Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Special Medical Advisory Group disabled Vet Health

I know we can not travel to DC, yet it is important that you put your
comments to them, in writing. venus said.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Special Medical Advisory Group; Notice of Meeting

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public
Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Special Medical
Advisory Group will meet on May 14, 2007. The meeting will be held in
Room 830 at VA Central Office, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
The meeting is open to the public.

The purpose of the Group is to advise the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs and the Under Secretary for Health on the care and treatment of
disabled veterans, and other matters pertinent to the Department's
Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The agenda for the meeting will include discussion of environment
of care, polytrauma/medical evaluations, an update on information
technology, and women veterans health.

Any member of the public wishing to attend should contact Juanita
Leslie, Office of Administrative Operations (10B2), Veterans Health
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs at (202) 273-5882. No
time will be set aside at this meeting for receiving oral presentations
from the public. Statements, in written form, may be submitted to
Juanita Leslie before the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting.

Dated: April 10, 2007.

By direction of the Secretary.
E. Philip Riggin,
Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-1878 Filed 4-16-07; 8:45 am]

Advisory committee OIF/OEF Families

This year, the Government asswer to problems to create a committe to
talk about the problem. Oh, there are meetings and minutes are taken
and testimony written and verbal are collected. At the end, the documentation
disappears from the web and the listed office is closed. Making it next to
impossible for the Public find out what was said. Information on other
Advisory Committees have been losted at the National Archives. Delay, Conceal
and Deny is what occurs in the end. With American short attention span it is
forgotten. Jagmedic said.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families; Notice of
Meeting

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public
Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Advisory Committee
on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families will meet on May 14-16, 2007, at The
Hilton Alexandria Old Town, 1767 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia.

The purpose of the Committee is to advise the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs on the full spectrum of health care, benefits delivery and
related family support issues that confront servicemembers during their
transition from active duty to veteran status and during their post-
service years. The Committee will focus on the concerns of all men and
women with active military service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and/or
Operation Enduring Freedom, but will pay particular attention to
severely disabled veterans and their families.

The agenda for the May 14-16 meeting will include briefings by
senior officials of the Veterans Health Administration, Veterans
Benefits Administration, and National Cemetery Administration on VA
programs and policies that particularly affect OIF/OEF veterans. Other
presentations will focus on the ongoing activities of VA's Office of
Seamless Transition, and deliberations of the Joint (VA-DoD) Executive
Council. The May 16 session will be devoted to Committee discussion of
its general workplan, possible site visits to VA facilities, and future
meeting dates.

The meeting will include time reserved for public comments.
Individuals wishing to make oral statements must pre-register not later
than May 9, 2007 by contacting Tiffany Glover via e-mail
tiffany.glover@ va.gov, and by submitting a 1-2 page summary of their
statements for inclusion in the official record of the meeting. Oral
statements by the public will be limited to five minutes each and will
be received at 3 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on May 15, and at 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on
May 16. The public may also submit written statements for the
Committee's review to the Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and
Families (008), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20420.
Any member of the public seeking additional information should
contact Ronald Thomas, Esq., Designated Federal Officer, at (202) 273-
5182.

Dated: April 25, 2007.

IOM on Brain Injury on Gulf War Vets

I bet less than a dozen know that you can write to the IOM.
the problem is that those with this disfuction are unable
to express their cognitive problems in writing at all.
So I ask the friend and family memebers to write for them.

This injury changes the servicemen/women personality
usual for the worst. Add more confusion and disorganization.

----- Original Message -----
From: GULFWARANDHEALTH
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:07 PM
Subject: The Committee on Gulf War and Health: Brain Injury in Veterans and
Long-term Health Outcomes


To Whom It May Concern,
The Committee on Gulf War and Health: Brain Injury in Veterans and Long-term
Health Outcomes will be holding an open session during its first meeting on May
8th from 1-4pm in the NAS Building Room 250.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Building
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW ,Washington, DC 20418
(202) 334-2000
Thanks and have a lovely day.
Regards,
Gulf War and Health Staff

Gulf War Vets life with Mild Brain Damage

What if the soldier just passes out for a few minutes or an hour? That often happens when the brain is shaken against the skull, and stops working temporarily.


Detecting 'subtle' damage
Right now, the procedure calls for the soldier to be checked out for a day at most and returned to duty.

“Most of the pressure comes from the soldiers to go back to duty,” Dr. Phillip Cuenca, an Army anesthesiologist who is interested in the issue, told me. “The commander has to meet the mission, so if that soldier can still walk and carry out orders and is physically able, it is certainly reasonable for him or her to return to duty.”

Col. Alan Bruns, a surgical consultant, told me that the military remains concerned about subtle brain damage from explosions. New practice guidelines were recently issued for doctors in the field to recognize tiny neurological changes in the troops.

“We want safety, not only for our soldiers who have experience with IEDs, but for their peers as well,” Bruns said. “It doesn’t help their peers to have a comrade come back who has been sort of dazed by an IED. We want to make sure they’re taken care of properly.”

Cuenca and many others point out that more research is necessary to find ways to detect these subtle neurological signs that can be difficult to differentiate from fatigue, stress or headache that you or I might feel.

Any long-term effects on tens of thousands of veterans of this war will, of course, take years to discover. Many experts, including those at the VA, worry they could be widespread.

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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350373/