Physical Well-Being
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VA turns to foster care for veterans instead of putting them in nursing homes
Type of content: News
Ralph Stepney’s home on a quiet street in north Baltimore has a welcoming front porch and large rooms, with plenty of space for his comfortable recliner and vast collection of action movies. The house is owned by Joann West, a licensed caregiver who shares it with Stepney and his fellow Vietnam War veteran Frank Hundt.
“There is no place that I’d rather be. . . . I love the quiet of living here, the help we get. I thank the Lord every year that I am here,” Stepney, 73, said.
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There are 3,142 counties in the US. This one has zero veterans.
Type of content: News
Veterans live in all but one of the 3,142 counties across the U.S., according to a recent data analysis ― only the smallest in the nation comes up short.
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VA lets doctors use telemedicine to cross state lines
Type of content: News
Veterans Affairs healthcare providers will now be able to use telehealth and virtual technology to administer care to patients in other states, despite licensing restrictions, the VA announced May 11, 2018.
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In veterans, even a mild case of traumatic brain injury is linked to an increased risk of dementia
Type of content: News
Mild traumatic brain injury may sound like an oxymoron, along the lines of "jumbo shrimp" or "random order." But a new study shows that mild TBIs can have serious consequences for military veterans by raising their risk of dementia.
Researchers who examined the medical records of more than 350,000 Americans who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan found that men and women who experienced at least one mild TBI were more than twice as likely as their uninjured peers to develop dementia after they retired from the military.
- Topics
- Mental Health
- Physical Well-Being
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Shoulder-fired weapons can cause traumatic brain injuries, study finds
Type of content: News
Military personnel who have trained with heavy weaponry may have been exposed to blasts that cause traumatic brain injury, a newly published study claims.
Emerging evidence presented in a May Center for New American Security report suggests that extensive use of shoulder-fired weapons like the Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle, the M72 LAW or the AT4 exposes service members to “overpressure” of the brain, the effect when a blast wave traveling faster than the speed of sound causes a ripple of the skull, generating additional pressure on the brain.
- Topics
- Mental Health
- Physical Well-Being
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Predicting Suicidal Ideation in Veterans With Chronic Pain
Type of content: News
A number of factors, including chronic pain co-occurring with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain interference, may predict suicidal ideation and violent impulses in US veterans with chronic pain, according to a study published in the Journal of Pain.
For this study, data on pain variables, traumatic brain injury (TBI), clinical diagnoses, drug abuse and suicidal ideation were collected through self-reports of 667 US veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, and active-duty personnel with chronic pain who had served in these organizations since September 11, 2001.
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U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Team Up to Simplify Student Loan Discharge Process for Disabled Veterans
Type of content: News
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Education (Department) has partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make it easier for America’s disabled veterans to have their federal student loans discharged.
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Recognizing Women Veterans with PTSD: A Small But Growing Population
Type of content: News
There are an estimated 200,000 women currently serving in active duty in the armed forces and this number is expected to grow.1
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Memory deficits found in veterans exposed to close proximity blasts
Type of content: News
A recent study by the Boston VA Healthcare System suggests that veterans who experienced a blast from a close distance perform worse on memory and recall tests.
- Topics
- Mental Health
- Physical Well-Being
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Burn pits downrange caused lung disease in service members, court rules
Type of content: News
Service members and private military contractors who worked around “burn pits” downrange, and later suffered from lung and respiratory issues, may soon get a breath of fresh air.
- Topics
- Benefits
- Legislation
- Physical Well-Being
- VA
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