New, 4-volume veterans' health handbook reflects UK expertise

It is not just about post-traumatic stress and re-entry into the job market anymore, as if it ever was. In topics as diverse as how to best get electronic medical records to how to treat the severely injured who would not have survived earlier wars, The Praeger Handbook of Veterans Health: History, Challenges, Issues and Developments has plumbed the expertise of 65 professionals -- many with ties to the University of Kentucky -- to teach anyone who cares how it's done.

Mary Meehan of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that the editor of the four-volume set is Dr. Thomas Miller, professor emeritus and senior research scientist in psychiatry at UK, who began working on the handbook in 2006. The book makes wide use of Miller's many decades of work with veterans as well his network of experts from other countries.
 
 Miller told the Herald-Leader that he hopes the book will not only show people the scope of services available and how to get the help they need, but help shape the future of veteran care and by extension health care in the United States. The set is designed as a resource for libraries, health care offices and universities. It is available at online bookstores for $257. (Read more)

National Rural Health Day to be celebrated Nov. 15 with free week-long issue-based webinar series

Those almost 60 million Americans who live in rural America do not have as much ready access to health care or to the vast number of health care providers than those who live in more urbanized America. Rural Americans are more likely to arrive on the doorstep of health care facilities without insurance, and that number is growing. These challenges and more have prompted the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) to designate Thursday, Nov. 15 as National Rural Health Day. The day, explains NOSORH director Teryl Eisinger, is an effort to increase awareness of rural health-related issues. The event has stretched to a week of activities, celebrations and a daily webinar series on rural health-care issues accessible to anyone interested nationwide.

Here's a schedule of free webinars. All times are Eastern Standard.
Monday, Nov. 12, 3-4 p.m., Basics of Rural Health, with Kristine Sande, program director, Rural Assistance Center; Rebecca David, executive director, National Cooperation of Health Networks; Mike Shimmens, executive director, Rural Recruitment and Retention Network.
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 1-2 p.m., Cultural Awareness While Serving Rural Veterans with Jay H. Shore, MPH, Associate Professor, University of Colorado, Denver.
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2:30-3:15 p.m., Health Resources and Services Administration Rural Health Update with Mary Wakefield, HRSA administrator.
Thursday, Nov. 15, 3-4 p.m., HRSA's Office of Rural Public Health Policy, Celebrating 25 Years.
Friday, Nov. 16, 3 p.m. Looking Towards the Future of Rural Health Care with Randall Longenecker, MD, Rural Training Track Technical Assistance Program and Jim DeTienne, Montana EMS and Trauma Systems.

All webinars will be recorded and made available to the public at www.celebratepowerofrural.org.(Read more)

C-J finds gaps in medical care for female soldiers, vets

Though women now account for almost 15 percent of active-duty troops in the U.S. military, the medical care they receive is often not on par with that of their male counterparts.

A 2007 Department of Defense report showed that "In half of focus groups, women expressed concerns about a lack of female-specific facilities and equipment, such as machinery to perform mammograms, in field hospitals," The Courier-Journal's Laura Ungar reports. Department of Veterans Affairs "hospitals don't provide obstetrics, for example, and most don't offer mammograms on-site."

Military officials acknowledge more needs to be done, but progress is being made. "Are we perfect? No. But we work our hardest to be," said Laura Boyd, public affairs officers for Fort Campbell's Blanchfield Hospital.

Efforts are being made to boost privacy for women and improve training. The VA has also hired managers to handle women's care and has launched an awareness program in which employers are reminded to assume that any woman who walks in is a veteran. Spending has also gone up, with the VA asking for $270 million in 2012, up $28 million from last year.

Still, the 2007 report found medical care was wanting in field centers. Women complained "about limits on access to gynecological exams, procedures and lab tests; and too few birth-control options in field pharmacies," Ungar reports. "In nearly half the focus groups, women said there was too little privacy in field facilities, and many felt they were seen as whiners for seeking care."

Officials at Blanchfield admit they can't provide all the care women need and do rely on outside providers, such as Vanderbilt University, for complicated cases and for routine wellness services. Most outside providers are within an hour's drive of a VA facility, which Patty Hayes, the VA's director of women's health, acknowledged is "not ideal." Still, there are no plans to provide obstetrics or other specialty care for women at VA hospitals. (Read more)