Va backlog---recommendations for Veterans

The VA backlog—recommendations for Veterans

Backlog history

     In June of 2012, the number of pending claims was at 878,620 with 577,562 older than 125 days.  In 2009, a claim was considered backlogged after 180 days. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki believed that was too long and shortened the definition of a backlog to claims more than 125 days. Instantly, the backlog grew by nearly 70,000 claims.

     The VA has been improving the standards for disabilities. The VA established the presumptions for Agent Orange and PTSD according to a former director of communications at the VA.  With this change, Veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange and suffered from Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease or certain forms of leukemia were entitled to disability status.  Another change, was that Veterans of all wars no longer had to prove their PTSD was connected to a particular combat incident. With these changes, about another 250,000 Vietnam Veterans were added to the claims. By October 2012, the pending claims and backlog had doubled.  Other elements that have added to the backlog included the difficult economy that caused financial hardships for the Veterans, aging Veteran population, the number of claims from 2 consecutive wars, and that the claims are now more complex.

     An employee at the Veterans Benefits Administration says that on average, today’s disabled Veterans has 8-10 disabilities, double the Vietnam Veterans.  From June1 – September 7, 2013, the backlog was decreased from 523,356 to 473,373-average 6000 claims a week.  Since June, 97% of claims older than 2 years have been completed. Between 65-70% of claims had benefits assigned. Employee overtime, eBenefits program have helped to streamline the program. Service organization have also worked together to support the VA. It seems that the overwhelming time spent on a claim is spent waiting for other organizations to respond.

 

   The VA encourages Veterans to get help from Service Organizations

     Veterans Service Organizations, help thousands of Veterans each year with their compensation claims, to identify up front all evidence necessary to support a Veteran’s claim. Veterans then certify that they have no additional evidence to submit, and VA can process the claim in half the time it takes for a traditionally filed claim. The VA strongly encourages veterans to work with veterans service organizations to file fully developed claims and providing the VA the information it needs up front. At the same time, it helps reduce the inventory of pending claims by speeding the process.

 

     FDC (Fully developed claim)

 The fastest way to make a claim is by filing an FDC (Fully Developed Claim)    states Garry Augustine, the executive director of the DAV.  He stated that filing an FDC with all necessary evidence is key for the VA to rate the claim.

Retroactive benefits

"Veterans filing an original fully developed claim (FDC) for service-connected disability compensation may be entitled to up to one year of retroactive benefits. The retroactive benefits, which are in effect through Aug. 5, 2015, are designed to help reduce the VA claims backlog. Only veterans who are submitting their first compensation claim as an FDC are potentially eligible for retroactive disability benefits." Claims can only be considered "fully developed," according to information from the VA, "when Veterans submit all available supporting evidence, like private treatment records and notice of federal treatment records, to VA at the time they first file a formal claim and certify they have no more evidence to submit."

VA shrinking backlog

     The American Legion National Commander James E. Koutz stated then that he believed the collaborative effort would allow the process for claims to speed up. The Fully Developed Claims (FDC) program is described as being an optional new initiative that offers Servicemembers, Veterans, and survivors faster decisions from VA on compensation, pension, and survivor benefit claims."

 

Information obtained from USA today-Veterans issue, Vantage Point, and Examiner.com

 

Poison control announces flesh eating street drug now in US-Krokodil

 

Krokodil

The poison control center in Phoenix, Ariz.  has received calls regarding what is believed to the first two cases of krokodil use in the U.S.  Dr. Frank LoVecchio, the co-medical director at Banner’s Poison Control Center, told CBS affiliate KPHO in Phoenix that his center dealt with two users of the dangerous drug.

Krokodil

Krokodil, real name desomorphine, is an opioid derivative of morphine. Like other opioids such as heroin, krokodil has a sedative and analgesic effect. Not only is it fast-acting, but the drug is eight to 10 times more potent than morphine. A homemade version of the drug is easily made using codine, iodine, gasoline, paint thinner, hydrochloric acid, lighter fluid and red phosphorus. “They extract (the drug) and even though they believe that most of the oil and gasoline is gone, there is still remnants of it.”

Krokodil

It has been gaining attention internationally because of growing use in Russia, in part because it is cheaper than buying heroin. About 1 million people in Russia use  krokodil  and the drug has been found in other European countries as well, according to the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

Krokodil

The drug got its nickname from the Russian world for crocodile, because users tend to develop scale-like, green skin. Medscape reports that skin can fall off following use, resulting in exposed bones. The drug also causes blood vessels to rupture and death of the surrounding tissue.  It causes multiple rotting sores. Users can also develop abscesses and gangrene. “It eats you from the inside out,” LoVecchio explained. Krokodil has been coined “the drug that eats junkies.”

Krokodil

 

According to a 2011 profile in TIME, the average user does not live longer than two to three years. Irina Pavlova, a user who told her story to the magazine, said at the time she used the drug daily for six years. Though she was still alive, she had a speech impediment and “something of a lobotomy patient’s vacant gaze” in addition to deteriorating motor skills due to brain damage.

Krokodil

The DEA is currently monitoring the drug as it travels through Europe. Acute management seems to be similar to heroin, including naloxone, but significant scientific data is unavailable at this time. The “kitchen laboratory” production of the drug makes effects difficult to predict.^[1] The difference between Krokodil and heroin will be evident in the physical evidence of tissue damage at injection sites. It is not unusual for users to present to the emergency department with exposed skeletal anatomy, ligaments and tendons.^[2] Clinical management of these patients should also include identification and treatment of infections, as this is a major cause of death in Krokodil users.

Reposted from CBS news, American Academy of Emergency Medicine and Medscape

Become informed, save a life!

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Hepatitis C from dental equipment

TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa-area dentist whose practice was shut down because his equipment was rusty and his employees reused needles was responsible for the nation’s first transmission of hepatitis C between patients in a dental office, Oklahoma health officials said Wednesday.

Hepatitis C

Citing genetic testing performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma’s state epidemiologist said there was at least one instance in which Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s practice spread the infections disease of hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C

“This is the first documented report of patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis C virus associated with a dental setting in the United States,” Dr. Kristy Bradley said.  It could have been the result of contaminated dental instruments or cross-contamination from reused needles or syringes, among other possibilities.

Hepatitis C

State health inspectors shut down Harrington’s clinic March 28 after finding unsanitary conditions. A 17-count complaint filed by the state called Harrington a “menace to the public health.” The complaint said officials found rusty instruments, potentially contaminated drug vials and improper use of a machine designed to sterilize tools at Harrington’s two Tulsa-area offices.

Hepatitis C

Health officials urged tests for 7,000 of Harrington’s patients to determine whether they had contracted an infectious disease. Of 4,202 tested at state clinics, 89 tested positive for hepatitis C, five for hepatitis B and four for the virus that causes AIDS. In only one instance was it proven that the virus was contracted at a clinic, health officials said.

Hepatitis C

Harrington had been a dentist for 36 years before voluntarily giving up his license March 20. He faces a January hearing before the state’s dental board. Earlier this month, seven of Harrington’s patients filed a class-action lawsuit in Tulsa naming the doctor, his corporation, his medical staff and several pharmaceutical companies as defendants.

Hepatitis C

Five of the seven plaintiffs said in the lawsuit they had been diagnosed with an infectious disease due to the actions of Harrington and the others. The former patients also said they are at risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens. “Plaintiffs are informed and believe that they were exposed to contaminated propofol vials and/or equipment not effectively sterilized by autoclave components, at the dental clinics which resulted in plaintiffs contracting infectious diseases,” the lawsuit stated.

Hepatitis C

The public alert began after a patient of Harrington’s initially tested positive for HIV in a screening at a third-party provider. Once infected with hepatitis C, roughly eight in 10 people remain infected for life, according to the CDC. But it can take many years for symptoms to develop  from hepatitis C, and many of those carrying the virus don’t know they’re infected.

http://www.badassbutton.com/483304f6691b48eabbf980da5be3f84a

 

CDC announces ‘Superbugs’ are urgent threat

 

The CDC reported urgent health threats from three superbugs: antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a diarrhea-causing superbug and a class of fast-growing killer bacteria. All three  were classified as urgent public health threats in the US. The CDC released a new report stating that at least 2 million people in the US develop serious bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more antibiotics each year and at least 23,000 die from the infection. Overprescribing of antibiotics is the main cause of antibiotic resistance.  The urgent threats are resistant gonorrhea, c-diff., and  carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.

Urgent threat not just in the US

Last March, the chief medical officer for England said antibiotic resistance is a “catastrophic health threat.” Also, last year, the World Health Organization published a report saying that the ‘superbug’ strain of gonorrhea has spread to several European countries.

Urgent threat

According to previous reports, CRE accounts for 9,300 healthcare-associated infections yearly. The two most common types of CRE account for 600 deaths a year. There has been an increase from presence in  1 state to 38 states in the last decade.

Urgent threat

C-diff. which causes life-threatening diarrhea, can spread on hospital equipment or the hands of healthcare workers and visitors. C-diff is not killed by the alcohol gel in the patients rooms,  you must use soap and water. The use of antibiotics kills the protective bacteria in the stomach, allowing c-diff to flourish.  According to reports, c-diff causes 250,000 infections and kills 14,000 people in the US each year and adds $1 billion in excess medical costs a year.

Urgent threat

The drug resistant gonorrhea causes 246,000 US cases each year. Gonorrhea is especially troubling because it is easily spread, and infections are easily missed. In the US, there are approximately 300,000 cases, but because people have no symptoms, the CDC estimates the number closer to 820,000. If left untreated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, stillbirths, ectopic pregnancy, infertility in men  and women and severe eye infections in babies.

Urgent threat

These infections are believed to be a looming public-health crisis.

 

 

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Molly

Molly, a form of Ecstasy, is being linked to multiple overdoses and deaths. Two deaths were reported due to the use of Molly at a New York City dance festival this weekend, forcing the event to end early.

Molly

The event was shut down after the deaths of two young people. Police are reporting that 20-year-old Olivia Rotondo and 23-year-old Jeffery Russ died after taking Molly. Four others are in critical condition. Molly, short for molecule, is supposed to be the purest form of MDMA, the main ingredient in Ecstasy.

Molly

ABC reports that , “It raises your body temperature, your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up, and so it  make you more prone to heat stroke.”

Molly

Molly has been popping up more frequently , especially in music. At a concert last year, Madonna was caught on tape asking the crowd, “How many of you have seen Molly?” although she later said she was referring to a friend’s song. Additionally, hit songs from artists, including Kanye West and Miley Cyrus, reference the drug.

Molly

Officials warn that despite the innocent sounding name, Molly is a dangerous drug. “It could have other amphetamines in it, which cause the overdose.

Some law enforcement officials also said Molly is so dangerous because the people who take it tend to be recreational users and so they are more naïve about its dangers.

http://www.badassbutton.com/7a784767f331488d99e450cc05869123

WW II hero

Delbert “Shorty” Belton,   a World War ll veteran  was beaten to death outside his favorite hangout : the Eagles Lodge in Spokane Washington. He was 88 years old and beaten to death by two black youths.  Belton was found inside his car, unconscious with severe head injuries, according to the LA times.  Belton died Thursday after the beating.

WW ll hero

He was a PURLPE HEART recipient who lived through Okinawa, but was killed in his own neighborhood!    A spokesperson for the police department relates that it “does appear random”. It appears that he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault.  Mr. Belton loved to play pool at the Eagle Lodge.  He retired after working at Kaiser Aluminum Company for more than 30 years.  Candlelight vigils have been held and many kind words have been spoken about the man nicknamed Shorty.

‘A wonderful angel’

  He was well at home in Washington among his many friends, who affectionately called him “Shorty” because of his diminutive height. His daughter-in-law, Barbara Belton, told CNN’s Alina Machado that she couldn’t fathom the reason for and viciousness of the attack. “He didn’t drive a big fancy car. He didn’t didn’t dress in expensive clothes. He didn’t have a lot of money,” she said. “What did they think they were going to get from this man?”

WWll hero

Meanwhile, the veteran’s family is trying to make sense of his sudden death.

Barbara Belton — who broke the bad news to the victim’s 65-year-old son, William, who is suffering from cancer and happened to be in the hospital — said that “it didn’t seem real.”

She said: “It’s a terrible way to have to die.”

http://www.badassbutton.com/f567d1e7270742c1977e02c3daf01ab5

Fast food workers strike

Workers from McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys and KFC are striking. They  are  wanting their employers to increase their minimum wage to $15/hour and allow them to form unions. Currently the average wage is bout $9/hour which is lower than the poverty level for families.

Strike

This is the largest strike  ever to hit the $200 billion dollar fast-food industry. It is estimated that thousands of workers are involved in the strike across 60 cities.

Strike

Strikes took place in Chicago, Denver, Boston ,  Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis and dozens of other cities.

A number of community leaders and local politicians joined the rally in New York City where  speeches  were given outside a McDonald’s near the Empire State Building.

Strike

The campaign, organized by a coalition of labor, community and clergy groups called Fast Food Forward, has been building momentum since last November. Retail workers from stores such as Macy’s,  Sears ,Walgreens and Victoria’s Secret also joined some of strikers, organizers said.

 

 

 

 

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