Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 05/12/2008

Dear Sgt. Shaft:
In January, I reported to you that the State Veterans Homes System had asked the Nintendo Corp. for a donation of two Wii gaming consoles for rehabilitation use at each of our 130 nursing homes — and that our request had been denied. You printed my story.

Some wonderful person(s) in your veteran network then contacted Nintendo directly — and we learned that Nintendo's first response to us was wrong — and in fact, Nintendo was interested in helping disabled and elderly veterans.

In the 10 weeks that have passed since then, I have been in constant contact with Nintendo. Of the 260 units we requested, five have been shipped. I do not expect more. Nintendo has also been unable to confirm group discount purchasing for us.

Our leadership thinks that if our 30,000 residents are to benefit from Wii rehabilitative technology, we will have to find the units through retailers — at either the local, regional or national level. I would therefore like to ask for the help of the Sgt. Shaft community once again, in identifying an electronics store that could assist us with this very important acquisition need.

Sincere thanks from us all,

Kenneth A. Fulmer,
Armed Forces Veterans Homes Foundation

Dear Ken:
Sorry to hear that Nintendo has minimally responded to your request to help our heroes in their golden years. I was under the wrong impression that Nintendo would be a more caring and responsive corporate citizen.

Shaft Notes

• I was happy to recently join more than 200 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from across the country who converged on Capitol Hill to join members of Congress in advocating immediate legislative action on Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S.22/ H.R. 5740). The legislation boasts strong bipartisan and bicameral support with more than 50 co-sponsors in the Senate, 250 co-sponsors in the House and the endorsements of the nation's leading veterans organizations.

The "Post-9/11" GI Bill is designed to offer the brave men and women who have served honorably since Sept. 11, 2001, a level of educational benefits on par with those provided to veterans of the World War II era.

• On May 1, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began contacting nearly 570,000 recent combat veterans to ensure they know about VA's medical services and other benefits.

"We will reach out and touch every veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to let them know we are here for them," said James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. "VA is committed to getting these veterans the help they need and deserve."

A contractor-operated "Combat Veteran Call Center" will telephone two distinct populations of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

• On Wednesday, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Florida Republican and member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, supported legislation passed by the committee that would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain leases for two important local veterans medical facilities.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Authorization and Lease Act, H.R. 5856, would provide leasing authority to the VA for up to 20 years and authorize nearly $13 million in fiscal 2009 for a 50,000-square-foot multi-specialty outpatient clinic in Brandon, Fla., and a 100,000-square-foot primary-care off-site facility for the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, Fla.

"The addition of these two local VA medical facilities will improve important services for our veterans in the Tampa Bay region," Mr. Bilirakis said.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-257-5446 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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