Intel Report, August 10

Here’s this week’s round-up of VA news and information:

• Wondering what benefits you and your dependants may be eligible for? Check out our 2012 Federal Benefits for Veterans handbook, now available online in both English and Spanish. This comprehensive guide provides information on education, home loan, health care, and burial benefits.
• On Monday, President Obama signed into legislation a new law to extend health care for Veterans and their families who were exposed to water contamination at Camp Lejeune. For more information on the law and what diseases it covers, read here.
• It’s been 22 years since the start of the First Gulf War. During the conflict, almost 700,000 service members deployed—and they’ve since gone on to account for two million outpatient visits for health care and over 20,000 inpatient admissions in the VA health care system. To support them, VA is dedicated to providing high-quality care and benefits to Gulf War Veterans. Learn about our research initiatives and Gulf War Veterans’ illnesses.
• In other health-related news, a new VA hospital in North Las Vegas is will be operational on August 14, 2012. This $600 million facility, completed in six years, will provide specialty care, surgery, mental health services, rehabilitation, and support programs to about 60,000 Veterans in the area.
• Good news for women Veterans: According to new VA reports, the gender gap in health care is narrowing. Closing these disparities mean that women have more access to the comprehensive health care that is intended for them. To learn more about the recent reports, read here.
• We’ve had a lot of success with past hiring fairs, and now more are coming your way. Stay up to date with the latest locations and times here. We’ll be putting together a new list of hiring fairs for the month of September in a few weeks.

Have a wonderful weekend!