In 2012, The Heart Truth marks a decade of commitment to women’s heart health. During February’s American Heart Month, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) reaffirms its commitment to increasing awareness about heart disease among women and helping women take steps to reduce their own personal risk of developing heart disease.

One of the campaign’s signature American Heart Month activities, the Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, serves as a red alert to women that heart disease doesn’t care what you wear—it’s the #1 killer of women. With the generous support of celebrities and the fashion community, the Red Dress will take center stage on the runway again this February as the national symbol of women and heart disease awareness. While millions of women will be reached with NHLBI’s heart health message as a result of Red Dress Collection 2012, the real “heart” of the campaign—hundreds of Heart Truth partners, Champions, and individuals—will organize events and activities across the country to spread The Heart Truth.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/educational/hearttruth/

Clearance Career Fair

January 19, 2012
1-5PM EST

Visit: http://www.clearancecareerfair.com/ or

Contact: Kristina Saul- Military Spouse (Ret)
Virtual Event Producer
UBM Studios-Milicruit
Office- 505-552-3111
Kristina.Saul@UBM.com

VETERAN 2 VETERAN

The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 12 more veterans who may have received colonoscopies with unsanitary equipment at a VA hospital in in Miami, officials said.

In 2009, VA officials there notified 2,400 war veterans who could have been exposed while undergoing the routine procedure at the hospital since 2004, according to The Miami Herald, which first reported the additional exposures.

VA spokeswoman Mary Kay Hollingsworth said in a statement to AOL News that the hospital has notified 11 of the 12 additional veterans and expects to notify the last patient by Friday.

This is the third time in less than two weeks that VA officials have acknowledged that errors in medical cleaning practices may have exposed the country’s veterans to a host of potentially life-threatening infections.

In Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday, officials said a VA dentist failed to change gloves between patients, and could have exposed at least 535 veterans to infections between 1992 and July 2010. The unnamed dentist hasn’t seen patients since July 28, but a VA report, first obtained by the Dayton Daily News, found that employees had known for years that the dentist wasn’t following proper hygienic procedures.

” ‘I’ve seen him literally walk from his room with this patient’s denture in one hand, go across to another room, open this patient’s mouth with this denture of the opposite patient in his hand,’ one dental assistant told investigators,” according to testimony in the report.

Surgeries were put on hold Feb. 2 at the John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis when a routine inspection by officials there found water stains on medical equipment that indicated the instruments may have been contaminated.

Last July, officials at John Cochran notified 1,812 veterans that they could have been exposed to blood-borne infections, including HIV, at the center’s dental clinic because of improper cleaning practices there. In a statement to The Associated Press today, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki called the problem an “isolated” incident.

Peter Gaytan, the executive director of The American Legion, a veterans’ advocacy group, called the latest round of exposures “inexcusable” in a statement to AOL News today, but said they were coming to light, in part, because of better oversight from VA officials.

aol

WASHINGTON (Feb. 9, 2011)- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is
launching the first of a series of new and enhanced services supporting
family caregivers of seriously ill and injured Veterans.   In May 2010,
President Obama signed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health
Services Act of 2010 legislation authorizing VA to establish a wide
range of new services to support certain caregivers of eligible Post
9/11 Veterans.

“Caregivers make tremendous sacrifices every day to help Veterans of all
eras who served this nation,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki. “They are critical partners with VA in the recovery and
comfort of ill and injured Veterans, and they deserve our continued
training, support and gratitude.”

“DAV is happy to hear that caregivers of Veterans are getting additional
support and services to care for our Nation’s heroes and unprecedented
new services for our most recent severely ill and injured,” said David
W. Gorman, executive director of the Washington Headquarters of the
Disabled American Veterans.  “We understand there are challenges to
implementing the new law; including ensuring that critically ill and
injured Veterans of all eras are similarly supported.”

In addition to the new benefits and services for eligible Veterans who
were disabled in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001 (Post 9/11
Veterans), VA will also begin providing enhanced benefits and services
to caregivers of Veterans of all eras who are already enrolled in VA
care, including:

*      Access to VA’s toll-free Caregiver Support Line:  1-855-260-3274,

*      Expanded education and training on caring for Veterans at home,

*      Other support services such as counseling and support groups and
referral services; and

*      An enhanced website for caregivers.

Some of the  new benefits of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health
Services Act are restricted by law to the caregivers of the most
seriously ill and injured Post 9/11 Veterans.  Those additional benefits
include:

*      A monthly stipend,

*      Health care coverage,

*      Travel expenses, including lodging and per diem while
accompanying Veterans undergoing care,

*      Respite care; and

*      Mental health services and counseling.

VA will take the opportunity to report to Congress in the future on the
feasibility of expanding the enhanced services to family caregivers of
Veterans of all eras.

While some of these enhanced benefits are available now, many of the
other significant newly-enacted benefits will require the issuance of
regulations.  These additional benefits include monthly stipends, pay
for travel costs, medical coverage, training, counseling and respite
care designed to prevent institutionalization of Veterans whenever
possible.  The law requires detailed regulations for determining
eligibility, designating and approving caregivers, and providing
stipends and health care coverage to primary family caregivers.  The
complex process required to implement these regulations will provide
Veterans, caregivers and the general public the opportunity to provide
comments before those regulations are finalized.

“VA has supported caregivers of Veterans of all eras for almost eight
decades,” said Deborah Amdur of VA’s Care Management and Social Work
Service, “and we know from our experience and research that Veterans are
best served when they can live their lives as independently as possible
surrounded by caring family and friends.”

Each VA medical center has designated caregiver support coordinators who
will assist eligible Veterans and caregivers in understanding and
applying for the new benefits. VA also has a Caregiver Support Web page,
www.caregiver.va.gov <http://www.caregiver.va.gov> , which will provide
general information once final regulations are published.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the
creation of a new Office of Tribal Government Relations to ensure the
more than 200,000 Veterans who are American Indians, Alaska Natives,
Hawaiian Natives or are part of the Alaska Native Corporations receive
the VA benefits they have earned.

“There is a long, distinguished tradition of military service among
tribal peoples,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.
“VA is committed to providing these Veterans with the full range of VA
programs, as befits their service to our nation.”

About 200,000 Veterans are represented by the 800 tribal governments
officially recognized by the United States.  Although VA has long
provided benefits to Veterans in tribal lands, the new office will
further strengthen and expand that relationship.

Stephanie Elaine Birdwell, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation
from Oklahoma, has been selected as the office’s first director.  A
former social worker, she has spent nearly 15 years working on tribal
issues with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and, most recently, the Bureau
of Indian Education.

She will oversee a six-person office responsible for “establishing,
maintaining and coordinating a nation-to-nation, federal-tribal
relationship,” according to a VA briefing.

The office has a charter that officially extends to Veterans who are
American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Alaska Native
Corporations.