Archives for 2012

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NEWS FOR VETERANS

August 28, 2012

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has released a report that shows improvement in gender disparities in 12 out of 14 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures in VA since 2008.   HEDIS measures are used by 90 percent of America’s health plans to measure performance on important dimensions of care and service, such as screening, prevention and chronic disease management.  VA consistently scores higher than private sector health care on both gender-specific and gender-neutral HEDIS measures.

“We have a solemn obligation to provide high-quality health care to all Veterans, regardless of gender.  Although we are encouraged by the progress we have achieved, we are not going to stop working until all gaps are eliminated,” said Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.

VA began a national initiative to eliminate gender gaps in preventive care in 2008. In 2011, VA asked each health care region across the country to review gender disparity data and create and implement an improvement plan. The Comparing the Care of Men and Women Veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs report released by VA’s Office of Informatics and Analytics (OIA) indicates progress.

The report shows that VA improved gender disparities in six performance measures specific to VA, including the screening rate for persistence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms.   Other findings from the report include:

• VA has improved rates of screening women Veterans for depression, PTSD and colorectal cancer.

• VA has improved disease prevention for women Veterans through increased vaccination rates.

• VA has improved chronic disease management for women Veterans in hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, all significant risk factors for cardiac disease.

• Although the gender gaps have narrowed, care remains better for men than women in cholesterol control, diabetes management and flu vaccination.

The OIA report includes results of Veterans’ inpatient and outpatient satisfaction surveys, which show that men and women Veterans reported similar satisfaction except in the Getting Care Quickly and Getting Needed Care outpatient sections.   VA has implemented a national initiative to improve care for women Veterans. Some of the components include training VA providers in basic and advanced women’s health care, implementation of women’s health primary care teams at VA facilities nationwide and ramped-up communications efforts.

The Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group, which leads the initiative, also issued a report looking at gender disparities. That report, Gender Differences in Performance Measures, VHA 2008-2011, identifies best practices for eliminating gender gaps based on success in VA networks.

“We’re looking at what works and trying to replicate it throughout VA’s system,” said Patricia Hayes, chief consultant for the Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group. “We want to sustain this trend toward shrinking gender disparities and become a model for all other health care systems on how to eliminate gender disparities. Most importantly, we want to give every Veteran the best health care.”

Both reports can be downloaded via www.womenshealth.va.gov.   For more information about VA programs and services for women Veterans, please visit: www.va.gov/womenvet and www.womenshealth.va.gov.

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August 27, 2012

Strong Pace of Applications Puts VA on Course to Meet its VRAP Goals

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has approved more than 36,000 applications for the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), a new training and education program for unemployed Veterans to upgrade their skills for in-demand jobs.   “The tremendous response illustrates how important this program is in providing Veterans the opportunity to find employment in a high-demand field,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.

At the current approval rate, VA expects to fill all 45,000 available slots for the fiscal year 2012 phase of the program before the Sept. 30 deadline, and will continue processing new applications for the 54,000 slots available in fiscal year 2013.   The program, a provision of the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which was passed by Congress and signed by the President in November 2011, is managed by VA and the Department of Labor (DOL) and allows qualifying Veterans to receive up to 12 months of education assistance equal to the full-time Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty rate, currently $1,473 per month.

The goal of VRAP is to train a total of 99,000 Veterans over the next two years in more than 200 job skills that DOL has determined are the most sought-after by employers.    To be eligible for the program, a Veteran must:

• Be 35-60 years old, unemployed on the day of application, and not dishonorably discharged;

• Not be eligible for any other VA education benefit program such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, or Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment;

• Not be enrolled in a federal or state job-training program within the last 180 days; and

• Not receive VA compensation at the 100% rate due to individual unemployability (IU).

Veterans who have been approved for VRAP are encouraged to enroll as soon as possible to start training full-time in a VA-approved program of study offered by a community college or technical school.  The program of study must lead to an associate degree, non-college degree, or certificate for a high-demand occupation as defined by DOL.   Applicants approved for the 2013 phase should enroll full-time in an approved program and start training by April 2013 in order to take full advantage of this benefit before its termination March 31, 2014.   “I’m thrilled that the response to the program has been so strong,” said VA Under Secretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey.

“But we need to keep getting the word out to maintain the momentum.”   VA Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity Curtis Coy acknowledged the program applies to a small segment of the Veteran population that may not have regular interaction with VA or stay informed about Veterans’ benefits and opportunities.   “We ask anyone who knows an unemployed Veteran to tell them about VRAP,” said Coy. “We are counting on the continued help of Veterans Service Organizations and the Department of Labor, as well as the American public, to reach as many eligible Veterans as possible.”   Potential applicants can learn more about VRAP and apply online at www.benefits.va.gov/VOW, or call VA toll-free at 1-800-827-1000.  Information about the Department of Labor’s programs for Veterans is available at www.dol.gov/vets. Veterans can also visit the nearly 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers across the nation, listed at www.servicelocator.org, for in-person assistance.

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(c) An editorial by Bob Rogers, 16 July 2012

The story line offered with the movie, “Buffalo Soldiers,” starring Danny Glover, describes the film as fact based.  With the apparent noble intention of illustrating and informing their audience of the important contributions made by African American soldiers in the invasion, occupation and settlement of the southwestern United States, writers Jonathan Klein and Frank Military weave a tale of Company H, Tenth Cavalry and its attempt to capture an “Apache warrior named Vittorio” who slaughters settlers in New Mexico.  Directed by Charles Haid, the film further promises to reveal “the truth about the Indian invaders.”

“Buffalo Soldiers” is a major disappointment.  The great cinematography delivers misinformation at best and definitely sets back the education of the public with its false narrative.

In 1997, I saw this movie and shook my head.  Because a number of people have mentioned it to me this year (2012) with praise, I saw it again last week.  This time, I was appalled.

Black cavalrymen and infantrymen of Buffalo Soldier fame were well respected by their Indian adversaries.  They earned grudging recognition from fellow white soldiers and genuine praise from their white officers.  And, they certainly did not commit the repugnant crime purported near the end of the movie.  Civil War hero Colonel Grierson was not the wimp portrayed in the movie, nor was he wounded by Indians during his twenty plus years as the commander of the Tenth Cavalry.

Chihenne Chief Victorio (not “Vittorio”) is known to scholars as well as buffs.  Between 1970 and 1991, authors Eve Ball and Dan Thrapp wrote scholarly and complete volumes about Chief Victorio and why he led his Mimbres Apaches (sometimes called Warm Springs Apaches or Eastern Chiricahua Apaches) in a fourteen month war against the United States.  Called America’s greatest guerilla fighter, Victorio was certainly not a Mescalero Apache as he was called in the movie, though a few Mescalero warriors joined his band.

At Rattlesnake Springs in West Texas, the movie makers missed a chance to depict the actual dramatic showdown.  It was Grierson versus Victorio.  The two generals deployed their troops expertly and with aplomb.  That day, Grierson used his Companies A, B, C, G, and H – each a company of Buffalo Soldiers.  Find the factual and exciting outcome in readable story form here along with a recommended bibliography for your reading pleasure.  https://bobrogers.biz/Page_per_Book/First_Dark.html

“Buffalo Soldiers,” in addition to being an instrument of misinformation, is a teaching opportunity squandered.

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The Bob Rogers Gallery

CHARLOTTE, NC (July 9, 2012)- On last Saturday, The Bob Rogers Gallery (online) opened to the public.  The new gallery is located at bobrogers.biz and features the works of several renowned artists.  Prints are available for bid from the collections of the following famed illustrators: Lee Brubaker, John W. Jones, Roger Price III, Bob Snead, and Don Stivers.

At the opening, Bob Rogers, curator and author of First Dark: A Buffalo Soldier’s Story, commented: “The gallery was added to serve the growing needs of artists and art owners to have another outlet for the public to peruse and purchase Buffalo Soldier art.”

Bids can be submitted on the gallery’s web page and are transmitted directly to the artists or owners.  See more art here and make a bid…

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First Dark: A Buffalo Soldier’s Story

Reviewed by Dr. Shelley Kirilenko, author of The Blue Kimono

First Dark captivated me from page one as the novel became my time travel machine into another world. First, I find myself in an early May 1863 rain shower, riding a mule drawn wagon along a rutted dirt road near Charleston, South Carolina. In an instant, I’m face down in the woods on the wet ground behind a wild azalea bush watching African American infantrymen ambush Confederate soldiers.

Bob Rogers’ rich description of the beasts of the field and the landscape they roam took me back in time to our Civil War and the struggles that followed with the “Negro, Mexican, and Indian Problems” and into the 1880s. The First Dark protagonist, buffalo soldier Isaac Rice, is confronted by natural and man-made catastrophes that make the book a real page-turner. Engaging escapades between the flesh and blood fictional characters who find and lose love, and the real-life characters they meet along the way, make First Dark a top-notch work of historical fiction.

The authentic dialects of characters from coastal and piedmont regions of South Carolina and the piney woods of Mississippi add a fresh insight into the mores and folkways of Apaches, Mexicans, blacks, and whites. Rogers’ First Darkis masked with aplomb by the artful unfolding of plot and subplot. I quite simply couldn’t put the book down.

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First Dark: A Buffalo Soldier’s Story

Reviewed by Bryan Haynes, UNC School of the Arts

Honestly, before I read the first page [of First Dark: A Buffalo Soldier’s Story], I had some minor trepidation.  I knew Bob was a military man and was afraid that he would carry over the terse and truncated communication style of an officer. I was so surprised and happy with the first chapter.  Bob truly has a beautiful, lyrical writing style that would “make an Irish poet tear”.  I loved the story and the depth Bob put into characters and am really looking forward to his next book.

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Buffalo Soldier Sentinel welcomes the opportunity to reprint a recent article by humanitarian William E. Martin of South Carolina and Liberia.  Bill Martin retired 15 years ago from the corporate world and started doing humanitarian work around the world. Currently, he is on a four month leave from his assignment as the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Health & Social Welfare, Republic of Liberia.  Bill’s article first appeared in the South Carolina Lutheran.

Why Return?

By William E. Martin

December 1999-after three days of flying and waiting for unpunctual airlines, I finally reach my destination: Monrovia. The capital of Liberia, a small country on the African Atlantic coast lodged between Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. Upon my arrival I am welcomed by long-time missionaries Doris and Jerry Freeze. During the 3-hour drive to Phebe Hospital & School of Nursing, I have plenty of time for a “windshield” view and survey of the destruction caused by a 14-year civil war. For hours my hosts describe the chaos and the misery that the war engenders. During the discussion, I frequently ask my hosts, “After witnessing all of this why do you guys keep returning here?” After a wonderful meal and a long drive, Jerry says: “Bill, it’s getting late. We’ll talk about that in the morning.”

Twelve years later, I am the one who is often being asked, “Why do you keep returning to Liberia?” Ironically, last December I received an e-mail from Doris Freeze, who is now retired, asking: “Bill why do you keep returning to Liberia?”

The simple answer is that I love being there.

A more detailed answer to this question is: Because I discovered that the more you share the more you learn. In Liberia after 14 years of war, young people (who represent 50% of the population), need mentors, teachers, and people willing to share their skill sets and knowledge. In fact, in any public_htmling country, there is a great need to build or re-build the economy, the political and institutional systems, the infrastructures, etc. All this is in order to establish social stability, to permit to a nation to public_html and flourish. Managerial and leadership skills can be taught.  If one is willing to share, to mentor and transfer knowledge and skills everything becomes possible.

Like the Marshall plan that rebuilt Europe, the role of missionaries and other outsiders should consist of providing aid in drafting programs, supporting projects, and allowing the citizens of the public_htmling country to implement actions against hunger, poverty, and improve their lives. Liberia, like many other public_htmling countries, was devastated by civil war. Now they need people with sound judgment and a desire to public_html creative solutions to assist in the country’s recovery.  The loss of moral values and ethic is a collateral casualty of war, so it may take outsiders to initially provide guidance in restoring those.

Why should an American living in beautiful Charleston, SC get involved in the rebuilding of a country like Liberia?

Ego may play a role, because it is not often one gets to help build or rebuild a whole nation: healthcare facilities and systems, church organizations, and individuals. The simple task of training young people is extremely difficult in a culture where information retention is a tradition since sharing it would mean reducing your power.  Mentoring young educated Liberians means to show them that sharing knowledge, information and skills makes them more valuable and influential.

In 2006, I was asked by the newly appointed Minister of Health and Social Welfare to help him rebuild the destroyed Liberian healthcare delivery system.  I formed a small support unit for the Minister known as the OPS Center (Office of Protocol and Support). After working in the OPS Center with eight recent college graduates for three years, I started a new assignment on the big hospital ship Africa Mercy in Togo and Benin.  When I returned to Liberia in October 2010, I was extremely pleased to learn that seven of “my people” had received promotions and substantial salary increases because of the skills they had acquired working in the OPS Center.  The lessons they learned were as simple as being on time, dressing for success or providing excellent customer service. They learned the importance of not only understanding the goals but also the underlying reasons of their mission.

Today there is a fantastic opportunity for skilled Americans to contribute. You need to expand your definition of “community” to include the public_htmling world. Because of this broader definition one can go build, share knowledge, provide guidance and support, listen actively and respond effectively. Helping is rewarding and probably one of the most fulfilling accomplishments you can think about.  As everyone knows, the teacher always learns more than the students.

ELCA is offering new short-term opportunities for lay volunteers to share their skills in public_htmling countries throughout Africa.  If service abroad is not your avocation, you can still participate vicariously in supporting volunteers serving in Africa.

I am optimistic for humanity, I know you are too.

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About the author:

William E. Martin Isle of Palms SC USA

Bill retired 15 years ago from the corporate world and started doing humanitarian work around the world. Currently he is on a four month leave from his assignment as the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Health & Social Welfare, Republic of Liberia.

Bill’s international interest began with hosting high school or college exchange students and foreign guests in his home. After graduating in 1969 from Ferris State University with a degree in business administration he worked for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC. Bill served in Vietnam, in 1970 and 1971, as a Specialist IV in the Infantry with the 101st Airborne where he earned a Bronze Star. For the next 22 years, Bill was the CEO and president of five “turn-around” health and insurance corporations.   In 1999, Bill became a Lutheran missionary. He served for four years, running the largest hospital in Liberia. The country was then in the middle of a 14-year civil war. Over this period the hospital was evacuated three times because of rebels’ attacks. The hospital medical director was an American-trained Liberian physician named Walter T. Gwenigale, M.D.

In 2006, Bill worked in Baton Rouge with the American Red Cross in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Later that year he became the Director of Hospital Operations on the M/V Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charity hospital ship, berthed in Cotonou, Benin and Lomé, Togo.

In the relative stability afforded by the end of the war, Liberia held a historic election in 2005. Liberian voters elected Africa’s first female head of state – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. President Sirleaf appointed Dr. Gwenigale as Liberia’s Minister of Health & Social Welfare. The newly appointed minister asked Bill to become his senior advisor and help set up the ministry.

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