National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
Veteran Community Partnerships
Wilmington Veteran Community Partnership does it all for local Veterans
Valerie Harwood Camarillo, U.S. Air Force Veteran and community outreach specialist at the Wilmington VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) Medical Center (VAMC), got creative about reaching out to Veterans when the coronavirus pandemic hit—when her VAMC team and community partners could not work with Veterans face-to-face, they took to the radio. Members of the Wilmington Veteran Community Partnership (VCP) expanded their outreach efforts through their VCP outreach teams on radio shows in Delaware and Southern New Jersey (where the VCP also operates) to educate the local community about VA health care, VA and local community events, and the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) enrollment opportunities.
The outreach teams bring VA and community partner expert guest speakers onto the shows, and Veterans call in to ask questions. These question-and-answer programs have themes, Ms. Camarillo said, such as information about the COVID-19 vaccine, alcohol or opioid use disorders, and resources for military sexual trauma.
VCPs are collaborations—and each is part of the larger VHA VCP initiative—that bring together community leaders, some of whom are Veterans, and organizations with VAMC programs to help Veterans access health care and supportive services at VA and beyond. The VCP initiative is a joint project of the VHA National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships (HAP, formerly Office of Community Engagement) and the VHA Offices of Geriatrics and Extended Care, Rural Health, Mental Health, Center for Development and Civic Engagement (formerly VA Voluntary Services), and Caregiver Support. VHA plans to have a VCP at each of the VAMCs by September 2024.
The success of each VCP depends, in part, on the supportive services offered by its community partners. VA is sometimes unable to provide some services (because of statute or capacity), so these community partners’ specific resources can add to what VA provide. These coordinated efforts allow the Wilmington VCP to offer a broad range of services—in addition to radio shows, the team also hosts webinars for Veterans about mental health, homelessness services, women’s health, and other topics.
“The webinars allow our community partners to understand what services we at VA have, and whether they can refer a Veteran to us,” Ms. Camarillo said. “It also allows Veterans to learn more about what we do.”
The VCP also hosted a drive-through flu shot service in the winter, where Veterans were provided with information about VA resources, bagged lunches provided by the local Moose Lodge, and their flu shots—the VCP supports Veterans’ needs at any given time, and it is able to do so because VCPs are team efforts.
“If we don’t have it, we’ll make sure we get it in the community,” Ms. Camarillo explained.
Dr. Jamie D. Davis, health systems specialist for HAP and VCP collaborations lead, said that the Wilmington VCP exemplifies the outstanding work VCPs do.
“The Wilmington VCP is a gold-star example of how a VCP meets unique needs, thanks to its community and VAMC collaborations, for the specific Veterans in its community,” Dr. Davis said. “This is how VCPs are meant to work on behalf of our nation’s Veterans. We hope more local partners will collaborate with VA to meet the needs in their communities.”
To explore how to create a VCP in your community, contact HAP by visiting: va.gov/healthpartnerships.
For more information on VCPs, visit: va.gov/healthpartnerships/vcp.asp.
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Posted May 24, 2021
