Rao bulletin 15 June 2016 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles
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- -o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Sgt. Bailey Keeton
- World War II
- Vernon N. Grow
- -o-o-O-o-o- -- Marine Corps Pfc. John Saini
- Pfc. John Saini -o-o-O-o-o- -- Marine Pfc. John F. Prince
- -o-o-O-o-o- -- Navy Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff
- Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff
- -o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Cpl. George G. Simmons
- -o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Air Forces Pvt. Evans E. Overbey
- VA Medical Staff ► APRN Utilization
- VA Medical Marijuana Update 22 ► 7 9% of Voters Support Use for PTSD
- VA Care Assessment Update 02 ► A Safety Net for Vets
- VA Commission on Care Update 07 ► Tricare-like System for VA Proposal
Korea The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced the identification of remains and burial updates of two U.S. servicemen who had been previously listed as missing in action from Korea. Returning home for burial with full military honors are: -- Army Sgt. Harold Sparks, 21, grew up in Seattle and went to Ballard High School, graduated from West Seattle High in 1946, and then entered the Army. He went into the Korean Conflict after his first tour of duty in the Army cleaning up Concentration Camps in Germany at the close of WWII. In early November 1950, Sparks was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, which was deployed near Unsan, North Korea, when enemy forces compelled the unit to withdraw. Sparks would be declared missing in action as a result of the battle that occurred Nov. 2, 1950. Harold passed away there about April 30, 1951. Sparks will be buried June 16 in Kent, Wash. He is survived by sister Lois Ahrens, nieces Christine Ager, Rene Swayze, Joanne Hansen, nephews Jim Ahrens, Bill Pendleton, Lee Thomas and Brett. 
-o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Sgt. Bailey Keeton, 20, of Scott County, Tenn., is scheduled to be buried June 25 in Oneida, Tenn. In late November 1950, Keeton was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, which was deployed east of the Chosin River in North Korea, when they were attacked by an overwhelming number of Chinese forces. He would be reported as missing in action on Dec. 2, 1950. Vietnam The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced the identification of remains and burial updates of one U.S. serviceman who had been previously listed as missing in action from Vietnam. Returning home for burial with full military honors is: -- Air Force Col. Patrick H. Wood, 36, of Kansas City, Mo. On Feb. 6, 1967, then-Major Wood was piloting an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant on a search and rescue mission near the Mu Gia Pass in North Vietnam when it was shot down, killing three of the four-man crew. He was assigned to Det. 5, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. The date and location of his burial has yet to be announced. His Air Force Cross citation reads: Major Patrick H. Wood distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in connection with a military operation against an opposing armed force as a Rescue Crew Commander of an HH-3E helicopter near Mu Gia Pass, North Vietnam on 6 February 1967. On that date, Major Wood flew two sorties in an attempt to rescue a pilot downed deep in heavily defended hostile territory. An intensive search under constant fire failed to locate the pilot and the first sortie was cancelled due to rapidly deteriorating weather. Major Wood undertook a second attempt fully aware that fighter cover and flak suppression support were unavailable due to marginal weather. Despite intense and accurate 37mm fire, Major Wood successfully located and hoisted the downed pilot into his aircraft. At this point, the hostile forces, thwarted in their attempts to capture the downed pilot, and the possibility of luring other aircraft to destruction, directed all their fire-power toward Major Wood's aircraft. Heavy 37mm fire exploded above the aircraft on climb out, and one hit was taken in the cabin. Although his aircraft was severely damaged, Major Wood attempted to clear a ridge line which would have provided a sufficient altitude for a safe bailout for his crew. In the face of a known highly dangerous area, extremely adverse weather conditions, and exceptionally heavy hostile fire, Major Wood pressed his humanitarian efforts to save a fellow airman. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness, Major Wood reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force. 
World War II The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced the identification of remains and burial updates of eight U.S. servicemen who had been previously listed as missing in action from World War II. Returning home for burial with full military honors are: -- Navy Seaman 2nd Class Vernon N. Grow and Machinist's Mate 1st Class Alfred F. Wells, had been missing since Dec. 7, 1941, when the battleship USS Oklahoma they were aboard suffered multiple torpedo hits and capsized as it was moored off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Wells, 32, will be buried June 11 in his hometown of Syracuse, N.Y. -o-o-O-o-o-_--_Army_Cpl._George_G._Simmons'>-o-o-O-o-o-_--_Navy_Ensign_Joseph_P._Hittorff'>-o-o-O-o-o-_--_Marine_Corps_Pfc._John_Saini'>-o-o-O-o-o- -- Marine Corps Pfc. John Saini and Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 3rd Class Howard P. Brisbane, had died fighting on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa on Nov. 20, 1943. Saini, 20, was assigned to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, and will be buried June 11 in his hometown of Healdsburg, Calif. Brisbane was assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. 
Pfc. John Saini -o-o-O-o-o- -- Marine Pfc. John F. Prince, 19, of New York City, will be buried June 17 in Calverton on Long Island. In November 1943, Prince was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands. Prince reportedly died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943. -o-o-O-o-o- -- Navy Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff Jr., 25, of Collingswood, N.J., and Navy Ensign Lewis B. Pride Jr., 23, of Madisonville, Ky., were stationed aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the ship capsized after sustaining multiple torpedo hits on Dec. 7, 1941. Both men will be buried on June 18 –– Hittorff in South Kent, Conn., and Pride in Providence, Ky. Joseph Hittorff had managed his high school football team during his senior year and had attained the rank of Eagle Scout. After graduation, he attended Brown Preparatory School for English and math. Joseph had always wanted to go to sea, and so he chose to start a career in the Navy. In June of 1936, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated in 1940. His initial assignment was serving on board the battleship USS Oklahoma, a 583 foot battleship attached to the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Joe had completed all of the requirements for being promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade but his commission had not come through at the time of his death. Joe sent frequent letters home. In one from November 2, 1941, he expressed concern that there were war clouds on the horizon, and he was "expecting the worst -- and hoping for the best." Joe's Naval Academy ring was recovered from the wreckage at a later time. Also returned to the family was a ceremonial sword from Annapolis. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Victory Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the American Defense Medal. A funeral has been planned for June 18 at 11:00 in the Kent Congregational Church, Kent CT with burial immediately after in the Kent Congregational Cemetery.  
Ensign Joseph P. Hittorff Ensign Pride was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma which arrived in Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1940, and spent the next several months participating in exercises and conducting patrols. On the morning of December 7, 1941, a fleet of Japanese aircraft carriers launched formations of dive bombers, torpedo planes and fighters against the vessels. Ensign Pride was killed in the attack along with 428 of his fellow sailors and Marines aboard the Oklahoma. On November 13, 1943 in Orange, Texas a Destroyer Escort was commissioned the USS Pride (DE-323) in honor of Ensign Pride. The USS Pride earned three battle stars for World War II service. The vessel was decommissioned in June 1954. Ensign Pride’s service and legacy will always be remembered and honored throughout the City of Madisonville, especially along Bailey Drive and Pride Avenue and through the halls of Pride Elementary School and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5480, all of which were named in honor of Ensign Pride. An official military burial ceremony at Oddfellows Cemetery is scheduled for Saturday, June 18th at 11 am. -o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Cpl. George G. Simmons, 27, of Hamilton, Mont., will be buried June 18 in Corvallis, Mont. On Dec. 8, 1941, Simmons was assigned to Battery H, 60th Coast Artillery Regiment on the Philippine Island of Corregidor when the Japanese invaded. After the fall of Corregidor, it would be later learned Simmons had died in captivity on Nov. 19, 1942. -o-o-O-o-o- -- Army Air Forces Pvt. Evans E. Overbey, is scheduled to be buried July 15 in Johnston City, Tenn. In December 1941, he was assigned to the 93rd Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group at Clark Field in the Philippines, when the Japanese attacked. It would be later learned he died in captivity on Nov. 19, 1942. [Source: http://www.dpaa.mil | June 2016 ++] * VA *  
VA Medical Staff ► APRN Utilization The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing a rule which will improve veteran access to care and use of resources. The rule grants full practice authority to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) when they are acting within the scope of their VA employment. Full practice authority will help optimize access to VA health care by permitting APRNs to assess, diagnose, prescribe medications and interpret diagnostic tests. This action proposes to expand the pool of qualified health care professionals authorized to provide primary health care and other related health care services to the full extent of their education, training, and certification to Veterans without the clinical supervision of a physician. APRNs are clinicians with advanced degrees and training who provide primary, acute and specialty health care services. APRNs complete masters, post-master or doctoral degrees. There are four APRN roles: Certified Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and Certified Nurse Midwife. All VA APRNs are required to obtain and maintain current national certification. b “The purpose of this proposed regulation is to ensure VA has authority to address staffing shortages in the future,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. David J. Shulkin. “Implementation of the final rule would be made through VHA policy, which would clarify whether and which of the four APRN roles would be granted full practice authority. At this time, VA is not seeking any change to VHA policy on the role of CRNAs, but would consider a policy change in the future to utilize full practice authority when and if such conditions require such a change,” Shulkin said. “This is good news for our APRNs, who will be able to perform functions that their colleagues in the private sector are already doing.” The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauds VHA’s leadership for proposing to grant full practice authority to the four types of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. “VA will be able to more effectively meet the health care needs of our nation’s Veterans,” said ANA President Pamela Cipriano. “This proposal removes barriers that prevent APRNs from providing a full range of services and will assist VA in its ongoing efforts to address staff shortages and improve Veterans’ access to care. APRNs are critical members of the health care workforce and an integral component of the health care delivery system with a proven track record of safe quality care and high patient satisfaction.” The proposal has several physician groups seeing red. "We feel this proposal will significantly undermine the delivery of care within the VA," Stephen Permut, MD, JD, chair of the American Medical Association's (AMA) board of trustees, said in a statement, adding that the association was "disappointed" by the VA's "unprecedented proposal." "All patients deserve access to physician expertise, whether for primary care, chronic health management, anesthesia, or pain medicine ... The AMA urges the VA to maintain the physician-led model within the VA health system to ensure greater integration and coordination of care for veterans and improve health outcomes," Permut said. The proposed rule can be found for comment at www.regulations.gov. [Source: OPIA News Release | May 29, 2016 ++] ***************************** VA Medical Marijuana Update 22 ► 79% of Voters Support Use for PTSD The Quinnipiac University National poll said that among every party, gender, age or racial group, at least 79 percent of voters expressed support for marijuana to treat PTSD. "The fact that a majority of American voters favors legalizing marijuana in general shows how attitudes about the drug have changed," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. Among voters from military households where at least one member is active duty or a veteran, 82 percent of respondents supported marijuana for PTSD. Malloy said the ramifications of PTSD are "life-threatening" and appropriate measures should be taken for doctors to treat PTSD accordingly. "If you serve your country and suffer for it, you deserve every health remedy available, including medical marijuana in pill form," Malloy said. "That is the full-throated recommendation of Americans across the demographic spectrum, including voters in military households." Additionally, the poll divulged that 89 percent of Americans supported use of medicinal marijuana for any patient, if prescribed legally by a doctor. However, the issue became more contentious when voters were asked if marijuana should be legalized in general: 54 percent supported legalization and 41 percent opposed. The poll was conducted 24 thru 30 May and included 1,561 registered voters nationwide contacted by telephone with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. [Source: Washington Examiner | Diana Stancy | June 7, 016 ++] ***************************** VA Care Assessment Update 02 ► A Safety Net for Vets Veterans are an older and more diverse group than they were 15 years ago, and they are also much more dependent on the health care and other benefits provided by the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a new study. The VA “continues to be a health care safety net for many veterans,” concluded a study published in the June 2016 issue of Health Affairs Journal, based on two surveys of vets conducted in 2001 and in 2010. Vets in 2010 were twice as likely as vets in 2001 to have used VA health services, the study found; the 2010 group also were more likely to have applied for VA disability compensation and to have received higher ratings, despite being less likely to have served in a combat zone than those vets surveyed in 2001 
The greater reliance on VA services and benefits in the post-9/11 era could partly be due to better technology and VA outreach, the study authors said. But they also found that more VA service users in 2010 had lower incomes, were in poorer health and were more likely to be unemployed than those in 2001, indicating a greater need for a safety net among that population, particularly following the 2008 recession and the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. VA health coverage fulfills that law’s health insurance mandate. There are roughly 20 million vets now, fewer than in 2001, and VA provides benefits and services to between 15 percent and 26 percent of that group each year. The numbers and demographics of the population are fluid though, given the aging veteran population, increase in female service members and the growing racial diversity of the armed services. That means their needs and expectations are changing as well. For instance, the number of vets using VA mental health services alone jumped from just over 700,000 in 2001 to more than 1.2 million in 2010, according to the study. “This increase may be due to collective efforts by the VA, the Department of Defense, and community-based providers to engage veterans in VA health care and improve their access to mental health services,” the study's authors, Jack Tsai and Robert Rosenheck said, adding that their results did not support the wide public perception that “post-traumatic stress is a problem among recent veterans especially.” The study underscores the importance of the VA system to a growing, aging and possibly at-risk population at a time of turmoil for the department. VA continues to struggle with the rise in disability compensation claims and appeals, as well as providing timely and quality health care to vets. Then there are the systemic problems it faces in managing its 300,000-plus workforce. As if that weren’t enough, a new threat looms: multiple calls from Capitol Hill and elsewhere to completely privatize the VA’s health care system. “The VA faces new opportunities and challenges in developing and allocating resources for a changing population of veterans in the next decade,” the study concluded, in the understatement of the year about the government’s second-largest department. [Source: GovExec.com | Kellie Lunney | June 7, 2016 ++] ***************************** VA Commission on Care Update 07 ► Tricare-like System for VA Proposal The Commission on Care was created by Congress in 2014 under the legislation that established the Veterans Choice program. It is tasked with reviewing the VA health system and making recommendations on its future. The panel's final report is due by the end of June but on 7 JUN, commissioners met in Washington to revise a rough draft of the final report. The blue ribbon panel studying the future of Veterans Affairs health care is poised to recommend an overhaul to the system that would create a structure similar to the Pentagon’s Tricare program, where veterans could choose to use either the VA for their care or see a network provider. The goal, according to Commission on Care members, would be a more efficient version of the VA’s current system, in which the department provides direct care to most veterans, and those who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility or who cannot get an appointment in a month offered private care. "With the never-ending wait times and the VA secretary doubling down on his comparison to Disney, the time has long passed for the VA to make the necessary changes to ensure that our veterans are treated effectively, seen efficiently, and cared for with respect," McMorris Rodgers said in a released statement. "Veterans should be freed from a system that offers them little or no choice." McDonald was appointed to fix the VA's many problems, including bottlenecks for veterans seeking health care, but many lawmakers are getting frustrated by what they see as a slow pace and steady stream of missteps by the department. The VA's Health Administration now runs more than 1,700 hospitals, clinics and care facilities that serve nearly 9 million veterans. It is the nation's largest integrated health care system. Under Roger’s discussion proposal, the health care arm of the VA would turn over its facilities, staff and responsibilities to a newly created Veterans Accountable Care Organization, Under the draft of the commission’s final report, all veterans enrolled in VA care would choose either a primary care provider at the VA or from a civilian network. The plan would do away with the 30-day and 40-mile restrictions of the Veterans Choice program and create networks of physicians to care for former troops who prefer to see non-VA doctors. That draft calls for:
The estimated costs of these reform proposals were not available on Tuesday, but commissioners tossed out figures ranging from $100 billion to $1 trillion over 20 years. Schlichting said many factors contribute to cost estimates, including demand, cost savings from closures and realignments and improving information technology systems. But, she concurred, the reforms could be pricey. “I think we all agree if we increase choice, we increase costs,” Schlichting said. “Given the level of reform we are recommending, [VA] is going to need resources.” The department last year began a reform process known as MyVA, which aims to fix issues ranging from health care quality and access problems to information technology problems and the benefits appeals backlog. The 14-member commission has met 12 times since last September. Its work has been contentious, with veterans organizations, the White House and the VA speaking against any proposals to expand private care for veterans at the expense of VA medical centers and clinics. The commission will send its final report to Congress this month. Whether lawmakers will act on it remains to be seen, however. The Senate and House are considering legislative proposals to change the Veterans Choice program, ranging from expanding it to all enrolled veterans to requiring most veterans use private care. McMorris Rodgers said, “With this draft legislation, my goal is for veterans to have the ability to choose what health care plan best fits their individual needs. This proposal should serve as the starting point for putting veterans in charge of their health care." The National Association of Uniformed Services (NAUS) comment on the proposal was, “NAUS trusts that this proposal finds adequate shelf space somewhere”. [Source: Military Times | Patricia Kime | June 7, 2016 ++] ***************************** Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2016 2016 -> 2017 afoCo Landmark Scholarship Program 2016 -> Instructions for the Preparation of Camera-Ready Contributions to the Conference Proceedings 2016 -> Step student Scholarships for Year 10-13 2016 -> The united church of canada 2016 -> Idan raichel biography – May 2016 Brief Producer, keyboardist, Lyricist, composer and Performer Idan Raichel 2016 -> An introduction to centre’s interventions expanding access to justice 2016 -> Sanchar Shakti 2016 -> Unit analysis should help here. We want number of bananas 2016 -> The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates 2016 -> The Great Heat and the Rhode Island Deep Water Bay Scallop (Argopecten irradians) Fishery 1875-1905 Download 0.91 Mb. Share with your friends:
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