Veterans News Bureau

WASHINGTON, April 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The week of April 11-17, 2010, marks the founding of Paralyzed Veterans of America 64 years ago. All Americans are being encouraged to take time out of their busy schedules to honor and help empower America’s paralyzed veterans.

With events and activities across the country and the theme Empowering Lives, Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Week highlights the unique challenges facing veterans with spinal cord injury/dysfunction. It spotlights the work of Paralyzed Veterans to empower seriously wounded heroes and their families with everything they need to thrive.

This special week will also see the launch of Mission: ABLE, a new campaign that will enlist all Americans — companies, citizens and communities — to help our paralyzed heroes fully live the lives they deserve and to receive what they need most: care, benefits and jobs. Please visit www.mission-able.com for more details.

“Please take a minute during Awareness Week to think about the enormous challenges paralyzed veterans and their families face every day and then do something good to help empower their lives,” said Gene A. Crayton, national president of Paralyzed Veterans. “From a community saying thanks to a paralyzed veteran who has just returned home from Iraq to an employer deciding to hire more veterans with disabilities, you can do something special to celebrate the 64th birthday of Paralyzed Veterans of America.”

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WASHINGTON – Advocating for the 200,000 estimated Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure, a coalition of veteran’s service organizations filed a lawsuit yesterday [Tuesday] with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to force the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to publish new regulations so that veterans who file a claim for one of the three new conditions that have been linked to Agent Orange exposure can obtain benefits from the earliest possible date.

The lawsuit was filed by the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Non-Commissioned Officers Association, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and United Spinal Association/VetsFirst with pro-bono help from Chadbourne & Parke LLP.

The VA missed a critical 210-day deadline specified by the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to publish a regulation authorizing VA to pay disability benefits to Vietnam veterans stricken with ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, or B-cell leukemias.

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The PVA Research Foundation has announced their 2010 grant awardees. The Foundation is devoted to putting grant money towards work that will advance the science needed to understand and treat spinal cord injury and diseases. Out of the 64 applications the PVA Research Foundation’s Board of Directors received, 10 new grants were awarded, totaling $1,170,705 in funding.

Grants were awarded in three different research categories: basic science, fellowships, and design and development. The basic science category is built on important laboratory research. Fellowships for postdoctoral scientists, clinicians and engineers encourage training and specialization in the field of spinal cord research. The design and development pilot program makes efforts to improve lives by broadening accessibility for people with spinal cord injury as well as the wheelchair community.

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The Paralyzed Veterans of America have released video of National President Gene A. Crayton’s testimony before Congress on March 4, 2010.

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