PRWeb |
08.14.09
New Orleans, La. (Vocus/PRWEB ) August 14, 2009 -- On Tuesday, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki spoke to hundreds of veterans in New
Orleans as part of the 65th annual AMVETS National Convention. Veterans from
across the country have converged on New
Orleans to tend to the business of one of the
nation’s largest and most inclusive veterans service organizations.
Shinseki, President
Obama’s top advisor on veterans’ issues and a retired Army Chief of Staff,
discussed issues critical to today’s veterans’ community and laid out his
vision for a VA capable of meeting the needs of all veterans.
“President Obama has
charged me with transforming the VA into a high-performing 21st century
organization,” said Shinseki. “It will be a different organization from the
one that exists today—an organization that adapts to new realities, leverages
new technologies, and is prepared to serve veterans, past and present, with
renewed commitment.”
Over the first seven
months of the Obama Administration, the President has laid out an ambitious
plan to tackle a variety of veterans’ issues—an agenda which AMVETS vocally
supports. However, AMVETS will continue to be vigilant, ensuring that the
plan comes to fruition.
“AMVETS was excited
to host Secretary Shinseki and to hear what he had to say on the issues that
matter most to our organization,” said AMVETS National Commander John C. Hapner. “The VA has the obligation to care for our men
and women who bear the scars of war. We’re eager to see how the secretary and
the Obama Administration will implement their ambitious agenda to meet the
needs of all our warfighters, past and present.”
Shinseki also took
the time to applaud the work of AMVETS dating back to WWII, when the founders
had the foresight to create an organization designed to address their unique
needs, while also allowing for the organization to grow and adapt to the
benefit of generations yet to come.
Louisiana VA Secretary Lane Carson, a member of AMVETS
and Vietnam
veteran, was also on hand to address the AMVETS delegation. Carson discussed how the work of AMVETS was
personal in nature to him and how the organization ensured that his needs
were met when he returned from war.
Both secretaries
Shinseki and Carson took a moment to address the VA Medical Center issue in New Orleans.
The city has been
without a full service VA Medical Center for four years. Plans are in the
works to build a facility with Louisiana
State University
that would be ready to open in 2013. However, construction of the new
facility has been delayed over a variety of disputes ranging from land
acquisition issues to hospital board staffing.
“We will build this hospital,” Shinseki said, opening his
remarks. Shinseki acknowledged that since Hurricane Katrina, the city has had
to build its medical infrastructure from the ground up. Today, New Orleans VA
clinics are at ninety percent pre-Katrina capacity, making the new hospital
an imperative for the local veterans’ community.
Throughout the week,
AMVETS will also host retired Lt. Gen. Cha Tai-Chen, the Veterans Affairs
Secretary General of Taiwan,
and retired Rear Adm. Cheng Shieh, director of the
Veterans Service Department of Tainan County in Taiwan. AMVETS has a long history
of working with the allied Republic of China, with each National Commander
visiting Taiwan
to see how they care for their military men and women.
Other highly-regarded
keynote speakers at this year’s events include retired Army paratrooper Dana
Bowman, an AMVETS member and former Army Golden Knight who lost both of his
legs in a skydiving accident, retired Army Gen. Craig Whelden,
director of the Army’s Community Covenant program, and Jody Shifflett, outreach assistant for Air Compassion for
Veterans and Mercy Medical Airlift.
Each year, members of
AMVETS and its subordinate organizations, AMVETS Ladies’ Auxiliary, Sons of
AMVETS, Junior AMVETS and AMVETS Riders, gather to discuss the way forward
for the organization and elect new national leadership. AMVETS will lay out
its legislative agenda for the coming year, pass resolutions, and discuss
potential new national programs to benefit an ever-evolving veterans’
community. The convention will conclude with the installation of AMVETS’ new
national officers on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 2:30 p.m.
AMVETS will also host
an expo from Wednesday through Friday for more than 25 exhibitors eager to
assist the veterans’ community.
This year’s
convention brings the promise of furthering AMVETS’ mission to support all
veterans, past and present. With recent transitional challenges faced by
veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, AMVETS continues to establish itself
as a leader in providing quality education, training and transitional
opportunities to veterans.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2748904.htm
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BATON ROUGE -- The
LSU Health Care Services Division has submitted a plan to state civil service
requesting layoffs of 67 workers at its New Orleans
hospital and 19 in the central operations of the agency in Baton Rouge, division Interim Chief
Executive Roxane Townsend said Thursday.
The division already
cut 200 job slots this year through attrition and the elimination of vacant
positions, but this week's announcement marks the first general layoffs since
Charity Hospital closed after Hurricane
Katrina in 2005.
The layoffs, which
will begin Sept. 20, will affect a variety of jobs at what is now known as
the Interim LSU Public
Hospital, including
clerical, nursing and radiology positions. The cuts are the result of a $59
million reduction in the division's budget, as well as a reorganization
following a consultant's recommendations for streamlining measures. No other
general layoffs are expected this fiscal year, Townsend said.
"While we
believe the reduction at (the interim hospital) and the reorganization of the
HCSD central office will create a more efficient organization, we are
sensitive to the fact that these hard economic times will not be easy on
families impacted by this layoff plan, " Townsend stated in a letter to
state lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Louisiana State University
announced Thursday that savings from a hiring freeze would allow the school
to suspend, at least temporarily, its plan for furloughs.
LSU Chancellor
Michael Martin informed employees via e-mail that the previously scheduled
furloughs "are now indefinitely on hold" but that the cost-saving
measure still might have to be implemented in the future.
The university will
realize savings through a hiring freeze established by Gov. Bobby Jindal, and
that money can be used to defer the furloughs, Martin said.
The furloughs would
have saved the university $1.6 million in the current fiscal year by making
1,700 non-faculty employees take from 30 to 69 hours of unpaid leave,
depending on the position. Faculty members were asked to take part voluntarily.
http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2009/08/lsu_planning_to_lay_off_67_peo.html
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Health debate hits Cenla: Large Pineville crowd opposes Obama's proposal
Alexandria Town Talk | 08.14.09
There probably is not
an issue people get more passionate about these days than the health care
reform legislation making its way through Congress. There certainly was not
one at the Kees
Park Community
Center in Pineville Thursday afternoon.
Advertisement
U.S. Rep. Rodney
Alexander spoke to a group of about 300 people at the center, with health care
dominating the dialogue and drawing strong reactions.
The crowd was
staunchly against President Barack Obama's administration's health care
reform plan, and particularly the public option that would have the
government getting into the insurance business.
Nearly every citizen
who spoke urged Alexander to fight the legislation. The more passionate the
statement, the louder the cheers. Two people spoke in favor of the plan --
the first was loudly criticized, the second was shouted down before she could
finish.
"Will everybody
in this room who is opposed to Obama's plan please stand up," one man
asked. Nearly everyone rose, reflecting the attitude running through the
room. "Enough said."
It was one of several
stops Alexander made in Central Louisiana Thursday.
Thursday morning, he spoke to employees at the Martco
plywood plant in Chopin, along with U.S. Rep. John Fleming. The
representatives, both Republicans, are firmly against the health care bill.
"Can we make Walmart better by having a government department
store?" Fleming said. "Can we make Coca-Cola better by having a
government cola? When you bring it up in any other industry, it's
laughable."
"This plan as
it's being presented to us is bad," Alexander said. "We have the
best health care system in the world. There are many things we can to reform
and improve our health care system without tearing it down."
Fleming referred to
the group's body language in feeling that the congressmen's message was
received well at Martco, and the crowd did seem
generally supportive.
It was nothing,
though, compared to how Alexander's message played to an older crowd in
Pineville that afternoon.
"I don't think government
should be intruding in every aspect of peoples' lives," Alexander said.
"I have the same concerns you do. I want it to be as good for my
grandchildren as it is for you and me."
Joan Roberts received
some of the loudest applause when she quoted the figures often used by
opponents of the bill, that when you take away illegal immigrants and people
who could buy health insurance but choose not to, that leaves five million
uninsured Americans from the 50 million quoted by supporters of the bill.
"We're going to
change 17 percent of our economy for five million people?" Roberts said.
"That doesn't make sense. Does that work for you? Because it doesn't
work for me. This is about more than health insurance,
it's about the Congress and its blank check mentality."
Kathy Witherell expressed concern that her small business,
Pineville Marine, would be hard hit by the bill. Alexander called the effects
of the bill on small business "devastating."
"Many small
businesses today are struggling just to make ends meet," Alexander said.
"They do not like the idea of the government telling them, if you don't
offer your employees insurance your payroll tax goes up by eight
percent."
The mood in the
center turned downright ugly when one of the few supporters of the bill
present, Caina Munson, spoke toward the end of the
meeting.
Munson, a 21-year-old
student, said she was dropped from her parents' health insurance when she
turned 19, leaving her to try to pay for insurance while taking 21 hours of
classes at Louisiana State University
at Alexandria.
She never got to
finish before she was drowned out by people shouting things such as "why
don't you try working?" and "get a job."
"I'm very
disappointed I was interrupted and disrupted when I was very respectful of
those who chose to speak," Munson said. "I didn't think people
would be disruptive and attack me. I'm a little upset about that.
"I'm an American
citizen. I work. I go to college. I contribute to this area. I'm from this
area. I thought I would at least be respected enough to ask my question."
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090814/NEWS01/908140333
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A 21-year-old woman
from the New Orleans
area has become the first Louisianian to die of
complications of H1N1 flu, more commonly known as swine flu.
Ted Jackson / The
Times-PicayuneIn May, Denise Brumfield donned mask
and gloves before washing down a classroom with a disinfectant cleaner at Audubon Charter
School in New Orleans because a student there had
contracted swine flu.
Nationally, H1N1 flu
has been responsible for about 6,500 hospitalizations and 436 deaths,
according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the CDC estimates
than more than 1 million Americans have been stricken since April.
Citing federal
confidentiality law, Rene Milligan, a spokesman for the state Department of
Health and Hospitals, declined to provide more information about her.
Since the virus'
arrival in Louisiana
during the spring, hospitals have confirmed 346 cases of this strain of flu,
according to department data. However, the actual number of cases may exceed
15,000, state epidemiologist Raoult Ratard said, because many people do not seek medical
attention for influenza.
A student at Audubon Charter School
in Uptown New Orleans had swine flu in May. He has since recovered.
No vaccine for H1N1
flu is available, although one is being tested.
Meanwhile, the health
department recommends that people practice preventive measures, such as
covering coughs and sneezes, washing hands frequently, using hand sanitizers
and avoiding contact with sick people.
People who become ill
should stay home from work and school, not only to recover but also to avoid
spreading germs to others, the department says.
Antiviral medications
should be used only to treat active cases of flu, state health experts say,
not to ward off the disease.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/a_new_orleans_area_woman_is_lo.html
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Feist-Weiller Cancer
Center Breast Cancer Patient
Outcomes Among Best
in U.S.
Outcomes among cancer
patients cared for at the Feist-Weiller Cancer
Center (FWCC) of the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport are on par with
the best in the nation even though the socioeconomic profile of more than 60
percent of the FWCC patients is historically linked to poorer outcomes,
according to an article published this month in a prominent cancer journal.
Quyen Chu, M.D., Associate
Professor of Surgery at LSUSHC-S and a member of the multidisciplinary Feist-Weiller
Cancer Center
team, and his study colleagues report their findings in the lead article of
the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
A summary of the article,
“Race/Ethnicity Has No Effect on Outcome for Breast Cancer Patients Treated
at an Academic Center
with a Public Hospital,” already has been posted on
at least one major website widely accessed by cancer specialists across the
nation.
“Dr. Chu demonstrates
that unlike the rest of Louisiana
and indeed the rest of the country, there are no differences in breast cancer
outcome based on race at FWCC,” said Dr. Jonathan Glass, the Professor of
Medicine at LSUHSC-S who is founding director of FWCC and a co-author of the
article.
“He also demonstrates that outcomes for
patients cared for at FWCC are at least as good as the national rate while Louisiana as a whole
has the worst outcomes for breast cancer,” noted Dr. Glass, also the Carroll
W. Feist Professor of Cancer Research at LSUHSC-S.
Dr. Chu and his
co-authors analyzed data from 786 patients in the FWCC database who had been
diagnosed with operable breast cancer.
The effects of income and race on outcomes in those patients were
evaluated and then outcomes among FWCC patients were compared to those in
various other published series. The breast cancer outcomes for FWCC patients
rivaled those reported in national study group literature.
Dr. Chu’s report is
timely, especially in the context of the current political debates on
healthcare. Based at one of the 10
state hospitals that serve as a the health-care safety net for the working
poor and uninsured citizens of Louisiana, Feist-Weiller
Cancer Center offers patients the most up to date treatment regimen and the
expertise of its health care personnel, irrespective of patients’ ability to
pay.
Co-authors with Drs.
Chu and Glass were Dr. Mark H. Smith, a fourth-year surgery resident; Dr.
Mallory Williams, Assistant Professor of Surgery; Lori Panu,
Clinical Research Coordinator; Dr. Lester W. Johnson, Professor of Clinical
Surgery; Dr. Runhua Shi, Associate Professor of
Medicine; Dr. Benjamin D. L. Li, Professor and Head of the Department of
Surgery, and the John C .McDonald Chair in Surgery.
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WASHINGTON — President Barack
Obama's push to revamp health care got a boost Thursday as a new coalition of
drug makers, unions, hospitals and others launched a $12 million pro-overhaul
ad campaign. Meanwhile, the administration sought to regain control of the
health care debate by asking supporters to forward a chain e-mail to counter
criticism that's circulating on the Internet.
The e-mail by White House
senior adviser David Axelrod offers reasons to support Obama's agenda — and
myths to debunk.
Axelrod wrote that
opponents are relying on tactics including "viral e-mails that fly
unchecked and under the radar, spreading all sorts of lies."
"So let's start
a chain e-mail of our own," he said, inviting supporters to forward a
message countering claims that Obama's plans would lead to rationing,
encourage euthanasia or deplete veterans' health care.
The new ad airing in
a dozen states is being paid for by a new coalition called Americans for
Stable Quality Care. Members of the group are Families USA, the Service
Employees International Union, the drug lobby Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America,
the American Medical Association and the Federation of American Hospitals.
The ad shows a series
of photos of doctors and nurses interacting with patients
as the narrator asks: "What does health insurance reform mean for
you? It means you can't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, or dropped
if you get sick." The ad also cites lowered costs and a focus on
prevention, among other things.
Even as public
skepticism over Democrats' health overhaul plans boils over at town hall
meetings nationwide, the ad is the latest example of the odd-bedfellows help
that Obama is getting in his plea to Congress to enact comprehensive
legislation to lower costs and extend coverage to the nearly 50 million
uninsured.
"This is really
focused on what has been an increasing emphasis for almost all supporters of
health care reform, namely trying to make sure families around the country
understand the benefits of health reform for them — especially middle-class
families that already do have health insurance," said Ron Pollack,
executive director of Families USA, a liberal advocacy group
Pollack said that
supporters who've been focused on the legislative process in Congress need to
turn their attention to public opinion, which has been slipping as
conservative activists fuel fears of rationing and government control.
"We have a job
now to do to have facts catch up with the myths," Pollack said.
Families USA, the
drug makers, the 2-million-member union and the AMA also were involved in an
earlier effort called Health Economy Now that ran ads supporting a health overhaul
as a way to improve the economy.
For PhRMA, the ads are a piece of a larger effort that could
reach $150 million or above through the fall. Drug makers and other groups
stand to gain if millions more people gain access to insurance.
The new ads are
running for two weeks in Arkansas, Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Montana,
North Dakota, Maine
and Virginia,
home to moderate Democrats who would be crucial to passage of any health care
legislation.
Separately, the
pro-overhaul group Health Care for America Now announced a $200,000 expansion
of an ad campaign targeting specific lawmakers and asking them to support
health legislation.
Health Care for
America Now is targeting several moderate Democratic House members who have
voted against health legislation or expressed skepticism about it — Reps.
Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota and Rick Boucher of
Virginia. Also targeted by the ads are Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and
Thomas Carper, D-Del.
On the other side,
the group Conservatives for Patients' Rights announced it will run TV and
print ads in Bozeman, Mont.,
and Grand Junction, Colo., to coincide with Obama town halls
in those cities on Friday and Saturday. The ads urge opposition to a new
public insurance plan supported by Obama that would compete with private
insurers.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hITfom2rwHxvzXH9fMrN4pOUGrqQD9A28TJ80
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Fox & Friends
continued its pattern of consistently advancing falsehoods about health care
reform when Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) -- whom the program hosted to take
questions about the reform legislation from viewers and "dispel the
myths" -- falsely claimed that under the House proposal, "the
greatest number [of uninsured people] that will be picked up is by a
substantial expansion of Medicaid." In fact, according to the
Congressional Budget Office, 30 million uninsured people would receive insurance
through the health care exchanges set up by the bill, while only 11 million
people would receive coverage under Medicaid and the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP) combined.
Please upgrade your
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Player. If you are unable to install flash you can download a QuickTime
version of the video.
From the August 13
edition of Fox & Friends:
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Good morning to
you. Will more people be insured from what you read from the bill for less
money?
REP. MICHAEL BURGESS (R-TX): More people
will be insured, but the less money can't -- is not a promise that can be
fulfilled. And the -- of course, the greatest number that will be picked up is
by a substantial expansion of Medicaid, which likely is going to put some
strain on state budgets as well. So there is some concern there. But the
price tag is -- is huge. And that's been the -- that's been the conundrum
since the middle of June.
Burgess' claim that
the bill covers the uninsured primarily through Medicaid expansion is
contradicted by CBO
CBO says 30 million
uninsured will be covered through the health care exchanges, compared to 11
million who would be covered by Medicaid and SCHIP. CBO's
preliminary analysis of the House tri-committee health care reform bill found
that in 2019, 37 million fewer people would be uninsured compared to current
law; 30 million people would be covered through the health care exchanges
created by the bill, while 11 million people would be added to the rolls of
Medicaid or SCHIP under the bill's provisions.
[CBO, 7/17/09]
Fox & Friends
brought Burgess on for the purpose of "[g]etting
to the truth, dispelling the myths." At the end of the segment with
Burgess, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade
said: "Getting to the truth, dispelling the myths, the man that read it
who's actually a doctor and understands this business of health care,
Representative Michael Burgess out of Texas,
thanks so much for joining us."
Fox & Friends
provides regular dose of health reform misinformation
Death panels,
rationing, other misinformation finds a home on Fox & Friends. In the
last seven days alone, Fox & Friends has advanced a bonanza of health
care reform misinformation, including the falsehood that the bill requires
the elderly to go before a "death panel," the falsehood that the
House bill would force people into "government designed plan," the
claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called health care reform opponents
"un-American," the suggestion that a section of the bill that would
provide Medicare reimbursement to doctors for end-of-life counseling would
create "end-of-life consultants" other than doctors consulting with
families, and the prediction that the bill would create a system of rationing
that would result in the disappearance of medical procedures like dialysis
for the elderly.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200908130044
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