Landmark Bill Bolsters Care for Female Veterans

[babylonsister]

Landmark Bill Bolsters Care for Female Veterans
By Laura Fitzpatrick Wednesday, May. 05, 2010

President Barack Obama signs the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act in the State Dining Room of the White House

Olivier Douliery / Getty Images


America's daughters have been serving in the U.S. military for centuries, and they're being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in unprecedented numbers. But back home, they're still not guaranteed that the bathrooms at veterans' health care centers will be stocked with tampons. The Government Accountability Office published an audit this spring that found some of 19 health care facilities it surveyed did not always have private bathing areas, even in mixed-gender units. Such lapses in women's health care are growing more painfully apparent as the number of females using the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system is projected to double in the next five years. But in a landmark step toward addressing their needs, President Obama Wednesday afternoon signed a bill bolstering care for female veterans, which was part of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010.

"Our obligations to our troops don't end on the battlefield," Obama said at the signing in the State Dining Room. "Just as we have a responsibility to train and equip them when we send them into harm's way, we have a responsibility to take care of them when they come home."

Among other measures, the legislation — which was passed with broad bipartisan support — requires the VA to train mental health professionals in caring for the one in five military women who have survived sexual trauma, which increases the risk of mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder by nearly 60%.

The bill also authorizes research on the effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on women's physical, mental and reproductive health. U.S. soldiers have to carry a lot of heavy gear — duffel bags, bulletproof vests, thick boots — through Iraq's dry, 120-degree heat. A reluctance to add to the load by hauling water may lead more female soldiers to become dehydrated in the desert, according to Dr. Samina Iqbal, a member of the VA's national Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group, who notes that some 34% of women return home with genitourinary issues — reproductive system disorders, urinary tract infections, and the like — compared to just 8% of men.

more...

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1987315,00.html

[SpartanDem]

1. K&R

[Cha]

2. This so needed and amazingly good!

One would think it would be a matter of course but it took a Dem to come along and get it done.