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Craig — The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is celebrating the recently signed into law GI Bill for the 21st Century, after an intense ten-year lobbying effort for educational benefits comparable to those the original GI Bill of 1944 offered. The new GI Bill will pay the highest in-state public tuition rate, and also provide for books, fees and a living stipend. "This is why the VFW is just as relevant today as we were 109 years ago when we were founded. We make a difference," says VFW Commander-in-Chief, George Lisicki.

VA announces new nursing academy sites

WASHINGTON - To provide compassionate, highly-trained nurses to serve the health care needs of the nation's veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is establishing new partnerships with seven of the country's finest nursing schools. The partnerships will bring the number of collaborations between the department and nursing schools under the VA Nursing Academy to 10.

"The expanded role of VA in the education of nurses will ensure the department has the nurses needed to continue our world-class health care for veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake.

"The VA Nursing Academy expands our teaching faculty, improves recruitment and retention and creates new educational and research opportunities."

The VA Nursing Academy is a virtual organization with central administration in Washington. It expands learning opportunities for nursing students at VA facilities, funds additional faculty positions so competitively selected nursing school partners will accept additional baccalaureate-level students, and increases recruitment and retention of VA nurses. The five-year, $40 million program began in 2007.

Seven nursing schools will form new partnerships with nine VA medical centers and join the VA Nursing Academy this year. They are:

VA Facility School of Nursing Charleston, S.C.; Medical University of South Carolina Hines, Ill.; Loyola University of Chicago; Michigan Consortia University of Detroit (Detroit, Saginaw, Mercy, Battle Creek and Ann Arbor); Saginaw Valley State; University Oklahoma City, Okla.; University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; Providence Rhode Island; College Tampa, Fla.; and University of South Florida.

Partnerships already in the VA Nursing Academy include the VA medical center in Gainesville, Fla., with the University of Florida; the VA medical center in San Diego with San Diego State University; the VA medical center in Salt Lake City with the University of Utah; and the VA medical center in West Haven, Conn., with Fairfield University in Connecticut.

The VA expects to add several more nursing-school partnerships. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has reported that in 2006 more than 38,000 qualified applicants were turned away from entry-level baccalaureate degree programs in nursing schools because of insufficient numbers of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and clinical mentors. VA currently provides clinical education for approximately 100,000 health professional trainees annually, including students from more than 600 schools of nursing. VA's "Enhancing Academic Partnerships" pilot program enables competitively selected VA-nursing school partnerships to expand the number of nursing faculty, enhance the professional and scholarly development of nurses, increase student enrollment by about 1,000 students and promote innovations in nursing education. Further information about the pilot program can be obtained from VA's Office of Academic Affiliations Web site at www.va.gov/oaa.

Welcome Back Maxson

I'm glad to report that Dick Maxson was medically released to resume driving for the Vet transport and will be actively involved with the VAMC Grand Junction trips again.

For information on these programs and/or other veterans' benefits, call or stop in the Moffat County VSO office at 480 Barclay St. (west of the Bank of Colorado parking lot). Call 970-824-3246 or use the fax 970-824-7108. Our e-mail address is veterans@moffatcounty.net. The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Other times can be arranged by appointment only. Bring a copy of your separation papers (DD-214) for application for VA programs and for filing at our office.