Veterans Benefits & Issues - Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek

Articles

360,000 Veterans May Have Brain Injuries (USA Today - 3/5/09)
Pentagon officials estimated for the first time Wednesday that up to 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered brain injuries. Among them are 45,000 to 90,000 veterans whose symptoms persist and warrant specialized care.

A Guide and an Ally (New York Times - 1/17/10)
Patti's Comments: Honest and sincere story about the importance of a guide dog to a returning veteran.

Can Virtual Worlds Provide Support to Military Amputees? (Reuters - 11/2/09)
Virtual worlds can provide military amputees with an opportunity to enhance their overall quality of life, expedite their reintegration into society, and improve their physical and mental wellness.

Disability Employment Month: Army Helping Wounded Warriers Find Jobs (Army.mil - 10/15/09)
This month the nation observes National Disability Employment Awareness Month and the Army Wounded Warrior Program is focusing on efforts to help more disabled veterans find employment.

Enabling Veterans to Care for Their Special Needs Children (The Hill's Congress Blog - 4/28/09)
Info from Rep. Bill Foster regarding Survivor Benefits, which typically can be transferred to a child. However, current law does not allow military retirees to designate Survivor Benefits to their special needs children through a “blind” special needs trust fund.

Group Relieves Veterans of Student Loan Burdens (NPR - 7-8-10)
Despite a new, more generous GI Bill, plenty of veterans have paid for college with little or no help from the government. Because the new measure isn't retroactive, these vets are mostly digging out of college debt on their own. One group is trying to help veterans pay off their student loans and get on with their lives.

High Court Lets Government Take Fee Awards for Clients' Debts (Law.com - 6/15/10)
Attorney fee awards under a major federal fee-shifting statute are paid to the client, not to the attorney, and can be offset to pay a client's debt to the federal government, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The Court's decision in Astrue v. Ratliff will affect primarily lawyers and law clinics who successfully represent clients seeking Social Security or veterans benefits and who earn fee awards under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

VA Hospital Upgrades Care for Female Vets (NPR - 2/8/10)
More than 230,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but many report that when they return from war, they face another battle at home: getting the care and respect they need at VA hospitals.

Veterans Turn to Online Strangers for Financial Help (NPR - 1/23/09)
A seriously burned veteran posted his story on the web when government compensation wasn't enough.

Publications

ADA: Know Your Rights (US Dept. of Justice)
You’ve been seriously injured while serving on active duty in the U.S. Military -- and now you’re back in the States trying to adjust to living with your injury. This publication explains your rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and provides information on where to get assistance.

VA Makes Filing Claims Easier and Faster for Veterans (US Dept. of Veterans Affairs - 6/15/10)
As part of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki’s effort to break the back of the backlog, the Department of Veterans Affairs is reducing the paperwork and expediting the process for Veterans seeking compensation for disabilities related to their military service.

Organizations & Services

Disability.Gov
Connecting the Disability Community to Information and Opportunities.
Much information about services, benefits and opportunities for affected veterans.

Military.com
This free membership connects servicemembers, military families and veterans to all the benefits of service — government benefits, scholarships, discounts, lifelong friends, mentors, great stories of military life or missions, and much more.

National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
Aims to advance the clinical care and social welfare of U.S. Veterans through research, education and training on PTSD and stress-related disorders.

National Resource Directory
An online partnership for wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans, their families and those who support them.

National Veterans Legal Services Program
A nonprofit organization dedicating to ensuring that the government honors its commitment to veterans.

Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC)
Cutting edge medical technology for soldier healthcare. Since its inception, TATRC has played a prominent role in developing advanced technologies in areas such as: health informatics; medical imaging; mobile computing and remote monitoring; and simulation and training.

Today's GI Bill
Service members and veterans deserve access to high-quality, postsecondary education. It eases the transition into civilian life and ensures lifelong economic and social benefits. Today’s GI Bill is designed to help you make the most of your education benefits by providing clear yet comprehensive guidance.

USA Together
A site to bring together injured service members who need assistance and the people who want to help them. Many other links found here offer aid for veterans.

VA Watchdog.org
Keeping an eye on the VA because somebody has to!

Veterans for America
Also known as Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), is uniting a new generation of veterans with those from past wars to address the causes, conduct and consequences of war.

Veterans Resource Center - from National Alliance on Mental Illness

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Learning and Memory in Combat Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (American Journal of Psychiatry)
The authors measured the intellectual functioning of 20 male combat veterans with PTSD.

National Center for PTSD (US Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
The Center aims to help U.S. Veterans and others through research, education, and training on trauma and PTSD.

PTSD and Older Veterans (US Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
How is it possible to have PTSD 50 years after a war?

PTSD is Real, PTSD Fraud is Not - Veterans Rebuttal to AP (Veterans Today - 5/9/10)
On May 1, the Associated Press printed an incomplete and inaccurate article about veterans who file disability claims against the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Without citing a source, AP wrote, “The problem: The [VA claims] system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.”

Veterans and PTSD (New York Online Access to Health - 7/17/10)
An abundance of resources related to family, Iraq, spirituality, treatment and women veterans.

Veterans Affairs to Relax PTSD Evidence Requirements (ABC News - 7/10/10)
Calling post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries the “signature injuries of today’s wars,” President Obama announced in his weekly address that on Monday the Department of Veterans Affairs will make it easier for veterans to get the benefits they need. For related article, see "New Disability Benefits Regulations for Veterans with PTSD."

Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress are at High Risk of Dementia (USA Today - 7/09)
Veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a significantly higher risk of developing dementia compared with veterans who don't have the disorder, a study reports

Websites, Blogs, Newsletters

Patience Mason's PTSD Blog
A blog about the realities of PTSD from the wife of a Vietnam vet, Robert Mason, who wrote the book, Chickenhawk, a memoir of his tour as a helicopter pilot, who came home with PTSD.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health)
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat.

PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within
While a wide variety of events can trigger what's called post-traumatic stress disorder, this PTSD blog focuses solely on the combat-related variety. As a new generation of warriors returns to civilian life and seeks out resources, PTSD Combat is here to help.

Veterans Family Matters
A newsletter to keep you updated on VA related issues, to provide interesting articles concerning veterans, and to share information relevant to Veterans and to their families.

Veteran's Traumatic Brain Injury Family Caregiver Panel to be Established - Brain Injury News and Information Blog
The Department of Defense gave notice that it intends to establish the Traumatic Brain Injury Family Caregiver Panel as a subcommittee of the Defense Health Board.