Recent Vets Struggle For Jobs

The US Senate’s Joint Economic Committee says veterans from the post 9/11 era are having a hard time finding and keeping jobs. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who chairs the committee released the report “Meeting the Needs of Veterans in Today’s Labor Force” yesterday.

The report found that the unemployment rate among Post-9/11 veterans in April was 10.9 percent, compared to the overall veteran-unemployment rate of 7.7 percent. The report goes on to note that nearly 2.5 million men and women have left active duty in the Armed Forces since September 2001

Of the Post-9/11 veterans who are employed more than two-thirds work in the private sector. However the report finds that federal programs aimed at helping vets transition into the civilian workforce must be improved.

Casey has introduced legislation that he said would modernize the Department of Labor’s Veteran’s Employment and Training Service program. Another bill aimed at boosting federal services to vets is also making its way through the upper chamber. Casey said he was pleased to be a co-sponsor for the “Hiring Heroes Act” introduced last month.

Memorial Day Service at Science Center

A Memorial Day service will be held on the deck of the Carnegie Science Center submarine, the U.S.S. Requin.

Science Center Curator of Historic Exhibits Patty Rogers says the ceremony will begin with a prayer and opening remarks.

Then, Rogers says veterans who served on submarines will toll a bell for each U.S. submarine that has been sunk, and cast flower petals onto the water.

The Marine color guard from the Three Rivers Leatherneck Detachment 310 will give a gun salute, and weather permitting, spectators will see a flyby of a vintage Stearman World War II biplane.

Rogers says visitors are welcome to mingle with the veterans after the service, and encouraged to explore the submarine.

The ceremony is free to the public and will begin at 10 a.m., lasting about one hour. Admission to the U.S.S. Requin is free for the remainder of the day.

Vets Court Gets Boost

A joint effort between the commonwealth and the U-S Department of Veterans Affairs to provide vets with access to a court system and health services when they get into legal trouble is set to expanding statewide.

Like the mental health and drug courts, the Pennsylvania Veterans Justice Program will find veterans in trouble with the law and provide them with social services. Tony Coppola is a Vietnam War vet from Pittsburgh who has benefited from the program in Allegheny County. When he was arrested for drunk driving, he was put on probation and treated for drinking problem. He says without the program he may not be alive now. “They teach you things and being with all veterans, it helped me out quite a bit,” says Coppola.

State Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery was instrumental in bringing the alternative to jail time to Pennsylvania. He says it's also a cost saving measure for local governments because it takes veterans off their court dockets. “They take these people, they're diverted out of the court, given over to the VA. Whatever their needs may be, the Veterans Administration comes in with federal dollars and takes care of that individual to allow him to get back into society,” says McCaffery.

More than 650 vets have gone through the program since its inception in 2009. It's currently up and running in Allegheny, Lackawanna and Philadelphia counties. The Pennsylvania Justice Program is a joint effort between the state and the federal government.

Listen to a story produced by WDUQ as the Veterans Court was launching in Allegheny County.

Pennsylvania Veteran Population in Decline

New research shows that the number of veterans in Pennsylvania have declined in past nine years. The Pennsylvania State Data Center came out with new information regarding veteran statistics in honor of this Veterans Day. According to Kevin McCullough, Manager of Data Services at the Data Center, the veteran population has decreased by 22.9%. McCullough says that nationally there has been a drop of around 17% and Allegheny County has seen a 30% decline.

McCullough says that the percentage of Pennsylvania adults who are veterans is lagging behind other states. "Our 10.1% ranks us 33rd among the states. It's above the national average of 9.5% but 33rd overall. We're behind several other states, the top three states are Alaska with 14.1%, Montana with 12.9%, and Maine with 12.7%."

Pennsylvania ranks 5th among states in terms of total veterans being home to 988,006 former service members. California leads the states followed by Florida, Texas and New York.

Arts Show At The VA

An Arts Show at The VA of Pittsburgh showcased the skills of local veterans.

When Vietnam-era Army Veteran Richard Sobek won an award for his painting on Wednesday he wasn’t there to receive it – he has PTSD and when he’s in crowds, he is prone to panic attacks.

He came after the show, when the crowd had thinned out. Although he spent years working as a professional artist, he said he’s drawn to painting because its theraputic.

"For myself, when I draw, I take my mind off of my problems and pain and it puts you in a very quiet place cause yr doing nothing but focusing on every stroke, every brushstroke, every detail," he said.

Artwork helps a lot of the veterans in recovery says Marci Gaither, a psychologist at the VA who has organized the event for the last few years.

"Basically we just wanted to provide an opportunity for veterans to display some of their creative abilities and display a different part of themselves. Not just a veteran with mental illness but a veteran who is an artist," she said.

Different studies have shown that the creative process helps people cope with problems, develop interpersonal skills, reduce stress and increase their self-esteem.

Other artwork at the show also included woodworking, needlepoint, stained glass and photography. To have the work displayed, the veterans have to be receiving treatment at the VA – for either physical or mental issues. Many are there for both.

A permanent rotating art exhibit featuring the artwork of veterans will be installed at the VA Hospital on University Drive later this month.

CCAC Unveils Veteran Training Program

Local veterans hoping to find a new job in health care can now take advantage of a free training program at the Community College of Allegheny County.

The Veterans Health Career Education Project will train qualified veterans and their spouses to become certified as paramedics or nursing assistants. Only those who are unemployed, underemployed, or on public assistance are eligible.

CCAC Director of Training and Development Mary Jo Guercio says you must be already trained as an EMT to enroll in the two-year paramedic program, and you need a fifth grade comprehension level to enroll in the nursing assistant program. All of the training and clinical hours are free, but uniforms and state certification exams must be paid by the individual.

Guercio says after the first year of training, CCAC will begin a "bridge program" for vets and their spouses.

"They could get their English and their math scores and their terminology, you know, medical terms and words, up to par, so that if they need to take the placement test to get [jobs], they can perhaps pass that test," says Guercio.

Guercio says the training project is funded by a Department of Education grant for about $200,000. She says CCAC hopes to train 80 nursing assistants and 40 paramedics over the next two years.

Services for Vets

On Saturday August 21st, the Veteran's Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania and a few dozen other organizations will host StandDown 2010, an outreach event for homeless veterans. The event will be held at Shepard's Heart in Uptown and will help people with essential medical exams, housing, employment assistance, peer mentoring, legal services, food, showers, haircuts and more.

The event will be held from 8am to 6pm.

Al Mercer, Executive Director of the Veteran's Leadership Program of Western PA says this concept comes from the military term for Stand Down where troops are provided a
safe retreat when they return from combat operations. At secure base camp areas, they take showers, eat and get their medical needs taken care of by other troops.

Department of Defense Partners with McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine

The organizations are partnering to support treatments for battlefield injuries.

The two-year, $12 million dollar contract will push forward human trials for three research programs that will place healthy tissue in place of damaged tissue.
One program will replace muscle tissue with one’s own stem cells and to evaluate the injection of human connective tissue cells into contracted burn scars to allow greater freedom of movement.

Dr. Bernard J. Costello is Chief of Craniofacial and Cleft Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Dental Medicine. He will be examining the effectiveness of a material to facilitate new bone formation in cranio-facial defects using a calcium phosphate cement. He showed an audience at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall how it would work on Tuesday.

Costello says it’s an upgrade of technology that’s already FDA approved. It will be custom-tailored regenerative material that will turn into the patients own tissue.
"We can then get away from bone and soft tissue substitutes but really turn into designer materials that are regenerative, not replacement so we can get away from the carpentry of surgery and really get into the next stage of designing specific tissues that are for those types of problems," he said.

Eighty patients will be seen during the trials. 40 will be in Pittsburgh, the remaining at other locations. At least half of them will be soldiers.

Town Hall Meeting at Soldiers and Sailors Addresses Vets Issues

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Principal Advisor to President Obama appeared at a town hall meeting at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on Monday.

The meeting focused on current issues affecting veterans such as employment but focused on physical and mental health care issues. Local leaders from different organizations that work with veterans participated, as did Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke of his concerns for the problems the current group of veterans may face.

"I’m particularly concerned about generating another generation of homeless veterans, we didn’t do that very well in the first war I fought in which was Vietnam and I think we need to improve dramatically there as well," he said.

Physical and mental health issues came up repeatedly during the meeting. "The tragic downside of these injuries is extremely obvious, the upside is its put us in a place where we’ve invested in research in a way that we never would have," he said.

The meeting wasn’t the only stop Mullen made throughout the day – he visited organizations such as the Veteran’s Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania and health care organizations including UPMC Hospitals and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

He will be attending similar meetings in other parts of the country. He said its important to connect with as many leaders and learn all about all of the different regionalized efforts to help veterans. He hopes to work with local leaders

Pitt Group Helps Vets With Facial Injuries

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of medicine have picked up $1.6 million to perfect a fat grafting technique that the team hopes will help wounded soldiers return to a more normal life. Associate professor of surgery J. Peter Rubin is the head of the team awarded the Department of Defense grant. The doctors will use new regenerative tissue technologies and new medical instruments to transfer fat from one part of the patient’s body to his or her face. Rubin says, “As many as 26 percent of wounded soldiers suffer some kind of facial injury, which can have a huge impact on quality of life. While we can reconstruct bony structures very well, it is the surrounding soft tissues that give people a recognizable face. This project will investigate how soft tissue grafting can more precisely restore facial form and improve the lives of our wounded soldiers.” Rubin says the wounds received in combat are often very destructive involving shrapnel and burns. Rubin says the underlying tissue is often very scared and the work is done in “tight spots.” That leads to the need for new techniques and interments. About 20 patients will be treated in Pittsburgh under this grant. Doctors at military hospitals will then be taught the techniques and eventually offer the reconstructive work to more veterans. The first surgeries will be performed in January. The team of doctors doing the work includes a psychiatrist to help the patients with the transition and measure the impact the injuries and the new surgeries have on returning vets.

PennDOT Releases Veterans License Plates

Pennsylvania veterans can now get a special license plate denoting their military branch and veteran status. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is offering these plates for a $20 fee. They display the seal of the veteran’s branch of service on a blue background. Interested persons should visit the PennDOT website to download an order form.

Veterans Day Parade Held Downtown

Many of the onlookers at this morning's parade have been going to the parade for years. Michael Pilewski of Brookline is a veteran of the Vietnam War and says he takes his children and grandchildren to the parade every year. He says helping the public to understand the importance of Veterans Day is now the responsibility of the younger generation of veterans. Dan Collavo believes that Veterans Day is beginning to be forgotten by the public. He says he can remember when the parade route would be packed full of spectators as opposed to today's parade, where there was no trouble getting a spot on the curb.

Free Psychology Clinic Offered for Veterans

Duquesne University is offering a free psychology clinic for veterans and their families. Dr. Roger Brooke is the clinic director and a psychology professor at Duquesne University, he says the clinic will try to help veterans and their families re-integrate into civilian life. Brooke says the clinic has a special place for him because he served in the military in South Africa and his son has been deployed in Iraq every year since 2004. The clinic will offer free psychological assessments, counseling, group support, and family and children's service.

New Device Could Help Blinded Vets and Civilians

For a long time blinded veterans and civilians have had few tools for coping with their impairment, and a large number of them choose not to venture outside at all.

But DUQ’s Larkin Page-Jacobs reports that emerging technology could help make a difference in the way blind people live.

Click here to listen to the story.

VA Office Accused of Mishandling Claims

There have been some accusations about the Veterans Affairs Office claiming there have been workers taking inappropriate advantage of performance incentives. Now some local politicians are taking the situation into their own hands. U.S. Congressmen Jason Altmire, Tim Murphy and Mike Doyle, along with Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office to look into the matter. Altmire says workers would delay entering a name from the time they initially heard about the case, and instead entered it right before they started working on the case, making it seem that their work was more efficient. He says the Pittsburgh Veterans Office has the fifth longest backlog in the country, and this situation only makes matters more frustrating. In fact, Congress made an investment to aid in clearing the backlog by purchasing a computer organizing program for the group.

Problem Solving Courts Approved by PA Senate

With a unanimous vote the PA Senate approved legislation that would statutorily authorize the implementation of problem solving courts in the Commonwealth. Problem solving courts include, among other options, mental health courts and drug courts. The goal is to divert non-violent offenders from jail cells and into supervision programs. The courts are intended to encourage rehabilitation and lower corrections costs. State Senator Jane Orie of McCandless says, "As a former prosecutor and a strong advocate for improving our drug rehabilitation and mental health systems, I believe this legislation is crucial to helping those in need and to improving public safety." "These courts will reduce prison overcrowding and improve cooperation between our criminal justice system and drug and alcohol and mental health systems," says Orie. Allegheny County recently established a veterans' court and has been praised for its success. The law would not force counties to create the special courts but the measure makes it easier to get funding if a county should be interested. According to Sen. Orie, the average cost of building a new prison in Pennsylvania is $200 million and the cost of housing a prisoner can run as much as $30,000 a year. She says approximately 20% of Pennsylvania’s prison population suffers from mental illness. Orie says, “In many cases, we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to incarcerate mentally ill patients or those with addictions who would benefit far more from treatment, medication and counseling.”

"Remembrance Park" Plans Unveiled

Parades and events are being held in communities throughout southwestern Pennsylvania today, Memorial Day, to honor the service and sacrifice of military personnel.
The 72nd Memorial Service was held at noon at the Soldiers' Memorial in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Prior to that, the annual parade was held in the Lawrenceville section of the city with marchers making their way to the cemetery.

Events are being held throughout the day at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial and Museum in Pittsburgh. Plans were unveiled today for the building of "Remembrance Park," on the existing front lawn. Designer Michael Cherock says the park will consist of 3sections including a re-worked lawn that will feature a circular path with 6 stations: one for each branch of the service. After walking along the circular path, visitors would come to the Honor Garden, which will display artifacts and be centered around a statue honoring those who have died in the war on terror. After the garden, there would be a plaza that is much larger than the current one and be more accessible...especially for those in wheelchairs.
Museum Executive Vice President John McCabe says the original estimated cost was about $1 million but it's more likely to cost $4 to 5 million. McCabe says there is no timetable but he expects the project to take 4 to 5 years to complete.

New Commissary for SW PA

The Department of Defense has given final approval for a new commissary in the Pittsburgh region. It will be built near Pittsburgh International Airport and replace the Charles E. Kelley Support Facility which was included in the last round of base closures and realignments. Congressman Tim Murphy from the South Hills was pleased by the final approval...."This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of military members and their families, who will now continue to have the services that were guaranteed to them."
Without the new facility, the nearest commissary for the veterans and their families would be a 4 hour drive. Congressman Mike Doyle of Swissvale called the decision "a major victory."
12.2 million in federal funding has been secured to build the new commissary and post exchange which will serve 168,000 eligible veterans and active military from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. The Kelley facility will remain open until the new commissary is built.

Veterans' Court

In an effort to improve prison efficiency and give veterans more personalized attention, a state representative is asking for more funding for veterans' courts. Representative Don Walko of Allegheny County says having a court geared for veterans makes sense because their challenges will be better understood. Unlike a problem-solving court that primarily deals with mental illness and drug addiction, the veterans' court will have people who are knowledgable in ways to treat veterans.

Walko says funding for this cause from the Commonwealth, even in these tough economic times, would remedy several problems of the court and prison systems. Allegheny County officials plan to have a veterans' court up and running by June.

Veterans to Receive Free Tuition from Robert Morris

Veterans and active service members may soon be able to go to Robert Morris University without having to cover any tuition costs. RMU says it will forgive any tuition costs not covered by the G.I bill and other programs. The G.I. bill grants veterans a subsidy equal to the most expensive public school tuition in the state. For Pennsylvanians, that is Penn State's tuition of about $14,000; RMU's tuition is around $20,000. Robert Morris will pay for half of the remaining $6,000, while the Yellow Ribbon G.I. Education Enhancement Program will take care of the rest. Participants can study whatever subject they want, at whatever level in which they are qualified to enroll. Robert Morris President Greg Dell'Omo says he will not put a cap on the program, though there may be a great deal of interest. Dell'Omo believes the G.I. bill created after World War II boosted the economy, helped families and "created the modern middle class in our country."