H.R. 5109, unanimously approved by the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, would grant pay raises for 30,000 VA Nurses and improve veterans' access to health care.

The measure would attack the problem VA has had recruiting and retaining nurses and other health care professionals by guaranteeing annual national pay raises for nurses, and revising and increasing the rates of special pay for VA dentists. It would also include pharmacists among those occupations that are exempt from a statutory cap on special salary rates.

Another key provision would direct the VA Secretary to carry out an innovative pilot program in four geographic areas to improve health care access to veterans, who live far from Va medical facilities. Here's how: The VA would cover some of the costs of care and services at non-VA hospital facilities for participating veterans whose private or Medicare plans would pay the lion's share.

Additional provisions of H.R. 5109:

• Require the VA's Health Under Secretary to consult with a designated physician assistant on policy matters.
• Provide veterans and others accompanying them with temporary lodging in connection with treatment in private "Fisher Houses" on or near campuses of VA hospitals.
• Require VA clinicians to initially identify and document pertinent military experiences and exposures which may affect the health status of patients being evaluated.
• Follow up on the post traumatic stress provisions in Public Law 98-160 by contracting with the entity conducting the study of the condition.
• Provide compensation to veterans injured as a result of participation in a VA work therapy program.
• Make it easier to establish outpatient clinics at state veterans' homes.

FORMER POWS - GET YOUR PURPLE HEART MEDAL

Former American prisoners of war may be eligible to receive the Purple Heart medal due to a little-publicized four-year-old change in the award rules.

President John F. Kennedy started the change by signing Executive Order 11-1016 on April 25, 1962. Until that time, service members could receive the Purple Heart only during a formally declared state of war. Kennedy's order made it possible to award the medal even without a formal declaration of war.

The 1962 order didn't specifically mention POWs or their eligibility because of wounds and injuries suffered in captivity. An Army policy change dated Sept. 27, 1962, allowed Purple Heart awards henceforth to members who might become prisoners of war and be wounded or injured by their captors.

Neither Kennedy's executive order nor the Army change was retroactive. No former prisoners of war of any service, living and dead, who were wounded or injured during captivity before April 25, 1962, were eligible until Congress passed legislation as part of the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act.

Prior to the 1996 legislation, for instance, none of the 140,000 U.S. service members who surrendered to the Japanese in the Philippines in May 1942 could qualify for a Purple Heart. Also ineligible were the thousands of former POWs who came later in World War II and in the Korean War.

Since 1996, a number of World War II and Korean War vets have applied for Purple Hearts on the basis of wounds and injuries received while they were POWs, officials of the Army's Military Awards Branch said. Supporting documentation is required and may include copies of repatriation medical exams, or a witness statement from a cellmate, for example, stating their buddy was abused at hands of captors.

The injuries or wounds must be deliberately inflicted by captors, they said. Injuries received while on work detail, for example, probably would not qualify -- but if in doubt, apply.

A recent example of troops earning the Purple Heart while held captive occurred more than a year ago in the Balkans. Serb forces captured three U.S. soldiers on March 31, 1999. The Americans endured frequent beatings until their May 2 release. All three received Purple Heart medals.

Assistants at the Military Order of the Purple Heart headquarters in Springfield, VA, said veterans applying for the medal should use Standard Form 180, "Request Pertaining to Military Records," readily available at Department of Veterans Affairs service and medical centers; online at http://web1.whs.osd.mil/forms/SF0180.PDF.

The back of the form includes instructions and mailing addresses, which differ by the applicant's service and rank.

For more on the Purple Heart's history, eligibility and information on the Military Order of the Purple Heart, visit the organization's Web site at http://purpleheart.org/.