What's New at Your VA?
VA is constantly working to provide more excellent service and care for Veterans. This includes new programs and initiatives, advanced training, and renovations and improvements to enhance health care facilities. Each VA project is an opportunity to improve the delivery of services to America's heroes. Featured below are some of the exciting improvements in quality of care taking place around the country: Click on the region below to find out what's new in that area.
Northeast | Southeast | Midwest | Northwest | Southwest
Northeast
Chet Lubecki, orientation mobility specialist, works with a Veteran on safely navigating steps using a support cane at Lebanon VAMC. The VISOR program provides this training as part of their orientation mobility component of their overall vision rehabilitation program.Nine days to a More Independent Veteran
Lebanon VA Medical Center’s VISOR program, or Visually Impaired Services Outpatient Rehabilitation, is helping Veterans regain their independence.
The centerpiece of VISOR is the nine-day residential training program that builds the skills one needs to conduct everyday activities with dramatically reduced visual capabilities. During the program, the visually impaired Veterans receive skill training in visual skills, orientation and mobility, living skills, computer access technology, and adjustment counseling. Veterans participating in the program stay overnight in a hotel setting while receiving care at the medical center. Read more...
Southeast
Road building in Kandahar, AfghanistanDon’t Ever Give Up – Trauma is not Rare
VA Employee Offers Hope to those Struggling with Mental Health Issues
The door swung shut and locked behind her. Carolyn Furdek, still in her sand- and dust-covered uniform, found herself in the psychiatric unit of a military hospital. Carolyn excelled at challenges. She was a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 award-winning swimmer, West Point graduate, four-time Ironman athlete, U.S. Army Officer and skilled combat Veteran. She never expected to “break down” on the battlefield; after all, she had been there plenty of times. Read more...
Midwest
At the ribbon cutting Veterans East was renamed Richard A. Brustad Homes to honor Richard Brustad, founder of Community Housing Development Corporation, Sept. 22, 2017.New Apartments for Homeless Veterans Open
The fight to end homelessness among military Veterans in Minnesota took a giant leap forward on September 22 when a new 100-unit apartment community, originally called Veterans East, opened near the medical center.
The five-story apartment community is located across the street from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.
It features a lobby with security, a community room, computer stations and an onsite laundry facility. Each unit is considered an efficiency with appliances included.
According to BDC Management Company, which manages the community, an onsite coordinator will assist with health care, life skills, education, financial management, benefits assistance and employment resources. Read more...
Northwest
Dr. Michael Weiner is the lead investigator on a study examining possible links between TBI or PTSD in dementia in Vietnam Veterans. (Photo by Ed Caballero)Traumatic Brain Injury and Alzheimer's
The possibility that brain injuries are a precursor for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is of keen interest to the medical community.
Many studies, in fact, have examined the potential ties between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. Most of those studies have linked TBI, the signature injury from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.
Now, a prominent VA neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Weiner, and his research team are questioning whether TBI elevates one’s chances of developing Alzheimer’s. They base their theory on two recent studies, one by Weiner’s group. Read more...
Southwest
The EOVAHCS Mental Health Intensive Case Management (MHICM) Program celebrated its 10th Anniversary on Oct. 5 by holding a luncheon for Veterans at LaFortune Park in Tulsa.MHICM Celebrates 10 Years of Service to Veterans
The Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System (EOVAHCS) Mental Health Intensive Case Management (MHICM) Program celebrated its 10th Anniversary on Oct. 5 by holding a luncheon for Veterans at LaFortune Park in Tulsa.
MHICM is an integrated multidisciplinary home and community based team dedicated to recovery efforts. The program offers a change in treatment approach allowing for more comprehensive, proactive, evidenced-based, culturally competent, long-term services that are better suited to the Veteran and complexity that recovery requires.
MHICM initially began in October 2007 with a team in Tulsa and now includes additional teams in Muskogee and Vinita. Read more...
