Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention and Health Care Enhancement Act

Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention and Health Care Enhancement Act Please Contact Your Senators Today!

A House bill that is important to Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and to service-disabled veterans in particular, passed the House of Representatives on October 11, 2011, and is now languishing in the Senate. If enacted, H.R. 2074, the “Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention and Health Care Enhancement Act,” will—• help improve personal safety and security at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities;
• clarify Congressional intent that service-connected veterans gain full access to skilled nursing, adult day health and domiciliary care provided by state veterans homes;
• improve and broaden rehabilitative care and services for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury;
• allow veterans accompanied by service dogs to freely enter VA properties without restriction; and,
• establish a new pilot program for veterans to train dogs as a therapeutic option in VA mental health.
Despite the positive benefits and non-controversial intentions of this bill, at least one US Senator has caused the bill to be placed “on hold,” pending the outcome of the Senate’s consideration of an unrelated bill. The bill will die when Congress adjourns later this year. We ask that you contact your Senators to urge the Senate to give final consideration to H.R. 2074, and clear it for approval by the President. Please send the prepared e-mail, or your own message, to your Senators today.
Thank you for your grassroots advocacy on behalf of DAV and service-disabled veterans. Our effectiveness as an advocate for disabled veterans depends heavily on strong grassroots assistance by our members and DAV supporters.

Info to benefit you from Adjutant Kuehnl…

I would like to invite each of you to this year’s state convention.  It will be held at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center (& Casino) in Green Bay.  Dates are June 7-9, 2012, and on Sunday, June 10, 2012 will be the Service Officer’s School headed by NSO Supervisor, Derrick Williams.  There is information about the school in your recent chapter mailing, and it will be posted on the events page on our department website davwi.org. There have been a few other changes to this year’s convention -- Friday night is hospitality night – we will feature live entertainment and a whole lot of fun, and the Auxiliary’s silent auction on a number of items.  Attached to the hotel is the casino which is open twenty-four hours a day.  If that doesn’t do it for you, the sites of Green Bay, and the home of the Green Bay Packers, a short drive over to the Lambeau Field gift shop, and a number of restaurants at and near Lambeau Field. I hope that all of you come out to this year’s convention to make new friends and renew old ones. I would like to thank our staff at HQ for their help getting the convention material out in a timely manner.  This year our National guest is Barry A. Jesinoski. Barry is the Executive Director of our Washington Service & Legislative Headquarters.  I am excited to have him at our convention this year, please stop and greet him with a Wisconsin warm and fuzzy hello.  Barry is from Minnesota, so I can only guess that he is a Viking fan…we wouldn’t hold that against him.

Please note that our DAV/DAVA Day at the Ballpark is Sunday, July 22, 2012 in Appleton, WI.  There is a flyer that is included in this issue…please refer to it for additional information, and if you have additional questions, please let me know, or call HQ.  I am hoping to have a huge turnout for this event, veterans admission is FREE and a charge of seven dollars per family member, please send your reservations information to: Ken Kuehnl 1457 Groves Lane Union Grove, WI 53182 by July 2, 2012.  Also include how many are attending and include how many are veteran(s). Children 2 and under are free.  Last year we had one hundred twenty -- let’s add to that number.  Game starts at 1:05pm; first pitches will be our own Department and Auxiliary Commanders.  See you at the game.

The countdown begins with this copy of the DAV News; this paper is the fourth to the last paper.  I still have mixed feelings about this change in the way information comes to the membership.  We have a Facebook page that has over two hundred members and growing every day.  Our website was overhauled over a year ago, and included many different links than we ever had before.  Plus blogs, that relate to the need of instant information, about veterans issues, votes by Legislators, and Legislation that is timely and must be acted upon, sometimes that day.  I hope that you will follow the Department on our website and Facebook, for all forthcoming issues.

Lastly, Mary Anderson is facing some serious medical challenges at this time, and we ask that you please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Words of encouragement and get-well cards can be sent to 2676 Lost Dauphin Road, DePere, WI 54115. Shelby will be filling in a bit more till Mary gets back.  Get well soon Mary.

Regards,

Ken Kuehnl
Adjutant Department of WI       

Website and Blogs

I will be publishing the up to date information about the 2012 State Convention soon.  Please take your time to read over all of the information that you receive.  If you have any further questions, please contact myself or HQ.

I am in search of someone who would like to help run our website.  They must have knowledge of WordPress and how to get two of our blogs back up and running.  I am unable to post the our Government Relations Blog or our Jobs Blog.  If you would be interested in helping the Department out, please let me know ASAP.  I can be reached at cadwell2929@sbcglobal.net.

Regards,

Ken Kuehnl 

While dining out...

It's interesting who you meet while dining out, this past Friday my wife and I were at a resturant  and at the next  table was a old friend and his wife.  We exchanged stories while eating and I discovered that Tom had been in and out of Vietnam a number of times during the late 60's and early 70's.  I asked if he had ever been to the VA for any medical problems he stated that he didn't.  I asked if he has type II diabetes and he said yes, then I asked him if he had any heart condition, he said he did.  I told him that he needed to contact the DAV NSOs in Milwaukee on Monday.  I guess the part of this small story was that he didn't realize that his medical conditions just might be from his time in country.  There are many more vets like Tom, if you run into another Tom, or Sam, maybe even a John, and ask the questions where they served?  When where you there?  Do you have any medical problems now?  I will follow up with Tom and make sure that he contacted our NSOs, and he can get the help that he is entitled to.

Changes to 2012 State Convention

The first change is that the Hospitably Night will be on June 8th 2012.  The second and most important change is that the Service Offices School will now be on Sunday June 10th from 8:00am to 3pm in the Turtle Bear Rooms at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Green Bay.  More information will be following with the March mailing to the chapters about Convention business.

I am looking forward to a great convention this year, so come on to Green Bay and have some fun!

2012 District Conferences

I have posted the District Conferences,on the Events Page on our website. I hope that many of you attend and contribute, at your conference. The DAV has always been in the forefront on legislation and veterans benefits. Resolutions are a very important part of our State Convention, this is how an idea helps to become our legislative agenda, or changes to the National, or State Constitution and Bylaws. Have your thoughts about our changes that would enhance the DAV, and make better lives for disabled veterans and their families.

If you know of anyone or have an item to donate to the Auxiliary Convention Raffle, please contact Patty Davis or Rose Williams, about this.

Warmest regards,

Ken Kuehnl

Happy New Year!

 

The Department of Wisconsin will be changing a few ways that we do business.  We will no longer have three issues of the DAV News.  Over the next two years we will  produce two DAV News Papers a year.  The costs have driven us to come to this conclusion, that we can no longer afford to keep the paper going.  So after many emails, phone calls and personal letter we have decided that the DAV News will end in 2013.  I feel as Department Adjutant that we have chosen the correct route to go. 

We have changed the website to make more friendly, and to keep the events page up-to-date.  We are hoping to publish an DAV News, that will be sent out to the members that request this, there should be information within a months on how the layout of this E-DAV News will look.  The Department of Wisconsin website is davwi.org for additional information.

I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and the best of health to you and your family.

Warmest regards,

Ken Kuehnl

DAV State WI Convention 2011

 

 

I would like to thank everyone who attended this years convention, and made it one of our best one, in recent memory. 

I hope to see many of you at Fall Conference October 6-8.  October 6 will be the Service Office School.  October 7 will be the panel, and additional training…yet to be announced.

DAV Calls for Mandatory Reporting of all Sexual Assaults in VA Facilities

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
807 Maine Ave., SW • Washington, D.C. 20024 • Phone (202) 554-3501 • Fax (202) 863-0233

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2011

DAV Calls for Mandatory Reporting of all Sexual Assaults in VA Facilities

WASHINGTON — The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) finds very disturbing a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which cites 284 cases of alleged, attempted or confirmed sex assaults on patients and employees at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers between January 2007 and last July.

“It is fundamental that our VA hospitals offer a safe environment as well as top-flight medical care,” said DAV National Commander Wallace E. Tyson. “This is very disturbing news, and we urge the VA to put into place the report’s recommendations at all medical centers, clinics and other facilities.”

The GAO report examined sexual assaults at VA medical centers and found that many times the victims’ reports are mishandled or inappropriately acted upon based on decisions by local physicians and administrators.

The DAV strongly recommends the creation of a task force to ensure the VA adopts a culture of safety and promptly develops a uniform policy for the reporting of all sexual assaults.

“We look to the VA and the administration to make safety a priority in our VA medical centers,” Tyson said.

“Mandatory reporting is absolutely necessary. There must be a strict requirement set immediately that all allegations of sexual assaults be reported to an independent body of oversight,” Commander Tyson said.

“These reports can no longer be allowed to be dealt with solely at the local level.”

“This is not a gender-specific issue – this is an issue for every veteran, family member and caregiver.

Every person who enters a VA facility must know the government is doing everything possible to keep them safe. VA needs to be a place of care not of fear.”

The 1.2 million-member Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit organization founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932, represents this nation’s disabled veterans. It is dedicated to a single
purpose: building better lives for our nation’s disabled veterans and their families. For more information, visit the organization’s Web site www.dav.org.

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Veterans United For Veterans

Outreach-Milwaukee WI- May 27, 2011

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/veterans-benefits-administration-vba-us-department-of-veterans-affairs/outreach-milwaukee-wi-may-27-2011/10150187699108492

House Passes GI Bill fixes

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=h#!/VeteransAffairs

Hallowed Grounds on PBS May 30, 2011

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/video/video.php?v=10150317348980884&oid=134275060386&comments

Message From The National Adjutant

http://dav.org/news/Adjutant.aspx

Outreach_Milwaukee

http://www.facebook.com/DAV.WI#!/notes/veterans-benefits-administration-vba-us-department-of-veterans-affairs/outreach-milwaukee-wi-may-13-2011/10150172202633492

"R&D" finally does some

http://www.vabenefitblog.com/new-gene-research-with-veterans-help/

Senators seek cost-of-living raise for disabled vets

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0511/050611l2.htm

Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI) Accelerated Benefits Option

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/veterans-benefits-administration-vba-us-department-of-veterans-affairs/veterans-group-life-insurance-vgli-accelerated-benefits-option/10150166128933492

I Don’t Know What It’s Like

DAV National Adjutant’s Message on the Death of Osama bin Laden

By Arthur H. Wilson

May 2, 2011 ShareThis

Today we thank the courage and tenacity of America’s fighting men and women who at last succeeded in killing an enemy of our country and the world.

The death of Osama bin Laden, now nearly a decade after 9/11, is a victory we as a nation will gratefully appreciate. It is a boost to our national security and to the morale of those who’ve fought in the current and past wars to protect their countrymen and uphold our way of life.

While we pause to celebrate this remarkable action, it is a fitting reminder of the courage and sacrifice exhibited by our fighting men and women as they are acting on intelligence gathered at bin Laden’s previous refuge.

As our servicemembers have given us this historic moment of freedom, they are undoubtedly preparing the next step in eliminating additional threats to our countrymen and our national interests at home and abroad.

It is fitting to remember the tremendous sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of men and women have made as a result of and in response to attacks predating 9/11. In no small way, this victory is a testament to their service and recognition of their honor, courage and tenacity.

As we mark this occasion, we must vow to keep our disabled heroes in our thoughts and in our hearts. They continue to put their lives on the line to defend our country. In doing so, we show the true breadth of patriotism that makes ours the greatest nation on this earth.

SOURCE:  http://www.dav.org/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=394