UPDATE NOTE: The time line estimate
that we have as of today, April 7th
is that the McClellan Bill will be
submitted on the House side sometime
after the April recess, as in after
April 17th. At this point we are
just standing by waiting for the
submit to be executed. Thanks
for supporting the Fort McClellan
Veterans.





Well the last 3 trips to Washington have
been a truckload of events. There has been
so much going on that there hasn't been
any time to report. Starting in February
the official Army Hospital medical reports
for Fort McClellan Alabama were found
and located at the National Archives covering
the entire decade of the 1970's. This gave
the early population statistics that Congress
was hoping to find and will lay the paperwork
foundation for the up and coming GAO report
on the Fort McClellan issue.

Source documents for our legislation was
converted into paper format and shipped
out in stacks so they could develop presentations and have a war aresenal on
hand as the Fort McClellan Bill started to
take shape.

One of the Members of the House Veterans
Affairs Committee will be sponsoring Phase 1
of our Bill. The Bill is already loaded
into the Committee computer system and
staffers are only standing by right now
waiting for the statusing to change on it
after it is submitted. I will be getting
an email and phone call once the Bill
is released. We are expecting at least
a couple of news media headlines to come
out on the Fort McClellan issue.

The H.R. number should be in our hands
in just a few days.

There may also be an authored "white paper"
coming out, also from the Subcommittee on
Health, on the exclusive topic of exposures
and the military based on the sciences collection I had developed and submitted
through the duration of this project.

My efforts are now shifted to the Senate
to get a Sponsor over there for the reply
Bill to the House version. One of the Alabama
Senators has agreed to an Issue Review to
determine if he wants to be the Senate sponsor.
That will begin next week.

A New York Congressman is evaluating right
now whether or not he wants to be a Co-Sponsor
for the Bill in the House.

Phase 1 of the Bill will be formally mandating
that the VA is to establish the national
Health Registery in the name of the Fort
McClellan Veterans and to fund the preliminary
GAO report. The Bill has to be executed
incrementally because Phase 2 and 3 relies
upon the outcomes of Phase 1. They have
to identify the population group first
before they can know what the budget estimates
are for the remaining part of the Bill.

We are expecting this Bill to go through
rather quickly once the submissions have
taken place. I have already been in touch
with the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
to let them know this is coming.


A Womens Medical Reference for Fort
McClellan Veterans

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/...es/endometriosis.cfm

This message has been edited. Last edited by: McClellanVet,

I met Jane Weber in the hospital in late October for my last surgery and she told me that she wanted me to get involved in the group. Now I have a great reason to.

I will definitely be in contact with her, I have her card. She told me about the Women's Wellness center and I am really interested in it.

Thanks Sue, I am sure we will meet at some point soon.

Take care,

Diana

REPLY:

I am originally from Saratoga County myself.
For your information, there is an early
evening workshop series coming up at the
Albany VA Hospital tied to the all new
Center for Womens Wellness. As the plans
are right now, I will be the first keynote
speaker on the Fort McClellan legislation
for that workshop series.

Go see Jane Weber, Womens Coordinator,
on the 8th Floor, A-Wing at the hospital
and tell her you want to enter the group
and attend the one I am doing on the
Bill.

We don't have a date yet but it will
either be in December or January.

Take care and stay tuned to this website
for more legislation updates on what
we are doing. I have posted yet on my
last trip. Good luck.

OMG Sue, that endometriosis link is me on the nose!

I was stationed at Ft. McClellan from 83-84 (later than some of the dates mentioned) but have service connection IU for:

- MS
- asthma
- chronic sinusitis
- excema
- neurogenic bladder
- 10th cranial nerve paralysis
- optic nerve inflammation (optic neuritis)
.. and some others.

I also have endomtriosis (Stage IV) and had a complete hysterectomy at 38. I also had my thyroid removed for autoimmune thyroid disease (it was attacking itself). Gallbladder is gone and appendix was removed on 10/28/09 and was said to be one of the largest they had ever seen?? What is going on!!!!????

I am now on the verge of being diagnosed with Sarcoidosis!!

BTW, I live in Malta and go to the Albany VA (I know it all to well).

Thanks for all of your hard work! I am new to the Ft. McClellan game but I DEFINITELY got some toxicity exposure and all of this ongoing autoimmune stuff. My body keeps attacking itself.

I'm retired now but I want to know what and if Ft. McClellan is the cause that tipped the autoimmune domino.

Thanks for your tireless work. I will keep an eye on things here!

Diana de Avila
Malta, NY