VA Knows Women Veterans
National Women’s Health week
This is National Women’s Health week — but VA is celebrating women’s health throughout the month of May.
National Women’s Health Week is a weeklong health observance coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. It brings together communities, businesses, government, health organizations, and other groups in an effort to promote women’s health.
National Women’s Health Week encourages women to make their health a top priority. It also encourages women to take steps to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases.
We all have a role to play in women’s health. Women often serve as caregivers for their families, putting the needs of their spouses, partners, children, and parents before their own. As a result, women’s health and well-being can become secondary. We have a responsibility to support the women we know and do everything we can to help them take steps for longer, healthier, and happier lives.
VA knows women Vets and is best-equipped to meet their needs. Good health is a commitment you make to yourself. Let VA help you make and keep this commitment during Women’s Health Week and beyond. Visit www.womenshealth.va.gov to learn more.
What’s Invisible to Most Is Visible to VA
There is a difference. We get that.
It’s why VA has an entire operation dedicated exclusively to women Veterans: Women Veterans Health Care. See what we do.
Women Veterans Health Care addresses the needs of women Veterans and works to ensure health care services are provided in a sensitive and safe environment at VA facilities nationwide.
To fulfill this mission, Women Veterans Health Care works to make certain that all eligible women Veterans requesting VA care are assured of:
- Comprehensive primary care by a proficient and attentive primary care provider
- Privacy, safety, dignity, and sensitivity to gender-specific needs
- The right care in the right place and time
- State-of-the-art health care equipment and technology
- High-quality preventive and clinical care, equal to that provided to male Veterans
VA’s Women Veterans Health Care works to ensure that health care services are provided in a sensitive and safe environment
Here’s what we can do for you:
Comprehensive Primary Care
General care includes:
- health evaluation and counseling
- disease prevention
- nutrition counseling
- weight control
- smoking cessation
- substance abuse counseling and treatment
- gender-specific primary care:
- cervical cancer screens (Pap smears)
- breast cancer screens (mammograms)
- Birth control
- preconception counseling
- human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
- menopausal support (hormone replacement therapy)
Mental Health includes evaluation and assistance for issues such as:
- depression
- mood and anxiety disorders
- intimate partner and domestic violence
- sexual trauma
- elder abuse or neglect
- parenting and anger management
- marital, caregiver, or family-related stress
- post-deployment adjustment
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
Women—and men as well—may experience repeated sexual harassment or sexual assault during their military service. Special services are available to women who have experienced MST.
VA provides free, confidential counseling and treatment for mental and physical health conditions related to MST. More on MST.
Specialty Care includes management and screening of chronic conditions such as:
- heart disease
- diabetes
- cancer
- glandular disorders
- osteoporosis
- fibromyalgia
- sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis
Reproductive health care includes:
- maternity care
- infertility evaluation and limited treatment
- sexual problems
- tubal ligation
- urinary incontinence
- other conditions of the reproductive system
(VA is prohibited by legislative authority from providing either in-vitro fertilization or abortion services.)
Rehabilitation, homebound, and long-term care. VA referrals are given to those in need of rehabilitation therapies such as:
- physical therapy
- occupational therapy
- speech-language therapy
- exercise therapy
- recreational therapy
- vocational therapy.
