Company C, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment in Haiti
Major aftershock brings panicked evacuation at hospital
By Megan McCloskey, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 21, 2010
Megan McCloskey / Stripes
Soldiers help carry a patient shortly after the earthquake hit Port-au-Prince Wednesday morning. Patients had to be evacuated from the buildings and then lined up in a manner so doctors could attend to them.
Megan McCloskey / Stripes
Sgt. Willie Green, left, elevates the broken leg of an 8-year-old boy after he and other patients were moved out of the hospital buildings after the earthquake hit Port-au-prince Wednesday morning. Pfc. Anthony Invzitari, right, helps. PREVIOUS STORY: 82nd Airborne bringing calm to chaos at Port-au-Prince hospital
See Stripes reporter Megan McCloskey's Twitter reports from Haiti here.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Wailing echoed around the hospital here after another earthquake hit Wednesday around 6 a.m, sending doctors and relatives of the injured into a panic to get patients out of the shaking buildings and onto the street.
They frantically carried patients out on hospital beds, in rolling chairs and in their arms, as the U.S. military tried to maintain some semblance of order in the moments following the 5.9-magnitude temblor, the strongest of the dozens of aftershocks to hit in the last week.
The soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, who are tasked with securing the hospital, jumped in to help, donning blue latex gloves, carrying patients and sending their medics to attend to patients.
As a doctor used a bullhorn to tell the patients what was happening, soldiers, two on each end of the hospital beds, started spreading the patients out into a line so doctors could get to them. Others ran into the building to carry out supplies.
In the early morning light, many patients were sitting forlorn on pieces of cardboard. Some started swaying and singing. Others wore the blank expression of shock and resignation. Two men got into a shoving match. And off to the opposite side, one body laid on a mattress covered in a yellow blanket.
Outside the pediatric ward, parents were sitting on the ground holding their quiet, injured children, many of whom had bandages wrapped around their heads or covering the remaining part of an amputated limb.
At the time of the quake, at least three women were in labor. In the middle of a crush of patients, an aid worker rushed to get masks on the doctor and nurses as one woman delivered on a hospital bed right outside the door of the building. Then the medical crew ran to another woman.
“This is a breech baby! I can’t deliver a breech baby on this bed!” a doctor shouted with frantic emotion cracking her words as a nurse hurriedly tied a new blue gown around her.
There were calls for supplies: “I need two pieces of rope. And scissors!”
“I’ve got scissors,” an aid worker with a flashlight taped to his ball cap responded, running over to the bed where nurses were trying to better position the pregnant woman for a difficult delivery.
They turned to the Army, pleading with them to get an obstetrician to the site. A soldier ran off to ask the captain.
Before the quake, the hospital crews had been working largely in the dark throughout the night. Vanessa McAlmon, a nurse from New York, said she was dressing a large leg wound when the tremor happened.
“The building started to shake and the residents panicked,” she said. “Family members started to cut, cut people out of their tractions and carry them out of the building.”
Staff Sgt. Julio Escareno was securing a condemned building when the quake hit.
“I was pointing out the point you can’t go past when it started shaking and we started running,” he said.
Company C’s medics started tending to patients, fighting through the language barrier, as family members standing over the hospital beds waved away the flies.
An 8-year-old boy with a broken leg was crying when Sgt. Willie Green went over to see if he could help. With Pfc. Anthony Inzitari comforting the boy, Green inspected the leg. He ran to go find something — anything — to splint the leg.
Inzitari sighed and said softly: “This is horrible.”
Green had no luck with a splint but was able to find something to elevate the injured leg, and through a translator the young boy said that made him feel better.
A relative calm started to fall over the patients as some semblance of order was restored. But returning to the hospital was going to be a challenge.
“Every time they feel an aftershock they do not want to go back in,” McAlmon, the New York nurse, said. “They’re scared. You know how long it’s going to take us to get them to go back inside?”
Thursday, January 21, 2010
President Obama’s Afghanistan Plan in 4 Minutes
Below link to video of speech.
President Obama’s Afghanistan Plan in 4 Minutes
The main points of President Obama’s plan for Afghanistan as delivered on December 1, 2009 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (Public Domain)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/president-obama-s-afghanistan-plan-4-minutes
President Obama’s Afghanistan Plan in 4 Minutes
The main points of President Obama’s plan for Afghanistan as delivered on December 1, 2009 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (Public Domain)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/president-obama-s-afghanistan-plan-4-minutes
VA Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans
VA Announces Study of Vietnam-Era Women Veterans
On November 18, Secretary, Eric K. Shinseki, announced VA's launching of a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health.
For additional information regarding the study, please contact Dr. Tracey Serpi, by phone at (410) 642-2411, extension 6122, or by email at tracey.serpi@va.gov.
Special Monthly Compensation
Did you know you may be eligible for a special monthly compensation? VA broadened its coverage of special monthly compensation for women Veterans who suffered loss of breast tissue related to their military service. The benefit covers those losing 25 percent or more tissue from a single breast or from both breasts in combination. It includes loss by mastectomy or partial mastectomy, or following radiation treatment. In addition to breast tissue loss, special monthly compensation rates also apply when a Veteran experiences loss of a reproductive organ or its use. Women Veterans with service-connected breast tissue loss who are not receiving the special monthly compensation should contact VA (1-800-827-1000) to find out if they are eligible.
Click on the link for additional information on the special monthly compensation: http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/benefits/factsheets/serviceconnected/smc.doc
Lioness
Lioness, a documentary that takes an intimate look at war through the eyes of U.S. military women, follows five female support soldiers who served together for a year in Iraq supporting Marine Corps units in direct ground combat. PBS will air an encore showing on June 2, 2009. Check your local listings for channel and time. http://www.lionessthefilm.com
VA Links
1. VA Women Veterans Health Care
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/womenshealth/
2. 25 Most Frequently Asked Questions and Responses
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/docs/25FAQs_web_version.pdf
3. Center for Women Veterans Fact Sheet
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/docs/CWV_Fact_Sheet_Final_August_2008.pdf
4. Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=67
5. Reports of the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=54
6. National Summit on Women Veteran's Issues
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=70
7. Statistics on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=53
Center Mission
In November 1994, Public Law 103-446 established the Center for Women to monitor and coordinate VA's administration of health care and benefits services and programs for women Veterans. The Center serves as an advocate for a cultural transformation (both within VA and in the general public) in recognizing the service and contributions of women Veterans and women in the military, and in raising awareness of the responsibility to treat women Veterans with dignity and respect. The Director, Center for Women Veterans, acts as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on all matters related to policies, legislation, programs, issues, and initiatives affecting women veterans.
Director, Center for Women Veterans
Irene Trowell-Harris, RN, Ed.D
Associate Director, Center for Women Veterans
Betty Moseley Brown, Ed.D.
On November 18, Secretary, Eric K. Shinseki, announced VA's launching of a comprehensive study of women Veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam War to explore the effects of their military service upon their mental and physical health.
For additional information regarding the study, please contact Dr. Tracey Serpi, by phone at (410) 642-2411, extension 6122, or by email at tracey.serpi@va.gov.
Special Monthly Compensation
Did you know you may be eligible for a special monthly compensation? VA broadened its coverage of special monthly compensation for women Veterans who suffered loss of breast tissue related to their military service. The benefit covers those losing 25 percent or more tissue from a single breast or from both breasts in combination. It includes loss by mastectomy or partial mastectomy, or following radiation treatment. In addition to breast tissue loss, special monthly compensation rates also apply when a Veteran experiences loss of a reproductive organ or its use. Women Veterans with service-connected breast tissue loss who are not receiving the special monthly compensation should contact VA (1-800-827-1000) to find out if they are eligible.
Click on the link for additional information on the special monthly compensation: http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/benefits/factsheets/serviceconnected/smc.doc
Lioness
Lioness, a documentary that takes an intimate look at war through the eyes of U.S. military women, follows five female support soldiers who served together for a year in Iraq supporting Marine Corps units in direct ground combat. PBS will air an encore showing on June 2, 2009. Check your local listings for channel and time. http://www.lionessthefilm.com
VA Links
1. VA Women Veterans Health Care
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/womenshealth/
2. 25 Most Frequently Asked Questions and Responses
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/docs/25FAQs_web_version.pdf
3. Center for Women Veterans Fact Sheet
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/docs/CWV_Fact_Sheet_Final_August_2008.pdf
4. Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=67
5. Reports of the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=54
6. National Summit on Women Veteran's Issues
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=70
7. Statistics on Women Veterans
http://www1.va.gov/womenvet/page.cfm?pg=53
Center Mission
In November 1994, Public Law 103-446 established the Center for Women to monitor and coordinate VA's administration of health care and benefits services and programs for women Veterans. The Center serves as an advocate for a cultural transformation (both within VA and in the general public) in recognizing the service and contributions of women Veterans and women in the military, and in raising awareness of the responsibility to treat women Veterans with dignity and respect. The Director, Center for Women Veterans, acts as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on all matters related to policies, legislation, programs, issues, and initiatives affecting women veterans.
Director, Center for Women Veterans
Irene Trowell-Harris, RN, Ed.D
Associate Director, Center for Women Veterans
Betty Moseley Brown, Ed.D.
Secretary Shinseki Releases Hospital Report Card
Secretary Shinseki Releases Hospital Report Card
December 9, 2009
Transparent Look at Quality and Safety Gives VA High Marks
WASHINGTON – For the second consecutive year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a “hospital report card” as part of VA’s effort to provide the public with a transparent accounting of the quality and safety of its care.
“This report demonstrates VA’s determination to be open and accountable,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “As a health care organization, transparency of information is essential to providing quality care for our Veterans.”
In addition, for the first time, data from both the 2008 and 2009 reports will be available to the public in machine-readable format on Data.gov. To empower Veterans and the public at large to track quality, safety and access to Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities, VA’s hospital report cards include raw data on care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, and patient satisfaction and outcomes.
VA issued its first facility-level report on quality and safety in May 2008. As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to open government and accountability, VA highlights its rigorous quality programs and actions taken to address the issues VA identified from the last report.
The report gives the health care system high marks, with VA facilities often outscoring private-sector health plans in standards commonly accepted by the health care industry.
“Patient-centric care is our mission,” said Shinseki. “As Secretary, I am committed to continuing to meet and surpass our high standards of care each and every day.”
In addition to allowing VA to demonstrate the quality and safety of its care, the report card provides opportunities to enhance health services.
Some of the marked improvements that VA showed in 2009 include:
• Smoking cessation counseling provided to 89 percent of Veteran patients, a 6 percent improvement from 2008; and
• Among all ages at risk, 94 percent of Veterans received a pneumonia immunization, a 4 percent improvement.
The report notes there is more to be done for women Veterans. To address this priority and provide women Veterans with the highest quality care VA has implemented several initiatives, such as placement of women advocates in every outpatient clinic and medical center, and creating a “mini-residency” program on women’s health for primary care physicians.
The report also found minority Veterans are generally less satisfied with inpatient and outpatient care than other Veterans. In addition to targeting outreach efforts to these Veterans, a minority Veteran program coordinator has been placed in every medical center.
“VA’s hospital report card will become a valuable resource of information for Veterans, stakeholders and the department.” said Shinseki. “It will allow VA’s health care system to be forward looking and focused on advancement.”
VA’s 2008 and 2009 hospital report cards can be found at http://www.va.gov/health/HospitalReportCard.asp.
December 9, 2009
Transparent Look at Quality and Safety Gives VA High Marks
WASHINGTON – For the second consecutive year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a “hospital report card” as part of VA’s effort to provide the public with a transparent accounting of the quality and safety of its care.
“This report demonstrates VA’s determination to be open and accountable,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “As a health care organization, transparency of information is essential to providing quality care for our Veterans.”
In addition, for the first time, data from both the 2008 and 2009 reports will be available to the public in machine-readable format on Data.gov. To empower Veterans and the public at large to track quality, safety and access to Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities, VA’s hospital report cards include raw data on care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, and patient satisfaction and outcomes.
VA issued its first facility-level report on quality and safety in May 2008. As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to open government and accountability, VA highlights its rigorous quality programs and actions taken to address the issues VA identified from the last report.
The report gives the health care system high marks, with VA facilities often outscoring private-sector health plans in standards commonly accepted by the health care industry.
“Patient-centric care is our mission,” said Shinseki. “As Secretary, I am committed to continuing to meet and surpass our high standards of care each and every day.”
In addition to allowing VA to demonstrate the quality and safety of its care, the report card provides opportunities to enhance health services.
Some of the marked improvements that VA showed in 2009 include:
• Smoking cessation counseling provided to 89 percent of Veteran patients, a 6 percent improvement from 2008; and
• Among all ages at risk, 94 percent of Veterans received a pneumonia immunization, a 4 percent improvement.
The report notes there is more to be done for women Veterans. To address this priority and provide women Veterans with the highest quality care VA has implemented several initiatives, such as placement of women advocates in every outpatient clinic and medical center, and creating a “mini-residency” program on women’s health for primary care physicians.
The report also found minority Veterans are generally less satisfied with inpatient and outpatient care than other Veterans. In addition to targeting outreach efforts to these Veterans, a minority Veteran program coordinator has been placed in every medical center.
“VA’s hospital report card will become a valuable resource of information for Veterans, stakeholders and the department.” said Shinseki. “It will allow VA’s health care system to be forward looking and focused on advancement.”
VA’s 2008 and 2009 hospital report cards can be found at http://www.va.gov/health/HospitalReportCard.asp.
Do You Qualify For VA Health Care?
Do You Qualify For VA Health Care?
Answer a few questions to find out if you qualify for free or low-cost health care benefits from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Do you receive money from VA for a service-connected condition?
Yes No
Are any of these statements true?
You served in the active military, naval, or air service and were honorably discharged or released
You were/are a Reservist or National Guard member and you were called to active duty by a Federal Order (for other than training purposes) and you completed the full call-up period
You were discharged or separated for medical reasons, early out, or hardship
You served in theater of combat operations within the past 5 years
You were discharged from the military because of a disability (not preexisting)
You were A former Prisoner of War
You received a Purple Heart Medal
You receive VA pension benefits
You receive state Medicaid benefits
Yes No
Go to this link - answer the questions and submit:
http://www4.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/tools/Quick_Eligibility_Check/index.asp
Answer a few questions to find out if you qualify for free or low-cost health care benefits from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Do you receive money from VA for a service-connected condition?
Yes No
Are any of these statements true?
You served in the active military, naval, or air service and were honorably discharged or released
You were/are a Reservist or National Guard member and you were called to active duty by a Federal Order (for other than training purposes) and you completed the full call-up period
You were discharged or separated for medical reasons, early out, or hardship
You served in theater of combat operations within the past 5 years
You were discharged from the military because of a disability (not preexisting)
You were A former Prisoner of War
You received a Purple Heart Medal
You receive VA pension benefits
You receive state Medicaid benefits
Yes No
Go to this link - answer the questions and submit:
http://www4.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/tools/Quick_Eligibility_Check/index.asp
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