Va Appoints Committee Members To

[Guest Berta]

VIA Raturo from ALLVETS:

New Members Appointed to Committee on Women Veterans

Friday October 7, 12:09 pm ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Four new members have been appointed to

the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans for the Department of Veterans

Affairs (VA), an expert panel that advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs

on issues and programs affecting women veterans.

"I am pleased to welcome the newest members of this committee to the

important job of serving America's women veterans," said the Honorable R.

James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. "Members of this committee

work tirelessly on behalf of women veterans to improve outreach, ensure

access to VA benefits and recommend ways in which VA can better meet their

needs."

Established in 1983, the advisory committee makes recommendations for

administrative and legislative changes. The committee members are appointed

to one-, two-, or three-year terms.

The new committee members include retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Kathleen

Janoski from Pittsburgh; retired Army First Sergeant Pamela Luce from

Shelbyville, Ky.; Lupe Saldana from Fairfax Station, Va.; and Virgil Walker,

from Oklahoma City.

Second only to elderly veterans, women veterans are the fastest growing

segment of the veteran population. There are approximately 1.7 million women

veterans. They make up 7 percent of the total veteran population and nearly

5 percent of all veterans who use VA health care services. VA estimates that

by 2010 women veterans will comprise 10 percent of the veteran population.

VA has women veterans program managers at VA medical centers and women

veterans coordinators at VA regional offices to assist women veterans with

health and benefits issues.

Membership

VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans

* Marsha Tansey Four (Chair), Springfield, Pa. An Army nurse during the

Vietnam War, currently director of homeless veterans services for the

Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center, Inc.

* Gwen M. Diehl, Taylorville, Ill. A retired sergeant first class, staff

assistant to the deputy director for operations for the Illinois Department

of Veterans' Affairs.

* Edward E. Hartman, Bowie, Md. A disabled Gulf War veteran, now the

national director of voluntary services for the Disabled American Veterans

(DAV).

* Kathleen Janoski, Pittsburgh. A retired Navy chief petty officer;

currently working in private industry.

* Pamela Luce, Shelbyville, Ky. A retired Army first sergeant; now executive

staff advisor to the commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans

Affairs.

* Jacqueline Morgan, M.D., M.P.H., Seattle. Retired physician and retired

colonel in the Air Force Medical Corps.

* Carlene Narcho, Fort Apache, Ariz. Army veteran and currently the

executive director of the White Mountain Apache Tribe Department of Social

Services.

* Joan E. O'Connor, Boston, Mass. A retired commander in the Naval Reserve,

currently the legal counsel for the Chelsea Soldiers' Home, Massachusetts

Department of Veterans' Services.

* Lorna Papke-Dupouy, Greenfield Center, N.Y. A veteran of the Marine Corps,

active in many civic and charitable organizations.

* Shirley Ann Quarles, R.N., Ed.D., Stone Mountain, Ga. Director of Women's

Health Research Initiatives Program and colonel in the Army Reserves, Army

Nurse Corps.

* Lupe Saldana, Fairfax Station, Va. Marine Corps veteran currently employed

by the Environmental Protection Agency.

* Emily Sanford, Huntington Beach, Calif. A retired Navy captain, active in

many local civic and charitable organizations.

* Sara A. Sellers, Johnson City, Tenn. Retired Air Force chief master

sergeant, former commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission,

and active in many local civic and charitable organizations.

* Virgil Walker, Oklahoma City. A veteran of the Oklahoma Air National Guard

and currently employed in private industry.