U.S. Senators to Hold Hearings After Veterans Test Positive for Infections

A U.S. Senate committee will ask officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs how mistakes at three VA medical centers in the Southeast, including a clinic in Augusta, may have exposed veterans to infections such as HIV and hepatitis.

The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs has set a June 24 hearing for VA officials to explain how mistakes with endoscopic equipment possibly exposed patients to infectious body fluids in Augusta, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Miami.

The committee's announcement comes shortly after a U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs subcommittee announced it would hold its own hearing on June 16.

The VA has warned more than 10,000 former patients at the three medical centers to get follow-up blood checks. Five of the patients have tested positive for HIV so far, and 43 have tested positive for hepatitis.

In Augusta, the problem affected rhinoscopes in an ear, nose and throat clinic at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center. Officials in February said an employee improperly sterilized the rhinoscopes with disinfectant designed for exam tables instead of a stronger one specifically designed for the scopes.

A top doctor at the federal agency has stressed that the positive results for the diseases may not have come from hospital mistakes.

VA to open new outpatient clinics

The Department of Veteran Affairs plans to open four outpatients clinics in Newnan, Brunswick, Milledgeville and Hinesville.

U.S. Senators (R) Saxby Chambliss, and (R) Johnny Isakson, commented on the step, in a statement released by their offices:

“Our veterans deserve access to the very best medical care and services,” said Chambliss, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The announcement of these new clinics is great news for veterans in our state who have served our nation with honor.”

“This is outstanding news that Georgia will receive four new VA clinics to deliver to our veterans the level of VA care they deserve,” Isakson said. “As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, one of my top priorities is to make sure America takes care of the veterans who have dedicated their lives to serving our country.”

VA officials say they expect to open the community-based centers over the next 12 months. There are 10 VA outpatient clinics operating in Georgia.

Click here for more information about Georgia VA facilities.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of veterans affairs.

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs visits Augusta

Dr. James Peake, the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, says he’s talked with officials at hospitals here about the possibility of expanding medical care for wounded veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Peake toured the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center and the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta today.

He praised community efforts on the expansion, but stopped short of giving specifics on what role his agency would play, suggesting there may be other priorities to consider.

"We’re always re-assessing what we have as a mission requirement," Peake told reporters. "We’re talking about space issues today…about how to expand our primary care space to provide a separate portal for women. We’ve brought a gynecologist on board in the VA hospital, so that’s shifting and adjusting our mission to meet the need of our veterans."

Peake has previously pledged to improve health care for women veterans. The focus on women's care comes as a congressional report earlier this year said women don't get the same quality of outpatient care as men in several VA medical centers in the U.S. About 14 percent of veterans are women.

The Eisenhower and Charlie Norwood centers already treat many wounded troops. Medical personnel and community leaders want to build on that by increasing efforts in medical care and rehabilitation and subsequently bringing more wounded active duty troops here, making Augusta a hub for treating them.

They say coordinating medical services among all facilities here and getting federal dollars could potentially help relieve the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. That’s where many active duty troops go to recover from war injuries.

The Medical College of Georgia and the Joseph M. Still Burn Center are also among medical care facilities located in Augusta.

Fifty Georgia Colleges, Universities to Increase GI Financial Aid

Nearly 50 colleges and universities in Georgia have signed on to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs program to improve financial aid for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The 45 campuses include Georgia Tech and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Mercer University in Macon and Savannah College of Art and Design. The institutions have agreed to pay up to half of the tuition, housing and textbook expenses for veterans who sign up under the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The program is part of the new GI Bill passed last year, offering veterans the most significant expansion of educational benefits since the original GI Bill in 1944. The VA expects nearly half a million veterans to participate in the coming year.

On the Net: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov

(Associated Press)

Veterans Center Named for Congressman

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta is being re-named in honor of a late congressman. President Bush today signed a law re-naming the center the Charlie Norwood Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Norwood, a Republican, represented eastern Georgia's 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years until his death from cancer on February 13.

More Medical Mistakes at VA Clinics

Federal officials have been warning thousands of former patients they might have been exposed to infection at three Veterans Affairs facilities, yet other VA patients are not being warned about less serious mistakes with the same equipment at more than a dozen other VA centers.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' chief patient safety officer declined to identify those facilities. Doctor Jim Bagian said those instances did not involve an infection risk. More than 10,400 former patients have been getting follow-up blood tests because of VA mistakes with equipment used in colonoscopies at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Miami and at the agency's Augusta ear, nose and throat clinic.

(Associated Press)

Veterans Affairs Will Avoid HIV Link

A top doctor at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says former patients who tested positive for HIV or hepatitis will not be able to show they were infected by tainted equipment at VA medical centers. Five patients have tested positive for HIV and 33 have tested positive for hepatitis since the VA started notifying more than 11,000 people treated at three VA medical centers in Miami, Georgia and Tennessee that they may have been exposed to infectious body fluids after using endoscopic equipment that wasn't properly sterilized. The blood tests are continuing. The agency has stressed that the positive results for the diseases may not have come from hospital mistakes. The VA's chief patient safety officer, Dr. Jim Bagian, said he doesn't think anyone will ever know.

(Associated Press)

VA Clinic Opens in Rome, GA

A new VA Clinic is opening tomorrowin Rome to service some 75 thousand veterans that live in North West Georgia and local veterans will no longer have to drive to metro Atlanta to receive care at a VA Hospital.

Local Congressman Phil Gingrey spent a year and a half trying to get the Veterans Affairs Administration in Washington to open a clinic in Rome. Gingrey says he couldn’t have done it with out heavy lobbying from Georgia’s Veterans.

"The veterans themselves organized and signed over 2,000 petitions letters and when you put that on a desk in front of a commissioner in Washington and he can no longer see over his desk…that has a tendency to get his attention," said Gingrey.

The clinic will have basic laboratory and radiology services. Opening day appointments are already booked.

V.A. clinic opens on coast

A new veterans' clinic is open on the coast. The Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in St. Marys will save thousands of veterans long drives for medical treatment and advice about benefits. It will be fully staffed by December with 20 doctors, nurses, lab technicians and a pharmacist. The VA says the clinic will accept veterans from anywhere with no geographical restrictions.

(Associated Press)

VA Hearings On HIV Exposure Begin Tuesday

A House subcommittee meets tomorrow in Washington with the Department of Veterans Affairs--at issue is the concern that more than 10,000 veterans may have been exposed to HIV at an Augusta VA hospital and two others in the Southeast. VA officials plan to tell committee members how mistakes made with endoscopic equipment raised health concerns over the past few months. Along with the VA hospital in Augusta, facilities in Miami and Murfreesboro-Tennessee are also under review for the problems.

$21M for veterans building

Congress has adopted legislation paving the way for a $21 million renovation of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Atlanta. The money will go toward upgrading the inpatient ward at the hospital. The measure now goes to President George Bush for final approval.

AP: VA Clinics Fail to Follow Standards

The Associated Press has learned that fewer than half of Veterans Affairs clinics given a surprise inspection last month followed proper standards for colonoscopies and other minimally invasive procedures - even after the agency learned that mistakes may have exposed thousands of veterans to HIV and other diseases. The VA's findings, obtained by the AP, suggest that errors in colonoscopies and other procedures performed at VA facilities may be more widespread than initially believed. The report will be released at a House hearing Tuesday. Since February, the VA has told some 10,000 patients in three states to get tested. More than 50 patients tested positive for infections, including six for HIV. It can't be proven that their infections came from the procedures.

(Associated Press)

U.S. Senate lauds Augusta veteran services

This week the United States Senate unanimously approved a resolution commending Augusta’s service to veterans. The measure was introduced by Georgia Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson. The resolution expresses gratitude to medical organizations and local healthcare personnel for working together to care for wounded warriors.

One example of this collaboration, medical staff from the Eisenhower Army Medical Center and the Augusta Department of Veterans Affairs have routinely met to discuss future patient cases for the Active Duty Rehabilitation Unit.

Since 2004, more than 1,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines have received rehabilitation services at the Eisenhower medical facility.

GA VA Patient Tests HIV Positive after Contamination

A patient at a Georgia Veterans Affair clinic has tested positive for HIV after being exposed to contaminated medical equipment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says unverified tests show that this is the third person to have the virus that causes AIDS among thousands getting blood tests because equipment wasn’t properly sanitized. That’s one patient each from Murfreesboro Tennessee, Augusta Georgia, and a Miami medical facility.

The contaminated endoscopic machines exposed the patients to the body fluid of others.

The VA also said six tests have come back positive for Hepatitis B, and 19 positive tests for Hepatitis C among the three locations.

(Associated Press)

Georgia Participates in Health Grant

The University of Florida is getting $26 million from the National Institutes of Health to speed up scientific discovery and medical advances to patients. Florida officials say the effort involves 12 of the university's 16 colleges, the Institutes of Food and Agricultural Sciences, the North Florida-South Georgia Veterans Affairs Health System and Shands HealthCare. The university announced the award Tuesday in Gainesville. UF is the only Florida university to get the award, but seven other institutions are also receiving the funding this year.

(Associated Press)

Augusta VA hospital to get Norwood name

President Bush has given final approval to rename the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta after the late Charlie Norwood. The bill to rename the VA hospital was sponsored by Georgia’s congressional delegation.

The late Augusta Representative died in February at the age of 65, after a battle with lung disease and cancer. Norwood is a former combat dentist who settled in Augusta after returning from the Vietnam War.

Georgia has three VA hospitals--in Augusta, Dublin and outside Atlanta. The Dublin facility has also been renamed, for former Representative Carl Vinson of Milledgeville. Renamings of VA hospitals are somewhat rare. Of 155 medical centers across the nation, about 30 are named for people.

U.S. House approves Norwood honor

The United States House has voted unanimously to rename the Veterans Affairs medical center in Augusta after the late Rep. Charlie Norwood. Lawmakers say it's a fitting way to honor the Augusta Republican and Vietnam War veteran who focused much of his 12-year congressional career on health care. Norwood, a dentist before winning his congressional seat in 1994, died Feb. 13 at age 65 after suffering from lung disease and cancer. A captain in the Vietnam War, Norwood was a member of the Army's dental corps and helped develop operating procedures for combat treatment that are still in use today. He became well-known for his efforts to pass a "patients' bill of rights" aimed at giving consumers better access to care. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Second HIV Patient At Augusta VA Clinic

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs now shows six former patients have tested positive for HIV since mistakes at VA hospitals in Tennessee, Florida and Georgia possibly exposed them to infections. An update on the VA's Web site shows a second patient at the ear, nose and throat clinic in Augusta, Ga., has tested positive for HIV. Three former colonoscopy patients at the VA hospital in Miami and one at the VA hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn., have tested positive for HIV. The six are among about 10,000 former VA patients warned that they are at a "small risk of infection" due to equipment that wasn't properly cleaned or operated. Forty-five former patients have tested positive for hepatitis. Congressional hearings are set for June 16 and June 24.

(Associated Press)

State lawmaker Dan Lakly dies

Fayette County State Representative Dan Lakly has died at the age of 65. According to House Majority leader Jerry Keen, Lakly had been taken to a local hospital after injuring his arm in a fall over the weekend. Once there, sometime following surgery, he suffered a massive heart attack.

Lakly was a Republican from Peachtree City who served five terms in the Georgia House. Elected to the General Assembly in 1992, Lakly won re-election twice before losing the Republican primary in 1998 to Kathy Cox, who went on to become the current state school superintendent. Lakly re-emerged six years later, taking a House seat when the GOP took control of the chamber.

Lakly was chairman of the House Information and Audits Committee, and vice chairman of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee.

12th District debate gets testy

Sparks flew in a debate yesterday as the two Democrats seeking to represent the Twelfth Congressional district met in a televised debate. In a debate broadcast on GPB radio and television, the Democratic challenger to Congressman John Barrow, Savannah State Senator Regina Thomas, launched into the incumbent over veterans affairs, wiretapping and other hot-botton issues. Thomas accused Barrow of dragging his feet on reducing gas prices.

Thomas said, "Being in Congress for four years and still talking about what you're going to do, it already should have been done. I think we need to be honest to the American people, we need to tell them exactly what's happening, that the big oil companies and their executives are getting all the money, that we're being gouged."

The candidates disagreed over offshore oil drilling. Thomas said it wouldn't help to reduce gas prices much or soon, while Barrow said he voted for the measure. Thomas called herself the "true Democrat" in the race, while Barrow characterized his approach in Congress as one open to working with both Republicans and Democrats.

Barrow said, "In my time in Congress, I've earned a reputation for getting things done by working with folks on both sides of the isle and all sides of an issue to find solutions to the problems of the people of this country. I've taken this approach because I genuinely believe that that's what this country needs and I know it's what the people of this district want."

The Democratic debate was followed by a milder Republican face-off, with three GOP contenders on-stage. John Stone of Augusta and Savannahians Ray McKinney and Ben Crystal didn't stray far from the tax-reducing mantra. Whoever wins the GOP primary will face either Thomas or Barrow. Both party primaries are on July 15th. If no one wins more than 50% on the Republican side, there'll be a run-off on August 5th.