Welcome to the Indiana Department of Veterans' Affairs
Since its establishment in 1945, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA) has remained focused on aiding and assisting "Hoosier" veterans, and qualified family members or survivors, who are eligible for benefits or advantages provided by Indiana and the U.S. government. Read More >>

Click the link below to catch up on the latest Hoosier Veteran - IDVA eNewsletter

• Hoosier Veteran - IDVA's eNewsletter

COMMISSION MEETING
DATE: JANUARY 11, 2019
TIME: 1 PM
LOCATION: GOVERNMENT CENTER SOUTH, CONFERENCE ROOM 1&2

Spotlights:

Free IndyGo Bus Passes
Kokomo Acute Care Treatment Center
Pike YMCA to host YES to Vets Yoga evening classes. Other sessions are offered in Speedway and Nora
Google Launches New Tools To Help U.S. Veterans Find Jobs And Promote Businesses - read more in the Forbes article  

VA Stories of Note: May 26 – June 1, 2018

Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), May 29: VA is making it easier for veterans to access telehealth care in their homes Good news that will make it easier for veterans to receive health care arrived just in time for Memorial Day. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs cleared the way for health professionals in one state to consult or treat veterans in another state online through telehealth services. Some facilities, including the veterans medical center in Wilkes-Barre, already were doing that. But telehealth wasn’t occurring as much as it could because of questions about its legality.

KTRK (ABC-13, Video) (Houston, Texas), May 27: Service dog brings smiles to one V.A. hospital During this Memorial Day Weekend, there is one place where veterans are smiling thanks to a four-legged friend named Honor. Honor is a service dog who understands the obstacles that veterans go through. The golden retriever was born without metacarpals where her back right paw would be located. Honor wears a prosthetic paw to get around the hospital.

Milwaukee Courier (Milwaukee, Wis.), May 26: VA Mental Health Summit at UWM to Help African-American Vets Michelle Watts comes from a military family and works at Veterans Affairs, so she is tuned in to the issues that may keep African-American veterans from seeking VA services. “Misinformation and a history of mistrust may be factors,” said Watts, veterans justice outreach coordinator for Milwaukee’s Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.), May 26: VA turns to foster care for veterans instead of putting them in nursing homes Ralph Stepney’s home on a quiet street in north Baltimore has a welcoming front porch and large rooms, with plenty of space for his comfortable recliner and vast collection of action movies. The house is owned by Joann West, a licensed caregiver who shares it with Stepney and his fellow Vietnam War veteran Frank Hundt.

Arizona Public Media (Video) (Tucson, Ariz.), May 25: VA Emphasizes Mental Well-Being, Expanded Care The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System is working to increase the service it provides veterans. There are approximately 60,000 veterans currently under care. Dr. Anthony Stazzone, the chief of staff for the organization, says the “whole health” approach strives to treat veterans where they are, whether it be chronic disease or mental health services. Among the services offered are meditation and yoga.

KABC (ABC-7, Video) (Glendale, Calif.), May 26: Scouts place 88,000 flags on veterans' graves at Los Angeles National Cemetery Two days before Memorial Day, thousands of Boy and Girl Scouts on Saturday fanned out across the Los Angeles National Cemetery and placed some 88,000 American flags on the graves of service members.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.), May 25: Minneapolis VA hospital studies how to treat moral wounds  The Minneapolis VA Medical Center was an early leader in researching and defining moral injuries — the mental breaks that soldiers can suffer when their use of lethal force during war contradicts their deeply held spiritual beliefs. Now, clinicians and chaplains at the veterans hospital are studying how to treat it.

KREX (CBS-5, Video) (Grand Junction, Colo.), May 30: VA Medical Center Integrates Digital Doctors Whether they're providing care in a patient's room Or roaming the halls, the doctors, nurses, and intensivists at the V.A. Medical Center always know the status of their patient's thanks to the TeleNetwork System…

FOX News (Video), May 30: 'VA Mission Act' to improve veteran care Veterans Affairs says they are improving the caregiver program. Caregiver program to expand to all veterans.

Colorado Springs Independent (Colorado Springs, Colo.), May 30:  Pikes Peak National Cemetery dedicated in Colorado Springs  A 374-acre plot in southeast Colorado Springs with room for 95,000 veterans and family members was dedicated on May 25. The Pikes Peak National Cemetery, 10545 Drennan Road, is the state's third VA cemetery — the others are Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver and Fort Lyon National Cemetery.

CBS 2 KUTV (Salt Lake City, Utah), May 31: Prison inmates train dogs for struggling veterans A local program is using prison inmates and shelter dogs to help veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s called Canines with a Cause. The program started at the Timpanogos Women’s Correctional Facility more than four years ago. More than 280 veterans have been helped, 280 dogs rescued and an estimated 25 inmates benefited.

VA Stories of Note:  March 9- March 16, 2018

Las Vegas Review-Journal (Video) (Las Vegas, Nev.), March 9: VA Secretary Shulkin visits Las Vegas center for brain health Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin visited the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health on Friday to learn more about how the center’s research one day might help veterans living with chronic brain diseases.

Federal Computer Week, March 9: VA goes all in on APIs The Department of Veterans Affairs is going all in on application programming interfaces – APIs – as a way of delivering data to health care partners and outside developers. The API effort is being organized via a new project, dubbed Lighthouse. Lighthouse is an API management platform that makes data feeds available to developers looking to incorporate VA data into online tools and applications.

KFOX (FOX-14) (El Paso, Texas), March 14: El Paso VA saving money by using solar panels The El Paso Veterans Affairs Medical Center is going green. The center now has working solar panels, which allows it to generate and consume its own electricity. It’s all a part of a bigger governmental effort to “Go Green,” saving the VA thousands of dollars.

The Daily Courier (Prescott, Ariz.),March 13: Guitars for vets - Local VA brings the calm of music U.S. Army veteran Dave Mundee strums through the scales on a guitar as part of a two-hour weekly class at the local VA, picking out chords he needs to play Bob Dylan tune, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” He’s not in a band, or getting ready for a recital. The 53-year-old is simply seeking a way to bring some harmony into a life that has seen its share of chaos.

Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.), March 12: Veteran's bionic hand is turning heads in Mandeville While thankful for the prosthetic, Pezzarossi has his sights squarely set on a loftier goal. He is working with the University of Utah's Dr. Christopher Duncan and the Veterans Administration and is participating in a clinical trial in hopes of getting an even more advanced prosthetic called the LUKE, which was recently developed under the U.S. Department of Defense for injured soldiers.

MedicalXpress (New York, N.Y.), March 12: Colonoscopy significantly reduces mortality from colorectal cancer in Veterans Affairs study Colonoscopy was associated with a 61 percent reduction in colorectal cancer mortality among veterans receiving care through the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system. The reduction was observed for both left- and right-sided colorectal cancer, although the association was weaker for right-sided cancer (46 percent versus 72 percent reduction). The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, W.Va.), March 11: Huntington VA focuses on suicide prevention In line with the top five initiatives as put forth by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Huntington VA Medical Center is working hard to reduce suicide in the veteran population. While all the employees at the medical center are vigilant for signs of crisis and suicidal ideation, two staff members have embraced the initiative…

WSMV (NBC-4, Video) (Nashville, Tenn.), March 14: Middle Tennessee veterans using tai chi to help with pain, stress An ancient form of exercise is helping to change veterans' lives in the Midstate. At the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, veterans who use wheelchairs say they go to adaptive tai chi to help relieve chronic pain and take their minds off their injuries. The veterans say the practice also helps calm their post-war anxiety and anger.

Additional Updates: