News

From the desk of Kathy Benson, Towner County Veterans Service Officer

September 12, 2014 a group of Towner County Veterans traveled to Devils Lake to tour the new US Veterans Affairs community based outpatient clinic (CBOC) located on 3rd floor of Mercy hospital

By Carolyn Freundlich
Medill News Service
Aug. 12, 2014 - 01:42PM

It was in 1990 that 22-year-old Melissa Davis went to the Veterans Affairs Department office in Houston to seek treatment for depression.

Davis, a former Army specialist, joined the military at age 17. She says she was raped more than once by a superior officer at her first base. She didn’t report the assaults but told her husband, who urged her to keep quiet to avoid retaliation.

As veterans complain of health impacts from toxic fumes, advocates warn that burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan might come back to haunt the administration.

By Jordain Carney
July 10, 2014

The Obama administration prides itself on righting the sins of past regimes, including expanding access to health care for Vietnam veterans who suffered from exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange.

By Cristina Marcos
The Hill
June 11, 2014, 06:14 pm

The House on Wednesday adopted an amendment from Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) to allow veterans to apply for food stamps while their disability claims are pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Emergency room visits can take twice as long

By Kellan Howell
The Washington Times
Wednesday, May 7, 2014

By the government's own estimate just last month, the average American waits about 26 minutes in a hospital emergency room before being treated. But on average, war veterans must wait twice that long for the same care at Veterans Affairs hospital centers, and a string of internal investigations suggests the ER wait times for retired troops frequently can last hours.

The Fort Hood shooting shines a spotlight on an overall epidemic, but suicide rates are higher for older generations.

By Jordain Carney
April 13, 2014

The Fort Hood shooting reignited the national debate over the surge of suicides among those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But older veterans have been largely overlooked in the conversation.

Nearly 70 percent of all veterans who commit suicide are age 50 or older, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. This is double the suicide rate for the same age group in the nonveteran community.

Not all our casualties of war served overseas in combat. Some are children who never left our shores. Collateral damage, some might call it. Our Cover Story from Martha Teichner: 

How many of these homecomings have you seen on television since we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan more than a decade ago? How many children, looking into a returning soldier's eyes for the parent who went away?

These are supposed to be happy endings, happily-ever-after moments. But often they are anything but.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    
February 20, 2014

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced  the phased roll out of newly designed, more secure Veteran Health Identification Cards. The new cards are distinguished by additional security features and will have a different look and feel. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 27, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a consumer advisory to help consumers protect themselves in the wake of the recent breaches of payment card and other data. The advisory also contains information on where to get help if consumers suspect their information has been compromised.