by Chester Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret), MC, USA
On Sept. 12, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that every American 6 months and older should receive the updated COVID-19 vaccination from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. Having avoided COVID-19 infection since its arrival on our shores in 2020, I was pleased that an updated booster would soon be available, and my wife scheduled a time for us to receive both the COVID-19 and flu vaccinations. Alas, my number was up, and the fickle finger of fate allowed COVID-19 to set up shop in my body.
by Brenda Mooney
The first time VA hospitals were included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services annual Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, they aced it.
by Chester Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret), MC, USA
I am hunkered down at our family camp in Maine, avoiding the sweltering temperatures baking the country’s interior. The environmental demons we have created through our insatiable thirst for fossil fuel energy are exacting their vengeance on our abuse of mother nature. My family is, indeed, fortunate to have a rustic cabin refuge on the shores of a clean Maine lake. I revel in the fact that I often must ask what day it is and rarely know whether the former president has collected another indictment.
by LaTina Emerson
In patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiorespiratory fitness and body mass index (BMI) play a role in statin-related progression to insulin therapy, according to a recent study.
by Stephen Spotswood
To ensure that quality VA care is being provided to all veterans regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual identity, an agency equity team is being established.