Dallas

Caregiver saves client after plane crash

An in-home caregiver who rescued her disabled client after a plane crashed into his house says God gave her the strength to carry the man from the burning home.

“I just heard a big crash and I thought it was a bomb,” a teary-eyed Elnora Denmark, 51, said Thursday. She has been a caretaker for Dr. Bud Thompson, a 79-year-old stroke patient who is partially paralyzed, for about four years.

The small plane crashed Thursday morning shortly after takeoff, setting two houses afire and killing both men in the plane. No one on the ground was hurt, authorities said.

The cause of the crash hadn’t been determined, but the pilot, Dr. David Knowles, reported having problems with his instrument panel shortly after takeoff from Addison Airport. He and his passenger, David Moore, 55, were headed for Amarillo.

Washington, D.C.

VA gives top priority to service-related ills

Veterans needing medical help about health problems stemming from their military service will be scheduled first for nonemergency appointments under new rules announced Friday by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Appointments for such veterans must be scheduled within 30 days of the request. When an appointment is unavailable, the VA must arrange for care at another VA facility or contract out for it, VA Secretary Anthony Principi said in a statement.

Any veteran needing emergency care still will be treated immediately.

The new rule changes a policy in which veterans with service-connected health issues, such as a war injury or certain cancers related to Agent Orange exposure and who are not severely disabled, waited with other veterans for appointments.

Veterans have been enduring waits of up to two years for appointments since demand increased after the VA opened its medical facilities to all veterans in 1998.

Iowa

Gephardt revives attack on Dean’s health record

Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt on Friday renewed his criticism of rival Howard Dean’s commitment to crucial health care programs and questioned whether the former Vermont governor could challenge President Bush on the issue.

Gephardt told supporters at a county hospital in Des Moines that Dean wants to turn Medicare into a wholly managed care program.

Most polls have shown Dean and Gephardt bunched together atop the field competing for Iowa’s Jan. 19 leadoff caucuses.