U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Open First of Three Recovery Act-Funded Veterans Curation Project Laboratories

/PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open the first Veterans Curation Project laboratory, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in Augusta, Ga., on Tuesday, October 20.

The Augusta site is the first of three Veterans Curation Project laboratories that the Corps will open with $3.5 million in funding from the $4.6 billion appropriated for the Army's Civil Works program in the Recovery Act. The other two sites will be located in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, Mo., and will be operating before the end of fiscal 2010.

The three sites were selected because they are home to high populations of wounded and returning veterans.

"The three Veterans Curation Project laboratories funded by the Recovery Act are unique opportunities for the nation's Armed Forces and the Corps of Engineers," said the Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

"The labs are an innovative approach to supporting returning veterans of all services with jobs and training in a variety of technical skills," said Darcy. "At the same time, the labs will advance the curation of archeological and historic properties that have come into the Corps' possession over the years as a result of construction at its water project sites around the country."

In 1995, the Corps created the Center of Expertise for Curation and Management of Archeological Collections in its St. Louis District to provide protocols and best management practices for maintaining heritage assets. The Corps has an extensive collection and has not been able to fully keep up with proper curation requirements under the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Preservation and Repatriation Act.

The St. Louis District's Center of Expertise designed and is managing the implementation of the Veterans Curation Project. The Corps has hired Brockington and Associates of Atlanta, Ga., to establish and manage the project's three laboratories.

Corps specialists and the contractor are also working closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs and non-governmental Wounded Warrior groups to fill many jobs at the laboratories with veterans and disabled veterans. Jobs are being tailored and rotated to fit the medical needs of those disabled veterans who are unable to work a full day and to offer on-the-job training and work to more veterans.

Veterans working at the three labs will be trained in computer, photographic and scanning technologies that will be applied to the rehabilitation of Corps archeological collections and their associated records. The technical skills learned at the labs will be transferrable to potential future jobs outside the labs.

"It is especially fitting that the opening of the first Veterans Curation Project laboratory is taking place during National Disability Employment Awareness Month," said Darcy. "As President Obama recently stated in his proclamation to recognize the month, 'Each day, Americans with disabilities play a critical role in forging and shaping the identity of our Nation.'"

"No group of people has done more to forge our national identity throughout history than the veterans who have served and sacrificed for the nation," added Darcy. "It is our privilege to now be able to give disabled veterans an opportunity to continue shaping the nation through the work and training they will do at this important new facility."

The Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, will speak at Tuesday's ceremony to open the Veterans Curation Project laboratory. The ceremony will take place at noon at 3830 Washington Road, Suite 27, Martinez, Ga., 30907.

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Vietnam Veterans of America Calls for Openness and Transparency in Addressing Contaminated Medical Equipment at VAMCs

/PRNewswire / -- The health of patients who received endoscopic procedures at three VA Medical Centers may have been compromised by contaminated medical equipment. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of "potentially affected" patients now totals 10,797, including 6,387 who had colonoscopies at the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, VA Medical Center between April 2003 and December 2008, 3,341 who had colonoscopies at the VAMC in Miami from May 2004 to March 2009, and 1,069 who were treated at the ear, nose, and throat clinic in the Augusta, Georgia, medical center from January 2008 through November 2008.

"VA Secretary Shinseki, in his confirmation statement, promised to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs," noted John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). "Part of this transformation involves bringing transparency and openness to VA operations and establishing relationships 'based on trust and positive results over a lifetime,' General Shinseki said. With a crisis brewing over the extent of 'improperly reprocessed' endoscopic equipment, this is the first test of how open the Department will be in admitting and addressing potentially life-threatening errors.

"Secretary Shinseki needs to continue to get the facts from his people, and to inform veterans who get their care at the VA medical centers in Murfreesboro, Miami, and Augusta. This effort must involve continual updates on what the VA is learning about the extent of this situation," Rowan said.

According to a VA press release dated April 3rd, 17 veterans had tested positive for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or the Human Immunodeficiency (HIV) Virus. Eleven of these were tested at the VA's Murfreesboro Medical Center; the other six were tested at the Augusta hospital. That was the last official press release from the VA on the matter, although updates on the VA web site now put the total at 28. This situation has worried thousands of veterans and their families.

"It is imperative that the VA reassure veterans who use its Medical Centers and outpatient clinics that all VA clinicians use universal precautions when handling invasive equipment, and that the VA will be vigilant to ensure that the system will be as good as its clinicians," said Rowan.

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Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home will hold Veterans Day Ceremony

The Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home will hold its annual Veterans Day ceremony at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11 in the courtyard. Col. John K. Dewey, the Training and Doctrine Command capability manager for tactical radios at Fort Gordon, will be the guest speaker and Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver will make opening remarks.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, will also feature Fort Gordon’s U.S. Army Signal Corps Band and Post Ceremonial Detachment Color Guard as well as the Butler High School Drill Team.

The Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home, operated through an interagency agreement between the Medical College of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, is located at 1101 15th St. For more information, call Karen Yonce at Georgia War at 706-721-2531.

By Jennifer Hilliard
Medical College of Georgia

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VA Awards $2.2 Million to Georgia Veterans Home

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- To make sure the state veterans home in Augusta remains a comfortable and safe residence for veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding a grant worth $2.2 million for improvements at the Georgia state facility.

"These grants honor our commitment to care for the men and women of Georgia who have served in uniform," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "Our federal-state partnership helps to provide comfortable and safe housing for Georgia veterans in a caring community."

VA's grants will cover 65 percent of the total cost of the projects. Total cost for the life patient and safety upgrades to the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home in Augusta are expected to total nearly $3.5 million.

The Augusta state veterans home is a 192-bed skilled nursing care facility located adjacent to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Augusta Medical Center.

In fiscal year 2007, VA spent nearly $2.2 billion in Georgia to serve more than 760,000 veterans who live in the state. VA operates major medical centers in Atlanta, Dublin and Augusta (a two-division facility: downtown and uptown) with outpatient clinics and Vet Centers across the state.

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