VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Team Receives National Award
The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System’s Care, Treatment and Rehabilitative Services (CTRS) team received the Robert L. Jesse Award for Innovation Nov. 2 at the Veteran Health Administration Innovation Experience Conference in Washington D.C.
The award recognizes and honors VA employees who have demonstrated excellence and enabled the discovery and spread of health care innovation that exceeds expectations, restores hope and builds trust.
The award was in recognition for the efforts of VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) during the COVID pandemic, beginning in April 2020, when standard transition housing options were down to 50% capacity, social distancing restrictions, said Chanin Santini, program coordinator, CTRS, VAGLAHS. To meet the needs of homeless Veterans, it expanded unsheltered homeless Veterans’ access to VAGLAHS by having them reside on campus; first in tents in a parking lot to now Emergency Shelters on what is known locally as the Great Lawn, and they were providing on-site medical services along with three meals a day, for wraparound care.
This was significant as VAGLAHS was, and still is, the only medical center in the VA to provide housing in any form to Veterans; typically, the VA engages in transitional housing programs where Community Partners enter into grants/contracts (GPD/HCHV) with VA to assist unsheltered Veterans with housing and case management awarded thru HPO, she said.
The tents eventually transitioned to Emergency Shelters and currently remain the lowest barrier and lowest entry to the transitional housing program that VAGLAHS has, she said. “Veterans really feel safe with a door behind them that they're able to lock or having a key to open a door.
“They're not listening to their neighbors snore; or have to share a room as in many congregate setting programs you often share a room" she said. "Being able to close the door allows you to feel like it’s a safe space where it's quiet.”
Peer Support Specialists implemented a Veterans Engagement Committee; which is similar to a weekly "house meeting" where Veteran participants provide feedback and improvement ideas. CTRS does have amenities such as showers, restrooms and laundry services on site.
Santini really appreciated the attention VAGLAHS received for their efforts.
“I think it's great that the team got recognized because it was a labor of love,” she said. “When we first started; staff was sitting under a pop up tents without any real "office" we had our lap tops and were able to connect Veterans to medical, mental health and permanent housing. It was very grassroots and outreach based.”
Their work was also admired by other VA employees involved in addressing Veteran homelessness in the U.S.
“The team at the Greater Los Angeles VA and its partners in the community have built something truly remarkable with the Care, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Services Emergency Shelter program,” said Monica Diaz, executive director of the VA Homeless Programs Office. “It’s conveniently located on the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus, with nearby access to medical care, mental health support, and substance use counseling. This is exactly what Veterans, especially those who are the most vulnerable or skeptical of traditional transitional housing settings, want and need.”
Santini thinks that VA healthcare systems across the country could benefit from looking at what the program can do for them.
“We're using assertive case management, we want to really wrap the services around the Veteran and we found that creating a program where there is really low barrier to entry is the most successful for a lot of our chronically homeless and severely mental ill Veterans, she said. “I think it speaks to the bigger need of really looking at our transitional housing programs and saying, wait, how can we tweak this to make it more low barrier to serve the veterans that need it the most?”
If you are a homeless Veteran or know of a homeless Veteran in need of assistance, please call West LA VA Community Resource and Referral Center, also known as The Welcome Center, at 310-268-3269, the Temporary Housing Hotline at 310-268-3350, and for temporary housing shelter outside of normal business hours, call Volunteers of America 213-563-7979. The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center also has a Social Worker on duty at the emergency department.