News

By Tom Philpott
Stars and Stripes
Published: October 16, 2014

Editor's note: This story has been corrected.

Congress last August gave the Department of Veteran Affairs 90 days to issue medical “Choice Cards” to 9.1 million veterans enrolled in VA care.

Fargo, ND September 10, 2014 –HeartSprings Community Healing Center of Fargo has completed a study/interview with ten veterans, spanning the Vietnam, Gulf, and Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Wars.  These veterans are living with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and have difficulty sleeping. 

The Toppers car club, established in 1953, is a non-profit club which hosts the West Fargo “Cruise Night” every third Thursday during the summer months and the annual “Rod and Custom Car show” every spring at the West Fargo Veterans Arena.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                

June 18, 2014          

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan D. Gibson today directed all Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Medical Center and Health Care System Directors to conduct monthly in-person reviews of scheduling practices in every clinic within their jurisdiction.  Site inspections will include observing daily scheduling processes and interacting with scheduling staff to ensure all policies are being followed to deliver Veterans the timely care they have earned.

By Patricia Kime 
Military Times Staff writer
May. 14, 2014 - 06:08PM

The Veterans Affairs Department may not be overprescribing potentially addictive opioid painkillers, but a new report says VA is failing to screen adequately for potential abuse or protect some patients who are given such drugs.

Among those at risk, according to the VA Inspector General, are patients with known substance abuse problems and those taking other medications that can have fatal consequences when mixed with opiates.

By Matthew M. Burke
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 3, 2014

Joseph Petit went to the VA hospital for knee pain and depression and came out on a litany of powerful drugs that he said made him hallucinate.

He repeatedly asked doctors for help with the side effects, but he said they gave him more antipsychotics, antidepressants and anxiety drugs that made him feel worse.

ITT Pushed Consumers into High-Cost Student Loans Likely to Fail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed a lawsuit against ITT Educational Services, Inc., accusing the for-profit college chain of predatory student lending. The CFPB alleges that ITT exploited its students and pushed them into high-cost private student loans that were very likely to end in default. The CFPB is seeking restitution for victims, a civil fine, and an injunction against the company.

Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center Staff
January 30, 2014

WASHINGTON – The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center has released new clinical recommendations to help service members who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as concussion, to progressively return to their normal activities following their injury.

Local News by Kirsten Swanson last edited on Tuesday, January 07, 2014

The Department of Veteran Affairs announced Tuesday night that the VA Black Hills Health Care System will initiate an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to look at proposed reconfiguration of services at the Hot Springs VA Facility.

Secretary Eric Shinseki met with South Dakota representatives Tuesday to announce that the VA would move forward with plans that could potentially close the Hot Springs VA.