from January 2010 by Douglas Karr, U.S. Navy Veteran

Following a judge’s order in a lawsuit initially filed by seven veterans suffering from PTSD, the military has agreed to review the benefits extended to combat vets who are dealing with the disorder. The lawsuit suggested that the seven vets were denied benefits over a six-year period, which ended in late 2008, by the military because they had been diagnosed with PTSD.

Now almost 5,000 letters are being sent to veterans to notify them of an “opt-in” period [now until July 24^th] during which they can file suit against the military, much like the seven veterans who originally filed. Attorneys for the seven vets believe that “millions of dollars” could be paid to vets following a review of benefits.

The USNS Comfort arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday to assist the Haitian people in the wake of a 7.0 earthquake that all but destroyed the port city. USNS Comfort personnel were faced with a constant procession of wounded, some brought by helicopter and some carried on board on stretchers.

Lt. Cmdr. Dan D’Aurora, the director of the USNS Comfort’s receiving ward and an officer in the ER at Bethesda, Maryland’s National Naval Medical Center, told the Baltimore Sun that he had seen “more patients in six hours” than he generally sees in a typical day.

Best known as the founder of the largest Mexican fast-food chain Taco Bell, Glen W. Bell Jr. died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease since 1986 though the cause of death has not been released, he was 86.

"Glen Bell was a visionary and innovator in the restaurant industry, as well as a dedicated family man," Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell, said in the statement posted on the Taco Bell Web site.

According to a December 23^rd press release from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, the DoD has awarded the facility with a $3.4 million dollar contract that will fund face transplants for U.S. military veterans that sustained facial injuries while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The DoD estimates that a minimum of 200 veterans may qualify for a face transplant procedure.

One of two contracts awarded by the DoD as a part of a new proposal to incorporate pioneering medical procedures into conventional practice, the funding will cover the cost of between six and eight face transplants within the next year and a half. This could potentially double the total number of face transplants performed in our country since the very first, accomplished about four years ago.

A hot topic that has been reoccurring throughout the veteran community for years now is the issue of adequate and sufficient support. Support in all areas: medical, physiological, emotional and so on. Recently VA hospitals across the country have been digging into this topic and making significant headway in recognizing veteran’s needs.

Providing service to more than 4,000 veterans throughout Utah, Colorado, Nevada and Idaho, Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Health Care System is on the forefront of offering ample services to veterans. This clinic is establishing new programs and protocol in hopes that no vet will slip through the cracks.