MilitaryHealth

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2009 - The Defense Department is monitoring the swine flu situation closely, with its primary focus on protecting the military population, a senior Pentagon official said today.

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - The region's naval medical hospitals and clinics are distributing more fliers and posters reminding military service members and their families about preventing the spread of the flu amid international concerns about "swine flu."

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He's Walter Reed's bionic man, a wounded warrior who walks on a pair of new battery-powered prosthetic legs outfitted with some of the most high-tech gizmos around.

With more and more veterans coming back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson is trying to make sure they get the help they need. Thompson and Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., introduced legislation Thursday in the House that would require every soldier to have face-to-face mental health screening before being deployed on a combat mission, again upon their return and then every six months for the next two years. The bill is companion legislation to a measure introduced in the Senate by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- A $200,000 grant will help provide medical care in Charlotte County for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Charlotte Behavioral Health Care received the grant from the Florida BRAIVE Fund at Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. The grant will be used over the next 18 months to address mental health, substance abuse and related psychological needs of 75 to 100 veterans and family members.

For the first time in years, Congress and the Defense Department may be ready to reach a compromise on how to overhaul the military health care system, the fastest-growing portion of the defense budget.

Although fewer than half of military veterans achieve recommended amounts of physical activity, they are still more active than their counterparts who did not serve in the military, according to a study published by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

About three out of every 1,000 doctors were the targets of serious disciplinary actions by state medical boards last year. An annual report out from the watchdog group Public Citizen says the nationwide rate of serious actions, such as license revocations and suspensions, was 2.92 per 1,000 doctors last year. That was unchanged from the prior year - but remains below a peak of 3.72 in 2004.

The Defense Department recently handed out contracts to three companies to design independent living systems for injured vets. They're supposed to help the wounded make the transition from hospitalization to home, and then provide long-term care. Two of the systems being developed, from Ingenium Care, LLC and Camris International, use a wireless network packed with touch screens, motion detectors and wearable, pre-programmed schedulers.

Spc. Brendan Beely and Staff Sgt. Gabriel Wright of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), a subcommand of U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC), recognized a problem, and invented a device for securing medical tubes and catheters intubated within a patient that will prevent damage to the incisors by locating separate bite blocks on the molars. It also helps to prevent pressure sores on patients' lips.

MHS Blog, guest blogger Janice Hanson, PhD, associate professor of medicine, pediatrics and family medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

The Veterans Affairs Department has launched its new "Returning Veterans" Web site at http:// www.oefoif.va.gov to welcome home veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with a social, veteran-centric Web site that focuses on their needs and questions, VA officials announced today.

The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, launched last year by the Pentagon, is designed to ease the transition home for reservists.