New announcement: Oshawa sues Highway of Heroes Ride organizer

Oshawa sues Highway of Heroes Ride organizer

City looking to collect on bill for 2011 event

Reka Szekely Apr 04, 2013 - 4:35 AM


Oshawa sues Highway of Heroes Ride organizer. OSHAWA -- Heroes Highway Ride and Rally organizer Lou DeVuono has asked the City of Oshawa to forgive a bill for the 2011 event in Oshawa after the City took him to small claims court. Mr. DeVuono was charged $5,600 for City services, including street closures and garbage collection. April 2, 2013. Ryan Pfeiffer / Metroland

OSHAWA -- A Durham man who organized a motorcycle rally to support the troops is asking the City of Oshawa to forgive a bill for the event after the City sued him in small claims court.

Lou DeVuono is the founder and organizer of the Heroes Highway Ride and Rally, now in its fifth year. In 2011, the ride ran from Quinte West, home of CFB Trenton, along the section of Hwy. 401 known as the Highway of Heroes to downtown Oshawa, ending at the McLaughlin Armouries. At the time, Mr. DeVuono said, he felt Oshawa was the perfect place to hold the event since the city is home to the Ontario Regiment.

In January of that year, Mr. DeVuono appeared before council and the ride was endorsed by councillors. However, during the budget process that year, council rejected a $19,300 grant application for in-kind services for the event. Staff had recommended against approving the grant based on the submitted financial statements, which showed other sources of funding.

Mr. DeVuono made the decision to move forward.

"It essentially was too late, I had made the commitment to hold the event there," he said, adding that organizers did their best to reduce the cost of City services, adding the ride is a non-profit event running on a shoestring budget with sponsors mainly donating in-kind services.

The ride was a success, drawing thousands to the downtown.

Following the event, Mr. DeVuono got a bill for $5,600 from the City of Oshawa and a bill for $3,600 from the Region of Durham, he said. City services included street closures and signs, garbage collection, the use of picnic tables and some fencing. The Regional portion is due to the fact that part of the event was on a Regional road and also needed signs for the street closure.

"This is the only jurisdiction I've worked with that put a bill on it," said Mr. DeVuono. "I've had the event in Bowmanville, I've had it in Whitby, I'm having it in Whitby again this year ... even the City of Toronto which closed the DVP for us."

A letter from Mr. DeVuono asking that his bill be zeroed out went to the City's corporate services committee last week and was referred to legal services.

The City's solicitor declined to comment on the case until it's concluded, but confirmed the case is pending in small claims court.

Generally speaking, the City has a policy for partnership grants that exceed $500, including grants for in-kind services. The policy requires that the grant be approved during the budget process.

However, both Mr. DeVuono and his co-organizer, Graeme Hume, said they felt that when the City endorsed the event, it included covering the City services.

"It's a public demonstration of support for the troops and their families, and these people just want to suck everything they can out of it for themselves," said Mr. Hume, who served in the Ontario Regiment from 1983 to 2010.

Prior to being involved with the ride, Mr. Hume sold merchandise such as T-shirts to benefit the military family resource centre at CFB Trenton, first to his co-workers at General Motors in Oshawa and then to the greater community.

He said there is a great deal of local support for the troops and thinks residents would be upset by the City suing Mr. DeVuono.

"The people of Durham Region they support the troops and it's not just lip service but they wear the stuff which other families see on Fridays ... this is what really burns my ass that these guys are so out of touch with their constituents."

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Vets Ombudsman Launches Initiative for the Upcoming NVC Parliamentary Review

April 04, 2013 09:09 ET
Veterans Ombudsman Launches Initiative for the Upcoming New Veterans Charter Parliamentary Review

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 4, 2013) - Canada's Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent released today a report entitled Improving the New Veterans Charter: The Parliamentary Review. Its purpose is twofold: to focus discussion for the fast approaching parliamentary committee review of the enhancements to the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, commonly known as the New Veterans Charter; and to act as a catalyst to broaden the review to include a discussion of the New Veterans Charter, as a whole.

"The October 3, 2011 coming into force of Bill C-55, the Enhanced New Veterans Charter Act and amendments to regulations, brought about much needed changes and began the process of making the New Veterans Charter a truly "living" document," said Parent. "Importantly, a clause was included stating that a comprehensive review of the provisions and operations of the amendments to the New Veterans Charter would be undertaken within two years by designated/established Senate or House of Commons Committees."

In preparation for the review, the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman analyzed the more than 200 recommendations for improvements to the New Veterans Charter proposed in various reports since 2006. It found that 145 of the recommendations dealt with three key transition issues: financial instability and decreased standard of living caused by reduced post-release income; limitations in vocational rehabilitation and assistance programs, which can affect second career aspirations and employment options; and difficult family environment situations due to insufficient family support.

"These military to civilian life transition challenges need to be addressed urgently because they can potentially affect a Veteran throughout his or her life," said Parent. "The first opportunity to do this is the parliamentary review."

In the lead-up to the review, the Veterans Ombudsman will continue to meet with Veterans and their families and Veterans' organizations across Canada to discuss the best way forward on this issue. In coming months he will publish a follow-up paper with specific evidence-based recommendations to address the Charter's shortcomings in relation to military to civilian life transition challenges.

The full report is available online at www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/reports-rapports/reviewcharter01-examencharte01-01-2013-eng.cfm

http://www.ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca/pdfs/reviewcharter01-examencharte01-01-2013-eng.pdf

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Ex-serviceman seeks to help others

Ex-serviceman seeks to help others

March 28, 2013 - 8:34pm By MICHAEL GORMAN Truro Bureau

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1120150-ex-serviceman-seeks-to-help-others

Transitional housing would make life easier after military, says proponent

TRURO — Greg Swiatkowski feels he's been left to fight his own battles.

He doesn't want others to feel that way.

Swiatkowski, who recently moved to the Annapolis Valley after living in Hilden, was discharged from the navy last June because he couldn't meet universality of service requirements.

Struggling with chronic back pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, having to leave the military made everything worse.

"I didn't want to become a civilian," he said. "The 10 years in the military was the most exhilarating time in my life. … It's hard work, but it's an elite club."

In 2002, at age 35, Swiatkowski, who speaks four languages, was inspired by the post 9-11 recruiting drive and enlisted, eventually working as a naval electronics technician with a specialty in sonar acoustic equipment.

He deployed twice, once to the Persian Gulf and then as part of a NATO standing force patrolling the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea.

But what he expected to be a long military career started getting shorter following a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis in 2008.

"You lay the groundwork for a promising career with a lot of hard work and then it's taken away from you," he said.

Swiatkowski found it difficult transitioning to civilian life, partly because he had no place to go.

Staying with a friend, he struggled to find a proper balance with his medication and found day-to-day tasks daunting.

He's quit drinking and smoking and sees a psychologist. He also attended sweat lodges at the Millbrook First Nation.

In the last year, he's worked hard with his case manager to get healthy, but still feels he'd had to do most of it alone.

And Swiatkowski said he knows of 20 to 40 people dealing with similar circumstances.

What he was really missing was the sense of companionship and support he had with the military.

A native of Poland, Swiatkowski doesn't have any family in Nova Scotia other than his two children who live with their mother. The lack of a support system was difficult.

"You feel completely lost," he said. "You go from a highly structured … environment to being on your own. When you add medical problems to the mix, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and just have nowhere to turn."

That's why Swiatkowski believes it's time to consider some kind of transitional housing where people leaving the military can go for a period of time before returning to civilian life.

Suggesting Shannon Park in Dartmouth could be a good location, Swiatkowski sees it as a place where people encountering similar challenges can work through them together as well as deal with the day-to-day details of life.

Jim Lowther of Veterans Emergency Transition Services believes such a project is worthwhile. In fact, his group is trying to raise funds and awareness to make it happen in major Canadian cities, he said.

Although much of the group's work focuses on homeless veterans, Lowther said there in an increased need from people simply looking for some added support.

"A lot of the guys with PTSD, they have major illnesses, disabilities, they just can't do it (alone)," he said.

The biggest concern he has heard is people not knowing where to go for or how to access services, Lowther said.

Veterans Affairs Canada is working to change that.

Lt.-Gen. Walter Semianiw said the department spends more than $3.2 billion a year on support services and much of that focuses on injured people.

Semianiw, the assistant deputy minister of policy, communication and commemoration, was brought into the department as part of an effort to get more people in uniform in high-ranking positions at Veterans Affairs.

While he said he'd never heard about Swiatkowsi's idea, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful. But as a needs-based department, the need must be demonstrated, said Semianiw.

In the meantime, there are services like the joint personnel support units and a more active presence in a soldier's life before he leaves the military.

"What was happening in the past (was) the Department of Veterans Affairs, they have seen you but they saw you way too late, just before you're leaving," said Semianiw.

Now, when it appears a member might not meet universality of service, he's evaluated for up to a year. Information about being discharged includes access to social workers, return to work programs, Veterans Affairs staff and a case manager is assigned.

Upon returning home, Semianiw said vocational rehab is provided. With a focus on preparing to return to work, it includes medical, psychological and social support. Earnings loss programs are available if that isn't possible.

He acknowledged that having a support network makes a major difference. "If you have family around you, you have friends around you, you get better quicker and you stay healthy longer."

Swiatkowski knows that, too. He believes something needs to be done for the people who don't have that support system when they get home.

"When you find yourself without that support it's difficult," he said. "I would like to see something constructive come out of my experience, something positive, even if I make it easier for one other guy."

(mgorman@herald.ca)

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: **OSI Ottawa - PARTICIPANTS NEEDED - Research Study INSOMNIA**

PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
For Research Study

Many veterans experience sleep difficulties. Often, these difficulties start during military service and can be part of another diagnosis, like PTSD. However, sleep habits often develop that contribute to maintaining insomnia.

The purpose of this study is to compare two different methods to treat symptoms of insomnia among veterans with PTSD. Should you decide to participate in this study, you will be assigned on a random basis (i.e. flip of a coin) to:

a) A CBT for Insomnia group (CBTi); or
b) A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction group (MBSR).

Both groups will run weekly at the Royal Ottawa OSI Clinic for a total of 8 weeks. You will be asked to complete a number of questionnaires about your symptoms of insomnia and other symptoms known to impact sleep (e.g. pain, anxiety) prior to the group, after completing the group, and at a 6-month follow-up. You will also be asked to complete sleep logs and, if applicable, meditation logs, and to wear an actiwatch 24 hours per day for one week prior to the group, for the duration of the group and for one week prior to the 6-month follow-up. The actiwatch is a device used to measure your level of physical activity, in order to provide objective measures of your sleep-wake cycle. The actiwatch is as small as a regular watch and is waterproof.

If interested, you will require a referral to the Royal Ottawa OSI Clinic through VAC and would become a client of the OSI Clinic for the duration of the study. There are several eligibility criteria that must be met in order to participate. For instance, you will be asked to temporarily stop any other individual or group therapy during the study (8 weeks) in order to ensure that the expected improvements in sleep are solely the result of the study group.

If you are interested in finding out more information about the study and eligibility criteria, or in participating, please contact the research coordinator (Erika Jansman-Hart) or research assistant (Kelly Christie), by phone or email.

Principal Investigator: Research Coordinator: Research Assistant:
Dr. Anik Gosselin Erika Jansman-Hart Kelly Christie
Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6292 Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6291 Ph: (613) 722-6521 x6782
anik.gosselin@theroyal.ca erika.jansman-hart@theroyal.ca kelly.christie@theroyal.ca

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

Canadian Veterans Advocacy Situation Report - BUDGET 2013 - Last Post Burial Fund.

CVA supporters will recall the dedicated effort the CVA executive put forth while in Ottawa and Trenton during Remembrance Week 2012 and I am pleased to note that this years budget addresses this issue by increasing the dispensation to 7400 dollars. Naturally, the Advocacy was not alone and I would take this opportunity to convey CVA compliments to Gordon Moore, Dominion President, Royal Canadian Legion and his team for their pro-active posture on this issue. We also acknowledge the consistent efforts of Peter Stoffer, NDP Veterans critic, Sean Casey, Liberal veterans critic and to Minister of Veterans Affairs Steven Blaney for listening to our collective voices and seeking resolutions, at least on the financial level, through this years budget.
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy, however, continues to bear serious concerns about the Last Post Fund's restrictive criteria, particularly in the sense of exclusion of deceased veterans who did not serve in WW2 and Korea yet who's families require financial assistance for a dignified internment. We are gravely concerned about the current Means Test and the formula responsible for the denial of two thirds of applicants and will continue to address this situation until we have resolved these outstanding issues through dialogue and engagement.
One Veteran - One Standard.
CVA Refresher - Last Post Burial Fund Operations - Remembrance Week 2012. Bear in mind that many reports are published nation wide through syndication and that over this period, our message was delivered to the government and the Canadian public by newspaper, radio, television and the Internet medium, platforms that provided awareness to millions of Canadians. Here is but a small sample.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/pm-says-veterans-programs-under-review-amid-controversy-over-funeral-fund-1.1033138
http://video.theloop.ca/watch/funeral-funds-for-veterans/1960817512001#.UUtlCFc40ZE
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pressure-mounts-over-funeral-fund-rejections-for-poor-veterans-1.1025199
http://www.citynews.ca/2012/11/06/burial-fund-for-poor-veterans-rejects-two-thirds-of-applications/
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/canada/163030-blaney-defends-veterans-burial-fund

Pro Patria Semper Fidelis

Michael L Blais CD
Founder/President, Canadian Veterans Advocacy
6618 Harper Drive, Niagara Falls, Ont, Cda.
L2E 7K6 // 905-357-3306 // Cell 905-359-9247


Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

http://canadianveteransadvocacy.com/Board2/index.php

New announcement: We Stopped for the Dead — What About Our Wounded?

We Stopped for the Dead — What About Our Wounded?

Thane Burnett - March 18th, 2013

OSHAWA, Ont. — The Captain says we need to step back. Regroup. Rethink this strategy that he believes is leaving our wounded worse off than they were before.

Or at least — as a nation — fully understand there's a battle still going on.

I'm sitting in a messy officers mess inside the Oshawa Armoury — leather chairs and wooded tables pushed against armed forces Bric-à-brac. Clutter among great military order.

Captain Wayne Johnston, founder of Canada's Wounded Warriors (WoundedWarriors.ca) charity project, is leaning forward in one of those old chairs and offering up an opinion about Canada's greatest year, even before I ask the question.

We are not so far from the Highways of Heroes, the route used to repatriate the bodies of our fallen soldiers from Afghanistan. During each of those sad days, Hwy. 401 was lined with Canadians — hats off, hands over hearts or offering a salute to a soldier who died in our country's name. Though you likely know all that.

The man seated in front of me is every bit the soldier. The kind of man I saw often during time with our troops in Afghanistan. Canadian swagger. With his handle bar mustache and no nonsense demeanor, Johnston talks about Canadians soldiers and vets as if he's speaking about his brothers and sisters.

Which is how he wishes Canadian politicians would see them.

Johnston answers the unasked question — our most poignant moment as a nation came in 1917, he's sure.

That was the year of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, when Canada stormed from the shadows of our British parents to define their country. During that victory — with more than 10,000 killed or wounded — we also proved ourselves a brave force to be reckoned with.

"Vimy is woven into the fabric of our nation," he points out, believing the Highway of Heroes will be remembered in the same way.

But now, for a year where we seemed to have forgotten ourselves as Canadians. He says that would be 2006, when politicians of all political stripes supported dramatic changes to veteran compensation with the New Veterans Charter. The bulk payouts are now the focus of a lawsuit by injured soldiers.

"Can you imagine we've reached a point where soldiers are having to sue their government," says Johnston, before we get up and move into the armoury for photos.

Since 2006, the country has regressed in a commitment to vets that goes back to our 8th Prime Minister, Robert Borden, says the soldier, who was inspired and scarred by his duties as an assisting officer assigned to severely wounded Canadian soldiers sent from Afghanistan to Germany.

He started The Sapper Mike McTeague Wounded Warriors Fund, in part, because in that German hospital, he saw American soldiers given comfort from their country that the Canadians lacked. It including simple things like USA throw-blankets that the Canadians would inherit and be wrapped in.

"My soul has been torn," Johnston says of his own struggles.

When it comes to the changes to compensation and long-term support for vets — especially young wounded soldiers with a life-time of physical, psychological and emotional burden ahead — Johnston has a wish for Canadian politicians.

"That they look in the mirror and and ask 'what if it were them or their sons or daughters?" he recommends.

And for his fellow Canadians, he wishes they wouldn't be distracted by the "white noise" of politicians arguing that they are giving a great deal to vets and that this is all about where a decimal point falls.

He wants us, as we did along the highway for our dead, to stop what we're doing to understand the loss and sacrifice of our injured and hurting.

And how our plan for doing them right has been wronged. How it was better before. How we were better before.

And that we have to demand a moment to redraw the lines on how we got to a point where we seem to be leaving our wounded behind.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/retrocanada/canadian-military/we-stopped-for-the-dead-what-about-our-wounded/

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Regards,
The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.

New announcement: Army warns doctors against using certain drugs in PTSD treatment

Army warns doctors against using certain drugs in PTSD treatment

US News but applicable to us....

By Bob Brewin April 25, 2012



The Army Surgeon General's office is backing away from its long-standing endorsement of prescribing troops multiple highly addictive psychotropic drugs for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and early this month warned regional medical commanders against using tranquilizers such as Xanax and Valium to treat PTSD.

An April 10 policy memo that the Army Medical Command released regarding the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD said a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which include Xanax and Valium, could intensify rather than reduce combat stress symptoms and lead to addiction.

The memo, signed by Herbert Coley, civilian chief of staff of the Army Medical Command, also cautioned service clinicians against prescribing second-generation antipsychotic drugs, such as Seroquel and Risperidone, to combat PTSD. The drugs originally were developed to treat severe mental conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The memo questioned the efficacy of this drug class in PTSD treatment and cautioned against their use due to potential long-term health effects, which include heart disorders, muscle spasms and weight gain.

Throughout more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the military services have relied heavily on prescription drugs to help troops deal with their mental health problems during and after deployment. In a June 2010 report, the Defense Department's Pharmacoeconomic Center said 213,972, or 20 percent of the 1.1 million active-duty troops surveyed, were taking some form of psychotropic drug -- antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedative hypnotics or other controlled substances.

The Army, in a July 2010 report on suicide prevention, said one-third of all active-duty military suicides involved prescription drugs.

Mental health experts say the military's prescription drug problem is exacerbated by a U.S. Central Command policy that dates to October 2001 and provides deploying troops with up to a 180-day supply of prescription drugs under its Central Nervous System formulary.

That formulary includes Xanax, Valium and three other benzodiazepines to treat anxiety: Ativan, Klonopin and Restoril.


Broken Warriors is an ongoing series on mental health issues in the military.

The Army's new PTSD policy makes it clear that the risk of treating combat stress with benzodiazepines outweighs the rewards: "Benzodiazepine use should be considered relatively contraindicated in combat veterans with PTSD because of the high co-morbidity of combat-related PTSD with alcohol misuse and substance use disorders (up to 50 percent co-morbidity) and potential problems with tolerance and dependence."

After becoming dependent on these drugs, soldiers face enormous problems when they try to discontinue their use, the report said. "Once initiated in combat veterans, benzodiazepines can be very difficult, if not impossible to discontinue, due to significant withdrawal symptoms compounded by underlying PTSD symptoms," the document said.

The Army policy memo highlighting problems with benzodiazepines for PTSD treatment dovetails with a study published in the April issue of Current Psychiatry Online by Jolene Bostwick, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy.

Bostwick wrote "benzodiazepine administration fails to prevent PTSD and may increase its incidence." She added, "use of benzodiazepines for PTSD is associated with withdrawal symptoms, more severe symptoms after discontinuation and possible disinhibition, and may interfere with patients' efforts to integrate trauma experiences."

Army clinicians who prescribe Risperidone, Seroquel and other second-generation antipsychotic drugs "must clearly document their rationale concluding that the potential benefits outweigh the known risks and that informed consent has been conducted," the policy memo said.

Seroquel has been implicated in the deaths of combat veterans and the Veterans Affairs Department reported in August 2011 that Risperidone was no more effective in PTSD treatment than a placebo. VA spent $717 million on the drug over the past decade. The military has spent $74 million over the past 10 years on Risperidone, a spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency said.

An Army doctor who declined to be identified told Nextgov "these long-overdue policy changes are welcome, but they will further shift the mental health care of soldiers to an already overstressed VA and will result in the separation of many mentally stressed volunteers, who just months earlier had been counseled to steel themselves for a career of perpetual deployment and had been willing to sacrifice the best years of their lives to do so."

This long-serving Army clinician said, "the nation needs to take a long, hard look at what delayed the institution of these policies, and why the priorities of our Army medical leaders have too often favored the manpower needs of the Army rather than the mental health of its soldiers."

Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist who resigned her commission in 2002 "because I did not want to be a pill pusher" said the new Army policy shows "they are finally admitting to some problems associated with at least one class of psychiatric medication." But, Jackson said, the Army policy does not address problems with other classes of prescription drugs, including antidepressants and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, in the treatment of PTSD. Clinical studies, Jackson said, have shown these drugs to be no better than placebos -- but far more dangerous in the treatment of PTSD.

The Army also has ignored the role antipsychotic drugs play in the "sudden deaths" of troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury due to undiagnosed endocrine abnormalities Jackson said.

The use of antipsychotic drugs to treat troops with TBI can cause changes in growth and thyroid hormones, which can in turn trigger a variety of cardiac-related events that could result in sudden deaths, Jackson said.

Though the Army has adopted a new policy on the use of benzodiazepines, Jackson said the Defense Department overall is still wedded to a policy of using drugs to treat metal problems even when scientific evidence "demonstrates poor risk-benefit ratios."

The Army policy memo encouraged clinicians to look beyond drugs to treat PTSD and suggested a range of alternative therapies, including yoga, biofeedback, acupuncture and massage.

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/04/broken-warriors-test/55389/

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The Canadian Veterans Advocacy Team.