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
(l-r) Dr. Patrick Malloy, Executive Chief of Staff, VANYHHS; Harris Faulkner, Fox News; VA Secretary Robert Wilke; Martina Parauda, Director, VANYHHS, and Dr. David Schwartz, Director, Radiation Oncology, VANYHHS.Walking the Post
The morning of his June 26th visit to VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie spent several hours the St. Albans campus. On a tour led by Assoc. Director Jodie Jackson, Secretary Wilkie greeted patients and staff in Palliative Care, a general patient care unit and the Adult Day Center. He also visited St. Albans’ Outpatient Clinics. Later in the day, speaking with Harbor leadership and staff accompanying him at VA Brooklyn, the Secretary spoke about his Dad, Lt. Col. Robert L.Wilkie, Sr., who served in Vietnam. "He always told me...he could not have fought if he didn't know what the sergeant was doing." said Wilkie. The Secretary was explaining how important that lesson in ‘walking the post’ is for him, as he travels the country observing and questioning VA staff and medical center activities. Read more...
Southeast
Dr. Michael Harris-Love measures the muscle mass of a Veteran at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.New Investigator Award
Dr. Michael Harris-Love, Clinical Investigator and Associate Director of the Human Performance Research Unit of the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center has earned the 2019 Eugene Michels New Investigator Award by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Dr. Harris-Love was recognized at the Honors and Awards Ceremony during the 2019 APTA National Conference and Exposition in Chicago, Illinois on June 13.
The Eugene Michels New Investigator Award recognizes outstanding rehabilitation research contributions by physical therapists within 10 years of their post-doctoral training period. Dr. Harris-Love’s research has a heavy focus on rehabilitation science and sarcopenia, the loss of muscle tissue as a part of the aging process. Read more...
Midwest
VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System breaks ground for Michigan's first Fisher House, a home away from home designed for Veterans' families to stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment.VA Ann Arbor Breaks Ground for a New Fisher House
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN [June 14, 2019] – Ground was broken today for a new Fisher House at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan. Once complete, up to 16 families can stay at the Fisher Houses free of charge on any given night, allowing them to be close to their loved ones at the most stressful time – during hospitalization at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center.
U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell, National VA Fisher House and Family Hospitality Program Manager Jennifer Koget and Fisher House Foundation Chairman and President David Coker joined Medical Center Director Ginny Creasman for the groundbreaking, announcing the start of the new home. Read more...
Northwest
VASNHS Director William "Bill" CaronVASNHS Welcomes New Director
Leadership at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System changed June 10 as new Director William J. “Bill” Caron joined the staff. As VASNHS’ chief executive officer, Caron assumes responsibility for one of the fastest growing VA health care systems in the nation, providing the delivery of care and services to more than 63,000 Veterans across Southern Nevada.
In his new role, Caron is responsible for more than 2,700 staff, a $540 million annual operating budget and day-to-day operations of a VA Medical Center in North Las Vegas and six VA clinics, which provide primary care and mental health services to Veterans at locations in Las Vegas, Henderson, Pahrump and Laughlin. Caron also oversees a Community Resource and Referral Center based in Las Vegas, which provides resources and services to homeless Veterans throughout the region, as well as a Veterans Recovery Center in North Las Vegas, which provides mental health intensive case management, treatment coordination, peer support services and counseling. Read more...
Southwest
Female Veterans from the WISER program go on a sailing outing as part of their trauma therapy.WISER & ROVER Take Treatment to Next Level
When weekly therapy is not enough to tackle trauma, WISER and ROVER takes treatment to the next level.
Women’s Inpatient Specialty Environment of Recovery (WISER) and Returning OEF/OIF/OND Veterans’ Environment of Recovery (ROVER) are five-week inpatient trauma treatment programs that each accommodate up to 10 patients. The programs were created in 2008 by a joint task force that represented psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Veterans stay on a psychiatric unit on the sixth floor of the Houston VA Medical Center. Read more...
