National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
HAP Partnership Impact
VHA’s work for Veterans connects to April and May special observances
Each month, special “observance” dates spread awareness of different issues or honor a group. Much of the work the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) do aligns with these dates. The VHA National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships (HAP, formerly the Office of Community Engagement) supports partnership work that connects to observances in April and May:
April
Stress Awareness Month
According to VA’s National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP), “physical activity is one of the move effective stress management techniques.” Exercise improves sleep, raises self-esteem, and releases tension, NCP says in its “Manage Stress Workbook.” HAP has worked in partnership with Y-USA, a leading organization focused on healthy living and physical exercise, since 2015.
This partnership has enabled Veterans to stay physically active and fit. Y-USA, also known as “The Y,” offers free, online, on-demand fitness videos through its “YMCA 360” platform, which can be streamed anywhere.
National Volunteer Month
Volunteers are the backbone of so many VA and VHA partnerships. HAP works in collaboration with AmeriCorps to provide support for a VA initiative, which allows Veterans who are at risk of moving into an institution to stay at home. Many volunteers—some who are Veterans themselves—make visits to Veterans in their homes to help them with activities of daily living, or just to provide social interaction.
Army Veteran Ron Burge said that his visits to a Veteran are like visiting a friend. David Sergent, a volunteer in Montana, said the people he visits are like members of his family.
Imerman Angels, another VHA partnership that facilitates one-on-one connections between a Veteran who is diagnosed with cancer and someone who has faced the same type of cancer, also relies on the tireless work of volunteer “Mentor Angels.”
May
National Mental Health Awareness Month
Veterans’ mental health is a top priority of VA. Many VA partnerships focus on suicide prevention strategies and/or mental health in general. One such partnership is the VA partnership with OnStar. The partnership connects Veterans in crisis with mental health assistance by using OnStar’s in-vehicle emergency services button. Veterans who contact OnStar because of a mental health crisis can be transferred to VA’s Veterans Crisis Line, a 24/7 phone line staffed by trained responders—many of them Veterans themselves.
HAP’s health care advancement initiatives also focus on Veterans’ mental health by exploring innovative, safe, and ethical health care treatments. Two such initiatives are stellate ganglion block (SGB) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and light-emitting diode (LED) therapy for Veterans diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Veterans and doctors alike have shared how SGB and LED can help people diagnosed with PTSD or TBI symptoms experience better sleep, higher energy levels, and better mental health and well-being overall.
For more information on HAP’s partnerships, please visit: VA.gov/healthpartnerships.
External Link Disclaimer: This page contains links that will take you outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked websites.
Posted April 26, 2021
