Health stories in the news

Illustration by Zoran Ozetsky

News round up

Vets with PTSD need community services

In an op-ed piece in today’s Seattle Times, David R. Stone, CEO of social services organization Sound Mental Health, says the Veterans Affairs Administration will not be able to provide the help needed by the estimated one in five Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The VA is an institution-based care system and was never intended to meet the needs of 300,000 victims of PTSD. These veterans and their families will be much better served by the national network of outpatient community mental-health providers already in existence . . . .

“It is incumbent upon us to demand that appropriate community-based services be made available to these brave folks who — through no fault of their own — are bringing the war home with them. We owe them that much, and we should not sleep until we pay that debt … so they can sleep better as well.”

To learn more:

• Read Stone’s column: The nation’s duty to vets who bring the war home.
• Visit Sound Mental Health’s website.
• Watch President Obama’s video announcing new relaxed VA PTSD rules.

Credit: “@” Illustration by Zoran Ozetsky.

Spinal tap test for Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers have shown that a spinal fluid test can accurately predict whether a person with memory problems is going to go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, writes Gina Kolata in today’s New York Times.

Kolata writes:

So the new results also give rise to a difficult question: Should doctors offer, or patients accept, commercially available spinal tap tests to find a disease that is yet untreatable? In the research studies, patients are often not told they may have the disease, but in practice in the real world, many may be told.

To learn more:

• Read Kolata’s article: Spinal-Fluid Test Is Found to Predict Alzheimer’s.

Local Resources:

• Alzheimer’s Association of Washington: www.alzwa.org
• Alzheimer’s Disease Education & Referral Center (NIH site): www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers
• UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center: www.depts.washington.edu/adrcweb

Are hospitals shortchanging staff on overtime pay?

The federal investigators are looking into the pay practices throughout the healthcare industry after finding that many hospitals and nursing homes do not pay the overtime due to nurses and other staff who work more than 40 hours a week, writes New York Times reporter Robert Pear.

Pear writes:

“Hospitals around the country have paid millions of dollars in back wages to settle claims by the government and their employees. And many more hospitals are fighting class-action lawsuits that raise the same issues.”

To enforce the labor rules governing overtime pay, Labor Department has hired 250 new wage-and-hour investigators, Pear writes.

“The Fair Labor Standards Act generally requires that employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, as well as one-and-a-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 a week.”

To learn more:

• Read Pear’s article: Pay Practices in Health Care Are Investigated.

Local Resources:

• Washington State Nurses Association: www.wsna.org
• Washington State Healthcare SEIU: www.seiu1199nw.org

Thumbnail Illustration by Zoran Ozetsky.

Tags: Alzheimer's Disease, Healthcare Workers, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Category: Alzheimer's Disease, Doctors and Nurses, Hospital News, Mental Health, Provider News, VA Puget Sound, Veterans